Below is The Citizen's shortlist for newsmaker of the year in Prince George. We'd like your help in picking this year's most significant newsmaker. Keep reading, make up your mind and then drop us a line at [email protected] with your pick. We'll name the 2012 newsmaker of the year in the Dec. 31 edition of The Citizen.
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Reporter Charelle Evelyn: Whether you want to call it a much-needed exercise in fiscal responsibility, a waste of time and money or a good idea carried out the wrong way, the core services review was one of this year's biggest stories. Championed by Mayor Shari Green, the core services review not only dominated and drove many council decisions this year, but will impact votes in years to come. Potholes, snow plowing, property taxes and even the Pine Valley golf course will live and die by Mayor Green and the 2012 core review.
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Managing editor Neil Godbout: The tragic death of Greg Matters, shot and killed on Sept. 10 by Prince George RCMP after a 30-hour standoff at his Pineview home, brought attention to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and to the Independent Investigations Office, a provincial agency formed to investigate shootings involving police, which opened its doors the day Matters died. With a coroner's inquest likely to follow the IIO's final report, the death of this Canadian Forces veteran was a major news story in Prince George during 2012 and he will continue to make news in the year ahead.
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Arts reporter Christine Hinzmann: My pick for newsmaker of the year is Glen Mikkelsen, entertainment & marketing supervisor at CN Centre, who is responsible for the incredible shows that Prince George residents have enjoyed this year, including the WWE Smackdown, Hedley, Dierks Bentley, John Mellencamp, Paul Brandt, Johnny Reid and the Canadian Tenors.
Mikkelsen has lined up Jerry Seinfeld show for May 2 and Carrie Underwood's concert May 21. Tickets for the Underwood show sold out in a record-breaker of close to seven minutes - faster than Elton John's 2010 show when it took just over 20 minutes to sell out.
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Reporter Peter James: The proposed Northern Gateway project generated intense interest locally, around B.C. and across the country this year. Janet Holder, the vice-president for western access for Enbridge, has moved back to her hometown to work out of the new Prince George office to support the $6.5 billion heavy oil pipeline project connecting the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat. Prince George was at the centre of the debate in October and November when the city hosted part of the cross-examination phase of the National Energy Board joint review process.
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Reporter Mark Nielsen: Dan McLaren may be in a tangle right now after Northern Development Initiative Trust turned to the courts to call in a $1.4-million loan of public money but there's no denying he has played an instrumental role in reshaping the downtown core.
First, he renovated the short-lived Chances Good Time Gaming Centre at Sixth and Quebec into the Commonwealth Health Centre and started construction of a 36-unit seniors complex on the site to boot. Then he acted as the third-party buyer that led to consolidation of property along George Street and the demolition of the Prince George Hotel. That move has left a mark that may, or may not, be followed up with construction of the Wood Innovation and Design Centre. He was nominated for Business Person of the Year for good measure.
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Reporter Frank Peebles: At 9:45 p.m. on April 23, any complacency in the B.C. forest industry was blown to pieces. One mill's destruction by explosion and fire (Babine Forest Products on January 20) was a fatal puzzle but when Lakeland Mills in Prince George exploded soon after, the aftershocks were felt by sawmills across North America. It triggered investigations that are still underway, and it left Burns Lake and Prince George mourning the four workers killed in the incidents. At the centre of the Lakeland incident's aftermath stood my newsmaker nominee, Greg Stewart, president of Sinclar Group Forest Products Ltd., owners of the mill. He was both applauded by some for working to minimize the economic effects to the workers left without a job, but also criticized for having such a tragedy happen on his watch.
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Sports reporter Jason Peters: Jim Swanson, manager of the national-champion Prince George Westcana Electric Axemen, assembled and then coached the Axemen at the 2012 Baseball Canada Senior Championship, held in August at Citizen Field. Under his guidance, the team advanced to the final game, where it defeated the defending-champion Windsor Stars 9-5. The Axemen, who included local players Brandon Hunter, Matt Stang, Justin Fillion and Jeremy Kral, were the first host team to win nationals since Quebec in 2007.
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Associate news editor Arthur Williams: The Kordyban Lodge -a 25,000 square foot, 36-bed facility expected to open next year -will help ease the challenges for out-of-town cancer patients and their families. While few, if any, cancer patients from Prince George will use the lodge, it will be a crucial part of care offered at the new Cancer Clinic for the North. A recent cancer scare for a family friend living in Kitimat brought home for me how important this facility will be for those living in northern communities. For that reason, Mary Kordyban - whose generous $2 million donation through the Mary Kordyban Foundation got the ball rolling to create the facility - deserves to be 2012's newsmaker of the year.
