Mayor relays his weekly message through the Northern View

There’s nothing like the one way mirror of a newspaper column to get a view or two across, no debate, no but; but’s and no there’s no around one to interrupt either, then again with the flock of free papers to choose from, there may or may not be that many people reading either. So for those that may have missed His Honour’s treatise on the good and the bad we’ll provide it below.

The mayor’s spin on the state of the city appeared on the same day as what surely will be a record snowfall for recent times leaving the streets a rather treacherous obstacle course to navigate, as well as the day that the Daily News featured stories of Regional District looking for extra taxpayer funds due to a personnel termination and a tale of woe over the state of the ice at the Civic centre.

This week’s installment provides the good news that the census stats are wrong, both in how bad things really were and how now the city is on the rebound, as the mayor tells it hundreds are back to work and the speculators have been quick to come to town to buy up our properties.

Despite the challenges of potholes that eat cars, roads suddenly impassable due to snow, ice skating rinks with little in the way of usable ice and costly personnel terminations aside, as the mayor sees it the Rupert ship is coming into harbour and woe be the person who misses that rising tide.


Prince Rupert is turning the corner from census stats
By Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond
Mar 28 2007

Well the census data is in and the outside world is agog that the population of the Northwest plunged so precipitously – hardly a surprise to those of us who have been hanging on by our fingernails. Now the gurus of predictive statistics are burning through erasers to revise downward their previously optimistic forecasts. They were wrong before, they’ll be wrong again, and here’s why.

The 2001 census that showed Prince Rupert just shy of 15,000 was a snap shot taken before the calamity really struck. The Skeena pulp mill and West Fraser’s sawmill were both active. Coal, grain and lumber shipments were still moving. The wholesale retreat of the major coastal forest companies was yet to come, as was the mass exodus of our skilled trades and professionals. The flurry of closures without replacement of many long-time local businesses was just beginning, as were the worst years for our salmon industries.

In truth, the stats miss how bad it got. Without doubt, at the bottom Prince Rupert’s population dipped well below 12,000 from a high of 18,000 in 1996. We entered into a full blown crisis and struggled to convince others of just how bad it had really become.

But then the picture changed, or more accurately, local people changed the picture.
Both Ridley Terminals and Prince Rupert Grain completely rebuilt their businesses, establishing new competitive advantages. Both have diversified their operations and are growing well beyond previous levels, adding sulphur, wood pellets and specialty products to the expanding commodity list.

The Port, the City, and senior governments together built a cruise dock and since opening day, an incredible troop of volunteers have faithfully welcomed each ship. As a result, 2007 will bring 100,000 visitors and more than $10,000,000 in spending to our community. Local entrepreneurs have stepped up to the plate, offering what is without doubt the best tour product and speciality retail in Northern B.C.

The board and staff at Northwest Community College lead a partnership that constructed a new campus, with local businesses putting up big cash to put in place the programs we need.

And the biggest story by far, the Port of Prince Rupert crafted a partnership with Maher Terminals, CN, British Columbia and Canada that will bring a new container terminal on line this fall, transforming the Northern B.C.’s economy in the process and opening entirely new opportunities for our seafood and forest industries. It’s a project that resulted directly from local initiative and garnered regional support.

We are well on our way towards modernizing our local retail with the approval of a 25 acre shopping complex. An $11 million private sector investment is creating the most lavish community gaming centre in all of B.C. New health care facilities are being built. Major retailers, like Safeway, are spending millions on upgrades.

Companies from San Francisco, Toronto, Calgary, Prince George and Vancouver are investing 10’s of millions in commercial real estate and upgrading properties. Homeowners are regaining personal wealth as the value of private homes rise. Last week we created our first new residential sub-division in over 15 years, and more are under review.

In short, when the latest count was taken last May we were already on the mend and just beginning to take a whole new stride. Today, hundreds of people are working who just two years ago were not. Very detailed and extremely conservative analysis suggests that there are 3,000 jobs to be filled in the next three and half years across all sectors of the local economy.
So what does all this mean? Well I take away two messages.

The first is that the ugly years were indeed every bit as tough as we all believed and it will take some time for families, businesses and even the City to recover (potholes are just a symptom).

The second is that we are on the rebound, the signs and opportunities are everywhere. Whoever misses that second piece, and many will, risk wasting the opportunity of a lifetime.