Prince Rupert is a tiny city on the North Coast of British Columbia. Located near the mouth of the Skeena River, it is the closest port to Asia in North America. Added to the fact that the natural port is North America's deepest and northermost ice-free port, it is expanding to be able to capacitate shipping containers.

The city was known for the abundant amount of halibut caught back in the 50s and 60s, I believe, but now, it is known as Canada's wettest city, with more precipitation and least chance of lightning striking the ground than any other weather station in Canada.

Prince Rupert's tallest building is the Highliner Inn, with 17 floors. It used to be the tallest building in BC north of Greater Vancouver before taller buildings were erected in Kelowna. The Coast Prince Rupert Hotel boasts 6 levels. The other tall building (for a city its size) is an eleven-storey apartment building, not in the downtown core.

City population (2001): 14 000
CA population (2001): 16 000
Regional population (including Queen Charlottes): upwards 30 000

http://mk31.image.pbase.com/u18/ashie/upload/11802429.PrinceRupert.jpg

http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/images/rupert/highlinerb.jpg

http://mishuna.image.pbase.com/u22/ashie/upload/20558720.PinceRupertWaterfront.jpg

http://mk31.image.pbase.com/u25/ashie/upload/15058329.Rushbrook.jpg

http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/images/rupert/rupert4b.jpg

For the past few decades, the economy of Prince Rupert has been on a downturn, but new projects, including the creation and expansion of the port to become a container port to help ease the load of Vancouver's port, and a stopover for cruise ship, is expected to turn around the depression.

The container port is expected to handle over 1.2 million TEUs per annum when fully completed. The location of the port is strategic: it is the shortest route from the US Midwest to Asia. This will benefit cities along the route of the railroad, such as Prince George, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.

Here's an image for the approximate location of the new container port:

http://www.rupertport.com/images/gallery/images/fv001_jpg.jpg

Some of you may be wondering why I'm posting pictures of such a tiny city that is probably not known to anyone. I just wanted to portray some of the scenery that is not found in larger cities, and just give info on the city that I have resided in for over 9 years. Take note that none of the pictures taken are mine, however, if I do get time (and providing it ever clears out of the clouds here), I will try to take and post up pictures of the city.

So, what think of this small and peaceful city?

I think that Prince Rupurt is poised for some significant growth. However I think most of the distribution will be handled out of Edmonton.

Prince Rupert makes Vancouver look dry - its gets sooo much rain. I'd rather live in Prince George and take my chances with the cold. lol

there's a lot of potential in this town.

Is the population finally growing again?

Is the population finally growing again?
I think it is still decreasing but hopefully it will turn around soon. Wouldn't it be cool for Canada to finally have more than one significant west coast city? :)

micmico
I don't think its silly at all posting a forum on a smaller city. Cities come in all shapes and sizes, that what makes them so interesting.
I hear the downtown is quite cute. I think things are finally turning around for Prince Rupert but I could never live there, way too much rain.

very nice. i've never been there but have been elsewhere on that coast, very interesting. I think it is in canada's best interests to have a second west coast city, and charles hayes (i think that's his name) probably would have had it this way if he hadn't gone down with the titanic (CN/at the time GNR i think vs. gov't funded CP)

Bergen, Norway gets an average of 1,930mm of precipitation each year.

Prince Rupert gets an average of 2,593mm of precip each year.

So it's only a little worse than Bergen, Norway. :D

I think it is still decreasing but hopefully it will turn around soon. Wouldn't it be cool for Canada to finally have more than one significant west coast city?

Heh, hopefully. Prince Rupert's gone nowhere but down the past few years, with Skeena Cellulose shutting its operations and all.

However, besides the Port expansion, I'm doubting VERY FEW businesses will relocate in Prince Rupert. There used to be franchises of A & W, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and KFC here. They all left, leaving behind McDonald's and Subway.

As well, City Councillors who think of nothing but their own interests, stopped the growth of large chain stores like Canadian Tire from moving into the city. Instead, Home Hardware and Rona gets to stay as it is considered "local business".

I don't think its silly at all posting a forum on a smaller city. Cities come in all shapes and sizes, that what makes them so interesting.
I hear the downtown is quite cute. I think things are finally turning around for Prince Rupert but I could never live there, way too much rain.

Besides the downtown, Cow Bay is quite neat as well. I mean, where else can you find holstein-pattern dumpsters!

hi all! i'm originally from rupert! wow, looking at those pictures brings back...special times? yeah, i lived there for about 16 yrs and i'm 17 now...wow...

I think the port expansion will be a great thing. Remember they are talking about an expansion that will see the Port of PR handle more than Van currently handles.

I think the future expansion of the container port will not only benefit Prince George and Edmonton, but also Grande Prairie as well. I already know that it's a bitch having to send grain and other agricultural products from the Peace Region to Vancouver to be shipped across the Pacific. Same goes for oil and natural gas, both of which are being widely exploited (it's actually going nuts out there right now) in the Peace.

It's not just the forestry industry being in the dodrums that's causing PR to go down economically. There is a moratorium against offshore oil drilling in the North Coast region. I believe it's due to environmental concerns, which is understandable. However, technology, high oil prices and other economic pressures will eventually end this moratorium within 10-15 years, maybe sooner. The fishing industry's also been hard hit, too.

Now...if the late Charles Melville Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from 1910-1912, hadn't gone on board the Titanic, Prince Rupert would very likely be much bigger than it is today. PR might have been probably at least the size of Prince George by now, which has about 77,000 people. Or as many as over 100,000.

Hays was proposing a hotel in PR even bigger than the CP Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC. It was to have been a 12-storey hotel, but with the massive roof on top, as tall as a 14-15-storey building. It was to have 450 rooms.

The Chateau Prince Rupert as sketched by the architect Francis Rattenbury.
http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/500/28princerupert-chateau01.jpg

Holy cow...!
http://www.bookboat.com/images/Ruperthotel_rat.jpg

Unfortunately, all that's in the place of the proposed hotel is a mall built in the 1970s, or so I read. :(

I read that there was a huge fire on the waterfront in 1972 and that it never recovered. Is this the very same waterfront?
http://www.bookboat.com/images/1972-fire.jpg
http://www.rupertport.com/images/gallery/images/fv001_jpg.jpg

Something that honestly bugs me about Prince Rupert is the name; I don't hate it but I maybe a different name would attract more attention? Even Prince George is a better name. Just IMHO.

Unfortunately, all that's in the place of the proposed hotel is a mall built in the 1970s, or so I read. :(

I read that there was a huge fire on the waterfront in 1972 and that it never recovered. Is this the very same waterfront?


yeah, there is a ugly ugly mall where the hotel was supposed to go. but there used to be a huge park, i think it was called CN Park (way before my time) and it got run down, but then people tried to save it, clean it up, restore some of the attractions in the park, but it couldn't be saved. the mall is about 30yrs old and it has no windows and it's grey. and just down the hill is where the fire was. it was massive.

pics of the mall
http://www.princerupert.ca/tourism/gfx/mall4_t.jpg
http://www.princerupert.ca/tourism/gfx/mall2_t.jpg
http://www.princerupert.ca/tourism/gfx/mall1_t.jpg
http://www.princerupert.ca/tourism/gfx/mall3_t.jpg

Well welcome to the forums, it is good to have another northern BC'er representing the forums. I lived in Prince George for about 14 years and just recently moved to do an engineering degree on the east coast. Prince Rupert has great potential if the port is marketed properly. I know that CN is upgrading there mainline this year to accomidate the double stacked container cars, and I believe that edmonton will be building or has built a new intermodal facility in edmonton, so this will benifit not only rupert but northern BC and Alberta. I am optimistic, the economy in northern BC is picking up, tonnes of new mining projects and an optimistic business community, Prince George actually saw 134 houses built last year and people are moving back, not to mention that the unemployment rate went from 16.8% in 98 to 6.5% today. Lets pray that the BC liberals can win another term so that they can build on this momentum that was created.

Well welcome to the forums, it is good to have another northern BC'er representing the forums. I lived in Prince George for about 14 years and just recently moved to do an engineering degree on the east coast. Prince Rupert has great potential if the port is marketed properly. I know that CN is upgrading there mainline this year to accomidate the double stacked container cars, and I believe that edmonton will be building or has built a new intermodal facility in edmonton, so this will benifit not only rupert but northern BC and Alberta. I am optimistic, the economy in northern BC is picking up, tonnes of new mining projects and an optimistic business community, Prince George actually saw 134 houses built last year and people are moving back, not to mention that the unemployment rate went from 16.8% in 98 to 6.5% today. Lets pray that the BC liberals can win another term so that they can build on this momentum that was created.
PR will become a major shipping port/gateway to Asia. The purchase of BC Rail by CN was the first step in having a major railway 'connect' the future port. The CN main will transport containers from the port directly to the new intermodal facility constructed in Edmonton. From there, the cargo will continue on the mainline to Chicago and US markets.

The port is currently, or is soon to, being upgraded. The majority of the funding is from a US-based company.

A Liquified Natural Gas facility will also be constructed at Prince Rupert.

MicMiko, can I be greedy and put in a request for a picture of the grain elevator/terminal??

Thanks in advance for anything you can do.

i'll find one for you! i think i might have a picture of it somewhere in this house!

http://www.sandwell.com/images/sidebars/sl_prg.jpg
^this is of a ship getting filled. it's actually pretty cool to see them getting loaded up
http://www.rti.ca/Aerial10.JPG
^the coal port. beside it was a liquid sulpher plant, but it never went into operation, the company went bankrupt. and in the background you can see the district of port edward, it's pretty much a suberb of rupert.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/hypnoticmonkey2003/prgrain1.jpg
^the grain elevator
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/hypnoticmonkey2003/prgrain2.jpg
http://www.rti.ca/Aerial7.JPG
^this is the whole area.
okay...well, this is all that i could find online...

Very cool location. Guess I'll be stopping there for a little while if I take the ferry up to Ketchikan this summer; how far a ride is it from PR?

Heh, sorry shreddog, but the old Port Authority site didn't seem to like me directly linking pictures, so try their website:

http://www.rupertport.com/default.htm

Very cool location. Guess I'll be stopping there for a little while if I take the ferry up to Ketchikan this summer; how far a ride is it from PR?

It's about 6 hours from Prince Rupert.

It's amazing how Ketchikan, half the size of Prince Rupert, receives more than 600 000 cruise ship passengers/year. Prince Rupert just got involved back into the cruise ship business last year with 60 000 passengers coming into town.

But yes, there are a lot of "opportunities" for Prince Rupert, however, most of them don't really help (immediately) to shape up the commercial industries in the city. There were rumours of a Taco Bell/KFC opening up here, but they were just that: rumours.

Looks like times are just starting to get interesting (hopefully!) for PR.

I thought PR's been handling cruise ships for much longer than just last year. Or is it that it's grossly poorly promoted and very poorly equipped to handle cruise ships?

I understand that its post WWII population peaked at something like up to 18,000 in the late 1980s/early 1990s, but it's dropped to about 14,000. This is like having Edmonton drop to about 780,000 from its current 1 million. I wonder how bad the unemployment rate's been in PR? Was it worse than what Prince George had until recently, where it went up over 16%?

However, with all that construction of the container port, the LNG terminal and also the possibility of oil and natural gas pipelines running from Alberta and northeastern BC, the population is no doubt going to start expanding within a few years. It'd be cool to see it go up to at least 30,000-40,000 by 2025.

An article was published in Thursday's edition of the Vancouver Sun newspaper entitled "Prince Rupert about to become a container 'superport'".

A feasibility study (funded by both B.C. and Alberta BTW) was conducted by one of the world's premier marine transportation consulting firms and it has concluded that PR's container potential is in the 4 million TEU range, rivalling Vancouver and putting it on the North American map as a container "Superport".

A couple of exerpts:

"What is really important is the fact that the word 'Prince Rupert' is being discussed in a major way now in the corridors of power in Ottawa."

"Prince Rupert appears to be benefitting from an almost perfect alignment of the stars: Asian container traffic is growing exponentially; it is the best ice-free deep-water port in North America; it is two sailing days closer to Asia than any other west coast port; and it has grossly under-ultilized railway connections."

If PR realizes this potential with the considerable well-paying employment opportunities associated along with it, it will have an enormous impact on PR's overall economic health.

From what I remember, Prince George's unemployment rate was at a stagering 16.8% in 1998, today it is hovering around 6.5% and housing starts have gone up 70% over last year, the city has even opened up another section of college heights for development, this area will be planned for 2-3000 new homes upon build out in probably 10 years; if the economy stays robust and the pine beatle doesn't have to big of an effect. Just a few weeks ago another call center confirmed location in prince george, another 300 or so jobs, this will build that call center industry in Prince George up to 1200-1500 jobs. These jobs aren't the highest paying but do act as a decent second income. The construction of a new Rona store will also keep Prince Georges hold on Regional Shopping.

That would be quite the location for a large city! Prince Rupert can become something really interesting if it were to ever pass the 100,000 mark.

rupert had the second worse unemployment rate in the province. it was like 24% for a few yrs. it may be the same.

Bergen, Norway gets an average of 1,930mm of precipitation each year.

Prince Rupert gets an average of 2,593mm of precip each year.

So it's only a little worse than Bergen, Norway. :D

When you think about it, PR is indeed similar to Bergen in climate. Sure, that is a lot of rain - roughly 75 inches for Bergen compared to PR's 102 inches. But I figure that global warming is going to cause the annual rainfall to drop over time as climatic zones move further north. Another thing in common - fjords!

Bergen's a lot bigger than PR though - about 235,000 people and it is Norway's second largest city after Oslo. (although it was at one time bigger than Oslo until the early 19th Century)

What do you guys think about a marina/resort development in PR? With PR's increased cruise ship capacity and a possible increase in ferry sailings from Port Hardy, tourism is bound to increase.

Maybe something like a central hotel with villas, cottages, the marina centred around a village square. Maybe something like Poet's Cove on Pender Island?

Thoughts?

What do you guys think about a marina/resort development in PR? With PR's increased cruise ship capacity and a possible increase in ferry sailings from Port Hardy, tourism is bound to increase.

Maybe something like a central hotel with villas, cottages, the marina centred around a village square. Maybe something like Poet's Cove on Pender Island?

Thoughts?

Central hotel? That'd be the Crest, the only 4-star hotel in Northern BC.

However, if it were possible to take down the other seafood plants, and stretching the waterfront all the way down to the Kwinitsa museum/CN waterfront park, that'd be a major improvement, and your development plan may work.

Federal cabinet minister David Emerson will be in Vancouver tomorrow for a major announcement regarding container port expansion in Prince Rupert.

^ wow, Martin and Emerson here in BC tomorrow.

PR is 18 hours closer to the orient than is Vancouver to say nothing of ther fact that it is easier to get at by rail.
Curious...........I know that being on one side of the mountains makes a huge diff in rainfall.ie Tofino to Parksville. How far in do you have to go to really see a diff?

just to terrace really. that's about an hour and a half drive. you can actually see a big difference in port edward which is about a 15minute drive from downtown prince rupert because it's on the other side of mount hays.

just to terrace really. that's about an hour and a half drive. you can actually see a big difference in port edward which is about a 15minute drive from downtown prince rupert because it's on the other side of mount hays.

It's such a shame that they took the gondola to the top of Mount Hays down.

I've never been on it myself.

Ya, I could see that. NorthVan gets 80in/year, downtown 60in, Richmond 40in, and White Rock 30in. yet for all you not knowing a lot about the Lower Mainland. NVan is only 40km from WhiteRock.

It's such a shame that they took the gondola to the top of Mount Hays down.

I've never been on it myself.


well, that whole ski hill idea was a mistake on mt. hays because in the winter, there can be snow up there one day, and then there isn't snow the same day. and once the chalet up there was burned down, they didn't bother rebuilding it and they took the gondola down and i think they moved it to a ski hill in prince george. but i remember seeing the chalet burn down. i watched it from the deck of my house when i think i was 8. it was weird really.

April 15, 2005
Government of Canada

Office of the Premier

MAJOR INVESTMENT IN PRINCE RUPERT PORT EXPANSION

VANCOUVER – The Honourable David L. Emerson, Minister of Industry and co-senior minister for British Columbia, announced today that the Government of Canada intends to invest $30 million to create a container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert. British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell also announced that the Province of British Columbia will match federal funding and increase its investment in the Port of Prince Rupert to $30 million. Both investments are subject to the finalization of necessary funding authorities.

“The Government of Canada is helping to ensure that Canada’s West Coast becomes a major opportunity gateway for trans-Pacific trade, investment and tourism,” said Minister Emerson. “Investing in the expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert is one of the long-term initiatives that moves this gateway concept forward, creating new jobs and economic spin-offs for this region, and for all of Canada.”

“As Canada’s only Pacific province, we have the potential to almost double our share of West Coast container traffic and create up to 45 000 new maritime jobs over the next 15 years – and the expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert will play a critical role in that,” said Premier Campbell. “The federal government’s planned support of this project shows that Ottawa recognizes its importance not just to British Columbia, but to the national economy as well.”

Premier Campbell said the provincial government has already committed to invest
$17.2 million toward expanding the port as part of the benefits of the BC Rail Investment Partnership, and pending the finalization of funding authorities, intends to provide an additional $12.8 million for a total contribution of $30 million.

Located at the North American entry point of the North West Transportation Corridor, the Port of Prince Rupert offers the shortest land-sea transportation route to Asia. Today’s announcement will help improve Canada’s competitive position in Asia by enhancing trade and investment, and supporting Canada’s competitive advantage in key regions, sectors and markets.

“This planned investment is an excellent example of the Government of Canada’s interest in helping our ports to become destinations of choice for the ever-increasing trade to and from Asia,” said the Honourable Jean-C. Lapierre, Minister of Transport. “This planned investment will greatly enhance economic growth opportunities in north-central British Columbia and Alberta, while assisting the Prince Rupert Port Authority in expanding its capacity and strengthening its competitiveness.”

“The Province of British Columbia has a vision for its ports and our Ports Strategy is the plan that will make that vision a reality. Today’s announcement is part of an aggressive strategy to capture rapidly increasing Asia-Pacific container trade,” said British Columbia Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon. “The work of federal and provincial governments and port industry partners is what has brought us here today. I am confident that as we continue to work together we will see even greater results for Prince Rupert.”

The Government of Canada has supported the development of British Columbia’s transportation infrastructure with funding commitments of approximately $675 million over the last two years.

“Western Economic Diversification Canada is working with communities across the West to ensure that Canada is able to take full advantage of the emerging economic opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, including trade and investment and tourism industry development,” said the Honourable Stephen Owen, Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State (Sport). “Over the last three years, Western Economic Diversification has invested over $4 million in the development of the Port of Prince Rupert to enable northern British Columbia communities to benefit from the growing cruise ship industry.”

In addition, all levels of government have collectively committed over $3.3 billion for British Columbia highway, rail, port and border infrastructure to ensure that goods move efficiently within the province and across Canada.

“This announcement by the federal and provincial governments, working together to invest in Prince Rupert’s marine infrastructure, is a tremendous vote of confidence in the Port of Prince Rupert and assures that the development of Canada’s newest container facility will move ahead as soon as possible,” said Don Krusel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Prince Rupert Port Authority. “It will create enormous opportunities for northern British Columbia and ensure that Canada’s importers and exporters, right across this country, will have a new and uncongested gateway to the Asian marketplace. We join together with everyone who lives and works along the North West Trade Corridor, which runs through the Port of Prince Rupert, in congratulating and thanking both the federal and provincial governments for having the visionary leadership to invest in our future.”

The ports of Prince Rupert, Vancouver and Fraser River offer direct access to
North Pacific shipping lanes, providing shippers significant cost and time advantages, and allowing for a competitive advantage in servicing Asia’s fast-growing markets.

they're calling this the Olympics of Northern BC but not only for one year but for year after year after year - it will change everything. eventually, its suppose to create tens of thousands of jobs....perhaps this is the next Vancouver?

this phase will be completed by the end of 2006.

Pipeline passes a major hurdle
PetroChina's decision to get on board gives new impetus to plan for Alberta-to-B.C. 'Gateway' line

Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun


April 15, 2005

Enbridge Inc.'s race to build a $2.5-billion crude oil pipeline through B.C. passed a major milestone Thursday with Asian energy giant PetroChina signing onto the project.

Calgary-based Enbridge announced that PetroChina inked a memorandum of understanding to buy up half the daily 400,000-barrel capacity of the 1,160-kilometre "Gateway" line that will carry oil from Alberta to a new deep-sea terminal situated either at Prince Rupert or Kitimat.

Enbridge officials cautioned that a decision to go ahead with the project is still several months away, and the company will now assist PetroChina in finding producers who can fulfill the state-owned Chinese corporation's desire to purchase 200,000 barrels a day. That's a marked departure from Enbridge's traditional role as a utility service provider, and the biggest indication to date of China's interest in Canada's richest source of oil.

The Alberta oilsands represent the world's second-largest proven reserve of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia.

Enbridge president and CEO Patrick Daniel travelled to Beijing to sign the memorandum.

"This is a positive step forward on a project which will have major benefits for Enbridge, for oilsands producers and for Canada, as well as for consumers in China and other offshore markets," Daniel said in a news release from the company.

"However, there remains a great deal to be accomplished before the Gateway Pipeline can become a reality. Definitive long-term agreements for the sale of crude oil to the Chinese will need to be negotiated, as will longer term capacity commitments with other shippers."

Enbridge is actively seeking commitments from other potential shippers to fill the remaining capacity, but company spokesman Jim Rennie said in an interview that PetroChina was the linchpin.

"We've said all along that we need an anchor, that an Asia-Pacific customer is needed to make this a go. Assuming that everything goes well with PetroChina, the 200,000 barrels a day are brought together.

"We think we can reach definitive contractual agreements this year. If we can do that, that's half the 400,000-barrel-a-day capacity of the pipeline."

He added that the company still has a lot of preparatory work to carry out.

"We are looking for additional commitments, as well as community consultation and aboriginal consultation in B.C., getting our engineering work and our environmental work done."

The company believes it can submit next year an application to build the pipeline, and have it in service by 2010 -- when production from the oilsands is expected to reach 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Brian Purdy, an infrastructure analyst with FirstEnergy Capital Corp., said the announcement gives Enbridge the lead over Terasen Pipelines, which is proposing to build an oil pipeline along its existing TransMountain Pipeline right-of-way from Alberta to Burnaby.

"I think at this point it looks like Enbridge is a little bit ahead. It gives them the scale and the key mass to get a project of this size moving forward. It sounds as if they have a commitment for basically half the pipeline capacity, which is fairly key," Purdy said.

"From this point they can go and talk to other producers and just incrementally add them on, to attempt to bring up the utilization of the asset once it's built. At the same time, it's a key milestone for them to get the critical mass they need to move this forward."

THE DEAL'S MAIN DRIVERS:

- PetroChina is China's largest oil company.

- PetroChina has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase about half of the so-called Gateway Pipeline's shipping capacity, or 200,000 barrels of day.

- Northern Alberta's oilsands are expected to soon produce most of Canada's crude oil

- Canada holds the second-largest supply of remaining energy reserves in the world behind Saudi Arabia.

Ran with fact box "The Deal's Main Drivers", which has been appended to the end of the story.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

i think Prince Rupert could turn into a giant city one day. it has the potential. it would be as beautiful as Vancouver as it too has mountains. imagine a skyline here.

http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/images/rupert/rupert2b.jpg
http://www.tourismprincerupert.com/images/airial.jpg
http://www.tourismprincerupert.com/images/images/Anger%20Is%2C%20West%20Pitt.jpg

i think Prince Rupert could turn into a giant city one day. it has the potential. it would be as beautiful as Vancouver as it too has mountains. imagine a skyline here.

It doesn't have a lot of room to grow because of its geography, it's even more hemmed in by water and mountains than Vancouver is.

However all is not lost, I can think of another city that is similarly "disadvantaged" by geography. :)

Maybe this:
http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/images/rupert/rupert2b.jpg

Will one day look like this? :D
http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/569/2811aerial04-d_1_.jpg

^LOL. so true.


if not, we could turn the city into a resort and resort-like city like Concord Pacific.

Make Port of Vancouver a priority, CPR chief advises
Prince Rupert should proceed, but Vancouver's 'the Pacific gateway for the present and the future'

Lisa Schmidt, Scott Simpson and Derrick Penner
Calgary Herald and Vancouver Sun

Friday, May 06, 2005

Canada should focus on expanding the Port of Vancouver to benefit from the boom in Asia-Pacific trade, not dilute it with investments at other West Coast ports, the head of Canadian Pacific Railway said Thursday.

"We should not be distracted by imitators. The Port of Vancouver is the real deal -- it is the Pacific gateway for the present and the future," chief executive Rob Ritchie told the company's annual meeting in Calgary.

Ritchie's comments follow an announcement last month that the Port of Prince Rupert will go ahead with a major expansion after a $60-million commitment by federal and provincial governments to the $172-million project.

After Thursday's meeting, Ritchie said plans for Prince Rupert should proceed, but the Port of Vancouver should not be left out.

"We think there is a lot of growth out there so other ports will have opportunities, but they should not be at the expense of Vancouver," said Ritchie. "Vancouver should get the same opportunities to grow with public funding that Port of Prince Rupert does, because that would be money better spent.

"Let us never forget that in transportation, efficiency comes with density. Supporting the growth of the Port of Vancouver is where Canada should be concentrating most of its efforts to benefit from Asia-Pacific trade. Dilution is not the solution."

In April, the federal and B.C. governments put forward $60 million in funding for a new container terminal in Prince Rupert's Ridley Terminal.

Canadian Pacific's chief rival in British Columbia, CN Rail, announced it would invest $125 million in new rolling stock and locomotives to handle growing volumes of container traffic through Ridley.

The new facility is envisioned as a major catalyst for development of the northern B.C. economy, inducing manufacturers to set up business in communities such as Prince George

The first phase, capable of handling about 500,000 containers annually, is slated to begin operations in early 2007.

Maureen Bader, manager of corporate communications for the Prince Rupert Port Authority said Ritchie's comments "seem to be a bit misguided."

"CP doesn't have a rail line here, so it seems to be an obvious thing for him to want to say," she added.

Prince Rupert, Bader said, is working on a unique business model that calls for Prince Rupert to be a "throughput port," that will put 98 per cent of the containers it receives directly on trains to central Canada or Chicago.

She added that it could be used to relieve pressure on ports such as Vancouver or Los Angeles to take containers that are going straight through to the U.S. Midwest.

"To say that it's an imitator is misleading, or uniformed, perhaps," Bader said.

The Prince Rupert announcement drew expressions of concern from the Port of Vancouver, which is in the midst of the first part of a three-stage $1-billion expansion project aimed at capturing some of the same U.S. business that will be pursued by Ridley Terminal.

Last month, CPR said it would go ahead with a $160-million project to increase capacity for the Vancouver port by 400 cars a day.

Under the Canada Marine Act, the federal government cannot directly invest in port infrastructure, so the Rupert money was moved along to the province first -- a deal that ruffled some feathers at the Vancouver port and raised concerns about the absence of a coordinated business plan.

Anne McMullin, director of corporate communications for the Vancouver Port Authority said Rupert has "an important role to play in a B.C. West Coast container strategy."

McMullin said the port believes a coordinated strategy among B.C. coastal ports is essential "so that there isn't a glut on the market and that we are developing our terminals to meet market demand."

The port has been advocating changes to the Canada Marine Act that would allow Ottawa to invest directly in port infrastructure "because we believe it's an investment that creates jobs, moves Canadian goods and those sorts of things."

"Rupert will be an important and integral part of the system, but you are not going to replace the Port of Vancouver.

"We're the biggest port in Canada, the most diversified and one of the largest ports in North America."

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

I thought PR's been handling cruise ships for much longer than just last year. Or is it that it's grossly poorly promoted and very poorly equipped to handle cruise ships?

Would you say, then, that perhaps PR could have better P.R.? HA HA HA HAHAHh aha ha haa.. oh. How come no one else made that joke yet?

I am absolutely fascinated with PR, and I'm glad to see this thread. I did alot of research on the city about a year ago; I was actually considering packing up my family and moving there. I could feel that it had alot of potential, even before the container port and the oil pipeline projects were announced.

Now would be a good time to invest in PR real estate. Houses in the town are dirt f@#ing cheap... 50-80 grand on average, if I recall. What a fine location too... and it's so far north. Talk about being remote; of course, that just adds to the intrigue. I really hope these good vibrations catch on for PR.

If anyone has more pics of Prince Rupert, bring em on please.

That article does make sense. Diluting the problem isn't the solution.

Intresting to note that in the CPR chief would say we should only focus on the port of Vancouver. It is because CN thier main competitor has the only lines going to Prince Rupurt. Then the Port of Vancouver doesnt really like it either. COuld it be that they also have a vested intrest in not having competition. I say to CN go ahead and keep pushing for PR. We need it and whos to say we can support 2 ports in Canada.

They also say the when the big earthquake hits Vancouver, Prince Rupert can take the load. I think spreading out the trade is a good idea.
On top of that, Vancouver's not highly industrialized, and there's already a lot of pressure / conlfict between industrial and residential uses.

One of the positives of the Prince Rupert terminal is CN's relatively under-utilized rail lines with direct connections to eastern Canadian as well as Chicago markets.

Seattle/Tacoma and Long Beach, CA are starting to witness the results from rail congestion as shippers are anxious to move their time-sensitive goods to market.

Here's another thread relating to the rail congestion facing these westcoast U.S. ports.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=203568

Now would be a good time to invest in PR real estate. Houses in the town are dirt f@#ing cheap... 50-80 grand on average, if I recall. What a fine location too... and it's so far north. Talk about being remote; of course, that just adds to the intrigue. I really hope these good vibrations catch on for PR.




yeah, my parents house up there sold for $88000. where i live now, that house would easily get about $300000.

They also say the when the big earthquake hits Vancouver, Prince Rupert can take the load. I think spreading out the trade is a good idea.

don't put all your eggs into one basket... smart, smart

Here is a nice photo I found on Google of PR:

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~stone/courses/geog290/images/bc-70.jpg

^ You can actually see a sunny day of Prince Rupert in this picture here. ;)

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~stone/courses/geog290/images/bc-78.jpg

^ And that's the world's tallest grain elevator... I think.

^ Geography looks very Vancouver-like.

Lets hope they can increase the number of cruise passengers that arrive there. That would make some positive changes to the city which has much potential thru increased tourism.

Also, that train journey (The Skeena) between Prince Rupert and Prince George (another greatly misunderstood BC city with tourist potential, especialy considering its crossroads location) is a spectacular journey!! I did a big circle trip from Vancouver via BC Ferries from Port Hardy, the Skeena between PR and PG and then a long bus ride home. It was a amazing trip though!

the first picture up there (the one of downtown) is second avenue/trans-canada highway 16. that's the main road in and out of rupert.

but my dad was telling me that houses up there are being bought up like wildfire over speculation of the container port being put in. for all that i hate that city, i really hope that it doesn't die, and i hope that it starts to regain in what it lost.

also, rupert lost a lot of it's potental because of the city councel and NIMBY's. it's very netorious (sp?) for that sort of thing. it's a very poorly run city. they are very anti-business and pretty much anti-anything. i should know, i grew up there.

^ read this:


New Seattle-B.C. cruises could be worth millions
Trips will bring thousands of visitors to province each week

Joanne Lee-Young
Vancouver Sun


Tuesday, May 24, 2005

New cruises out of Seattle that stop in B.C. ports only instead of the traditional Alaskan destinations are bringing thousands of tourists to the province this season and, with them, potentially millions of dollars in spending money.

The B.C. cruises, which began this month, will depart Seattle three times a week and carry up to 1,800 passengers per trip to stops including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Prince Rupert.

The cruises, offered by Florida-based Celebrity Cruises, are expected to help offset the industry slump B.C. has been experiencing in recent seasons, largely due to competition from Seattle.

While cruise ship passenger numbers through Vancouver have been declining and stagnant, the Port of Seattle is breaking records. The Port of Vancouver saw some 930,000 cruise ship passengers in 2004, but the cruise industry in Seattle has grown from just six vessel calls and 7,000 passengers in 1999 to 150 calls and 562,000 cruise ship passengers in 2004. That number is expected to jump further to 685,000 in 2005.

"It's a very serious issue for us as a port," said Greg Wirtz, manager of cruise, marketing and operations, Port of Vancouver. "A big factor is the post-Sept. 11 world. There is a perception that it is easier to go from Seattle to Alaska and stay within the U.S. We need to compete with that."

Herb Pond, the mayor of Prince Rupert, noted that in Juneau, one of the major Alaska calls, each cruise passenger spends about $215 per visit. He said he's looking forward to similar revenue from passengers on a more direct route from Seattle.

"The more within-B.C. cruising, the better. We want to use the marketing clout of Alaska, which many people have already visited, and tempt people into coming back to Prince Rupert," Pond said.

Pond says that a new cruise- ship dock in Prince Rupert has already created a number of new businesses, including pedicab, scooter rental, and whale-watching services.

As well, existing businesses have been able to work on the quality of their offerings, knowing that there will be a predictable number of cruise passengers.

Pond said Prince Rupert has also looked to cruise-ship stops in Alaska for lessons on handling the negatives.

"We are working very hard to make sure that Prince Rupert remains unique and not like everyone else. We are doing this by encouraging local entrepreneurs as much as possible. We are carefully designing things like daily traffic patterns."

Wirtz said Vancouver is also working to encourage more American traffic. For example, there are plans to launch a program allowing American travellers to land at Vancouver International Airport, board a secure coach and be shuttled to the cruise terminal without having to clear customs.

In the meantime, American passengers have already begun boarding these new Seattle cruises. They started in early May and include three-, four- and five-day round-trip voyages. Celebrity's 1,800-passenger Mercury ship rotates to leave Seattle on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, hitting two mid-week departures. The Port of Seattle is at capacity for cruise ships on Saturdays and Sundays, as is the Port of Vancouver, according to Tino Salud, general manager cruise and dock operations, Port of Seattle.

For both ports, this is a major stumbling block to growing the cruise industry.

"We have over the years been looking at lengthening the cruise season to include spring and fall. As well, this plays into utilization of midweek cruises so that we can maximize use of our facilities," said Salud in a phone interview. "These new cruises expand the market so that we are not just a start and end for Alaska cruises."

FROM SEATTLE, WITH CASH:

Seattle-based B.C. cruises bring with them a boon to the province's tourism industry.

1,800: Passenger capacity of the B.C. coastal cruise ships.

$215: Average amount spent by each cruise passenger in Juneau, one of the major Alaska calls.

3 times a week: Frequency of Seattle-based B.C. cruises.

4: The number of B.C. ports the cruises will stop in, including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Prince Rupert.

Ran with fact box "From Seattle, With Cash", which has been appended to the end of the story.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

the first picture up there (the one of downtown) is second avenue/trans-canada highway 16. that's the main road in and out of rupert.

That's pretty much THE only road in and out of Rupert.

but my dad was telling me that houses up there are being bought up like wildfire over speculation of the container port being put in. for all that i hate that city, i really hope that it doesn't die, and i hope that it starts to regain in what it lost.

Yeah, a lot of people are even buying second houses and try to profit as housing prices rise.

also, rupert lost a lot of it's potental because of the city councel and NIMBY's. it's very netorious (sp?) for that sort of thing. it's a very poorly run city. they are very anti-business and pretty much anti-anything. i should know, i grew up there.

Pretty much.

And despite their efforts to keep in "local businesses", everything is closing down.

Potentially good news for Prince Rupert...

Halifax grabs Vancouver container business

Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun

June 15, 2005

A wary group of Canadian retailing giants is blaming port and rail congestion for a decision Tuesday to yank their business out of Vancouver in favour of the Port of Halifax.

The Canadian Retail Shippers Association says congestion and the competing volume of goods from China have obliged them to route 2,000 containers of Southeast Asia-made consumer goods through the Suez Canal and across the Atlantic Ocean rather than directly across the Pacific Ocean to the Port of Vancouver -- the country's largest port.

That is enough to half-fill a typical container ship -- although just a small portion of the 1.7 million 20-foot equivalent container units the Vancouver port handled in 2004.

However, companies importing goods under the 40-year-old Canadian Retail Shippers Association banner want to send the port and its associated businesses a "message" because of the port's failure to keep goods moving last winter.

"The decision we made to make the shift had to do with congestion on the West Coast," shippers association logistics president Doug Stewart said in an interview. "We're being, frankly, quite selfish. Our principal concern is for our customers. They are the ones that hold us accountable."

Shippers association members include Sears, Sony, Reitman's, Footlocker, Club Monaco and Saan.

"Consumers want to know that the product is going to be on the shelf when they are ready to buy," Brian Gerrior of Sears Canada said in a news release.

Containers started backing up in the Port of Vancouver around Christmas 2004, and the backlog was not cleared until April, frustrating retailers. Blame was shared among railways serving the port, terminal operators, truckers, and even warehouse operators.

Stewart agreed the announcement, which the Port of Halifax called a "major vote of confidence" for the east coast facility, was likely to spark some anxiety in the Port of Vancouver.

"Frankly, that's part of why we're doing it -- to make a point," said Stewart.

CP Rail carried about 75 per cent of the group's containers from Vancouver, with Canadian National taking the remainder.

CN will get 100 per cent of the Halifax business.

"We do hear from shipping lines that many West Coast ports are congested," said Michele Peveril, corporate communications manager for the Port of Halifax. "The retailers have been on our radar for a couple of years as a specific target for growth at the Port of Halifax."

Vancouver port officials played down the announcement, saying congestion issues have been resolved, and pledged there won't be a repeat this autumn when container traffic builds to its pre-Christmas peak.

"On the surface of it, it looks disappointing," said Chris Badger, Vancouver port operations vice-president, who noted that congestion is now non-existent.

Canadian Pacific Railway also said it has taken measures to head off congestion in future.

"The Canadian Retailers Shipping Association doesn't have to be concerned about CPR's capacity," said Len Cocolicchio, CPR's senior manager of public relations.

"We're investing $160 million to expand capacity on our western corridor. The work is underway as we speak. It will be complete in the fourth quarter of this year.

"When it is complete we will be able to move an additional four trains a day."

ssimpson@png.canwest.com

TWO WAYS TO TORONTO:

Despite a longer haul via the Suez Canal, once goods arrive on the East Coast there are more options for getting them to central Canada. From Vancouver, rail is the only economical option.

Via Vancouver

TOTAL DISTANCE 17,611 km

Singapore - Vancouver 16 days

Vancouver - Toronto 10-11 days

TOTAL 26-27 days

Via Halifax

TOTAL DISTANCE 19,649 KM

Singapore - Halifax 23 days Halifax - Toronto 4-5 days

TOTAL 27-28 days

Ran with fact box "Two Ways to Toronto", which has been appended to the end of the story.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

Here are some pictures I found on Google - pardon me if they don't work on here. :)

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/dnc/pts_of_interest/pict/Prince%20Rupert%20Harbour.jpg

Prince Rupert Harbour.

http://www.jennyreiswig.com/trip2001/museum.jpg

The main museum in Prince Rupert. The Northern BC Museum.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2019/BC%20Tourism%20Office%20Prince%20Rupert.jpg

Northern BC Museum again.

http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/db/text/archives/2003/winter2003/images/image6.jpg

The government building... hahah. One of the few office-only buildings in town.

http://caledonia.anglican.org/index_files/CathedralPrRupert.jpg

An Anglican Church, I believe. It overlooks downtown.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2019/Prince%20Rupert%20welcome.jpg

The only way into the city by road is via Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway 16. You won't miss this sign.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2019/Crest%20Hotel.jpg

The Crest Hotel, which is the only hotel in Northern BC to receive 4 diamonds from the AAA and one of the two hotels in Northern BC to receive 4 stars for Canada Select.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2018/Shoe%20tree.jpg

Shoe tree, just right outside the city.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2022/city%20hall%20prince%20rupert.jpg

The city hall.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2019/In%20Gods%20Care.jpg

At Mariner's Park, where monuments and plaques are placed to remember various sailors.

http://www.yellowheadit.com/content/2001/june%2022/cow%20car.jpg

Cow Bay, cow car.

http://216.239.54.9/img/267/3276/1024/021%20Prince%20Rupert%20003.jpg

Here's the Prince Rupert "skyline". The Highliner Inn, which is ~65-70m tall, followed by the Coast Prince Rupert Hotel. Oh yeah, you can also see the shopping mall from here.

----

And here are a bunch of photos from http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/rupert.htm.

http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/images/rupert/rupert35b.jpg

Cow Bay.

http://www.northpacificseaplanes.com/images/rupert/rupert51b.jpg

BC Transit bus.

----

And the following are from Global Air Photos (http://www.globalairphotos.com/large/BC/Prince_Rupert/All/2001/064/1).

http://www.globalairphotos.com/images/bc/prince_rupert/2001/prs2001_056.jpg

Digby Island Airport.

http://www.globalairphotos.com/images/bc/prince_rupert/2001/prs2001_043.jpg

The flat piece of land on the bottom left is where they are planning to build Phase I of the Fairview Container Terminal. Phase II includes reclaiming and extending the part of Phase I.

http://www.globalairphotos.com/images/bc/prince_rupert/2001/prs2001_016.jpg

Downtown Prince Rupert.

http://www.globalairphotos.com/images/bc/prince_rupert/2001/prs2001_011.jpg

The building on top of the hill is the Prince Rupert General Hospital.

----

And that wraps the Google photos of Prince Rupert.

where are you from micmiko?

where are you from micmiko?

Prince Rupert.

----

Here are several rumours flying around about potential developments in the city:

There may be an A & W franchise moving (back) into town, across from the old Dairy Queen in Downtown. Right now, McDonald's, Tim Horton's, and Subway are the only fast food restaurants in the city.

"Wal Mart is building a 1 sq mile loading/unloading facility on Ridley Island." - this one I believe is just a rumour, I haven't heard any actual stories about it yet. Ridley Island is where the grain mill elevator is.

This isn't a rumour, but Ford re-opened back in Rupert. It is now called Port City Ford.

Canadian Tire bought the land from BC Hydro (for those of you who used to live here or still do, you might know where this is). It's a 33-acre lot, and Canadian Tire is proposing to develop an 8-acre (??) building containing a Canadian Tire, Wal Mart, plus a restaurant. There are also rumours about Home Depot being part of this development. Some people argue this site may be used to build a residential subdivision. As of now, Prince Rupert only has one shopping centre with a Zellers.

Overlooking the ferry terminal from Graham Avenue, there is a high-end condominium proposal. This would be the first time in years since Prince Rupert had anything over 2 stories being built! (well, excluding the College and Atlin Terminal)

^ Awsome news! Nice to see this town turning around.

Things look like they're really starting to look up in Prince Rupert.

wow! i haven't heard those before...

prince rumours. lol.

an a&w across from dairy queen? that's a park

woops, i was wrong about the area, that's the parking lot right? i was thinking of across mcbride street where the JW hall and the court house is. but that rumour has been going around for years. i remember it back in kindergarten.

woops, i was wrong about the area, that's the parking lot right? i was thinking of across mcbride street where the JW hall and the court house is. but that rumour has been going around for years. i remember it back in kindergarten.

Well, A & W used to be in Rupert, right??

Anyways, the A & W website has Prince Rupert on its "franchise ready to open" list. It's all rumours about it actually opening, though, but it'd be nice to have more fast food options.

What I like is the "chain restaurant" thing going on at the Canadian Tire/Wal Mart complex proposal. When you have been deprived of standard chain restaurants, you'll be happy to have anything new to open in town.

lol. yeah.


and yes, there was a A&W in rupert at one time. it was near where the new SPCA building is now, i do believe.

i remember going to kelowna and going to walmart and being so amazed by it. weird.

Really strange that a city of 14-17K would lose an A&W franchise, or any fast food chain franchise for that matter. I mean c'mon, I can name a few towns with even lower populations than PR that still have operating A&W franchises, even in BC. Like Chetwynd (pop only 2.5K) and Dawson Creek (pop. 12K), for example. I also vaguely something about a McDonald's which damn well near got run out of PR due to the city council. I can understand a Wal-Mart or some other big box chain getting that treatment, but this is a little crazy!

I don't wish to alarm you all or put you down, but some people up there must be seeing the glass as half-empty an awful lot despite the good news in Prince Rupert's future. Especially after I stumbled into this forum/site via Google called hackingthemainframe.com (maybe at least one of you have heard of this one): http://hackingthemainframe.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

But things seem to be moving along nicely, I hope. A rail link run by BC Rail between Hythe, AB (just west of Grande Prairie) and Dawson Creek has recently reopened after a decade of being shut down, and that is a move strongly connected to the future port expansion in Prince Rupert. But BC Rail is being bought up by CN and integrated into its network, so this might have something to do with that as well. At any rate, it's good news for the Peace Region. Grande Prairie (pop 45K - will hit 50K by 2007-2008) has already acquired land to build a container terminal for rail cargo distribution. GP is already undergoing a massive expansion of industrial land no doubt due to the oil and natural gas industry, which is just insanely active up there now. I wouldn't be surprised if Edmonton and maybe Prince George have some plans cooking for cargo distribution down the road, too.

Really strange that a city of 14-17K would lose an A&W franchise, or any fast food chain franchise for that matter. I mean c'mon, I can name a few towns with even lower populations than PR that still have operating A&W franchises, even in BC. Like Chetwynd (pop only 2.5K) and Dawson Creek (pop. 12K), for example. I also vaguely something about a McDonald's which damn well near got run out of PR due to the city council. I can understand a Wal-Mart or some other big box chain getting that treatment, but this is a little crazy!

I don't wish to alarm you all or put you down, but some people up there must be seeing the glass as half-empty an awful lot despite the good news in Prince Rupert's future. Especially after I stumbled into this forum/site via Google called hackingthemainframe.com (maybe at least one of you have heard of this one): http://hackingthemainframe.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

But things seem to be moving along nicely, I hope. A rail link run by BC Rail between Hythe, AB (just west of Grande Prairie) and Dawson Creek has recently reopened after a decade of being shut down, and that is a move strongly connected to the future port expansion in Prince Rupert. But BC Rail is being bought up by CN and integrated into its network, so this might have something to do with that as well. At any rate, it's good news for the Peace Region. Grande Prairie (pop 45K - will hit 50K by 2007-2008) has already acquired land to build a container terminal for rail cargo distribution. GP is already undergoing a massive expansion of industrial land no doubt due to the oil and natural gas industry, which is just insanely active up there now. I wouldn't be surprised if Edmonton and maybe Prince George have some plans cooking for cargo distribution down the road, too.


Oh yeah, that's where I got some of those "rumours" from. hackingthemainframe is my friend's uncle's site. The others I found on the front page Daily News, Prince Rupert's newspaper. Daily News should be pretty reliable, I hope.

KFC closed down in Prince Rupert too, just last May. And no wonder it closed down. It's take-out only practically, with five of those spinny chairs as seating.

And that's good to hear Grande Prairie and Alberta is benefitting from Prince Rupert! I read somewhere (either on here or in the newspaper) that Prince Rupert is "Alberta's port".

^i used to go to hackingthemainframe.com when i lived there...

and no, the daily news is not reliable. they're ones to fuel the flames. my mom used to work there at one time.

Small town A&W ... chase B.C. ( pop . 1700 ) yes , they have an A&W. sad for PR .

Uh-oh..... :(

Legal action threatens Prince Rupert development
Tsimshian want port expansion stalled
Headshot of Mark Hume

By MARK HUME

Friday, January 20, 2006 Page S1

* E-mail Mark Hume
* Read Bio
* Latest Columns

VANCOUVER -- With a $160-million development to the Port of Prince Rupert at stake, phone lines were heating up yesterday as officials tried to head off a Federal Court action by the Coast Tsimshian.

"I don't know that there's any way to describe how important it is," Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said yesterday of the port expansion, which is being held up by the threat of legal action.

"It is the centrepiece of the infrastructure building campaign that is under way here . . . this is important not only to the region, but all of Western Canada."

Mr. Pond said he has been urging native leaders and government officials to get back to the bargaining table and find a solution to the impasse.

"Delays [to construction] at this point could be crucial," Mr. Pond said.

Don Krusel, president of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, agreed.

"Our biggest concern right now is . . . there's not much sand left in the hourglass," Mr. Krusel said. "I want to see construction started soon . . . this development has huge importance to this region and it would be a shame to put that at risk."

Plans to expand Prince Rupert's port facilities to allow for the increased handling of container traffic have been before the federal government for review for several months. But approval has been held up largely because of concerns raised by the Lax Kw'alaams and Metlakatla, two subgroups of the Coast Tsimshian First Nation.

"We have been ready to move into construction for the past two months," said Shaun Stevenson, director of business development for the Prince Rupert Port Authority. "There's a real sense of urgency that we need to have this approved."

He said there appears to be no environmental or scientific grounds for holding up the project, known as the Fairview Terminal Conversion, and offers have been made to the Coast Tsimshian to provide job training and business development opportunities.

But Garry Reece, chief councillor for the Lax Kw'alaams, said native leaders don't think the development is offering them enough.

The Coast Tsimshian filed a notice of application in Federal Court this week that seeks a judicial review of a pending decision by the Minister of Transport to authorize the Fairview Terminal Conversion.

The native organization is asking for a declaration that the federal government has a duty to consult with, and, if appropriate, accommodate, the Coast Tsimshian "regarding the adverse impacts" on aboriginal title and rights.

The action seeks an interlocutory injunction prohibiting the government from authorizing the port expansion until the application is resolved.

Chief Reece said existing port facilities sit on a site the Lax Kw'alaams once used as a shellfish harvesting area and where winter villages have been located.

He said past developments have hurt the Lax Kw'alaams, and the Coast Tsimshian are determined not to suffer further detrimental impacts.

"There was no consultation with the Coast Tsimshian or accommodation of their aboriginal rights and title at the time of the original construction of the Fairview Terminal, and the Coast Tsimshian have never been accommodated for the infringements of their aboriginal rights and title from the construction and operation of the Fairview Terminal bulk and break-bulk facility to the present date," the court application states.

The application also says the federal government has rejected the need for consultation because development is taking place largely on 21.5 hectares of land surrendered by the Tsimshian in 1906. The document quotes a letter from Robert Prud'homme of Transport Canada, which states that "it has been Canada's position from the beginning of discussions that we would not be entertaining potential impacts to rights or title as against previously surrendered lands."

Chief Reece said he's not happy with how development took place in the past, but is not opposed to the proposed expansion -- as long as it is beneficial to his people.

"I'm kind of hoping they will come back to the table," he said. "We want to be part of that [port development]. We're looking for jobs for our people and greater business involvement."

surprise who would have though they would do that , everyone thats who .

Funny thing is, I see no benefits for the aboriginal people if they successfully shut down the whole project. What would 0.72 hectares of "land where the Lax Kw'alaams once hunted and had winter villages" be of any benefit to the chief (or the Natives), especially since they hardly follow the lifestyle that their ancestors once lived?

Excerpts:

He said there appears to be no environmental or scientific grounds for holding up the project, known as the Fairview Terminal Conversion, and offers have been made to the Coast Tsimshian to provide job training and business development opportunities. (...) Chief Reece said he's not happy with how development took place in the past, but is not opposed to the proposed expansion -- as long as it is beneficial to his people.

"I'm kind of hoping they will come back to the table," he said. "We want to be part of that [port development]. We're looking for jobs for our people and greater business involvement."

If offers have been made to train the Coast Tsimshian to be prepared for the container port, what more "business involvement" does Reece want?

They obviously only want to milk as much money and benefits out of this project while they still can. Shutting it down would be detrimental to everyone. I say just give it to them, this development it too important to get held up by petty disputes.

the real problem is that they dont care about anyone but them selves

it's about time to use the Significant Projects Streamlining Act.

There's hope yet...! :cool:

This just in from the Globe and Mail:


Prince Rupert port plan is given the green light

By MARK HUME

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Page S1

VANCOUVER -- A $160-million port expansion that is seen as an economic engine for Canada's northwest coast has been approved by the federal government and construction is to start immediately, despite threatened court action by the Coast Tsimshian.

Don Krusel, president and chief executive officer of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, said yesterday that work is getting under way as quickly as possible on the project to increase the facility's ability to handle container traffic from across North America.

"This is a significant first step. . . . The construction of the container terminal in Prince Rupert is now progressing and the terminal is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2007," Mr. Krusel said.

The Fairview Terminal Conversion project, which is being supported by matching funding of $30-million each from the federal and provincial governments, was threatened last week when the Coast Tsimshian filed a notice of application in Federal Court.

The native group, which represents several bands in the Prince Rupert area, has warned it will seek an injunction to stop the project unless it is consulted about aboriginal title and rights issues.

The Coast Tsimshian say the existing port facility is built on a site where native winter villages and shellfish harvesting beds once existed, and the expansion will have further impact.

Garry Reece, chief councillor for the Lax Kw'alaams band, said he was surprised the project was approved by the federal government.

"We haven't been back at the table to negotiate [since the application was filed]. But the port's lawyer told our lawyer the project was signed off on yesterday by the government," Mr. Reece said.

"If they are going ahead and we're not back at the table, then we'll have to go to court," he said. "We'd rather negotiate than be in the court, but if they aren't going to put more on the table, we'll go ahead with the case."

Mr. Krusel said construction is being started because the Coast Tsimshian, of which the Lax Kw'alaams are a member, have at this point only filed a notice of application with the court.

"It is only a threat right now," he said. "There is no actual court action attempting to stop the project at this point in time. So with the issuance of the necessary environmental permits, and given our tight timelines, we had no choice but to push on."

He said he hopes discussions can resume with the Coast Tsimshian.

"There's still an offer on the table. I know from the federal government side that the door is wide open for continuing discussions."

Plans to expand the port had been before the federal government for review for several months, but approval had been stalled because of concerns raised by the Coast Tsimshian. In addition to recognition of aboriginal title rights, the group is seeking employment and business opportunities.

Mr. Krusel and other officials had expressed concerns last week about the delays.

In a statement yesterday, Mr. Krusel said Fraser River Pile & Dredge and Western Industrial Contractors have been selected to complete wharf construction, in the first contract awarded relating to the terminal development.

A 400-metre-long wharf is being built to accommodate a new generation of post-Panamax ships -- vessels that can carry the equivalent of 6,600 six-metre containers. The super ships, which are becoming increasingly popular, are too big to fit through the Panama Canal and can't be handled by smaller ports.

:carrot: :applause: :fiddle: :baeh3:

The Star Ledger (New Jersey):

Garden State Business Briefs
Thursday, January 26, 2006

Maher Terminals has ordered three giant container cranes for its new operations at the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia.

The so-called ultra-post panamax cranes, manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery in China, will be capable of handling some of the world's largest cargo ships. In maritime jargon, "post panamax" is used to describe ships too large to travel through the Panama Canal.

The cranes are expected to arrive in Prince Rupert in September, according to Frans van Riemsdyk, a senior vice president of sales and marketing for Maher Terminals.

Each of the cranes will be capable of lifting 65 tons and reaching as far as 205 feet from the dock to transfer containers on and off huge cargo ships. They will be the tallest structures in Prince Rupert, standing nearly 400 feet high.

Maher Terminals of Canada Corp., an arm of Berkeley Heights-based Maher Terminals, will manage and operate the Port of Prince Rupert's first container terminal.

-- Susan Todd

Way to go Prince Rupert!

well, that's pretty spiffy about my former hometown...

Here're some Rupert photos that I decided to take today because it finally stopped raining (it has been raining for about one and a half months, if not more, with a day break of non-rain every three weeks or so). I took them while the car was moving, so some pictures may be blurry.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0004.jpg

Charles Hays Secondary School, aka the better high school in town. :jk:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0005.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0006.jpg

An apartment by McDonald's, outside of downtown Prince Rupert. 11 or 12 stories? I dunno.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0007.jpg

Courthouse.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0008.jpg

Highliner Inn + you can see the rest of the Rupert Square parking lot.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0009.jpg

Inn on the Harbour + La Gondola's.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0011.jpg

Empty lot beside old Dairy Queen.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0012.jpg

Old Dairy Queen.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0017.jpg

The Performing Arts Centre, where it holds performances and can seat 700 people.

nice shots Id like to see more if you get time!

Here're some Rupert photos that I decided to take today because it finally stopped raining (it has been raining for about one and a half months, if not more, with a day break of non-rain every three weeks or so). I took them while the car was moving, so some pictures may be blurry.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/PIC_0004.jpg

Charles Hays Secondary School, aka the better high school in town. :jk:




HEY! PRSS IS WAY BETTER!!!!! i went to both of them.

wow, nothing seems to have changed. you should go past my old house and take a picture of it for me...

I don't really know whether this is good or bad that Harper's decided to cancel the sale of this terminal, but the future is looking brighter for Rupert and Northern BC anyways! I'm shocked at how under capacity that terminal has been operating.

Tumbler Ridge's been a half-ghost town since the early 1990s. It's time that BC's newest town started seeing a better future. A bit off topic, but if you think housing in Rupert's ridiculously cheap - you ain't seen Tumbler Ridge. You could actually get a single-family house a few years ago there for as little as $2K-3K!

Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006

Harper cancels sale of B.C. shipping terminal

VANCOUVER (CP) - The federal government has cancelled the sale of the Ridley Island shipping terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C., to an Ontario company.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced at a caucus meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday that he had signed the papers cancelling the deal with Fortune Minerals Ltd. of London, Ont. The Ridley terminal, built in the 1980s, is an ice-free, deepwater harbour.

It was originally built as a Crown facility by the federal government at a cost to taxpayers of $250 million to load and ship coal from the Quintette and Bullmoose mines at Tumbler Ridge in northeast B.C.

The other strategic reason for its importance is that it is the western terminus for the CN Railway and the closest port in North America to Asia.

Over the last several years, with coal prices in the dumps and Quintette and Bullmoose shut down, the future of Ridley looked bleak.

The previous Liberal government said it wanted to sell the property because it said it was costing taxpayers $500,000 a month in subsidies to operate.

But the future of coal has recently brightened, especially due to China's booming economy, which caused other companies to show an interest in the way the terminal is operated.

New coal mines are being developed in B.C. and Alberta and Ridley management estimates that coal shipments will increase dramatically over the next several years.

Last year, only 1.3 million tonnes of coal was shipped and the terminal's capacity is 16 million tonnes.

A group calling itself the Ridley Shippers Coalition and consisting of about five shippers want to run the terminal as a non-profit co-operative. Fortune wanted to run it as a for-profit venture.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

xx

^^actually, i've heard that it's a good thing that he did it. apparently it would have assfucked rupert even more if they sold it. that's just what i've heard. i may be totally wrong

Some new Prince Rupert news:

----

(from ccnmatthews.com)

JUNE 6, 2006 - 09:00 ET

WestPac LNG Corporation: Approval Process Begins for Prince Rupert LNG Terminal

PRINCE RUPERT, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - June 6, 2006) - WestPac LNG Corporation is proposing to build a $350 million dollar Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) receipt and transshipment terminal on Ridley Island, an industrial park 11 kilometres outside of this northern port city. The Calgary-based company has formally begun the environmental assessment and regulatory review process by filing its Project Description with the Prince Rupert Port Authority. (more... (http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&searchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=598138) )

----

(from canada.com: source (http://www.canada.com/cityguides/princerupert/story.html?id=f448f010-89b2-4bdf-8676-e58c4aeb61b8) )

New era for Skeena mill site starts today

By Sarah Fox, The Daily News
Published: Friday, June 16, 2006

Another huge step on the road to reopening the Prince Rupert Pulp Mill was taken yesterday when Sun Wave Forest Ltd. bought the Watson Island land that the idled mill rests upon.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the company,” said Susanna Xu, president of Sun Wave Forest Products, the B.C. division of the China Paper Group (CPG).

“We have had a lot of support and cooperation from all the stakeholders and are pleased to take this important step towards the re-start of the pulp mill.”...

----

(from London Free Press)

CNR buying 50 new locomotives
Thu, June 15, 2006
By CP



Fifty new locomotives for Canadian National Railway Co. will be finished at Electro-Motive Diesel Inc.’s London factory.

MONTREAL -- Canadian National Railway Co. said yesterday it is buying 50 more locomotives from Electro-Motive Diesel Inc. to haul traffic to and from the new intermodal terminal at the port of Prince Rupert, B.C. (more... (http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Business/2006/06/15/1633291-sun.html) )

New shopping centre

Royop Corporation (http://www.royop.com/current.htm)

Prince Rupert Commercial is a 25 acre site anchored by large national retailers, which are yet to be announced. Prince Rupert is the location of Canada’s second container port with direct shipping and receiving containers coming in and then being directed all over North America. This container port is set to bring in workers from all over Canada and add to Prince Rupert’s economy. This is a great opportunity for retailers and restaurants due to the Prince Rupert’s forecast for high growth.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/royop1.png

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/micmiko2/royop2.png

I think it is also requesting to increase the size from 16 acres to 25 acres of land by buying more property from the BC Hydro site. More big box stores :sleepy:, but at least Rupertites can save fuel instead of driving to Terrace.

That's good news to see other communities up north booming. Hopefuly everything turns out well, it would be nice to see prince rupert take off in job creation and population growth.

Looks like at least one developer's already bullish about Prince Rupert.

Finally !! Its about time.

CN Announces Inland Container Port Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By 250 News

Friday, March 30, 2007 01:31 PM




First Avenue rail yard wil be site of CN's inland container port

CN has announced it will construct a $20-million inland container port at its First Avenue yard in Prince George.

This will be for the export of containerized products to and from Asian markets through the new Port of Prince Rupert, rail/maritime intermodal facility.

“The new Prince George terminal is an important part of the Pacific Gateway Strategy as it will maximize the potential of new port capacity at Prince Rupert,” says Peter Marshall, CN senior vice-president, Western Region.

“The Prince George facility is ideally located to tap backhaul export opportunities, filling empty containers moving to Asia via Prince Rupert with lumber, panels, woodpulp and paper, as well as ores, plastics and some metals products. It will help CN maximize revenue potential generated from the new terminal at Prince Rupert, and create new economic and employment opportunities in northern B.C.,” says Marshall.

The new facility, with an 84,000 square-foot warehouse and 10 acres of outside storage, is expected to open in fall 2007. It will load containers with products arriving at the facility by rail or truck. The loaded containers will then be lifted onto railway flatcars at CN’s new adjacent intermodal rail yard, and daily service will be offered from this terminal to the Port of Prince Rupert.

oh wow, you guys are lucky. we are still waiting to see if we are gonna get an inland port in kamloops.
it'll be a great economic spinoff for pg

This is definately good news for Prince George. This along with the runway extension to 11 400ft should help make Prince George a great distribution hub at sometime in the future. I have heard recently that the feds have delayed funging for the runway extension for 3 months to go over the business plan. Nevertheless I am sure it will go ahead.

good thread , now some pics please?

I am graduating here at UNB in about 2 weeks and will be in Prince George in early may, if I can manage to find a camera I will definately go for a nice long walk and take some pictures. Here is one I found on the net though.
http://www-mtl.mit.edu/~fana/Alaska_trip/Icefield_pwky/prince_george_medium.jpg
A guy named Andy Fan took this picture, I hope he doesn't mind me posting it, he does have some nice pictures however and can be looked at http://www-mtl.mit.edu/~fana/

Home prices soaring


by PAUL STRICKLAND

Citizen staff

Average sale prices of Prince George homes are up almost 20 per cent in the past three months and have risen more than 32 per cent in the past year, figures released Tuesday by the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board reveal.
During the first quarter of this year, 243 single-family detached houses sold for an average of $232,951. In the first quarter of 2006, the average price of 244 homes sold was $176,172.

The average price at the end of last year, calculated from the sale value of all 1,257 homes sold during 2006, was $195,943.

Average prices for a single-detached home have advanced about 19 per cent beyond that in just three months.

"Most areas are experiencing a shortage of good, available properties and we are seeing inventory levels dropping as low as a two-and-a-half-month supply of listings," board president Glen Holling said Tuesday.

"This, together with low residential building starts in some areas, along with steady demand will likely have the effect of causing further price increases," he said. "Real estate in northern B.C. continues to be a good investment for the long term."

In the west part of Prince George, the median price of the 81 single-family homes that have sold through the Multiple Listing Service was $223,000 with an average time to sell of 32 days. In the area east of the Bypass, the 59 single-family houses that sold had a median price of $175,000, and those homes took an average of 42 days to sell, according to figures provided by the board.

In the northern part of the city, in the Hart, 41 single-detached houses sold with a median price of $247,000 and took 37.5 days to sell, the board said.

In the southwest sector of the city, which includes College Heights, 59 houses have sold since January with a median price of $294,750. These houses were on the market for an average of 40 days, the board said.

A median price is the price of the house in the middle of the list of the sale prices of all homes that changed hands during a quarter or year. The average price is derived from adding together the value of all homes sold and dividing by the number of homes sold during the time period in question.

During the first three months of this year, 415 properties of all types, worth a total of $83.6 million, changed hands within the city. At the end of last month, there were 534 properties of all types listed within city limits, the board said.

Throughout the entire region, which extends from 100 Mile House through Fort Nelson and from Prince Rupert to the Alberta border, sales reached a record $244 million for the total value of all properties sold in the first three months of this year. This is up 35 per cent from the same period last year and almost double the $125.8 million of the first quarter of 2005. The number of properties included in this total was 1,327, up slightly from the 1,298 properties that changed hands in the first quarter of 2006.

"The various markets in the northern two-thirds of the province continue to provide marketing challenges as each community has its own unique set of circumstances contributing to the real estate market," Holling said.

"Oil and gas exploration in the north has slowed, mining activity in the Williams Lake and Smithers areas has increased, and some areas are experiencing growth thanks to the construction of the container port in Prince Rupert," he observed. "Mortgage rates continue to be reasonable, and all pundits call for a continuation of these historically low rates.

"We are cautiously optimistic that all our markets will do as well as last year or better."

In Mackenzie there have been 13 sales this year compared to nine during the same period last year. The total value of these properties was $1.37 million this year, compared to $591,900 last year.

On average, houses in Mackenzie took 72 days to sell this year, down from 118 days in 2006. As of March 31 there were 25 properties in all categories for sale in that

wow house are rather cheap to buy in pg. i wish they were that cheap in kamloops, i would have bought one buy now.
lucky.

http://www.gis.unbc.ca/courses/geog432/projects/2006/jallen/images/pg_real_colour.jpg
http://www.spookyhill.net/wp-content/uploads/2004_aerial_02.jpg

^ great pics. is that UNBC?

Yes that's UNBC. I think I had posted some pics in a BC Photo thread many moons ago. If you look on the upper left you can the building with the Green roof. That's the CN Centre arena and on the very upper right is the Husky refinery and 2 of Canfor's pulpmills . The third is hidden by the hills in the upper centre.

These are of UNBC from the parking lot. I took these last summer.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/july2306013-1.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/july2306014.jpg

Downtown from the same spot.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/july2306007.jpg
Looking east at Tabor mountain. Nice view my cam doesn't do it justice and it was a bit hazy that day.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/july2306003.jpg

I didn't take these but what the hell , I'll post em anyways.
From top to bottom, The Courthouse , Two Rivers art gallery & The Museum.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/2002_0627_123908AA-th.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/tworiversgallery.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/Museum.jpg

nice pics, it'll be better when you are able to post some more.
id like to see the towers from downtown pg.
i can't say ive ever been in the downtown core before.

the Downtown really isnt that bad at all .

There are currently a few planned projects for downtown Prince George, some will happen however some will not.

1. Condos

6 story condominium tower, last summer a previously planned 4 story building was said to have gone back to the architect to add additional floors. Nothing has been said about this project in about 10 months so we will see if it comes to fruitition. I would assume that the increased construction costs will put this one to rest.

2. Police Station

The city is constructing a new police station downtown at what I would say the densest intersection. The design is being done right now and construction should start within the next year.

3. Container Port

As previously mentioned, CN is construction a new intermodal, container stuffing facility at its downtown yard. THis will contain a 82 000sq ft warehouse facility. This project removes the previous plan of attempting to tie the downtown core to the rivers.

4. Downtown Gaming centre

This facility is currently underconstruction and will take up pretty much an entire city block. THis facility will contain a new city parkade as well as 4 condominium units.

5. Condos

An architect out of San Fran has pushed his condo idea, it would be I believe 28 units on a total of 4 or 5 stories. The renderings are hidious and I really hope that this project won't happen. It never really had a chance anyways. This architect also planned an 80 unit apartment building but I am doubting this will be constructed either.

6. Community Energy System

This is a project that may go ahead if given government funding. It will connect major downtown buildings with a central heating plant that will burn woodwaste. The original plan was to embed pipes into 3rd avenue to melt the snow but due to cost constraints this idea was nixed.


There have been rumours that the Coast Inn of the North was planning an expansion however rumours are just that.

Airport project planned

MARK NIELSEN

Citizen staff


(News) Saturday, 28 April 2007, 06:00 PST
A massive light industrial development is in the works for land west of the Prince George Airport.

Henry Rempel, a businessman based in New Westminster who owns apartment buildings and townhouses in Prince George, is heading an effort to assemble 900 hectares in the area and has hired L&M Engineering of Prince George to guide the venture over the bureaucratic hurdles.

The idea is to provide locations for the business spinoffs expected to emerge once the Prince Rupert container terminal, the airport runway extension and the CN Rail transload operation and intermodal rail terminal are completed.

The venture will provide a major boost to the city's economy if it goes ahead, said Prince George Chamber of Commerce president Garth Frizzell, particularly combined with the three other projects.

"People have to see (Prince George) as a credible centre of transportation if they're going to start locating businesses here and this will add another piece to the puzzle," he said. "A pretty central piece, too."

Initiatives Prince George president Gerry Offet said it will provide a 10-to-20 year supply of "very-high-quality" light-industrial land.

"This is planning for the future and I think it's good to see a private source is going through the expense of getting the land ready for development (as opposed to the city)," Offet said.

The venture will also have a significant impact on the city's transportation network. Plans drafted by L&M Engineering call for extending Boundary Road in the Danson industrial area across the Fraser River so Highway 97 South is connected with Highway 16 West and trucks carrying dangerous goods can bypass the city.

Heather Oland, a planner at L&M, said the first phase of development will likely occur northwest of the airport, near where the airport has plans for additional hangars, and consist of aviation and logistics-related businesses.

However, some major steps need to be completed first, beginning with winning approval from the Agricultural Land Commission for an application to exclude about 550 hectares of Crown land currently designated agricultural.

Advertising and notification of neighbouring landowners began today and the application will be submitted to city hall by as early as May 7 -- all the land is within city boundaries. City council will then have 90 days to makes its views known to the ALC's three-member north panel, which will make a final decision.

Getting the land out of the ALR should not be an issue, Oland said, because it's of marginal agricultural value and there has been a net gain of agricultural land in B.C. over the years, particularly in the North.

Agriculture and Lands Minister and Prince George North MLA Pat Bell said it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the specific application because the ALC is a quasi-judicial body at arm's-length from the government. However, he said the ALC has had a history of allowing exclusions for marginal land.

It was about this time last year that city council turned down a request to make a "community-based" application to the ALC in part because a study commissioned by Initiatives Prince George on regional container market opportunities had not yet been completed and CN Rail's plans for the First Avenue yard were not clear.

That study has since been completed and CN Rail announced last month it will spend $20 million on an intermodal yard at the First Avenue yard, centred on an 84,000-square-foot warehouse with 10 acres of outside storage.

The aim is to have it ready by this fall to coincide with completion of the first phase of the container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert.

Work on the airport runway extension, which would make it long enough to handle large cargo jets, was supposed to have started this month but will be delayed by as much as a year because federal bureaucrats decided a consultant should review the project's feasibility.

The 900 hectares will increase the amount of industrial land within city limits by about 50 per cent, but it's light industrial land, Oland stressed.

"It's clean type of industry, so it's not something that would be impacting the airshed," she said.

Rempel declined to comment, saying he preferred to let L&M do the talking for him.

nice to see you guys are still alive and kicking.
nice to see projects are still happening too.
now all you guys need one day is a photo tour....

I'll work on the photo tour when I have some time off and when the leaves are out and help hide all the dead pine trees LOL.

Anyways , here's some info about the new Prince Rupert port.

Area pulp mills could benefit from Chinese shipping deal
Tuesday, 15 May 2007, 02:00 PST
by Citizen staff
A deal has been reached with a Beijing-based steamship company to ship goods between Asia and the Port of Prince Rupert, CN Rail announced Monday.

COSCO Container Lines Americas, Inc., will start service starting in the fourth quarter of 2007, CN Rail said in a press release.

Prince George will stand to benefit directly, Initiatives Prince George president Gerry Offet said, particularly on the pulp side.

"We know that our pulp mills have significant markets in China and those will probably be the primary ports of call for COSCO, so it presents some real back haul opportunities," he said.

"We see that as an immediate benefit and a further benefit is that we will no be able to focus our marketing on other manufacturers that ship products to China."

COSCO Container Lines Americas, Inc., is part of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, headquartered in Beijing. It was described by CN as a $17-billion giant, specializing in shipping and modern logistics.

“CN is delighted to have COSCO as its first customer to call on the Prince Rupert container terminal, a new North American gateway for Asian trade," James M. Foote, CN’s executive vice-president of sales and marketing, said in the press release.

“Our partnership with COSCO, and Prince Rupert container terminal operator Maher Terminals of Canada Corp., is clear recognition of the competitive advantages of the new port facility and CN’s rail network reach and superior service offering.

"The Rupert-CN-Maher combination will inject meaningful port-rail-terminal capacity into the global supply chain, and will offer shippers the fastest, most efficient and most cost-effective routing for Asian traffic destined to and from the interior of North America.”

Phase one of the Prince Rupert terminal project will have initial throughput capacity of 500,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent containers) annually and is part of a broader plan to build a facility capable of handling two million TEUs per year

COSCO to route freight through new Canada terminal

TORONTO, May 14 (Reuters) - COSCO Container Lines Americas Inc. will be the first shipping company to route Asian freight through the new Port of Prince Rupert terminal on Canada's West Coast after signing a deal with Canadian National Railway Co. , CN said on Monday.

COSCO, part of Beijing-based China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. , is to begin service via Prince Rupert and CN for container shipments starting in the fourth quarter, CN said.

The first phase of the Prince Rupert terminal project will have initial annual container capacity of about 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.

It is part of a broader plan to build a facility capable of handling 2 million TEUs per year.

"Our partnership with COSCO, and Prince Rupert container terminal operator Maher Terminals of Canada Corp., is clear recognition of the competitive advantages of the new port facility and CN's rail network reach," CN vice-president James Foote said in a statement.

Shares of CN were down 19 Canadian cents at C$57.20 midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

($1=$1.11 Canadian)

COSCO to route freight through new Canada terminal

TORONTO, May 14 (Reuters) - COSCO Container Lines Americas Inc. will be the first shipping company to route Asian freight through the new Port of Prince Rupert terminal on Canada's West Coast after signing a deal with Canadian National Railway Co. , CN said on Monday.

COSCO, part of Beijing-based China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. , is to begin service via Prince Rupert and CN for container shipments starting in the fourth quarter, CN said.

The first phase of the Prince Rupert terminal project will have initial annual container capacity of about 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.

It is part of a broader plan to build a facility capable of handling 2 million TEUs per year.

"Our partnership with COSCO, and Prince Rupert container terminal operator Maher Terminals of Canada Corp., is clear recognition of the competitive advantages of the new port facility and CN's rail network reach," CN vice-president James Foote said in a statement.

Shares of CN were down 19 Canadian cents at C$57.20 midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

($1=$1.11 Canadian)
CN's western Canada-Chicago (ex-Wisconsin Central) mainline passes through the Appleton, WI metro area (Neenah, WI, to be exact) and we are expecting a major train traffic increase when this new port opens. About how many trains of COSCO containers can we reasonably look forward to seeing here every week?

Mike

Things are looking up for Prince Rupert... I guess there's still time to get property on the cheap... very tempting

One of my brothers works at CN. For the first phase of the port i've heard they expect to add 2 full trains per day into Prince George from Prince Rupert. Now consider that phase 1 is only 1/4 of what the port is planned to have 5 years down the road. CN is already working on major expansion plans for both its Prince George yards. I would suspect most of that traffic will head to chicago so look for a lot more headed your way.

Jeff.

whos developing the mall in PR ?

ohh , never minnd I didnt look very carfully . lol

Hey guys,
just joined this page after lurking for a few months - I have a day off tomorrow, I'll go take some photos around town - I love hearing people talk about the future of this city (I work at a news station, but it's nice to see other people discussing it), I just bought a house and am excited for the changes! My plan is to take a few pictures of some parks, a bunch of downtown, and some of the new construction (new Brick building, some College Heights projects - the new gaming centre). Any suggestions, please let me know!

Where's my brain :bash: - I'll grab some shots of the new Container Port construction as well!

sweet! welcome to skyscrapercity canada!

There are currently a few planned projects for downtown Prince George, some will happen however some will not.


2. Police Station
The city is constructing a new police station downtown at what I would say the densest intersection. The design is being done right now and construction should start within the next year.
http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/7967/124800x600yz8.jpg
- This is the location for it. I can't wait to see that eyesore turned into something else!


3. Container Port
As previously mentioned, CN is construction a new intermodal, container stuffing facility at its downtown yard. THis will contain a 82 000sq ft warehouse facility. This project removes the previous plan of attempting to tie the downtown core to the rivers.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9536/163800x600oi4.jpg
- Best picture I could get of it. They're still working on it.


4. Downtown Gaming centre
This facility is currently underconstruction and will take up pretty much an entire city block. THis facility will contain a new city parkade as well as 4 condominium units.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7179/222800x600bp1.jpg
- It will be interesting to see what this ends up looking like.


5. Condos
An architect out of San Fran has pushed his condo idea, it would be I believe 28 units on a total of 4 or 5 stories. The renderings are hidious and I really hope that this project won't happen. It never really had a chance anyways. This architect also planned an 80 unit apartment building but I am doubting this will be constructed either.

- I looked everywhere for this one, I remember the rendering - hilarious. Green and purple.





And here are some random shots I got while on my journey. I'm a sucker for big buildings, but this town doesn't have many - so I concentrated more on "big" than "interesting". I'm not a great photographer, and a lot of the shots look gloomy - I started around the time the clouds were rolling away. The city has a nice compact downtown core (of course I would prefer big and sprawling - but I'm in the wrong city for that!), and all of my pictures were taken downtown. Any questions about the buildings, just ask!

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/1249/220800x600dm2.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/6674/233800x600lx7.jpg
http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/143/247800x600jy7.jpg
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/1321/248800x600vd9.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=144800x600jn1.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1706/213800x600sn9.jpg
http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/9431/131800x600ci2.jpg
http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/7826/137800x600zj5.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2876/253800x600ck6.jpg
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^ nice pics. thx for sharing.

that's a pretty huge HSBC building.

im surprised i didn't notice the updates sooner.
awesome job on the pictures, i coulda sworn last time i was in pg i remember seeing more towers than what you took pictures of.
pg reminds me of kamloops in some ways, mainly because both cities have a decent sized downtown core with about the same number of towers and they both have pulpmills that give give off that unpleasent odour on certain days.
i noticed in one of your pics of the radio station that you guys have a station called the "river" we have a radio station called the river also...weird

oh and that hsbc building is pretty big, ours is only 1 or 2 stories.

would it kill them to plant some trees or something downtown
haha

Cool pics of downtown Prince George. Western city's downtowns are so much different looking than here in Ontario!

how so different?
more condensed? or what?

nice pictures....

There are plans to plant more trees downtown but really only $200 000 at a time. Quebec street is also going to get a major overhaul. Personally, I think that they should raise about a block downtown and build an urban park like they have in other cities.

how so different?
more condensed? or what?

they are more sparse here in BC

even the smallest of small out east has some cool downtowns - like old 2 -4 storey victorian era store fronts - all up on the street - compared to BC which seems more sparse and lower often with parking lots in the front

I noticed that when i moved to ontario from BC for school - even what seemed to be the middle of nowhere you would find the downtowns to be more significant feeling

like this is downtown belleville - close in size to Prince George

http://www.city.belleville.on.ca/files/images/Bvillefrontst.jpg

this is downtown stratford

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b2/Stratford15.jpg/300px-Stratford15.jpg

downtown kingston

http://boldts.net/photos/King2.jpeg

downtown Gananoque

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Gananoque_King_St.JPG/200px-Gananoque_King_St.JPG

st mary's ontario

http://stmarysheritage.bravehost.com/photos/42.jpg

http://avenue.org/amm/LondonAle1.jpg

i haven't been in downtown PG since the 80's - is that mall still there downtown that had the bay in it? can someone take pics of it?

how so different?
more condensed? or what?

Spongeg pretty much summed it up, but I'll just add my two cents anyway.

Not including highrise office and apartment buildings which are more or less the same whether in the East or West, Ontario cities almost always have at least one "Main" street stretching for many blocks that is lined with a solid streetwall of 2 to 4 storey brick buildings, many of which may be over 100 years old, while the cites in the west tend to have more one or two storey buildings along their downtown streets with spaces between them and obviously far less brick is used in their construction. It's just a matter of the time difference between when the cities in the East and West boomed and what sort of building materials were available during that time.

Here's a pic I took of North Bay's main downtown street, which is actually called Main street. North Bay has a population of 55,000.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/Softee2/March29th2007034resized.jpg

This is Mcintyre Steet, which is one street over from Main street.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/Softee2/May5th2007019resized.jpg

ahhh threadjacking... what are forums for anyways... nice pics though

ive never been back east before so now i see what your talking about. and like you said it has to do with the population growth back east being much bigger than here in the west.
thanks for showing me the differences.

The thing I notice right away with the eastern cities is simply the age of the buildings. As it was metioned places like North Bay and Kingston have been around for hundreds of years in some cases. The fact is here in PG most of the larger buildings are only 30 years old. PG only started to boom in the 70's.
All that was here 100 years ago was a trading post. and that's pretty much the same for Kamloops and Kelowna as well. But it's nice to see a different view of things from what we have here.

Support for Airport Expansion Yes...Cheque? Not Yet
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By 250 News

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 03:23 PM




He didn’t bring a cheque, but Federal Minister of Natural Resources, Gary Lunn, says the Federal government is 100% behind the airport expansion in Prince George.

Lunn earlier today announced a Federal Government grant for the expansion of the Kamloops airport by 2,000 ft.. Ottawa will contribute $6. 6 million towards that expansion, although Lunn says that when it comes to the cheque actually being written, Kamloops is behind Prince George.

The Prince George Airport Authority has been seeking $11 million dollars from the Federal Government for the expansion of the Prince George Airport runway to allow for the landing and refueling of large jets coming over Canada from the Orient. Lunn announced in January that the Federal Government would put in its one third share, but has since ordered another consultants report on the project. Provincial funding is also waiting on word from that consultant’s report.

Lunn added “We definitely are going to be funding the Prince George Airport expansion”.

Meantime the head of the Prince George Airport, Stieg Hoeg, says time is running out “We need to know soon to enable us to start construction in August in order for this project to be completed by the fall of 2008. We cannot afford to lose one year of cargo agreements.” The Airport’s General Manager adds, “My only fear is that the Treasury Board approves the project in September and that, quite frankly, is too late. We need an assurance now for the Board to move forward .We have to have a decision by August to ensure that we do not waste another year.”

Losing a year of cargo contracts isn’t the only problem Hoeg sees looming “If we don’t act quickly, there are other players hoping to move in where we have left off.”

we are very lucky we finally got the money for our expansion

i never knew you guys even needed one, your airport is pretty big as is

he didnt bring a check , because he left it in Kamloops lol !!!!! LOL !!!!!!! LOL !!!!!:banana:

oh... I thought we all ready got our check .... nutts.

Nuts is pretty much all anyone gets from the Feds.

Demand for lakeshore properties growing

According to a recent study by the Landcor Data Corporation, northern and northwestern B.C. have seen the smallest increase in both waterfront and non-waterfront property prices in the province.

North and Northwestern B.C. saw a 42 per cent price increase in waterfront properties’ average sale price between 1996 and 2006, and a 60 per cent increase in non-waterfront property prices between these years. This is the smallest change in B.C., lagging far behind the Kootenay area which saw a 254 per cent increase in the value of waterfront property and a 207 per cent increase in non-waterfront property in the ten years.

Former B.C. Northern Real Estate Board president Delores Armand explained the Northern B.C. waterfronts’ comparatively low price, saying “our lakefronts aren’t the same as down south.”

She said the lakes here are more secluded, and are in many cases down gravel roads. This, she said, can make them less desirable to people, as they are a longer drive out from their homes or places of business. It’s the classic matter of supply and demand, and there is less demand here than in Southern B.C., meaning there is less of a price difference.

The Landcor report backs up this theory, stating “properties that are closer to a major city, within a four hour drive time specifically are generally more valuable than those that are farther away.”

“We have quite a high demand now” for lakeside property, Armand reassured. She said that Cluculz Lake property was put on the market one year ago, and has since then doubled in price.

“Anything on water has always been a good investment,” she said.

The report reflects what happened with Cluculz Lake, quoting the president of the Landcor Data Corporation Rudy Nielsen, who said “the current supply and demand for lake property in B.C. will be generating innovation in the production of this product.”

Currently, 5.6 per cent of lake area properties are owned by Calgarians, a number that Initiatives Prince George might help increase thanks to the Connect Calgary Campaign Committee that has begun – advertising a three-day, two-night Prince George getaway for $319 per person. This package includes airfare on Air Canada Jazz and two nights accommodation at the Sheraton Four Points, Treasure Cove, Ramada, or Coast Inn of the North hotels.

At $164,051, the average price of a home in northern B.C. was well below the Calgary average of $360,674 in 2006. The average price of a house in Vancouver in 2006 was $509,876.

http://www.pgfreepress.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=26&cat=23&id=1036742&more=0

Airport Expansion Cleared For Take-Off
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By 250 News

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 03:35 PM


It’s a go!

The Federal funding for the extension of the Prince George Airport runway has been approved. Airport Manager Stieg Hoeg is thrilled “Certainly this is good news” says Hoeg, “I can say now, the construction of the runway extension will move forward.”

The project now has two thirds of the dollars needed to complete the project. The first portion came from the Northern Trust, the Province has been asked to provide the balance.

Prince George- Peace River M.P. Jay Hill says he has sent an e-mail to the Chair of the Airport Authority Board, Jim Blake, “I told him that I would expect them to have equipment out tomorrow and start moving sod.” Hill says the dollars have been approved by the Treasury Board.

The project has been designed to handle the larger cargo planes needing a refuelling stop before heading to Asia. Prince George is hoping to pick up a small percentage of the flights that are now stopping in Anchorage Alaska as that airport is becoming very busy and does not have as many “good weather” days as Prince George.

Hill says while there are a couple of satutory requirements that have to be met, but "There are no ifs, ands, or buts, this extension has been approved". Hill also gave praise to the Airport Authority for making every effort not to lose precious time "We have a short construction season, and it was very good business sense for the Airport to put out a tender for this project while the funding was still being decided." The awarding of that tender hinges on full funding being available.

Now the focus is on the Provincial Government.

MLA Pat Bell says Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has been working hard on this request. The Provincial approval was linked to the Federal Consultant’s review of the business case for the extension.

Prince George Airport Authority Board Chair Jim Blake is thrilled . He got the news while on the golf course "I was so excited, I quit with two holes left to go, we are just thrilled!" Blake says its now up to the Province, "They pretty much verbally committed to it, and there may be some little things we can do before they announce that committment, but we can't undertake any real work without their participation." Blake wanted to say thanks to the M.P's "I don't have to say this, but I mean it sincerely, if it hadn't been for the work of Jay Hill and Dick Harris, we would still be waiting, this item wasn't slated to go before the Treasury Board until September 21st, but Hill and Harris worked very hard to move it forward."

That extra month could have meant the complete loss of the 2007 construction season.

I'm headin to P.G next weekend for a big lacrosse tourny, can't wait. hopefully I'll get some pics to throw up on here.

yay - pics would be good

Port cranes arrive

(News) Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 00:00 PST
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff

The three massive cranes for the Port of Prince Rupert's new $160-million container terminal were expected to be delivered by ship Monday evening, capping off one of the final elements into a transportation project touted as having benefits throughout northern B.C.

The cranes -- which will be able to handle up to 500,000 containers a year -- are expected to take nine days to be offloaded.

The three Super Post-Panamax Dock Gantry Cranes, constructed by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. Ltd., weigh 1,800 tonnes each and stand 80 metres from ground to tip, 25 storeys high.

However, local residents will not be able to get a firsthand view of the cranes being unloaded, from land at least, as construction continues and there are safety concerns.

But because of the local and regional interest in the project, the Prince Rupert Port Authority have installed an improved webcam (accessible from the the ports webpage, www.rupertport.com) where the unloading of the cranes from the ship can be viewed.

Construction of the terminal remains on schedule and on budget, with an official opening planned for Sept. 12 and the first container-laden ship to arrive some time in mid to late October.

"Frankly, we're way over 90 per cent complete," said Port of Prince Rupert corporate communications manager Barry Bartlett. "We're just finishing up the paving. The wharf extension was finished June 30 ahead of schedule. And the buildings will be done by the end of August, ahead of schedule."

When the terminal is completed in September it will be turned over to New Jersey-based Maher Terminals, which will operate the facility.

Earlier this year, Maher announced that it had reached an agreement with the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) to use the new container terminal. COSCO, owned by the Chinese government is a global heavyweight in the shipping business.

The terminal -- the first of what is hoped to be a two-phase project that will grow the handling capacity to two million containers -- is meant to create an additional Pacific gateway from Asia into North America. The port is trying to capitalize on reduced wait times because of a lack of congestion at the port and along CN's rail lines, and shorter sailing distances from Asia, than other North American ports.

The federal and provincial governments have contributing $30 million each. CN is contributing another $30 million to the terminal, and terminal-operator Maher Terminals is contributing another $60 million.

CN is also investing $20 million on a transload operation in Prince George at its site off First Avenue, expected to be completed by October, that will be able to handle 60 to 70 containers a day. That container operation is expected to employ 50 full-time workers.

CN officials have said by the time it has completed improvements related the Prince Rupert container terminal they will total $350 million.

The Northern Trust is also launching a $225,000 study that it hopes will be able to sell a trade and manufacturing corridor that stretches from Prince Rupert to Valemount.

The idea it to highlight the advantages of locating industry in the corridor which will soon boast the Prince Rupert container terminal, the Prince George container handling facility and the proposed $36-million Prince George Airport expansion.

Province kicks in $11 million for airport runway expansion
(News) Saturday, 22 September 2007, 04:00 PST
GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff

The Prince George Airport received the last piece of funding Friday so that a $36-million runway expansion can begin immediately.

As expected, Premier Gordon Campbell made the announcement at the airport to a crowd of 75 or so business and community leaders, noting that it was another piece in developing a transportation gateway between Asia and the heart of North America.

"I have no hesitancy whatsoever in knowing that this expansion is going to make a difference for you, it's going to make a difference for British Columbia, and you should know this, it's going to make a difference for Canada," said Campbell.

The premier was backed on stage by federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, Prince George's three Liberal MLAs, Health Minister Jim Abbott and Mayor Colin Kinsley.

Campbell likened the development along the northwest corridor -- which includes the recent completion of a $170-million container-handling terminal in Prince Rupert and CN's $20-million container-handling facility under construction in Prince George -- as being similar to the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway on Canada's eastern seaboard after the Second World War.

"This is a project that has just the same scope, just the same opportunity for all Canadians ... We're creating jobs, we're creating opportunities," said Campbell.

The province is contributing $11 million to the airport project, as is the federal government and the Northern Trust, a regionally-governed agency seeded with money from the $1-billion sale of B.C. Rail to CN.

In an interview, Prince George Airport Authority Jim Blake acknowledged that the project is still $3 million short. The project was initially estimated to cost $33 million, but was revised upward to $36 million in May.

Blake said they will try to bring the project in under that estimated figure, and have also had discussions with the funding partners about increasing their contribution if necessary.

Initially, the Prince George Airport Authority had said it needed a commitment from the B.C. government by the end of August if it was going to be able to meet its construction schedule and planned completion before the end of 2008.

However, the construction schedule has been revisited several times, and Blake said they will definitely be able to have the pavement in place by the fall of 2008. While not all of the additional navigational equipment will likely be in place before the end of 2008, large planes will still be able to land once the pavement is in, he said.

The planned runway extension -- necessary to handle large cargo and passenger planes like the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 -- is aimed to take advantage of the airport's position on the efficient circumpolar aviation route between Asia and North America. The idea is to entice planes to stop and refuel, and eventually handle cargo.

The airport project is viewed as a way for north-central B.C. communities to diversify their economies in the wake of the pine beetle epidemic.

Lunn, the natural resources minister, said the key item he likes about the project is the fact it has had co-operation from all levels of government. Lunn highlighted that the federal government has a good relationship with B.C.

Prince George-Peace River MP Jay Hill said from Ottawa that he believed the project positions Prince George to become a superhighway of the sky. "I truly am excited," he said, adding he is particularly pleased about the discussions the airport authority has already had with Purolator, UPS and fedEX.

Cariboo-Prince George NDP MLA Bob Simpson said the investment was good news, particularly as it will help resource-based communities facing a fundamental transition, including from the fallout of the beetle epidemic and increased global competition.

But he said a comprehensive plan is missing that will ensure the airport's success.

Simpson said money being plowed into gateway projects in the Lower Mainland should be diverted north to expand rail even more and improve roads.

He also said that a better way is also needed to share resource wealth from resource-based communities, so they don't have to go "hat in hand" to senior levels of government for a project.

Cancer clinic planned for North
(News) Saturday, 22 September 2007, 05:00 PST
BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff

Northern B.C. will have its long-awaited cancer clinic by 2012.

The announcement of the centre, to be located at Prince George Regional Hospital, was made by Premier Gordon Campbell Friday.

"Today we're here to talk about something that touches everyone in the province," Campbell said.

"We'll have 20,000 newly diagnosed people in the next year, and cases will jump by 15 per cent by 2012, and is expected to jump by 29 per cent in the North.

"Today I'm here to tell you that we are going to introduce a positive new weapon in the fight against cancer here in the North. The province will fund a new cancer centre in Prince George to serve all of northern B.C.," said Campbell.

The announcement follows a northern cancer consultation report by Charles Jago and Jeff Burghardt, the current and former board chair of Northern Health, which recommends a centre that includes radiation therapy and a cancer lodge to support patients and families.

Actual construction of the state-of-the-art centre, which will offer the latest technology to deal with the disease, is not expected to begin for two years.

The centre is only one step in the fight, said Campbell, noting other steps are implementing a cancer prevention program to reduce the number of cases, recruiting cancer-care specialists and enhancing nursing programs.

Although cost figures are not available, the clinic will be part of a $100-million cancer control strategy that includes renovations to PGRH, radiation and diagnostic equipment, and expansion of oncology services throughout the North.

Dr. Bert Kelly, a long-time advocate of a clinic for the North, said he's "been grinning" since he heard the news earlier this week.

"It's mind-boggling. It's a huge day for Prince George," said Kelly, referring to the cancer centre announcement, the Northern Sport Centre opening and $11 million from the province for the airport expansion.

He thinks the timeline of five years is better than could be hoped for, considering the original plan called for a clinic in the North by 2015.

"To have it up and operating in five years is cutting it pretty fine to do the job because it has to be done well, and it will be," he said.

While the sport centre opening earlier in the day was a purely joyous occasion, the cancer centre announcement was filled with emotion as both dignitaries and residents fought back tears.

Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Mount Robson, who was dabbing throughout the ceremony finally gave Campbell a hug and thanked him for making the dream come true.

Resident Marilyn Lichacz, who spearheaded a 14,758-signature petition in 2004 requesting a cancer clinic, said, "Wow. A cancer clinic. I can't believe it. I thought all my efforts had just gone out the window.

"At least now, with a cancer clinic coming, no one will have to go through what Robert did being in Vancouver by himself," Lichacz said of her late husband.

"He would be proud to know that maybe I had a little something to do with this announcement today. I know I'm just ecstatic."

Sharon Clark, a local resident in the throes of breast cancer treatment, said although the centre won't be built in time to replace her radiation treatment in Surrey, she's delighted it's coming for all future people like herself.

Northern Sport Centre gets high grades
(Sports) Saturday, 22 September 2007, 04:00 PST
TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
Luke Lundall felt right at home, the minute he set foot on the hardcourt at the Northern Sport Centre.

He was particularly impressed with the paint job of the new gymnasium. The seats are done in yellow and gold, the colours Lundall will wear on his jersey as a first-year point guard for the UNBC Northern Timberwolves basketball team.

Lundall left no doubts he’s going to like his new surroundings this season.

“I can’t wait to play on it, it’s an amazing court and an amazing facility,” said Lundall, a native of Abbotsford. “I can’t wait for the crowd, I’ve heard we’ll have 2,000 people for our games.”

Lundall said no expense has been spared in giving UNBC teams a first-class gymnasium.

“I don’t know if anything compares to this, maybe the Grizzlies court when they were around (playing in the NBA). They’ve painted the key like it’s the European League.”

Teammate John Locht, a UNBC guard who grew up in Vancouver, said the NSC offers something for everybody, not just basketball players. He can’t wait to hear the squeak of rubber on hardwood playing his first B.C. Colleges Athletic Association season.

“I’m just kind of excited that UNBC has a place they can call their own, and it’s the city’s too, so a lot of people are excited about it,” said Locht. “The weightroom is going to make me want to work out more and in the off-season, I’ll definitely use the track a lot.”

Nicolas DeSousa, a forward for the Cariboo Cougars major midget hockey team, joined hundreds of people on a tour of the 145,150 square-foot facility at the grand opening Friday afternoon.

“It’s looking good, it’s got everything for anyone who likes to train and I like the running track for when it’s cold outside and you can’t go running,” said DeSousa, a Fraser Lake native. “There’s going to be a lot of people who will want to come here.”

Cougars defenceman Jordan Duncan has dealt with his share of hockey injuries and it’s comforting for him knowing the major midgets will be looked after by five trained professionals at Accelerated Sport & Spine Physiotherapy, who will be sharing office space at the NSC with sports medicine doctor Janet Ames and orthotics specialist Brian Farrance. Their services are open to everybody in the city, not just elite athletes.

The NSC will have two weight gyms, one of which measures 3,000 square feet, as big as two average-sized homes. They come equipped with the latest Nautilus and Atlantic weight equipment.

“The weight training equipment is going to help us get in shape and the running track will help on days when it’s not nice outside,” Duncan said. “It’s not the same going out for a run then -- you just don’t want to be there.”

Badminton player Thomas Saar got put through the paces Friday riding the bike as fast as he could for 30 seconds in a windgate test administered by his father Peter Saar, sport performance coach for PacificSport’s northern B.C. branch. Biathletes, speed skaters, badminton players and basketball players have been utilizing PacificSport’s testing equipment and expertise for four months already. By comparing current test results with previous findings, coaches will be able to determine what training exercises work best with their athletes and what don’t.

Thomas envisions the NSC as the city’s new home for badminton tournaments. There’s talk of using the gym for the provincial badminton championships in March.

“We used to use the college but that gym’s not the best, the ceiling is too low,” said Thomas. “This gym is big and it has big windows.”

Cross-country ski racer Laurie Karjaluoto says the $30.75 million spent to build the NSC is money well spent and predicts it will have a profound effect on the city’s sporting landscape.

“I like what this will do for the community, it will definitely bring a different level of athletes to the city,” Karjaluoto said. “If it gets people excited about getting involved in a sport, it will be a lifestyle (change) and you’ll never regret it. For people who haven’t done anything athletic for years, they can come here and get involved. The cost is inexpensive and the energy of people working out will wear off on everybody.”

Eleven-year-old soccer player Alix Wells went through her first workout at the NSC fieldhouse and loved the feel of the field turf.

“It’s softer than the indoor field downtown,” said Wells. “It’s so big and there’s so much going on here, I’m surprised at how much there is to do, with the basketball courts and the squash courts. My mom can run around the track while I play soccer.”

Wheelchair basketball player Avril Harris, an able-bodied player, brought his wheelchair and basketball to the gym for a demonstration Friday. He said every consideration has been taken into account to make all facilities at the NSC wheelchair friendly.

“Even the non-wheelchair bathrooms are accessible,” said the 16-year-old Harris. “Everything is top of the line and I’m proud of what we have here. It’s one of the best sports centres I’ve ever been to. I’ll use everything except maybe the soccer field. The gym is perfect for wheelchair basketball. If you go flying out of bounds, you won’t hit a wall. It’s not an old building with dim lights. You have big windows, you can see trees and there’s music.

“It’s amazing that little P.G. gets this huge building. It’s up to date with everything, anywhere.”

Neighbourhood for Nearly Eleven Thousand People Presented
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By 250 News

Monday, October 01, 2007 08:31 PM





The University Heights Neighbourhood Plan has been adopted by Prince George City Council.

It has been a year and a half since the development started with a meeting with the property owners to see if they would work towards a neighbourhood plan. The 674 hectare site involves 14 different property owners and presents a full project that is designed to be home to some 11 thousand people.

In presenting the project tonight to Prince George City Council, L &M Engineering outlined how the plan calls for 3,850 homes, of which 64% would be low density and 36% would be multiple family.

It provides for local commercial, institutional and park uses, including 11 neighbourhood parks (each approx 2 hectares in size) and two district parks each (approx 6 hectares in size). The plan also sets aside an area for what it refers to as "University Support Services", and would include housing, health services, convenience retail and financial services.

L&M Engineering's Heather Oland says the public has been very positive about this development "Because its exciting, there is an opportunity for fantastic view lots and because it is close to the University." She says people are looking forward to links with Cranbrook Hill, Forests for the World, and trails in the region.

According to Oland, the new neighbourhood will take the traffic pressure off the Domano Boulevard / Highway 16 corridor. The City is currently undertaking a comprehensive transportation network modeling exercise which will identify the development thresholds at which significant network improvement will be required. The network improvements identified in the University Heights area include the possible extension of Massey Drive to Tyner and onward to Highway 16 West, upgrading of Tyner Boulevard to a 4 lane arterial standard and the extension of University Way southward to Highway 16 West.

"This is an incredible opportunity", said Councilor Brian Skakun "It shows real investor confidence in our community."

Development Services Bob Radloff advised Council that City capital projects, like sewar and water, are being phased with the stages of the development.

Councilor Debora Munoz would like to see some things added to the plan, like rainfall collection basins to help water commnity gardens and parks, she is also concerned the shopping centre is located at a site that only a few residential neighbours can access by walking. "The rest will have to bike or use a vehicle."

Councilor Shery Sethen wanted to know if the plan is developed and if there is additional infrastructure needed, who will pay for cost of that infrastructure? L&M's David McWalter says most of the infrastructure will be at the cost of the developer. "It is going to be a gem within our community" said Sethen, "I look forward to seeing it completed as a whole".

thats a huge developement, 11 thousand ppl...
whats the expected completion date?

The whole project is to be spread over 15 years. I suspect that it'll start near UNBC first. They have 2 apartment blocks on campus but I think they would like to get private developers to build more close by. From whats been talked about I'm thinking a few mid-high rises something like what TRU I think has done down your way ( 8-10 stories ? ). We'll see how it goes and I'll post any plans i see.

yeah id like to see what they have in store for tallies. the residence here is 11 stories so if they build that high your doing good.

I am kind of doubting any sort of residential construction up at the university in the near future especially considering the proposal for 70-90 apartments at near the corner of university way and Foothills blvd. These apartments will most likely be low rise due to the proposed zoning. They are also said to be "geared towards students". So who knows. Housing starts hopefully will continue to be around the 350 -400 a year for the next few years.

I work for a local engineering consulting firm and from my understanding if there is any chance for PG to grow at a faster clip it will be due to transportatio nand warehousing and mining. There is some huge mining proposals in Northern BC and Prince George is definately getting some exposure. I am heading up to Nova Golds new $2.2 billion dollar mine next friday actually. Things could posibly be good, especially if we can weather this downturn in forestry.

I did hear about the development at the bottom of the hill and I'm sure it will go through but the plans for the new subdivision on the city's website do talk about creating a " university village " beside UNBC. I'd have to think it would also be geared to a student population.

I agree mining seems to be really on the upswing around here. I work for an industrial supply company and our focus is definately changing toward the mining sector. The Mount Milligan mine seems to be set to go to review shortly. And unlike the Kemess expansion Mount Milligan seems to have the support of the First Nations people. I also think a lot of people are under estimating the impact the airport expansion will have over the next few years. Overall I think the longterm is looking good.

I really hope that pressure from the folks down in the lower mainland don't quash our attempts of promoting business oportunities in the north. With all of the environmental hooplah in the past couple years I have a fear that this will prevent anything from happening.

Regardless, it is the northern population who are the stewards of our land just like how people from the lower mainland are stewards of theirs. Regarding the kemess north expansion I really think that it should go ahead. I do understand the environmental consequences of acid generating rock "tailings". My understanding is that the rock around the kemess mine has a PH of around 2 which is very acidic. Mind you, acid rock is a totally natural process and occurs regardless of human activity. Humans just expose it and we have to deal with the problem. Storage in Duncan lake appears to be the only logical solution. Once tailings are submerged in an oxygenless environment the reaction stops so as long as the mining company is forced to manage and balance the PH levels in the lake, everything should be fine. On top of this I don't think that the natives will want to turn down the economic benefits, they already have really high unemployment and the kemess mine is already a good employer. If this mine is not approved they can basically guarentee that no mining company will want to deal with them again.

Basically, every "clean" job in vancouver has a "dirty" job tied to it. The accountant for Canfor in vancouver is no less responsible for the air polution in prince george than the millwrite working at the mill. Sometimes I wish that the urban folk would understand how dependent they are on rural economies. I think this reality extends to other rural communities in BC as well.

I am kind of doubting any sort of residential construction up at the university in the near future especially considering the proposal for 70-90 apartments at near the corner of university way and Foothills blvd. These apartments will most likely be low rise due to the proposed zoning. They are also said to be "geared towards students". So who knows. Housing starts hopefully will continue to be around the 350 -400 a year for the next few years.

I work for a local engineering consulting firm and from my understanding if there is any chance for PG to grow at a faster clip it will be due to transportatio nand warehousing and mining. There is some huge mining proposals in Northern BC and Prince George is definately getting some exposure. I am heading up to Nova Golds new $2.2 billion dollar mine next friday actually. Things could posibly be good, especially if we can weather this downturn in forestry.


i helped build a great deal of the portable camps for nova gold.
i hear its like a small city up there now.

well there are 6 separate camps actually and they vary from 80 people up to just over 200. The permanent camps will definately be like small cities as they will need to house the construction workers at the mine site itself. The camp I stay at has probably 60 or so trailers. It is pretty neat seeing those trailers dangling over you under a helicopter. Apparently an ambulance was dropped from a helicopter. So if I run into a moose with a bunch of band aids on I will know where they came from.

In other news, it looks like that $42 million seniors housing project is going ahead. Phase one will be a single 3 story building but I remember hearing that phase 2 may include a taller building, possibly up to 8 stories, the current zoning doesn't allow for this however.

On the retail side, I really think that the Hart has a lot of potential, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some more development up there. I wouldn't be surprised if they opened up an extra foods or a canadian tire up there. There are probably 20 000 people who live up there who don't want to drive all the way accross town to get groceries.

Not economic news but certainly different.


Quakes Linked to Volcanic Activity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By 250 News

Saturday, October 13, 2007 04:32 AM



Seismologists with Natural Resources Canada say there have been more small earthquakes in a region southwest of Prince George . " We now have information that indicates there have been at least 50 earthquakes in that area over the past couple of days, although some were very small" says Seismologist and Research Scientist Garry Rogers.

The largest of the quakes to rumble through the Nazko region this week had a Richter magnitude of 3.2. That means, if anyone had been in the immediate area, ( 20 kilometers or so) they would have felt the shake, but even though scientists have contacted a lodge in the region, there have been no reports of humans "feeling" the quakes.

Rogers says they have been able to get a better indication of not only the exact location, but the depth of quakes as well. "We now know the quakes are happening about 25 kilometers below the surface of the earth so that rules out any hydro-thermal cause, and the area is not on a fault line, so we believe the quakes are related to volcanic activity."

The area is home to the "Nazko Cone" which is relatively young (7200 years old) that is part of a volcanic line that runs from west to east across B.C. "This would be considered a benign volcano" says Rogers. He says they believe the magma is moving at 25 kilometers below the surface but says there is no immediate concern "It would take a long time for it to move to the surface" but they will be monitoring the situation.

Next week, a satellite seismic link will be set directly on the surface directly above the quakes. "We will monitor to see if there is any sign of the quakes at lower depths, that would indicate the magma would be moving." Rogers says something like this has happened before, in Bella Coola. "In 1940 people kept reporting they were feeling quakes, but the seismic instruments were too far away to pick up the activity. That went on for 3 years before the activity stopped."

That is funny because i spent some time last summer prospecting in Nazko. I remember doing sampling along that exact Regional Fault.

So I am out on Nova Golds new mine. Prince George must be getting some spin off from this place, all the furnature is from stores in town, one of hte major contractors is PG based and the number of Northern Trailer stickers is phenominal. I am pretty sure some of those trailers must be from town. That or from Kamloops or something. My internet is only satelite so I can't really post any pics for a few weeks.

Some good news on the feds chipping in $18 million for the bridge. Next year should be a big construction season.

$42 million dollar Simon Fraser Bridge
$42 million dollar Seniors Residence
$20+ million police station
$32 million dollar highschool replacement


and that is just government projects

Not economic news but certainly different.


Quakes Linked to Volcanic Activity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By 250 News

Saturday, October 13, 2007 04:32 AM



Seismologists with Natural Resources Canada say there have been more small earthquakes in a region southwest of Prince George . " We now have information that indicates there have been at least 50 earthquakes in that area over the past couple of days, although some were very small" says Seismologist and Research Scientist Garry Rogers.

The largest of the quakes to rumble through the Nazko region this week had a Richter magnitude of 3.2. That means, if anyone had been in the immediate area, ( 20 kilometers or so) they would have felt the shake, but even though scientists have contacted a lodge in the region, there have been no reports of humans "feeling" the quakes.

Rogers says they have been able to get a better indication of not only the exact location, but the depth of quakes as well. "We now know the quakes are happening about 25 kilometers below the surface of the earth so that rules out any hydro-thermal cause, and the area is not on a fault line, so we believe the quakes are related to volcanic activity."

The area is home to the "Nazko Cone" which is relatively young (7200 years old) that is part of a volcanic line that runs from west to east across B.C. "This would be considered a benign volcano" says Rogers. He says they believe the magma is moving at 25 kilometers below the surface but says there is no immediate concern "It would take a long time for it to move to the surface" but they will be monitoring the situation.

Next week, a satellite seismic link will be set directly on the surface directly above the quakes. "We will monitor to see if there is any sign of the quakes at lower depths, that would indicate the magma would be moving." Rogers says something like this has happened before, in Bella Coola. "In 1940 people kept reporting they were feeling quakes, but the seismic instruments were too far away to pick up the activity. That went on for 3 years before the activity stopped."


i saw that on the news - interesting - i wonder if anything will blow

Record construction year in sight
Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 16:28 PST
Citizen Staff

The city is on pace for a record-setting year on the construction front.

As of the end of October, permits for $112 million worth of work had been issued according to the latest report from city hall, making the total for 2007 the third-largest on record with two months still to go.

And city planning manager Dan Milburn said the $42-million seniors "campus of care" slated for the old playing field at corner of Victoria Street and 20th will be entered into the books next month, which will make 2007 the biggest year ever -- before inflation is taken into account.

When that's done, there were bigger years back in the 1970s when the pulp mills were being built, along with plenty of homes and apartment buildings to house the new families coming to Prince George.

"We generally saw very high numbers in the 1970s," said Milburn, who estimates a $4 million project then would have cost $20 million now. "In today's dollars, they were ranging from $140 million to $270 million."

In nominal terms, the previous peak years were 1992 and 1993, when the totals reached $138 and $139 million respectively, thanks to construction of the University of Northern British Columbia and more than $50 million worth of residential work in each year.

After reaching $95 million by the end of 2006, Mayor Colin Kinsley said he expected this year's total to break $100 million "and we've smashed it."

"It shows that what we've been doing to try and attract business, what we've been doing, in partnership with provincial and federal government in attracting business and marketing ourselves globally is starting to pay off," he said.

"We've been in the face of a lot of people from a lot of different industries and such. We've done a lot of very, very hard lobbying as a council and a region and I think some of that's bearing fruit."

Permits for new homes and commercial work, combined with a general rise in the cost of construction, are at the heart of this year's total.

New homes account for $45 million of the year-to-date total, compared to $27 million by the same point last year, although exactly the same number of permits, 192, had been issued by the end of October both years.

New commercial added a further $37 million to the total, spread over 21 permits, nearly $28 million over 2006's year-to-date total, when nine permits had been issued.

Looking strictly at October, 88 permits for $8.7 million were issued, compared to 73 for $4.6 for the same month last year.

Fifteen were for $3.6 million worth of new homes, compared to 17 for $3.1 last year, and 13 were for $2.4 million worth of commercial alterations, up from four permits for $645,500.

Significant projects for October included a new BK Two Way Radio building at 3907-15th Ave., worth $850,000, and $750,000 worth of improvements to the new Integris Credit Union branch at River Point Shopping Centre.

Prince George Citizen

Intermodal terminal and distribution centre officially opens
Saturday, 24 November 2007, 15:35 PST
scott stanfield

Company officials and politicians officially opened CN Rail 's new intermodal terminal and distribution centre in Prince George today at a ceremony at 855 River Road.
"This is a special moment," Mayor Colin Kinsley said. "This grand opening is really putting Prince George on the map. We are already hearing comments back from Asia that they're talking about Prince Rupert and the connection through here. With the recent opening of the port, it's realized a dream of many of us that goes back over a decade. This transmodal facility, the Port of Prince Rupert, will create new and exciting opportunities and change the face of northern B.C."
The $20-million Prince George facility opened for business Oct. 14, shortly before the first ship arrived from Asia at the Fairview container terminal in Prince Rupert.
"They (CN) have made some very bold and courageous investments in this corridor," said Prince Rupert Port Authority president/CEO Don Krusel, noting industry experts had predicted this development could not happen. "Well it has happened, and it's something to celebrate. As we were moving to develop the container terminal in Prince Rupert, I would always say that container terminal is much more than simply a piece of transportation infrastructure. It's a piece of transformational infrastructure. It's going to transform not only the economy of Prince Rupert, it's going to transform the economy of northern BC, and this (Prince George facility) is an example of the transformation that's taking place as a result of this trade corridor that we have now opened up."
The Prince George distribution centre, formerly a diesel shop, includes an 84,000 square-foot warehouse and 10 acres of outside storage. It offers services such as product transfer, inspection, consolidation-deconsolidation, inventory control and transportation.
Products arrive in loaded boxcars or by truck. Containers are then lifted onto railway flatcars at the adjacent intermodal rail yard, transported to Prince Rupert, which takes 15 hours, then loaded onto ships destined for Asia.
"The opportunities here in this warehouse are huge," said Jim Vena, CN's western region senior vice-president. "In essence, CN, along with many of you here today, have created a supply chain without any weak links."
A total of 13 people, 11 of whom are from Prince George, are presently employed at the intermodal terminal and distribution centre.

great pics on all the P.G. projects . lol

Airport handles record number of passengers
Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 17:04 PST
Prince George Citizen

A record number passengers flowed through the Prince George Airport during 2007.

In all, 407,300 passed through the airport's doors, 3.27 per cent more than over the previous year, and the highest volume ever in the airport's history.

“These numbers represent enplaned and deplaned passengers flying on scheduled services into Prince George.” said airport aviation services manager Todd Doherty. “If we included charter services such as that of Northern Thunderbird Air, this number may be closer to 450,000.”

The growth was attributed to regional economic climate, the addition of Air Canada’s non-stop service to Calgary and continuation of the sunspot flights to Puerto Vallarta via Transat Holidays and WestJet Airlines.

“As our message regarding air services always contains use it or lose it, being able to demonstrate to air carriers with these numbers that our community supports air travel - is important” Doherty said. “If our regional air travel was in decline, getting carriers to consider the Prince George opportunity - is a lot more difficult.”

The Prince George Airport Authority took over operational control of the airport in 2003 and since then, through federal and provincial funding partnerships, have invested $25 million into infrastructure and equipment improvements.

In September 2007, the PGAA broke ground on a $36-million runway extension project that will push the existing runway to 11,400 feet enabling the airport to pursue trans-Pacific technical stops and cargo transshipment opportunities. This project is scheduled to be completed November 2008.

City to carry part of risk for daily air service to U.S.
Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 14:42 PST
Prince George Citizen

A proposal to bear up to $400,000 of the risk for the first year of daily direct air passenger service between Prince George and a major U.S. destination won unanimous support from city council on Monday night.

The proposal from Inititatives Prince George was endorsed after council was told it's a common and "in the vast majority of cases" beneficial way to bring such a service to a community.

Council was also told it's expected that only if average load for the year falls below 61 per cent would the full pay-out be required while no pay-out would be required if the average exceeds 70 per cent, and according to market research, the load is forecast to be 74 per cent.

And the direct impact in wages of such a service is estimated to be $1.4 million a year.

No names or destinations were given during discussion of the item, but there has been talk of striking a deal with Horizon Air, a regional carrier owned by Alaska Airlines, for daily direct service to Seattle, with central B.C.'s outdoor amenities used to draw Americans to the area.

Horizon currently provides direct daily service between Seattle and Kamloops, Kelowna and Victoria, flying 74-seat Bombardier Q400s.

Coun. Brian Skakun said he believes the benefits far outweigh the risks and will help create more competition, claiming regional carriers often subsidize their parent company's longer services.

"It's another tool to advance the airport and the economics of the region," said Coun. Don Zurowski.

And Mayor Colin Kinsley it's a "win-win, all around."

Service to Kamloops consists of one flight daily for four months of the year, from mid-December to mid-April, largely to draw U.S. skiers to Sun Peaks resort. However, Kamloops airport manager Fred Legace said enough Kamloops residents have become interested in using the service that the size of the jet was increased to 74 seats from 37.

In 2006, each flight brought in about 49 visitors who stayed an average of four days. Based on each visitor spending $225 a day, that works out to $44,100 per flight for the local economy.

Anyone here ever been to Fort St. John, and if so, is it a good place to live?

I have been up to fort st john and it isn't that bad of a place. It is a great place if you have a family, but a little rough if you are a single male. It is a working town, good money, ok housing costs but not too bad.

Thanks...I see some new duplexes on mls at the $250k range...other than that, not much in way of urban living, LOL...

I still think that 250k for a duplex is a lot, I just bought a 1000sq ft home here in Prince George on a .25 acre serviced city lot for $199 000

well prices in PG are low in comparison with the rest of the southern prov.

I went to PG one time its really beautiful. :yes:

fsj is ok if your only up there for the money.
personally i don't like it there, its ridiculously cold in the winter, half the roads aren't even paved in the city nd theres nothing really exciting to do there.

pg is amazingly cheap to live, i had no idea.
id almost contemplate moving there if a high paying job were to lure me there, it reminds me of kamloops in alotta ways, mainly the rivers meeting, the downtown core and the stinky pulpmill smell.

stinky pulpmill smell.

Well put as always Trevor . lol

Sounds like FSJ needs a makeover. Chances are good we are moving there...It would probably be for about two years only....

its needed a makeover for close to 20 years or more i bet.
depending on what you do for work in those 2 years, you could sure bank alotta money up there in that time.

Horizon Air to start Prince George-Seattle service

Prince George Citizen
(Breaking News) Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 16:35 PST
Gordon Hoekstra

Horizon Air announced today the start of new, daily non-stop service between Prince George and Seattle beginning May 1.

It's the first regular international passenger service for the Prince George Airport.

"Service to the Prince George, our seventh destination in Canada, provides Canadians with new connections to Horizon and Alaska's vast network of flights from Seattle, and makes it easier for U.S. customers to visit the northern British Columbia region for business or pleasure," said Dan Russo, director of marketing and communications for Horizon Air.

Russo said he expected, initially, that most of the traffic would flow from Prince George to Seattle, particularly as a way to connect to their 52 other destinations.

The once daily flight, originating in Seattle, will be serviced by a 76-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft will take about one hour and 45 minutes. The flight will leave Seattle at 1:20 p.m. and depart from Prince George at 3:45 p.m.

For the first 60 days, Horizon is offering an introductory fare of $139 plus taxes to Seattle, and $169 plus tax to Horizon's California destinations.

The announcement comes two weeks after city council approved a plan by Initiatives Prince George to bear up to $400,000 of the business risk if passenger loads in the first year fall below 61 per cent of capacity. IPG said its market research estimated the load forecast at 74 per cent.


Anybody know if Horizon is any good? I'm thinking its got to be better than Air Canada.

Sounds like FSJ needs a makeover. Chances are good we are moving there...It would probably be for about two years only....

thats two years too long :lol:

i was born and raised there for 18 years - saw a lot of changes - hated it never want to go back

everyone i knew who left feels the same way - its a crap hole

when we left in 1990 my dad could have bought the house we were in for $75,000 - $80,000 - apparently its worth minimum $250,000 now - as thats what neighbour houses are selling for

they have a decent movie theatre now and are getting a casino - a site for info is www.fsjnow.com - you can see pics and stuff - they also have more than 1 radio station now - when i left there was CKNL and CBC - now they have some FM stations

winter is brutal and the summer the mosquitoes and black flys etc are out in force - some parts of the golf course near the lake you almost breathe in the bugs - gross and the lake is just disgusting in the summer - you would come out green if you swam in it

Damn! I was hoping for something just a bit more positive, LOL...

Damn! I was hoping for something just a bit more positive, LOL...

my dad hated living there for as ling as he did but he stuck it out for the job and once he retired he left ASAP

its slightly better now but from what i hear there is a real lack of people for jobs so stores like walmart are a mess and a lot of restaurants can't stay open due to lack of staff etc.

the mall lost its zellers but i think it was replaced by a multiplex theatre - a real oddity for such a small town to have such a great large theatre - when i lived there there was one old theatre and it took weeks or months for movies to get there - now though they get new releases the same day as LA Vancouver etc. I don't think even grand prarie has such a good movie theatre - dawson creek for sure doesn't

its always dirty and the winter can be really blah - we used to go to school in the dark and come home in the dark and the spring thaw was just a mess

your car will get trashed on the unpaved streets too.
could never figure out why 1/2 to 3/4 of fsj streets are not paved.

WTF? Damn, does no one there have any vision?

not really , the more north you go , it seems that way .

Townhouses should be ready by end of year says Major

Work on a half-dozen townhouses next to Chances Good Time Bingo should begin sometime this summer, owner John Major said Tuesday.

"Our plan is to build and be completed by the end of this year," Major said. "We didn't want to start them until we had the gaming centre open and we'll need just a little bit of breathing room because there are a lot of kinks to be ironed out at the beginning.

"We're concentrating on getting (the gaming centre) off the ground and onto a smoother footing, and we knew it would take a little bit (of time) but then we're planning on starting to build by this summer at the latest."
In winning council's support for the project at Seventh and Quebec, Major promised to build the townhouses on the property as a way to help revitalize the city's downtown.

A handful of similar projects in and around downtown have been delayed or ditched altogether because of rising construction costs.
"Building costs are up, there's no question, but we've committed to build but we're going to go ahead and build," Major said.

Chances, which was built on the site of the old Diamond Bingo Hall and replaces the old Good Time Bingo hall at Fourth and Vancouver, opened two weeks ago. At 23,000 square feet and containing 71 slot machines, 300 touch-screen bingo terminals, 360 paper bingo seats, a lottery centre and a 26-seat bistro, it's significantly larger than the old hall

Major said the new facility is meeting expectations so far in that interest in bingo is being maintained, the primary reason B.C. Lottery Corporation and its partners say it has opened a dozen of the centres around the province.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080408126187/local/news/townhouses-should-be-ready-by-end-of-year-says-major.html

been a while since anythings been added here. I'll try to fix that.



Airport Hits New Level
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By 250 News

Thursday, July 24, 2008 12:59 PM


Prince George, B.C. - The Prince George Airport has entered a new stage in its development.
It has been given “trans shipment” status.

This is a key in the Airport’s vision to develop a goods distribution centre. The program allows air cargo to be moved through the airport for shipment to third countries, allowing it to seek new market opportunities and further develop its air cargo activity.

The international air cargo transshipment program allows air cargo to be moved through Canada for shipment to third countries. For example, cargo could be flown from the United States into Prince George, stored temporarily, and
then flown to an Asian destination. Similarly, international air cargo could also arrive from overseas and then be shipped by rail or road from Prince George to the United States, allowing the airport to take full advantage of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor.

YXS General Manager Stieg Hoeg says the trans shipment designation is an important step in the airport’s development.
"This announcement is great news for the Prince George Airport. The air cargo transshipment program will support our multi-modal cargo development and will help to ensure that the Prince George Airport runway extension project,
targeting air cargo carriers flying trans-Pacific routes, is competitive and capable of growth in the handling of cargo and freight," said Stieg Hoeg, General Manager of the Prince George Airport Authority (PGAA). "This designation will allow the Prince George Airport, our partners and our region to compete more completely on the world stage as part of a true transportation and logistics corridor for North America."


The airport runway extension is on schedule and the plan calls for the official opening to be this October. The airport reps who recently travelled to Beijing say the runway extension has been greeted with great interest and some carrier company representatives are expected to come to Prince George this summer to take a closer look.

Airport Authority Board Chair Jim Blake says the plan is to have a carrier land for refuelling on the day the new runway officially opens.

http://www.psmi.ca/yxs/images/leaves.jpg
http://www.pgairport.ca/yxs/business/index.php neat video on airport

New runway third longest in Canada
Written by MYRISSA KRENZLER
Citizen staff
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Once completed, the new runway at Prince George Airport will be long enough to land a space shuttle.
While the airport isn't expecting space shuttles anytime soon, the new runway will be one of the longest, if not the longest in Canada on the Asia-Pacific airfreight route, said Todd Doherty, aviation services manager for the airport.
The runway will be the third longest in Canada, trailing only those at Calgary International Airport at 12,675 feet, and Vancouver International at 11,500 feet.
The new 11,400-foot runway will allow large cargo planes to land in Prince George to refuel, Doherty said. "Whether they're a passenger carrier or a cargo carrier, most carriers that are going over or flights that are going over to Asia require a fuel stop."
Currently, the first place for these planes to stop is Anchorage, Alaska.
"Anchorage is facing numerous delays, whether it's due to congestion on the ground or congestion in the skies above," Doherty said. "And the way Prince George is geographically positioned, we can take advantage of some of those carriers that are flying over top of us."
He said the airport hopes to work with Anchorage to service more aircraft.
"Maybe what we can do is just take a portion of the fuelling traffic that is using Anchorage right now and move them here," he said, "so that they can do more effectively the things they do and we can service their customers and in turn our customers and build a product for ourselves."
Because of the rail and highway connections and close proximity to Prince Rupert, Prince George is perfectly located to service these carriers, Doherty said.
"What we're building Prince George and this corridor to become (is) a major North American gateway for goods to and from Asia. It's really exciting," he said.
"Our whole region is going to benefit from this, because from Prince George to Prince Rupert, we have a corridor that's probably the most under-served transportation corridor in North America right now."
The runway expansion project is scheduled for completion in October.

Airport Runway Nearly Ready!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By 250 News

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 04:11 PM







Prince George, B.C.- Ready for take off, and for landing, the Prince George Airport is putting the finishing touches on its new, extended runway.
The $36 million dollar project is on time and on budget says Airport Aviation Services Manager Tod Doherty.
The Prince George runway extension makes the runway a full 11,450 feet. That makes the Prince George runway the third longest in the country. Calgary is first at 12,675 Vancouver is next at 11,500, and Prince George is just 50 feet behind at 11,450.
The P.G. runway may be third in length, but it is the only one in Canada that has lights along the centre of the runway.
This runway is long enough to handle whatever the aviation industry has in fleet. “We could even handle the space shuttle if it needed to land here” says Doherty, although the Airport hasn’t called NASA to make the offer.
The runway extension is the first step in making Prince George available to over seas cargo flights that need a refuelling stop.
The actual apron for the refuelling will be able to handle two wide body jets, although there is enough land in the plan to eventually handle 21. The designated refuelling site (at the north end of the runway) won’t be paved until next spring but in the meantime, refuelling can be done at the south end of the airport if need be .
“We still have to finish some electrical work” says Prince George Airport GM Stieg Hoeg “ There are some lights to be added and the cargo apron at the north end will be paved next spring” He says the tower has added the latest technology including radar that is so sensitive, it will show planes that are taxiing on the runway.
Hoeg says several properties south of the Airport on Johnson Road have been purchased by the airport so tree tops can be trimmed and hydro lines lowered south of the Airport. The hydro line work is expected to get underway in a couple of weeks.
The construction was slowed over the summer for two reasons. Hoeg says they lost about 12 weeks because of rain, and then there was the matter of the Western Spade footed Toad. A species "at risk" the toads had to be moved from the north end of the runway. "We had a round up, a 'toadeo' of sorts" says Hoeg "We rounded up more than 90 frogs, one salamander and a handful of toads and relocated them all in Hagath Creek south of the Airport." Hoeg says they had to erect a "toad fence" 18 inches in height around the construction site to keep the toads from entering the work area.

While YXS could take some refuelling stops soon, the runway won’t be considered officially operational until December when new de-icing equipment arrives.

Any updates on Prince Rupurt?

Arts centre tab ‘conservative estimate’
Written by By MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
Monday, 03 November 2008


Performing Arts Centre could cost $51.3 million
PARTNERSHIPS BC

Performing Arts Centre could cost $51.3 million
Currently pegged to cost as much as $51.3 million, the price tag for a new performing arts centre in downtown Prince George could well come down by the time a final figure is tallied, says Duncan Webb, the consultant hired to develop a business plan for the project -- but he's not making any promises.
Given the skyrocketing increase in the cost of construction over the last decade, rising on average by 10 per cent a year, "it would be totally appropriate for those costs to drop back down a little bit," Webb said in an interview following a presentation to city council on Monday night.
However, he also said construction costs in this region may not drop as far as in other areas around North America.
"What I've been told is construction costs in Prince George, they're not as volatile, because there simply aren't as many contractors and what seems to matters most is the availability of contractors and their desire to find work for their works," he said. "Partly, it's to do with steel and concrete but it's more about labour and I'm just not sure how much that changes."
Asked if the total, provided in a feasibility study outlining the costs of both building and operating the facility, is a worst-case scenario, Webb said he preferred to call it a conservative estimate.
"We're trying to offer a conservative number that delivers a moderate, good-quality building for Prince George," he said.
During a council question-and-answer session following Webb's presentation, Coun. Don Zurowski made it clear the city will be able to contribute only so much money to the project and most of the funding will have to be found elsewhere.
Often such projects are funded by one-third contributions from each of the local, provincial and federal governments, but Zurowski said the city has already committed millions to other major projects: $5 million to the Northern Sport Centre, $8 million to the Cameron Street Bridge, $30 million to a new Prince George RCMP detachment and possibly $16 million to a new Boundary Road connecting the airport to Highway 97 South for a total of nearly $60 million.
"I want to move forward with this with urgency as well, but our friends working on the performing arts project, when they come back in a short bit and are looking to us for $16 million or $20 million, we won't be in a position to say yes when we responsibly manage our balance sheet," he said. "I want to help you send a message to federal and provincial government. They know how to say yes to less than two-thirds collectively on a local project, we need them to be able to say yes to more than two-thirds."
Whether it will reach that point remains to be seen. Provincial government policy dictates that any project over $20 million must be screened by Partnerships B.C. for its viability as a private-public partnership. Following the presentation, council approved $7,000 to help the performing arts centre society pay for the additional work it must undertake to make the case for the option.
The figure was the high-end of the estimates outline in the study, which provided a range of three construction cost numbers that "reflect current, realistic construction costs" and are based on recent experience with this type of building.
The project could be built for as low as $42 million and Webb recommended a "middle ground" budget of $46.7 million. The biggest cost would be the 800-seat theatre, which would cover 54,277 square feet, ranging from a low of $30 million to a high of $37 million.
The 250-seat theatre would take up 21,244 gross square feet and cost between $9 million and $10.4 million.
Administrative offices would cost a further $1.6 to $2 million and a multipurpose rehearsal room would add $1.5 to $1.9 million to the bill and the building would meet the gold standard for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
Asked if the facility could be built in segments, Webb said that would likely increase the cost.
The feasiblity study will be presented to the public on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Bob Harkins branch of the Prince George Public Library.

Charter Flight to Industrial Sites Would Be Welcomed
By 250 News

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 03:55 AM





Prince George, B.C.- Just how popular would a charter flight to the Ft. McMurray region of Alberta be?

The folks behind Enerjet are hoping the charter service will fill the niche of linking workers with industrial projects no matter where those projects might be. Further to the story we printed yesterday, There is one Prince George company that says it would sure like to have a charter flight.

Admiral Roofing has a crew of 6 workers in the Albion site about two hours north of Fort McMurray and another 2 crew members are on the way.

The crew has been onsite for about a month and has five more months of work. They fly out every three weeks, and a company reps say a direct flight would be great!

This type of charter flight is something that has been discussed as a way to bridge the gap for unemployed forestry workers. The thought being they can keep their homes here, work elsewhere but communities can maintain the workforce for when the mills reopen.

Alex Goldie of Admiral Roofing says the weather is a challenge, it was -28 there last week and the crew built a special shelter so they could continue their work. He says there is no shortage of opportunity in the area “We are roofing a processing building at Jackpine Mine, and our guys are staying in a camp of abut 800 people. There will be 1200 on site in the spring.” Goldie figures his crew will be on this project until May.

He says a charter flight would be a plus not only for his crew, but for all the workers. There are about 5 other major work camps within a half hour drive and each one has 1,000 to 2,000 workers.

YXS Sets Record
By 250 News

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 02:58 PM


Prince George, B.C.- The Prince George Airport finished 2008 on a high, recording 417,484 passengers through its doors. This is the largest ever passenger volume in the history of the Prince George Airport.

“These numbers represent enplaned and deplaned passengers flying on scheduled services into Prince George.” Todd Doherty, Manager Aviation Services stated. “Despite increased fuel prices, an economic downturn, runway construction and severe winter weather conditions - our airlines still experienced growth in 2008.” finishes Doherty.

“Our airlines and passengers faced extraordinary challenges throughout the year and during the final days of the holiday season and 2008” Doherty continued “we are thankful for the continued support of our carriers and our region, and look forward to the year ahead.”

The Prince George Airport Authority (PGAA) took over operational control of the airport in 2003 and set forth immediately to build an airport that truly represents the needs of industry, tourism and the people of Northern BC. Since 2003 the PGAA through Federal and Provincial funding partnerships have invested $25 million into infrastructure and equipment improvements.

In September of 2008, the PGAA completed a $36 million runway extension project that pushed the existing runway to 11,450ft enabling the airport to pursue transpacific tech stops and cargo transshipment opportunities. This project is scheduled to be fully completed June 2009.

For Immediate Release

2009TRAN0063-000761

April 7, 2009
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure

Government of Canada


CANADA-BC PARTNERSHIP TO BUILD NEW BRIDGE

PRINCE GEORGE – Residents of Prince George will benefit from $28 million in joint federal and provincial funding to replace Stone Creek Bridge on Highway 97 with a new, four-lane bridge, announced today by Member of Parliament for Cariboo-Prince George Dick Harris,

Prince George-Mount Robson MLA Shirley Bond, and Prince George North MLA Pat Bell.

The Stone Creek Bridge was built in 1957, and is approaching the end of its serviceable life. The current, two-lane structure will be replaced with a new, four-lane structure. Crews will also be four-laning 1.5 km of Highway 97 south of the bridge to tie in with the existing four-lane section constructed in 2005/ 2006. Construction is slated to begin in November 2009 and finish in March 2011.

“This is our Economic Action Plan in action for Prince George,” said Harris. “This joint investment is a prime example of the federal government and the provincial government working together, getting the job done and putting the shovels in hands to create jobs.”

“The investments our governments are making in local highways and bridges are critical to ensuring the movement of goods and people across the region,” said Bond. “This is fantastic news for residents and travellers alike. Our government recognizes the need to invest in rural and Northern highway infrastructure and ensure that we continue to support the ongoing development of the North as a transportation hub.”

“We want to create a smoother and safer flow of traffic along Highway 97, and that’s why we’re investing in this new bridge,” said Bell. “This project will improve travel and safety conditions for motorists, and is expected to create approximately 180 jobs, at a time when the need for economic stimulus is greatest.”

This project is part of the $290-million infrastructure investment, recently announced by the Government of Canada and the Province of B.C.

The provincial portion of the funding comes from an overall $14-billion capital infrastructure program supported by the Province that will create up to 88,000 jobs and help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.

The federal portion of the funding comes from the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund to provide funding to provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure projects. Funding will be available for two years for projects that will begin during the 2009 and 2010 construction seasons. This initiative is structured to flow funding and get shovels in the ground quickly.

are there renders of this yet?

Not that I'm aware of. I thought that maybe it would be posted on the Cariboo Connector homepage but nothing so far.

I doubt you'll see any rendering for the Stone Creek Bridge. The current one is only about 200 ft long. I'm thinking the bulk for that money is for the four laning . I could be wrong though if the new bridge is at the same grade as the rest of the highway. The current is at the bottom of a 50 ft deep dip in road. If they raise the new to match the rest the bridge would have to be about 600 ft. It would probably look similar to the new Simon Fraser bridge twinning project here. It's about 1300 feet long. Due for completion this summer.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/kona-rider/Simon_Fraser_Bridge_Camera_2009-04-.jpg

Just spent the weekend in PG--I see a lot of potential in the city. Like most cities, it needs more housing downtown. One of the areas with the greatest potential is George Street. For starters, the PG Hotel has to go--either converted into condos, or a higher end hotel. The company I work for owns the Tony Romas there, and man was it dead on Saturday night... other than crazy people hanging around the PG Hotel, and skanks walking along George...

Taking a look at downtown

Prince George Free Press
May 14, 2009

The Smart Growth on the Ground design ‘charette’ will present its plan for the city’s downtown to the public tonight.

Smart Growth on the Ground is a year-long project aimed at improving neighbourhood social and environmental sustainability. The charette – a French term for a limited-duration working group – began meetings on Tuesday to formulate their recommendations.

At an update session on Wednesday, Smart Growth B.C. manager Shana Johnstone said the group had identified their priorities and would present their detailed recommendations today. The presentation will take place at the Ramada Hotel at 6 p.m.

“We’ve identified our general intentions. We’re not into specifics yet, we’re dealing with broad ideas,” Johnstone said. “We have 45 people on the charette – a lot of community members, along with additional researchers who have done work on the topics.”

Mayor Dan Rogers and city councillors Shari Green, Cameron Stolz and Murry Krause were also part of the charette team, along with facilitators from Smart Growth B.C.

The four priority areas identified by the community during public input sessions prior to the charette are energy use and the environment; transportation; downtown housing and development; and community projects.

On the energy front the group’s goal was making, “downtown the focal point for energy efficiency and renewable energy technology.”

That includes the creation of a community energy system to provide heat to large civic buildings in the downtown area. City council rejected a plan for a wood-burning community energy system last year after vocal public opposition to the proposed project’s fine particulate emissions. Transportation improvements would focus on more efficient, safer access for bicycles and public transit. Prince George Cycling Club president Nicole LeBlanc worked on the charette team focusing on cycling. The goal would see three levels of cycling routes developed: high-speed commuter routes, slower routes on calm traffic streets, and off-street multi-use trails.

“My vision for downtown is for the (bicycle) commuter... to have their own cycle lane separated by a row of trees or parked cars,” LeBlanc said. “We’re trying to get a significant increase in non-motorized traffic downtown.”

The provision of secure bicycle storage and showers for cycle commuters were also identified by the group.

The development of a downtown transit hub and more convenient access for pedestrians were also identified as priorities.

The charette also identified the need for cultural, civic, market and ‘wood initiative’ living precincts downtown.

Mixed commercial-residential housing developments, lofts, two-story live/work buildings and townhouse development are all recommended as part of a downtown housing strategy.

“There was a need to locate more housing downtown,” Johnstone said. “What mixes and what types hasn’t been decided yet. The ideas are not set in stone.”

Prince George is the fourth community in the province to take part in the program, which is a partnership of Smart Growth B.C., UBC’s Design Centre for Sustainability, the Real Estate Foundation of B.C. and the local governments.

“It’s a real treat for us to be involved in this project,” Mayor Rogers said. “We are guided and assisted by an extremely capable team. We’re throwing some things out and looking forward to continuing the discussion.”

its unfortunate that pg is in the shape that is today.
last time i was there the downtown core was a mess with drug addicts and stores going out of business.
ive noticed that for the last 6 or 7 years its population has been decreasing pretty steadly, probably due to the fact the forest industry has been hit hard up there.
there may be a boost to its economy soon if they ever end up drilling for any of that estimated 15 million barrels of oil in the nechacko basin.

Yikes--I didn't know there was oil in them there hills...

yeah quite a bit, im not sure why they haven't drilled for it yet, might have something to do with enviromentalists.

Screw them...exploration should have started years ago, and PG would be in much better shape now!

exactly, and i wouldn't have to drive or fly so far to get work!

too bad it smells - that always bugged me when going there the smell of the pulp mills

That's what I hear...depending on which way the wind blows...

3 pulp mills, an oil refinery and a chemical plant of some kind that smells of ass, im surprised people who live there make it past 50! hhaahaha
i find living with one pulpmill is tough enough.

Ground breaks on first mosque in northern B.C.

Construction started Sunday on a mosque in Prince George – the first in northern B.C.

The Islamic Cultural and Educational Centre will be built at 5th Avenue and Foothills Boulevard on a site that once housed a drive-in movie theatre.

Sharifa Mohamed is one of the many Muslims in Prince George celebrating the start of construction.

"We were waiting for this for a long time," he said. "We were hoping one day we will have something, you know, to pray, as everybody else have."

When Ibrahim Karidio arrived in Prince George, he combed the phone book, cold-calling anyone with an Islamic-sounding name to find others with whom he could worship.

He said the mosque is important to the Muslim community.

"I think it's a sense of identity, a sense of belonging," he said.

The two closest mosques are in Kelowna, B.C., and Edmonton, Alta., both a day's drive away.

Without a mosque, Prince George's 200 Muslim families have been worshipping in rented motel rooms, family homes, the Native Friendship Centre and in the hall at the Knox United Church downtown.

They say they still need to raise two-thirds of the money to complete the $1.5-million project, but they're adamant the mosque will be finished in one year.

Locals are turning to Muslims in Vancouver and Edmonton to help raise the money they need to complete the Islamic Cultural and Educational Centre.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/06/08/bc-prince-george-mosque-construction.html

I thought we had one here in Kamloops, but I guess that is a Sikh temple.

Its been a while since anyone added anything here so I'll add some good news for the area.

First cargo jet customer arrives at P.G. airport
Text By Arthur Williams - Prince George Free Press


Published: November 17, 2009 12:00 PM
Updated: November 17, 2009 3:03 PM

The first Boeing 747 cargo aircraft to land at Prince George Airport touched down at approximately 8:15 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The Southern Air Inc. flight arrived from Anchorage, changed flight crews, took on approximately 130,000L of fuel and departed for Caracas, Venezuela.

“It’s a beautiful runway,” Capt. Eric Snyder said. “It’s been a very, very nice welcome. I look forward to flying here many times in the future.”

First officer Lucy Liccie said the runway, control tower and ground crew preformed perfectly.

“It was great. We had no worries.”

Southern Air is a charter carrier. No regularly-schedueled cargo flights are scheduled to stop in Prince George yet, airport authority chairman Jim Blake said.

“Southern Air has indicated an interest in coming in with charter flights,” Blake said. “(And) we’ve had discussions with Air China, China Southern and other airlines.”

Seeing the massive aircraft on the runway was the realization of seven years of hard work, Blake said.

“It’s been seven years since we took over the airport from the federal government. Almost from day one we’ve had this vision of refueling cargo aircraft on route to and from Asia.”

The flight was originally scheduled to arrive Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. direct from Asia. However it was late arriving in Singapore and operational issues with slot times in Sapporo, Japan meant a new schedule needed to be developed.

The Boeing 747-200 is 70.6m long, 19.3m high and nearly 60m wide with a maximum take-off weight of 377 tonnes. However, the even-larger Boeing 747-300 and 747-400 could make stops at the airport, Blake said.

The newly-constructed refueling pad can accommodate up to three 747s simultaneously. Refueling is currently done by tanker truck, but if the number of refueling stops increases, the airport will look at building a hydrant system to dispense the fuel, Blake said.

Airport president John Gibson said the plan is to expand the airport’s operations slowly.

“We had one carrier who wanted to bring six flights at a time. But we just can’t accommodate that,” Gibson said. “What we want to do is look at bringing one, two flights at a time.”

Allied Aviation and Shell Fuels currently have the fuel capacity at the airport to handle about three large aircraft a day.

The flight is the first to use the airport’s expanded runway to its full capacity.

The $36 million extension was aimed at attracting cargo aircraft traveling between the United States and Southeast Asia.

Prince George offers a B.C. flight alternative

Anchorage faces challenge to its trans-Pacific business

By Frank Luba, The Province November 17, 2009

When a Southern Air Boeing 747 from Hong Kong makes its expected landing at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Prince George airport, it will mark the beginning of what the airport authority hopes will be many profitable landings.

The 747 is the first big plane to use the airport's new runway which, at 3,490 metres, is Canada's third-longest after Toronto and Vancouver.

The plane will use the airport's even-newer cargo and refuelling area to "uplift" another 100,000 litres of fuel before heading to Miami, Fla., and Caracas, Venezuela.

Most such long-distance flights refuel in Anchorage, Alaska, but Prince George is a closer and cheaper alternative on some routes.

Prince George Airport Authority president John Gibson said $37 million was spent on the runway, which was finished last year, and the cargo and refuelling areas, which were completed in September.

The changes were planned so carefully that a toad "rodeo" was held to corral western spade-footed toads whose habitat was threatened.

The toads, whose secretions smell like peanut butter, according to the Western Ecological Research Centre, were moved away from the area and an 45-centimetre-high toad "fence" erected to keep them out.

Gibson hopes the facilities attract some of the traffic that previously stopped over in Alaska.

"The vision of the airport and the federal and provincial governments has been to build the airport in such a fashion that it competes with Anchorage, Alaska, as a trans-Pacific, technical fuel stop and cargo airport," Gibson said.

He said the first phase of the plan is to make the airport a refuelling stop. The next phase would be to expand the cargo business's capacity.

The third phase is a planned airport light-industrial and logistics park, which would help shippers from around the world by providing different ways to move cargo by road, rail and air.

Prince George's airport has some advantages over the congested Anchorage airport in that it is outside the city and can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Gibson said.

"We're hoping to be much more competitive in terms of fuel supply, fuel prices, prices the airport charges, prices the ground handlers charge," Gibson said.

Prince George Mayor Dan Rogers said his community has worked with Prince Rupert as it improves its port, as well as with Edmonton and its rail facility, to give shippers more options for moving cargo.

"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line and a straight line comes through Prince Rupert to Prince George to Edmonton and into America's heartland," Rogers said.

"Location, location, location."

Rogers is pleased with the expansion.

"We're very bullish about the future for logistics and diversifying the economy," he said.

"This potentially represents in the long term hundreds of jobs."

The city has partnered with the federal and provincial governments on the $28-million Boundary Road connector project, which will provide access to the planned airport light-industrial and logistics park.

The six-kilometre stretch of road will connect Highways 16 and 97.

fluba@theprovince.com

© Copyright (c) The Province

Cariboo resort to become housing

http://www.cariboovacations.com/logo.jpg

A lakeside retreat for hundreds of families will be converted into residential lots for a fortunate few after the regional district allowed a rezoning at Green Lake on Thursday.

The board of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District voted to rezone the former Poplar Beach Resort. The private campground opened in 1967 but the current owners have not run it since purchasing it several years ago.

The campground on popular Green Lake, about 16 kilometres east of 70 Mile House, was home to about 70 campsites and four rental cabins.

"What's changed is that more people are retiring where they used to recreate," said TNRD director of planning Andrew Swetlishoff.

"I see that trend continuing until such time as properties get out of reach of the average person."

While the recession brought a recent lull to resort conversions, dozens of private campgrounds in the Interior have been converted over to residential and seasonal-use private properties due to skyrocketing demand for recreational property.

The board voted 21-3 to approve the rezoning to convert the property into seven .4-hectare lots. Those lot sizes still must be approved by Interior Health Authority so that septic systems can be properly installed and operated.

The board voted against director Sally Watson, who represents the area.

Watson argued that a pending official community plan will demand lots in the area are twice that size. Green Lake is considered under severe pressure from development and recreational use. At risk are water quality and natural values.

A representative of the owner, Focus Group planner Deb Biddiscombe, said the conversion will lessen pressure on the lake. At peak use the campground is home to 300 people or more.

But Watson noted the campsite has not operated for several years, meaning the current impact is zero.

"Knowing the official community plan is considering a lot size considerably larger than an acre I'd like to hold off or turn it down."

But director John Ranta garnered majority support for a motion to approve the rezoning, backing up an opinion from the planning department.

"It's considerably less pressure on the lake and surrounding area for seven septic fields… than 200 or 300 people staying seasonally at the campground."

http://www.whistlerwake.com/images/location/cove.jpg
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/dos/photo_gallery/pics/page_5/Green_lake.jpg

I wonder if Prince George will ever be able to get out of its rut

SITE "C" DAM

THE PROVINCE WILL GO AHEAD WITH THE $6-BILLION SITE C DAM ON THE PEACE RIVER. PREMIER GORDON CAMPBELL SAYS THE MASSIVE PROJECT WILL HELP B-C ATTAIN IT'S FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS. BUT ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SAY THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE FOCUSING MORE ON CONSERVATION, AND SMALKLER POWER PROJECTS INSTEAD OF ONE HUGE ONE. THEY SAY IF THAT HAPPENED SITE C MIGHT NOT EVEN BE NEEDED.


The B.C. Peace River
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http://peaceriver.govoffice.com/vertical/Sites/%7B6456E250-35A7-4235-93B6-CCA9C401943C%7D/uploads/%7BB8F3FC2A-09C9-4D25-A566-82C99018A91B%7D.JPG

Prince George wants Gasifier
http://acccogeneration.com/canada/wp-includes/images/ACCcan_WPheader.gif
A creosote tie gasifying plant rejected in Kamloops could find a home in Prince George. Business and community leaders in that city are actively courting Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation. A-C-C proposes burning old rail ties as an energy source. Prince George is out to label itself as a hub of bioenergy projects. It's not known if ACC president Kim Sigurdson is interested in the Prince George location.

aAff1PblvSQ

Canfor looks at restart of Vavenby: sources

http://www.simonsgp.com/attachments/Image/canfor.jpg

Canfor is making tentative plans for a $30-million upgrade to its Vavenby mill that would put at least 100 workers back on the job and provide a dramatic boost to the North Thompson economy.

But the investment has yet to be approved by Canfor Corp.'s board, a union leader said Friday.

Both Clearwater Mayor John Harwood and local Steelworkers president Mary Gibbons said the proposed investment provides hope for the community and workers who lost their jobs a year ago.

A Canfor spokesman did not return calls Friday. But both Gibbons and Harwood confirmed the company has drawn up plans for reinvestment.

“We've been informed they've got a proposal for modernization of Canfor Vavenby,” said Gibbons, head of Local 1-417 of the United Steelworkers. “It's going to the Canfor board next month.”

While that upgrade would give the community an economic jumpstart, it will come at a cost of jobs in the mill and bush. Harwood said the company has spoken with logging contractors and informed them there is work for only three of the five firms.

The mill employed 200 people at its peak. Gibbons said a revamped mill at the community located about 15 minutes drive north of Clearwater would require 100 to 150 workers.

Gibbons said he's been told upgrades would happen in September with a restart of the mill in January.

Harwood said there is hope in the community.

“We're waiting for the July (board) date to see what happens. It (reopening) would have such an affect here.”

Gibbons credited a labour deal reached with Canfor earlier this year for the hope of reinvestment. That deal provides for a 25 per cent wage cut for workers new to the job for the first six months when a mill restarts.

The union president estimates half of the Vavenby workforce is no longer in the community. That would give Canfor a start-up discount on about half its workforce.

Bid Evaluation Committee Impressed
By 250 News

Monday, August 09, 2010 06:06 PM

Prince George, B.C.- The Canada Winter Games Bid Evaluation Committee was very impressed with the bid effort by Prince George.

Chair of the Evaluation Committee, Piers McDonald, says the committee was impressed “I think it was clear from the Bid Committee’s proposal that the Bid Committee had done a lot of work and had been very thorough and very thoughtful about understanding the details and the issues that they needed to cover. When we arrived I think we were able to put a lot of things into perspective, first of all just physically, just how intimate the proposal for the athletes village, the whole idea is there is a core in the community that is to be used for the Games so there will be a very strong Games feel in the community, not all spread out, so that was very impressive.”

He says even facilities that are outside the downtown core were impressive, but the community enthusiasm was a key point “It was great to see people showing up in the middle of summer time with toques on, expressing support for the Games. That was very impressive.”
McDonald says during the bid process there were questions about some things, but those questions have been answered and provided a very good response in virtually every case “It shows the Bid Committee is able to react well to suggestions and change and having been a host society president in the past those are absolutely necessary qualities.”

The bid committee didn’t miss any details, from the fully logo painted bus to the “We Are Winter” scarf draped around the neck of the black bear that’s on display at the airport, the Evaluation Committee saw community support at virtually every turn.

While the City will be releasing more details of its bid this evening when it shows the Bid Video to City Council and then posts that video on the City’s website, some of the details of what occurred today have been revealed;
The Bid evaluation committee experienced a mock opening ceremonies at the CN Centre, complete with children posing as athletes, and topped with a mini fireworks display. Then at the University of Northern B.C. there was a mock media conference. Downtown, the display of support from those who lined the streets was, “impressive” only to be followed by the celebration in the Civic Centre Plaza, complete with fresh snow. One of the members of the bid Evaluation Committee was hit by a snowball during that “summer snowstorm”.


The Bid evaluation Committee is now on it’s way to Kamloops, and while McDonald won’t say Kamloops and Kelowna have a tough act to follow, he does say the Prince George effort was very good indeed “I can say we were extremely impressed with what we saw today. Anecdotally, talking to other members of the committee, the bar has been set very high here. You have a very strong committee here with very experienced people who have done a lot of work, that’s obvious. More importantly, you can feel the heart of this community that’s a very significant factor for us.”

New bus in the Vicinity


By Allan Wishart - Prince George Free Press

http://media.bclocalnews.com/images/36896princegeorgeN0901VicinityBus.jpg

No, the bus didn't shrink.

Bus riders on the 91 (Spruceland/Hart) and 46 and 47 (Queensway) routes might get a bit of a shock when a smaller version of their transit shows up in the next couple of weeks, but it's okay.

It's part of a two-week trial period for the Vicinity bus, which is 27.5 feet compared to the regular 40-foot buses the city has been using.

"Those routes have shown lower ridership," says city transit analyst Daniel Pearce, "so the smaller bus will be all right. As well, the 91 route has good terrain to test it on. It has some tighter streets that the larger buses have trouble with at times."

The Vicinity bus will run on the same schedule as the regular buses, and Pearce isn't sure when it will be running each of the different routes.

The Vicinity bus was introduced to Prince George on Friday morning outside the Civic Centre. Manuel Achadinha, the president and CEO of BC Transit, said the bus has a lot to offer municipalities.

"It's half the price of a larger (40-foot) bus and is 33 per cent more fuel-efficient. One of the best things I can say about the bus is Quesnel didn't want to give it up after their test.

"I thought we were going to have to fight them to get the keys back."

The Vicinity bus has made runs in a number of communities across B.C. to see how it performs in different climates and terrains.


"The feedback we're been getting from drivers and passengers," Achadinha said, "is that the bus is more manouevrable, comfortable and quiet."

Mayor Dan Rogers said upgrading the local transit system whenever possible was important.

"We're not looking at a bus; we're looking at innovation. Mobility is crucial to a high quality of life for our citizens.

"This bus promises to provide that mobility."

Minister of Transportation Shirley Bond said the bus was proving itself around the province.

"The feedback so far has been good from both drivers and passengers. This isn't just about Prince George. People in rural areas want transit service, and the Vicinity bus can provide that."

Mayor and Delegation Celebrating the Moment
By 250 News

Friday, September 17, 2010 10:37 AM



And the winner is ……. PRINCE GEORGE!
B.C.’s northern Capital will host the 2015 Canada Winter Games.

The announcement was made this morning by Premier Gordon Campbell in Vancouver, but the Atrium at the CN/Kin Centres erupted in cheers, high fives, applause and fist pumping!
Mayor Dan Rogers is in Vancouver and was on the stage when the announcement was made “It was tough being on stage, we were celebrating, but there were a couple of other disappointed communities that’s for sure. It’s great news for us and the entire north, that’s for sure.”
The Mayor says while there is a lot of work that lies ahead, right now it’s about celebrating the moment “and recognizing all the people that have been involved to this stage. There have been a tremendous amount of volunteers and support right across the community and in fact, I think that’s what put us over the top, is the way the community responded on August 9th and came out and showed tha we may have been the underdog in this, but we really want this and we will work really hard to make this a wonderful experience for our 100th birthday.”
Mayor Rogers says while this will be the largest undertaking this community has ever taken on, it will be “one step at a time and the first step will be to convene the Host Society which will be ultimately responsible for making the event happen.
The special bus that was painted to promote the 2015 bid by Prince George, will carry the delegation home from Vancouver. “We’ve got to drive it around the City of Vancouver and do a little pre promotion of the 2015 Games, that starts already” says Mayor Rogers.
The 2015 Games will be the largest multi sport event ever held in Prince George with 3700 athletes, between 4000 and 6000 volunteers, 1300 officials, media, medical professionals and tens of thousands of visitors to the community.
The event is expected to create an economic impact of $70 to $90 million dollars and will leave legacies in the community.

A little late posting this on here but this is going to have a big impact on the city.

excellent news!!!:banana:

Prince George bidding for 2013 Memorial Cup

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The Prince George Cougars want to see the 2013 Memorial Cup at CN Centre.
In order for that to happen, they’ll need more fan support.
The strongest message the Cougars sent out during their first Memorial Cup bid meeting on Wednesday at CN Centre is that without an increase in ticket sales, their efforts in landing the tournament will be unsuccessful.*Mark Miller and Mike Doran, 2013 bid co-chairs, Cougars vice president Brandi Brodsky and general manager Dallas Thompson addressed questions during the meeting, held prior to the Cougars’ home game against the Portland Winterhawks. They stressed that the city has every other key ingredient to hold a successful Memorial Cup – the venue, the hotel accommodations and a competitive Canadian Hockey League (CHL) franchise.

The bid team is targeting a minimum season-ticket increase of about 1,000 for the 2011-12 season for their bid to get serious consideration, and in order to meet their timelines in the bid process, they need to see that support over the next few weeks. They’re aiming to attract at least 1,000 more spectators per game than their current average, meaning between 2,800 and 3,000 is required.

“The more we get, the stronger message we send,” Miller said.

Prince George’s ability in host successful national sporting events in the past has been well documented. The list includes the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball nationals and Road to the Roar pre-Olympic curling trials in 2009, the RBC Royal Bank Cup national junior A hockey championship in 2007. They’ve also secured a reoccuring international sporting event with the World Baseball Challenge which, coming off its inaugural competition in 2009, returns this July.
But the biggest event of them all, the holy grail of sports competitions for the city, comes in 2015 with the Canada Winter Games. It’ll be the most significant sports event in the city’s history.

The Memorial Cup would also be a major financial boost to the city. Figures from past tournaments put the economic impact in the tens of millions of dollars. As part of the bid package for Prince George, it was noted that the final figures from Kitchener, Ont. in 2008, had its economic impact at $15 million.

The championship tournament for the 60-team Canadian Hockey League, the Memorial Cup alternates annually between its three member leagues, the Western Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior, and Ontario Hockey League. The bid team sees the Memorial Cup as a way to enhance preparations for the Canada Winter Games, and vice versa.

“(The year) 2013, we think it goes hand in hand. But 2016 wouldn’t work, so the next time this comes around is 2019 really,” Thompson said. “I think being two years in front of the Canada Games is a different position and a better position than a year out, not even a year out.”

But the attendance has been a sour point. Asked if she sees the bid process as a means to increase attendance, Brodsky said it goes hand in hand. She stressed the timing of the bid, calling it a great time to try and land the competition.
“The bids that are put forward (in Prince George), they’re fantastic, and I think the bid on its own that this city could put forth would be second to none” she said. “But what I am worried about happening and I don’t want to happen is that we have this fantastic bid, there’s five, six teams that are putting a bid forward and they just go and just look at attendance and make that be an easy out, an easy criteria to say Prince George isn’t going to make it now because this is an easy one.”

The committee outlined its deadlines for the bid. April 1 is the deadline for them to send in a letter of intent. By May 15, they’ll send in a six- to 10-page application package at which point, if there’s more than five teams, a shortlisting process will begin. The list will be reduced to a few hopefuls later this spring and the winner will be announced on Oct. 15. This marks a new process for the CHL and Western Hockey League to determine its Memorial Cup host.

The Cougars are in the process of setting up a security deposit through Ticketmaster, in which the public can pledge money when purchasing tickets. They’ll also be offering pro-rated prices on season tickets with a portion of the money going towards charities, part of a partnership with the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation. Twenty per cent of the purchase price will be donated to one or all of eight charities of choice.

“Come out to the games, come out and support the team and we can use that to leverage ourselves in this bid,” Brodsky said. “We have to do that in order for our bid to move forward, and it’s something that is pretty easy for people to do. There’s some pretty good hockey being played here. It’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”


* I remember when Kamloops sold out every game, night after night. Now tickets are easy to get and cheap in most cases. In the 90's my dad would take us down on game day to get tickets, thinking if we arrived to buy tickets 5-6 hours previous to game time, we could still get something for the game and almost always there were no tickets available. That was when we had a good team. Now, tickets are easy and a win over the Blazers is just as easy.

What i really find interesting is how the Cougars braintrust gloss over the reason for the low attendance and the only reason this city wouldn't get the Memorial cup, and would be the absolute terrible record of the team itself.
people would take this bid more seriously if Dallas Thompson proved he could actually build something out of his team. finishing dead last in the entire CHL last year and on the verge of missing the playoffs again this year hardly instills confidence in the fan base.

here's a few good news stories from the area. things are beginning to pick up around here.

Shepard Says Forestry Future Is Bright
By 250 News

Tuesday, March 08, 2011 01:02 PM


Prince George, B.C .- In what will be likely his last address to a group in Prince George before he leaves the post as Canfor’s CEO and President, Jim Shepard told a luncheon crowd, that when it comes to forestry, the world is changing.
“The old world is being replaced by the new world” says Shepard, “We assumed the U.S. housing start report was the barometer of the Canadian forestry market, it took a crisis to wake us up.”
When that crisis hit it started a chain reaction that plunged the forestry industry into a tail spin. “Canfor closed 8 mills indefinitely, frankly we were fighting for survival.”
The good news for Canfor was that it had started a wood college outside Shanghai China in 2004. That college has since graduated hundreds of people who can build wood frame housing.
He says we are now entering a new world where demand will match, or surpass supply. Canfor’s shipments of wood to China have grown from next to nothing in 2000 “We were shipping enough to build about two cigar boxes in 2000” to 563.1 million board feet in 2010. That is the equivalent of the full production of three sawmills.
Shepard says the early runs this year indicate Canfor will ship the equivalent of full production from 4 sawmills.
He is predicting growth in shipments to other Asian nations including India, but the first real growth is China. ”This year, its estimated 30 million people will move into the cities from the rural areas to take jobs in factories. Just last year they became the largest exporter in dollar volume, replacing Germany.” Those people moving into cities will place a huge demand on the housing market.
Shepard says during his last visit to China, ( which was just last November) he had the opportunity to meet with subdivision developers. The developers told him they liked what they saw in building with wood and liked the reduced carbon footprint of building with wood. He is also amazed about the rate of growth in China, “I call it the U.S. on steroids. Beijing is synonymous with big league, it’s all big, it’s all new.”
Shepard says if it wasn’t for China, the Canfor mills recently reopened, would not be back in production. He says lumber prices are up, despite the fact that housing starts in the U.S. are in the 500 thousand range, about half of where they were at the height of the recession.
Looking forward, Shepard says he thinks there is a great future for the lumber industry and a great future for Canfor, “If you have any children or grand children who are interested in getting into forestry, encourage them, this sunset industry, has once again become a sunrise industry.”


Conifex Working On Bioenergy Plant in Mackenzie
By 250 News

Wednesday, March 09, 2011 03:58 AM


Mackenzie, B.C.- Conifex has announced it is working towards a bioenergy project worth $45 million at its Mackenzie sawmill.

The bioenergy plant is slated to start commercial production of electricity in the summer of 2012.

In connection with the Bioenergy Project, Conifex has entered into arrangements with Dresser-Rand Canada, Inc. for the manufacture and purchase of a 36 MW steam turbine generation set (the "Turbine"). The total cost of the Turbine and ancillary equipment and services is approximately U.S. $10.5 million. The Bioenergy Project is expected to generate approximately 230 GWh of net energy per year.

Conifex is in discussions with BC Hydro in connection with a proposed energy purchase agreement and with respect to establishing energy savings arrangements at its Mills. Those agreements and arrangements will be subject to regulatory approval.

Waste fibre from Conifex's sawmilling and timber harvesting operations will be used to fuel the bioenergy plant, which in turn will supply power to its sawmills and for potential sale to BC Hydro. In addition, the extraction of the Turbine has been sized to accommodate future lumber drying requirements of the Mackenzie operations.

Mr. Ken Shields, President and Chairman, commented: "We are very excited to add clean energy generation to our timber harvesting and lumber manufacturing operations. The development of bioenergy in conjunction with our traditional operations will diversify existing revenue sources, counteract some of the volatility inherent in the commodity lumber sector, and provide additional stable employment opportunities within the community of Mackenzie."

Without a firm agreement in place and without approval from the BC Utilities Commission, there is always a possibility the project may not go ahead as described, or at all.

What i really find interesting is how the Cougars braintrust gloss over the reason for the low attendance and the only reason this city wouldn't get the Memorial cup, and would be the absolute terrible record of the team itself.
people would take this bid more seriously if Dallas Thompson proved he could actually build something out of his team. finishing dead last in the entire CHL last year and on the verge of missing the playoffs again this year hardly instills confidence in the fan base.

whats the average attendance of a cougars game?

I think attendance this year is just over 2000 per game. about the same as last year. That down from about 5000 plus, 6 or 7 years ago. 3 last place finishes in the span of 5 years really started the slide.

3 last place finishes in the span of 5 years really started the slide.

yeah, that would hurt the attendance for sure!


since you live in PG, would you take some pics of this beautiful northern city and post them in the BC photos section? Thanks in advance! :cheers:

AND... could you take some pics of construction sites in PG as well? Maybe some nice shots of the city centre too?

Here is a run down of projects in the planning or development stage right now.

- Northern Cancer Center ~ 2 stories with 5 level parking garage ~ $7 million
- RCMP Headquarters ~ 2 stories downtown ~ $40 million
- Canfor Pulp Transformation Projects ~ $140 million
- 6 story condo downtown www.investgo.ca
- four story hotel development in westgate area
- Wood innovation and design centre & Engineering building downtown will be between 3 stories and 12 stories. An architect leeked some information on this at a green building conference in Australia ~ $30 million +

In the North right now there is probably about $20+ Billion in development projects on the books excluding any oil and gas projects in the NE. What team?

A few photos from PG ....

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