Congratulations Kamloops!

Kamloops again eh?

When it comes to provicial money (like the cancer clinic) and deals like this, Kamloops seems to be the Northern Capital of BC and first off the line.

Export logs?? I doesn't look like there is much left around Kamloops.

Kamloops must be nearing completion on their own 13,000 ft airport runway by now.

Maybe Kamloops plays business like they play hockey? A bit better than us? Oh well.

Notice that the goode Councillor Zurowski is switching from "China" to "Asia".

This trip was to CHINA. The topic was CHINA business opportunities with regards to selling something to CHINA. Not ASIA.

Does he think that nobody will notice that? That is not a little nuance.

Pulp to ASIA??

How about CHINA.

Does he know that this month's Canadian Geographic Magazine, which is their annual environmental issue, is printed on paper which has a 20% wheat straw content? Where did that come from? CHINA! Why? Because no one here produces that. Wheat straw is treated as garbage in Canada. It is not used for animal feed.

Interesting, to say the least.

These are the ASIAN countries for those councillors who might wonder what the difference between ASIA and CHINA is ...

first lesson of international travel ... learn some geography and nomenclature, it goes a long way in making friends in foreign lands .....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_countries

it's all just smoke and mirrors.

Well, I bet our delegates had a better drunk than Kamloops did.

What can you say, Kamloops is more business oriented. We need to put in more business people into our city council, instead of socialist who wants to be a bunch of do gooders who has no idea which side the toast is buttered.

We need to put in more business people into our city council,

And there is the big problem. Most of the councilors are from the business community and all they think about is the economy. It appears you are not aware that these same councilors are the socialists.

Money from senior levels of government for bridges, an airport, money for an air line, money to promote air line use , taxpayer money to enhance the down town area that was ruined because of poor planning.

The list is endless were tax dollars are used to shore up the business community. These projects I have to admitt dont even sound like social programs they are closer to being welfare handout.

Cheers

We had more business or business oriented people on here before. Typically one term wonders. They generally fizzled in modern times.

Running a radio business, for instance, is considerably different from running a city.

Then we had the mayor who ran a hardware store and looked at everything that had inventory as a warehouse.

So, the library had an inventory of books and he thus considered a library to be a warehouse for books. Come to the front desk, ask for a book, the book is brought to you, the deal is done. ... next customer.

Yeah, business people are great!!!

One needs a good mix of people and people who can devote the time and people who can dig deep into stuff with independent research and come with some real questions. I know that there are several councillors who do take the time and do that. People might not agree with them, but at least one knows they are doing their work and that is all we can ask of them.

Speaking of library's, Didn't we have a libarian as our mayor. He was a total disaster. Nothing happened when he was a mayor. We are likely still paying for some of his idleness.

"Prince George Mayor, Colin Kinsley, says he can’t explain it"

It's called 'closing the deal'. It's what differentiates good salesman and promotional people from bad ones.

Cleaner AIR, closer to the "big city, cleaner air, obviously well organized, cleaner air, warmer climate, no massive flooding, cleaner air ??? any more

He says he had no illusions about signing agreements - why not? It was my understanding that this was the whole point of the trip!? It does not sound as though he was very aggressive with this mission, had no intentions of coming home with results and sits and tells us that "he does not know"?

Apparently, the Kamloops delegation did have 'illusions' about signing agreements. I wish we would just cut our losses on China and move on. If we haven't got the right people taking the trip and making the deals, there's no point.

Had to chuckle seeing Colin roasted by the media - it reminds me of the treatment I get here at home but it's nice to know our work is being appreciated elsewhere!

Doing business in China, in particular, is about developing relationships which takes time. We have been fortunate to take advantage of a long standing connection between Thompson Rivers University and China. This has allowed us to gain credibility and tangible benefits in a much shorter time.

No one in China or anywhere else for that matter will know about Kamloops or Prince George unless we tell our stories. Colin Kinsley has been doing that on a remarkable scale for PG for many years.

Mayor Terry Lake, Kamloops

China is in Asia. Asia is not in China.

"Colin Kinsley has been doing that on a remarkable scale for PG for many years."


And we will start seeing the payoff when???????

If I remember correctly the libarian Mayor that we had was responsible for a new library building. the new pool and the Multiplex. He had a different style and appeared to be more interested in "people" then "profit".

MY big question is who is responsible for the 200 million dollar debt that the City has? Those would be the people that have created a disaster for our City.

Cheers

Tlake …

I am unsure of the extent of the connection between TRU and China. That is not unique to Kamloops however. CNC has had connections to China and Chinese educational institutes for some two decades. I believe the original trip by people such as Jim Blake was to Harbin.

There have been recent instructional exchanges with a forestry school in China and CNC. The latest one I am familiar with is CNC working with ZheJiang Forestry University in Lin’an China to establish linkages some 4 years ago.

The instructors were working on getting cross recognition between forestry and business programs here and there. Of course, it does not help when CNC cuts the program. Gives the Chinese a really feel good feeling I bet.

Prince George is also on the Winter Cities circuit and has had a long time opportunity to work with cities such as Harbin.

I notice that on the inventory of the BC 2007 list of International Twinning Inventory seen here:
http://www.bcasiatwinnings.gov.bc.ca/docs/BC_Local_Government_Twinnings0709MM.pdf

Kamloops is listed as twinned with Changping, Beijing, China since 2004 and Uji-shi, Kyoto, Japan since 1990.

Others linked with China are: Castlegar (dormant), Coquitlam, Cumberland, Maple Ridge, Mission, New Westminster, North Vancouver District, Prince Rupert, Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria, and Williams Lake.

Over 65 communities, virtually from the largest, Vancouver, to probably the smallest, Ucluelet, are connected internationally (That is from the Asian list) in a formal fashion as supported by the Province.

PG is not one of them. Kamloops, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Chilliwack, Abbotsford ….. conspicuous by its absence is PG ….

Why?????

Thanks for the post Tlake and my hats off to your city. We have some similar challenges in trying to take advantage of the opportunities we have. I think Kamloops seems to be winning out depending on how one measures success. PG has some catching up to do. I think we can do it, but we have to make some changes here.

Our librarian mayor worked behind the scenes. He did not toot his own horn too often and did not chew councillors out in open meetings.

There is an interesting story of how we got FMC to be built here rather than Edmonton. One of those behind the scene, don't toot one's own horn type stories.

Different style. Classical, low key. A style which might play better in dealing with China, for example.

BTW ... there used to be a word that described that type of individual ..... diplomatic ... quite appropriate when speaking about international affairs.

Take me for instance. I used to be diplomatic. I'm too old for that now.

;-)

Library correction ...

The cultural precinct study was during the end of Harold Moffat's reign, library resulted form that and was built during the time of Elmer Mercier.

As far as Backhouse goes, I would say the single greatest accomplishments during his tenure was UNBC. Because of his previous connections, he was part of the inner circle that was instrumental in putting that together.

Parkwood Place was renewed during his time as well as the others already named.

Mercier had to face the start fo the recession and Backhouse headed the first full era of slow development instead of the explosive post pulp mill expansion between the mid 1960s to late 1970s which was presided over primarily by Moffat.

We should contract out and have the team from Kelowna do our trips to China for us. At least they actually get something done.

Ever wonder why the population of Kamloops is growing and the population of PG is not? Hmmm . . .

I'm no fan of Backhouse. Backhouse was an NDP supporter and the eastside of the city could drop dead as far as Backhouse was concerned. The final straw was when we had to go to the Minister of Municipal Affairs to stop Blackhouse from moving $700,000 of the water improvemnet funds out of Blackburn.

The library was built without regard for the northern climate, and the utility bills were atrocious. No end of money.

What was it the NDP hired Backhouse as? Northern Affairs Rep? Another waste of money that faded away.

The agreements that the City of Kamloops signed in Beijing were concluded long before. When doing business in China it takes more than one trip. The main purpose of having the signings in the $14 million dollar BC Pavilion was primarily for the Government of BC to prove that the pavilion is worth the taxpayers investment (I can tell you first hand that it is not attracting any visitors!. That being said, PG isn't doing too bad. Kamloops is expanding its airport ot 8,000 feet - PG has 13,000. WestJET flies to PG; it will only start flying seasonal Kamloops to Calgary this December. PG has 2 post secondary institutions, a college and a research university; Kamloops has 1 - a "regional" university (Provincial speak for a college that offers degrees). Both have new indoor training facilities for sports. And, yes, there are somethings that Kamloops has that can be seen as better than PG. Interestingly, Kamloops usually compares itself to Kelowna,and it always comes up short (Kelowna even has more sporting events than Kamloops) so the Mayor and council of Kamloops are used to hearing comments similar to what is being posted here about PG, which is why Mayor Lake decided to post here! Kamloops is no better organized than PG, and I have a feeling that Kamloops is not doing any better business-wise than PG. I will grant this though: the KAmloops delegates can "spin a tale" better than the PG delegates - but much of it is difficult to believe.