At last, an election issue all candidates can agree on.
Ever since city council voted to proceed with the sale of the Pine Valley Driving Range land to John Major, owner of Casino Hollywood, the move has become the number one issue in this year’s civic elections.
Some blame the media for their preoccupation with it during an election campaign marked mostly by a lack of originality of thought or discussion.
Others blame the current council and administration for bringing such a controversial issue to a vote three weeks before election day.
While candidates hold a variety of positions on the issue, they all agree on one thing: the focus on one corner of one part of the downtown has detracted from issues of real importance to voters in Prince George.
He was a big man and he cast a large shadow but all that paled in comparison to the size of his heart. Generous, friendly and caring in everything he did, whether it was family, his workmates or his business contacts, the Moose had a personality as big as his nickname and for that he will forever be remembered. That heart of his took one last beat on Friday when he died of cancer at age 75. For 52 of his years, Prince George was his home and in that time, whether it was sports, entertainment or politics, Moose found a way to get himself involved and become part of the talk of the town.
Is my memory failing me or wasn’t it the Forest Council (along with Pat Bell and our own Mayor Colin Kinsley) that supported the sale of BC Rail?
They said private industry works far better than BC Rail could, even though the railway was making good money at the time it was sold.
Wasn’t it the same group that said if CN Rail didn’t live up to those promises, they would (according to the mayor) be their worst nightmare? On March 23rd, Intercon’s work sheet reports, “Warehouse pulp inventory has reached a critical level, no rail cars available for warehouse switch today. Temporary facilities being erected outside for storage of finished pulp inventory.” At Northwood pulp this report; “Rail cars for shipping pulp are becoming a big concern again. The last few weeks have seen a warehouse filling up.”
Major plans to build a destination casino and hotel at the junction of Highways 97 and 16.
“The people who voted me in put me there to do a job. They didn’t put me there to step aside from tough issues,” said Sethen. “It would be the easiest thing to do to step away from some of these tough issues, but I feel I would be neglecting my duty if I did that.”
Campaign donations especially those from Major became a controversial election issue in 2002. Some losing candidates suggested they were defeated simply because they accepted money from Major in the 1999 election.
One of the biggest complaint from Mayor Colin Kinsley and council, when it comes to issues that are based on population numbers, is that the 2006 Census is wrong. The redistribution of the provincial electoral ridings is a prime case where population, and how it is distributed at least according to the Census has a real impact on the area. The Census says we have fewer people and, bingo, fewer ridings follow. But it’s more than just decreased representation in Victoria or Ottawa.
Many provincial and federal funding programs are based on population. Those levels of government use the Census to determine population levels. When the population decreases, so does the flow of federal and provincial cash.