Joanne Dickenson is new to Prince George, but not new to the region nor to municipal politics.
The latest candidate for Prince George city council has been on Houston council for the past 12 years. In that capacity she's gotten to know mayor Dan Rogers, whom she calls "a good person," as well as the others around the local table, especially Don Bassermann who, along with MLA Pat Bell, signed her nomination papers for the local campaign.
"I think one of my strengths is the continuity I bring with respectful relations already established with the province, with Northern Health, with forestry and mining, with the issues of the north that affect us all," she told The Citizen Thursday.
Dickenson is currently researching the municipal budget because she said taxation is a concern she has for any community. She said the work she's personally undertaken on the Bulkley Valley-Lakes District Airshed Management Society applies to Prince George, where breathing quality is a well-known issue.
Prince George's wood stove exchange program was in fact an initiative taken from the Houston experience, she said.
Three of her most passionate portfolio items were green initiatives, mining development, and healthcare.
She played a role in building the town's pool with a geothermal heat exchange connection to the adjacent ice rink, and researching the potential for greenhouses plugged into major waste-heat sources like pulp and saw mills.
She also strongly advocates for a single-stream environmental assessment process for mines, combining the best practices of the provincial and federal systems. And she lobbied for better medical facilities and staffing in Houston, which have now come to pass.
"What I have learned in a smaller community I think I can manifest 10-fold in a larger community that shares the same regional realities," she said.
The bilingual Dickenson grew up in Ottawa in an atmosphere of diplomacy and governance. For years she ran a home-based business and was involved in the Houston Chamber of Commerce. Her two sons and five grandchildren now live in Prince George, so she transferred here in July for a management and training position with the BC Liquor Distribution Branch for whom she has worked for 26 years. Her husband will join her here upon the sale of their Houston home.
