Northeastern B.C. is consolidating its voice on the topics of industrial development, natural resource business, fiscal infrastructure and the social amenities that dovetail into those issues.
The Northeast B.C. Resource Municipalities Coalition has staked a claim at the trade show on now at the Civic Centre devoted to the provincial natural resources file.
"Our common interest is natural resources. Oil and natural gas are the big ones, but we also include mining, agriculture, forestry, the whole spectrum," said Harald Hansen, a consultant for the coalition, and a past chief administrative officer for the Peace River Regional District. He and coalition executive director Colin Griffith are circulating the crowded floor of the Premier's B.C. Natural Resources Forum that opened on Tuesday. Before the event even officially opened, they had already met with two provincial cabinet ministers with two more lined up for later in the day, and hopes to bump into several others in town for the annual event, plus representatives of agencies like the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and Business Council of B.C.
"We are trying to make everyone aware of who we are in the northeast," Hansen said.
"We are an extremely important part of the equation for the rest of British Columbia. We want to make it loud and clear that the oil and gas industry might have terminals on the west coast, pipelines across the whole north, but it all starts in our location, no matter where it's going. We have a big region, geographically, a small number of people living there, so we have to speak with a unified voice."
The founders of the coalition include the District of Taylor, City of Fort St. John and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, but they have also been joined recently by membership-based agencies like the Dawson Creek Chamber of Commerce, Fort
St. John Chamber of Commerce, Northern B.C. Truckers Association and Energy Services B.C.
Their goal is to ensure resource-based communities large and small in the northeastern region get the sustainability supports they need to ensure long-term viability, not just the soar and crash of a boom-and-bust commodity cycle.
"While the coalition supports the important role that the resource municipalities and rural communities play in supporting existing and future resource development, (these places) cannot be defined solely on the basis of their service centre function, but must be seen as economically diversified and socially vibrant (communities) that will continue to develop and prosper in the long term," said Hansen.
He hopes that being in Prince George for the natural resources forum will also bring into their fold other municipalities, First Nations, agencies, working groups and other vested interests that can enrich their work.
