Prince George will be the home of a new Wood Innovation and Design Centre the B.C. Liberal government promised in its throne speech delivered Tuesday, the third time they have made the promise in consecutive throne speeches.
The Liberals made the same promise in the the throne speech a year ago, and B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell suggested a few months later during the May 2009 provincial election campaign the centre could be considered for Prince George's ailing downtown. The promise was repeated in a throne speech in August of 2009 as well.
The latest throne speech also hinted strongly the centre will be located downtown, saying the new Wood Innovation and Design Centre will be created in "the heart" of Prince George. "It will amplify our expertise and our global reputation as leaders in wood construction, engineered wood products and design," said Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point, who delivered the throne speech at the Legislature in Victoria.
In an interview, Bell would not reveal where the wood centre will be located, but said he expects an announcement within months.
He said there is no price tag yet for the centre, as they are still working out the details. However, Bell did acknowledge the centre "absolutely" considers a relationship with the University of Northern B.C.
"All the way along we have been looking at the different pieces of it, and it continues to get bigger which is a good thing, not a bad thing," said Bell, the MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie.
The wood centre is meant to help develop the value-added wood sector, ranging from increasing engineering and design knowledge, creating new software applications that design in wood and fostering the ability to build larger wood buildings.
"The real key for us is we understand that engineers don't have the level of expertise or skill necessary to build large buildings. We want to fix that," said Bell.
The Wood Innovation and Design Centre has already been mentioned in Prince George's emerging downtown redevelopment plans. The mayor's task force on improving downtown called for the centre to be constructed downtown.
Bell said he believed a key element in the throne speech was a focus on energy development in northern B.C. and linking to export markets in Canada and California.
The Liberal government will also be introducing a Clean Energy Act to encourage new investments in independent power production. Its meant to provide fair, predictable, clean power calls.
That could have implications for the bioenergy sector in northern B.C. where there are plans to create bioenergy plants utilizing deteriorating wood from pine-beetle killed timber.
While there was some expectation the throne speech would focus on the Olympics which start this Friday, its mention was more muted than anticipated.
The repeat announcement of the wood innovation centre for Prince George, shows the B.C. Liberal government scrambling a bit for ideas, said NDP Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson. "I think this was walking the tight rope of not being seen to be pollyanna (overly optimistic), but not being seen to undermine the hoopla around the Olympics," said Simpson of the throne speech.
Simpson, the New Democrats' aboriginal affairs critic, said his main concern is the not-so-subtle message in the speech that the province's operating budget needs to be balanced and it will require curtailing expectations of government.
Simpson pointed to school district deficits, school closures and regional health budget shortfalls as the kind of pain already being experienced, and believes the government will move to cut more of the public sector. If that's what is going to happen, the Liberals must be more transparent, he said. "Let's have that debate."
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