The week long Vancouver celebration of the one year anniversary of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is a reminder of how imbalanced this province has become.
Make no mistake, not unlike this needless post Olympic party, the money spent on the new Convention Center , Canada Rail line, the new roof on B C Place,and many other projects, have nothing to do the rest of the province, and only to do with land and business owners in Vancouver.
In the last 25 years, Northern British Columbia was economically sided swiped by two powerful forces: the Northern America Free Trade Agreement and by Victoria's over indulgence with Vancouver.
There is nothing wrong with free trade agreements if your area is fully prepared. Regions with mature infrastructures with few raw materials such as Ontario, Quebec, and California could not wait for free trade fast enough.
The FTA doomed Northern Canada to produce only raw resources for large populations in Southern Canada and the United States.
We cannot expect Northern British Columbia to produce secondary goods that can be created way cheaper in other well established, warmer regions in the south.
If a new secondary industry is introduced to Northern Canada, more than likely it has been rejected everywhere else for various reasons.
The export of northern raw resources such as natural gas, that is used to make a wide range of products in the United States, are the only source of potential growth the B.C. Northern Regions can hope for.
In past two years, shale gas land sales alone generated over $1.9 billion to Victoria.
The new leaders of the B.C. Liberals and the NDP need to be reminded by Northern voters that keeping much of the tax money from raw materials out of Northern British Columbia is immoral and unethical.
The recent proposal to give northern elective representatives more power may have the best intentions, but Premier Campbell painfully showed that political power in Victoria is often a one man show.
Northern natural gas and trees are diminishing at an astonishing rate. Time is running out for Northern British Columbia to plan for its long term survival.
A partial seceding from Victoria and the Lower Mainland is probably the only final solution. At the every least, new laws need to be established to ensure that Northern British Columbia's entire wealth stays in the North.
Mark Clements
Prince George
