Missing the Boat

Monday, October 24, 2005 04:03 AM

It really isn’t very funny to think that in spite of the fact that over 250 people (including the heads of government and investors) all ready to do a deal, are showing up in Vancouver today, the single person representing this city is Mayor Colin Kinsley.

When I contacted three local business leaders, who are major industry players in this region, they said this is the first they had heard about the forum.

Were Councilors invited to at least talk about this city to some of those present, the Chinese after all are here to try and make a deal?

Short answer No.

Was the challenger for the Mayor’s job, Dan Rogers, invited to be on hand, he after all stands a very good chance of being the person who will be negotiating any city project with the trade delegation from Hong Kong? No.

Now think back to when we sent a trade delegation of politicians over to China (at very short notice) to clean up on investments. It cost city taxpayers about $16,000 dollars and what did we get? Well a few exchange students.

Whow! we blew it back then and sent a group of politicians who had no more authority beyond the boundaries of this city, a group that could not make a business decision for any issue unless the Council of the city had its say.

At the very least, in this instance, had we sent a contingent of forest leaders and mining executives to Vancouver, they could make a deal, unless of course you believe that our Mayor is capable of putting together a major sale of lumber.

Why in the world we were not talking about this forum months in advance to try and set up a proper pitch from our city is a puzzle.

As for the fact that city hall didn’t know about the forum. Try the last edition of McLean’s. The Chinese bought four pages of advertising to try and attract people of influence.

Either we couldn’t read or couldn’t understand the importance of having serious players in the game.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion

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Posted on Monday, October 24, 2005 04:03 AM in Views by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: rock on October 24 2005 10:06 AM

Where was the gang from Initiatives PG?Did they take the rest of the year off?I was only kidding when I told Offet to take the rest of the year off after that Doepker deal?
Rock

Posted by: Chadermando on October 24 2005 4:52 PM

Looks to me like its more of an influence peddling confrence than anything to do with making business connections.

Colin's easy to buy off with spur of the moment decisions so he was a shoe in.

I think we should be wary of foreign delegations that come in the name of business to peddle their influence with the shady politicians that are eager to grow their power base. I think we should also be wary of politicians that try to keep a monoploy on the politics of power.

I think Initiatives PG needs a major overhaul, and the leadership needs to be replaced with some competent people can get the job done. Slogans and call centers just don't cut it IMO.

Posted by: owl on October 25 2005 12:24 AM

Were Hans and Bob and Lil from Prince George House at the Vancouver World Trade Centre invited? ...... ;-)

Hey, it is the Vancouver Board of Trade's party. It seems reasonable that they get to do the inviting. They appear to not be interested in inviting anyone other than our mayor.

So, what should we do? Find out if that is true and, if it is lobby so that it does not happen again.

Maybe the next time the mayor can ask who else from the community has been invited, and if the reponse is no one, then use his postion to invite others who should be there that can close a deal.

Posted by: owl on October 25 2005 12:26 AM

There is an intersting article on the Vancouver Board of Trade page about silos ..... too much specialization ... everyone doing their own thing .... not thinking about the big picture .... assuming someone else is taking care of that .....

http://www.boardoftrade.com/vbot_sb_archive.asp?pageID=179&IssueID=134&ArticleID=2190&year=2005&sbPage=AD

Posted by: owl on October 25 2005 12:29 AM

Here's an event woth attending next week ....

http://www.boardoftrade.com/vbot_events.asp?pageID=32&eventID=914&EventPage=ED

Maybe we can give the chop stick factory another go .... ;-)

Posted by: Chester on October 25 2005 10:27 AM

What kind of qualities should a leader have?

They should follow a vision for our city larger than their own.

They should always be including other people.

They should be thinking bottom line (results)

They should be thinking how to continually improve things.

They should be able to think outside the box.

They should be thinking how to set standards rather than just goals.

They should think intuitively. (what will work?)

They should possess a servants heart.

They should be able to think and evaluate ideas quickly.

True leaders will have faithful followers.

Leaders must have credibility before they have authority.

Leaders must be accountable and responsible.

Leaders must have the ability to influence others.

Leaders should have the ability to listen.

A good leader will not compromise his values.

A good leader will be well informed.

A good leader must be a good steward of all of the resources he is responsible for.

A good leader should possess self-disicipline to lead their own lives well.

Leaders should have the gift of discernment to assess situations and then respond.

A good leader should be adaptible to respond to the changing needs of our community.

So, how does our list of civic leaders measure up in your eyes? Chester

Posted by: owl on October 25 2005 11:21 PM

When you think of a city and you associate that city with a name of a "civic leader" what city do you think of?

Are politicians the leaders of cities?

I think of Montreal and Drapeau ....
http://www.answers.com/topic/jean-drapeau

I also think of New York and Koch ....
http://www.nysun.com/article/21911

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on October 27 2005 7:25 PM

Hey guys, the Vancouver Board of Trade invited the Mayor of Prince George for their own reasons. Probably trying to position themselves and don't give a shhitt about PG, so?