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‘It’s been a blast’ |
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Written by MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
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CIVIC CENTRECOLIN KINSLEY
"It's a time for me to make way for new leadership, new vision and new energy to help Prince George and the North move forward," Kinsley said when he spoke during the opening ceremony for this year's North Central Municipal Association convention at the Civic Centre.
By the time civic elections are held in November, Kinsley will have been the city's mayor for 12 years following 12 years as a councillor for a total of 24 years in local politics.
"I've had the best job in all of Canada, it's been a labour of love, it's been a blast," he told the delegates.
Asked why he chose the NCMA convention, where local politicians from 100 Mile House north are meeting today and tomorrow, to make the announcement, Kinsley said he wanted a venue where he could also thank the many people he's worked with over the years, stressing northern B.C. communities made their gains by forming a united front.
"I contemplated where best to do that, to thank the people of Prince George, but everybody who was involved in any successes we may have had and that's been this entire region and we've stuck together like no other and I just wanted to share that with all these friends," he said.
Kinsley said he isn't supporting anyone in particular as a successor but added the newcomer will need to be energetic, willing to work 50 to 80 hours a week and travel at a moment's notice.
"It's not just cutting ribbons and kissing babies anymore," he said. "It's very demanding. You're an economic development officer, you're a CEO, a general manager and kind of a jack of all trades," he said.
Asked what the biggest challenge for his successor will be, Kinsley said it's coming to grips with the downturn in dimension lumber production.
"I don't see the U.S. housing market recuperating as quickly as some pundits say," he said. "I think it may be two to three years out and that's our primary marketplace for dimension lumber.
"I don't quite frankly think enough has been done. I think there's been a lot of talk about accessing other markets but not nearly enough has been done.
"Instead of complaining about the fact that the American economy doesn't want our lumber anymore, we should be more than aggressive in Korea, India and China on seeing what we can do with platform, two-by-four construction. It's not going to be for single-family dwellings so we need to get our minds around that and get into larger projects using dimension lumber and other products.
"Why is it that we make only dimension lumber out of our wood fibre?"
He said the new mayor will have to concentrate on the transportation sector to diversify while the forest sector recovers, "and we need to work cooperatively and aggressively with the mining industry to move these mining interests forward and that will require extensive work with our First Nations neighbours."
Kinsley said his vision has been to make Prince George a gateway to North America.
"For a very long time I recognized that for us to be different than anybody else, we need to access markets and opportunities in the Pacific Rim and I think that's moving along very, very nicely," he said.
"On a lighter side, in 1996 I talked about infrastructure and I said every bridge in this town needs to be twinned. Well, there's going to be an announcement soon, I think, on the Cameron Street Bridge because it's cleared two more hurdles and I signed off on some papers yesterday."
He's also hoping a Canadian Forces reserve unit will be realized for the city.
Kinsley said he'll probably go back into the private sector in some way.
"I'm not planning on running federal or provincially," he said when asked about political ambitions.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 May 2008 )
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Thank you Collin.