Northern B.C. mayors and regional district chairs have established a transportation roundtable to set investment and policy priorities considered critical to continued economic development.
The group -- which includes Prince George mayor Dan Rogers, Fraser-Fort George Regional District chair Art Kaehn -- plans to produce a discussion paper that will be presented at the Northern Municipal Association's annual general meeting in Prince Rupert in May.
The paper will be open to further discussion, after which recommendations could be voted on as resolutions at the general meeting.
From there, the recommendations could be passed on to government, the Union of B.C. Municipalities or the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
"We want to speak with a single and unified voice on where we believe priorities should be focused to benefit not only this region, but the province and all of Canada," said Rogers.
The priority setting exercise is also meant to be targeted at the new premier-designate Christy Clark and her cabinet, noted Rogers.
During her campaign, Clark released a plan to renew the northern and rural economy, which called for continued efforts to develop the northern gateway.
Clark said she would do that by working with the federal government to expand the container port and break-bulk terminals at the Port of Prince Rupert and Kitimat and the transportation hub at Prince George.
Kaehn, the regional district chair, noted there have been some positive transportation developments in the past decade. The idea, now, is to set the stage for the next 10 years, he said.
Some common themes had emerged already during a one-day session in Prince George on Friday, including a call for the continued expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert, and prioritizing upgrades to Highway 97 in the Pine Pass area needed to ensure the flow of goods to and from the booming oil and gas sector region in northeastern B.C.
Also among the topics discussed Friday was a need to remove bureaucratic barriers that are stymieing development at the Prince George Airport. The airport recently completed a $36-million extension to its runway to tap into the international air cargo business, but federal customs services costs are hurting the airport's competitiveness.
Also in attendance at the mayor's roundtable were private transportation companies like CN, the Prince Rupert Port Authority and the Prince George Airport Authority.
CN senior executive Mike Cory said there is tremendous potential in northern B.C.'s natural resource sectors. He pointed to the success of the Port of Prince Rupert and its container-handling facility, and lumber that is being stuffed in containers at Prince George.
He also noted there are challenges, including the emerging coal bottleneck at Prince Rupert.
There's also a need for workers in the North, particularly in northeastern B.C., said Cory.
"There's this great thirst and demand for these products from Asia, and that's where this collaboration has to come in. We need to be one strong voice," said Cory, senior vice-president for CN's western region.
Prince Rupert Port Authority official Shaun Stephenson said an emerging issue is the need for bulk-handling capacity.
The need has been identified not only for commodities like coal, wood pellets and wood chips, but for ore from mines. There's also a need to be able to handle the import of steel and pipe for industrial projects in western Canada.
"We need to collectively start connecting the dots between gateway capacity and new developments, whether its mines or the forest-sector rebound," said Stephenson.
