The Northern Economic Summit in Prince George that was held just a week ago, was a resounding success if you measure it by the early sell out; the addition of over a 100 wait-listed hopefuls to an audience exceeding 600; the high calibre of presenters and the valuable networking that happened. But the telling value was in the focused two days invested by the Premier, provincial Ministers and MLAs from both parties to sincerely listen to a powerhouse audience of northern leadership. Business, First Nations and communities will see follow up to the Economic Summit dialogue and we hope that there will be future events of this calibre in the north at least every two years.
Late last fall when the Premier announced the Economic Summit with his 10 point plan on October 17th, few thought that over 600 corporate and community leaders from across BC would brave -25 degree weather to attend in Prince George. In fact, this conference was sold out well before the Vancouver edition of the Summit and was a huge step forward from the format of the Northern Resource Expo traditionally held the same week in January.
Comments from just a few leaders attending…
“The Northern Economic Summit proved to be an excellent forum to address and further issues important to the northern economy. It is important that as a level of government, we work closely with the Province in order to stimulate and grow our economic wealth. We should continue to hold similar forums on a regular basis.”
Mayor Dave Pernarowski, City of Terrace
“First Nations are integral to the partnerships that will drive this Provinces Economy forward, and this is the calibre of interactive summit that our governments find valuable.”
Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick, Gitxsan Chief Negotiator and Director Ridley Terminals
“Great start…but there is much more to do. The practical actions after the conference are what is important.”
Leonard Legault, President Alterna Energy Inc.
“The Northern Economic Summit was a valuable and timely conference. Interdisciplinary interaction based on this model should happen at least bi-annually.”
Alice Maitland, Mayor Village of Hazelton
“To be able to attract this many business and community leaders from all over the north to an event of this magnitude in the midst of Winter is a testimony to the need for a coordinated response to this unprecedented attack on our economic prosperity. As a key contributor to this economic prosperity, the northern portion of our province needs the acute attention an event of this importance brings to it.”
John Winter, President & CEO, BC Chamber of Commerce
“The Summit was an outstanding success. At every session there was lots of time set aside to allow input from those attending.”
Jim Blake, Chair, Prince George Airport Authority
“The summit was a very vital and vibrant forum that really connected business, government and stakeholders and demonstrated the importance of working collectively to improve the economic outlook for British Columbia. Positive and refreshing. Looking forward to the next one.”
Russ Polsom, Blackwater Construction Co. Ltd, Chair of the Prince George Construction Association
“The energy and ideas evidenced at the Summit were strong indicators that the communities, industries and businesses in BC’s North can drive economic recovery as well or better than other regions. We came away from the Summit feeling that, given reasonable support from higher levels of government, we can fashion our own recovery from the current economic downturn. We just need the freedom, and the support through organizations like Northern Development, to get started. It was a very valuable gathering, one I hope will be repeated semi-regularly in the years to come.”
Mayor Bruce Lantz, City of Fort St. John
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If you attended the conference and would like to provide your feedback, or ask that government consider a future summit of this calibre in the north, please email you comments to Janine North, CEO, Northern Development Initiative Trust at info@northerndevelopment.bc.ca. The responses will be collated together and submitted to the Premier, Ministers and MLA’s who attended the conference. |
There have also been many requests for Janine North’s speaking notes on “The Northern Decade” at the Friday morning plenary session. Please find a transcript from the session below:
The Northern Decade
Janine North, Chief Executive Officer
Northern Development Initiative Trust
Making the next decade ‘the Northern Decade’ is the best investment to ensure long term provincial prosperity. Make no mistake about it – the north drives our economy. Rural BC produces 2/3 of provincial exports – the wealth and the revenue that funds our school and healthcare systems. Contrast that with Vancouver – a service and bureaucratic centre with ‘no internal means of support’ in the form of an economic and wealth creating industry – reliant upon the resources and wealth creation of rural and northern British Columbia.
In order for northern BC to be a knowledge-based resource economy connected to the world, here are only a few suggestions of what is needed:
- A policy environment that supports mining development and gets mines through the regulatory process in half the time. In BC, we have 4 mines shutting down, no permits approved, a tough financing environment and little hope for half the projects in Canada that are located in BC, and which are currently going through the Federal Environment Assessment process. One new mine could increase our GDP by up to 2%;
- Increase the ‘Build Canada’ funding for municipal infrastructure and make provincial and federal funding decisions in less than 90 days. At 5 times the dollars requested over the $110 million that is currently available, the need is huge. In Prince George alone, there is a $40 million infrastructure deficit. Lower municipal participation to 20% from 33% because municipalities cannot deficit finance whereas provincial and federal governments can and have much greater budget flexibility;
- A centre to train dentists in Fort St. John associated with the new hospital and emulating the Northern Medical Program. The forecast is that in the next few years there will be almost 9,000 patients for each dentist in the northeast region as compared to Victoria at only 358 patients per dentist. In Victoria, a same day appointment trumps the northeast BC experience of over a year waitlist. Only 1 of the 18 dentists in the region is accepting new patients, and about half are retiring shortly;
- 1,000 new full time technical training seats in engineering, mining, information systems, drafting, carpentry, electrical, power engineering, nursing, and alternative energy for northern BC’s three community colleges;
- Collaborative engineering programs between the colleges and UNBC to train professionals for northern resource industries;
- A “New North Foundation” that compels economic development through northern applied research and innovation;
- Safety and technical improvements to Highway 97 from Quesnel to Dawson Creek which increase the size of loads that can be trucked and opens the resource-rich northeast to service and supply industries in the rest of BC.;
- Accelerate the Cariboo connector four lane program for Highway 97 from Cache Creek to Prince George so that it can be achieved in 10-15 years rather than 70 years at the current pace.;
- More funding for oversubscribed programs like ‘Connecting Citizens’ to expand ‘last mile’ broadband throughout the north, along with reducing cell phone dead-zones along the 3,000 km of Highways 16 and 97, so there is more than 15% coverage;
- Investment to increase capacity at northern break-bulk ports like Kitimat, Stewart and Ridley Island, as well as the Fairview Container Port to position for economic expansion, pipeline development and expansion of exports;
- A redundant fibre line from Prince George to the Peace connecting to the line to Edmonton, and providing central and northern BC with a ‘circle route’ of telecommunications, where all communities can offer the 99.9% up time that high end data solutions require;
- Forest policy that puts job creation and tenure certainty ahead of stumpage revenues, for value added and bio-energy industries that are not subject to the softwood lumber agreement;
- A ‘Northern Forest Products and Bio-Energy Innovation Centre’ in conjunction with UNBC and private industry, to pilot commercial bio-energy technology from pine beetle damaged wood;
- Energy policy that uses BC’s low cost power to attract energy intensive manufacturing and creates jobs close to the resource base and uncongested Pacific Gateway;
- A public-private infrastructure transmission project north to Dease Lake which could facilitate $1.5 billion in capital investment in mining and energy projects, and
- Delivering all of these needs with low overhead, regional decision making and delivery, that meets the goals of all levels of government and business.
This government made an incredible investment in moving $185 million into a sustainable Northern Development Initiative Trust, where decisions are made in the North – for the North.
It deserves huge credit for that investment in communities and business and their ability to jointly steward resources, but it also needs to look at why it is working, and how to transfer that community and business satisfaction to other initiatives where government wants to make a difference. Building a confident, robust economy in tough times takes strong vision, incredible purpose and will by government and the rest of us working together and not one more day that doesn’t achieve that goal.
Rural and northern BC is made up of people who work each day to drive the provincial economy and who want to believe that the next decade after the 2010 Olympics will finally be ‘the Northern Decade’. We don’t have the voting population, but we do drive the lifeblood of this provincial economy.
Remove barriers and invest in a knowledge based resource economy connected to the world, and we will take this province into a prosperous future.
