Picking out a highlight for his two-day jam-packed trip to Ottawa was easy for Mayor Lyn Hall: meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The impromptu introduction happened at the House of Commons, with help from Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty.
"We met with Prime Minister Trudeau in his office for 15 minutes and it was quite an experience," said Hall in Monday's press release.
"We discussed the importance of infrastructure for municipalities and took the opportunity to personally extend an invitation to the Prime Minister to attend the International Bioenergy Conference in Prince George this June. The Prime Minister also spoke fondly of his past visits to Prince George."
Hall said his first trip to Ottawa was a success and a necessary approach for the city to keep it on the radar of government.
"It's important to get out to Ottawa... just let to know them know what our needs are here in Prince George. If you don't have that presence then you're a forgotten group.
We really need to continue with that, so it was about getting our message out there," said Hall in an interview Monday.
"It also let the ministry staff and MPs that we met with and also the prime minister, we let them know who Prince George is, where we are, what are needs are and how important a city are when it comes to being the hub city of the province and we're bordering on what's going on from an economic driver perspective throughout the northern part of B.C."
Hall was also on hand to see Prince George win two national awards for the 2015 Canada Winter Games, where the city was "noticed nationally."
Hall was in the capital Monday and Tuesday, joined by city manager Kathleen Soltis and Rob van Adrichem, director of external relations.
The three met with many government officials and national associations including:
- MPs Greg Fergus (parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development)
- Joyce Murray (parliamentary secretary to Treasury Board)
- MP Todd Doherty and MP Bob Zimmer; senior staff from the Ministries of Infrastructure and Communities, and Veterans' Affairs.
- Brock Carlton, CEO of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
- Derek Nighbor, the new President of the Forest Products Association of Canada.
"The message we heard loud and clear in every meeting was that cities can't afford to sit back. We have to be proactive in identifying our priorities, align them to the priorities of government, and then be persistent in making our case," said Hall. "We need to join with partners in Prince George, including our Economic Development committee, to develop proposals and then advance them together both in Victoria and Ottawa."
They also met with the parliamentary secretary to Veterans' Affairs minister Kent Hehr to speak of reopening Prince George's office.
As with many of the funding requests, Hall said Prince George would have to wait until the budget had been released for a more definitive answer. But, they made sure to "stress the need for that veterans affairs office to be opened" in Prince George and were encouraged by previous comments to Global News from Hehr where he said he hoped to re-open them within the year.
"I think it's just a funding piece and the government will have to see whether or not they can provide the funding to reopen those office," Hall said. "That's what we would wait for in the budget."
That also covered Prince George priorities like water and storm infrastructure, transportation infrastructure including at YXS, social infrastructure projects related to housing and the performing arts and the enhancement of regional broadband service.
"A lot of what we talked about out in Ottawa was laying the groundwork and now we'll see what comes out of the budget on a number of these items," Hall said.
