Bird puts inland port at top of agenda for Prince George

Bird argues that while Prince George is routinely described as part of northern B.C., its position within the province makes it an attractive location for a Canadian Forces facility.

“Even though they were very proud to say that we’re from northern British Columbia, we actually sit dead center of the province,” Bird said.

She wants to see a logistics support base capable of moving military personnel and equipment in multiple directions.

“My suggestion was that it actually be a logistic support base,” Bird said. “So it would have the capability of moving equipment, moving troops, moving anything that we actually needed to move, whether it be north, south, west or east.”

Charles Scott with UNBC’s School of Business says the timing could work in Prince George’s favour, pointing to Ottawa’s planned increase in defence spending and the need for facilities to support that expansion.

“We are quadrupling our spending on defense as a nation by 2035,” Scott said. “It’s already doubled. It’s going to double again.”

Scott says the Department of National Defence needs facilities to come online and argues Prince George already has many of the pieces necessary to support that expansion.

“The challenge that the federal government faces, the Department of National Defense faces, is that it needs facilities to come online. And we have a lot of the pieces that they need already in place.”

The second piece of Bird’s proposal would focus on emergency-response training.

She says Western Canada needs a facility capable of preparing firefighters and other responders for a range of emergencies, rather than focusing on a single type of incident.

“What we actually need in Western Canada is we need a facility that can train in wildfire, can train in rail, can train in industrial, can train in structure,” Bird said.

She argues Prince George has both the available space and capacity to accommodate such a centre.

“And so why wouldn’t we build that? We have all of the space here in Prince George. We have all of the capability here in Prince George.”

Bird also says many Canadians looking to become firefighters are currently travelling to Texas for training, something she believes strengthens the case for creating capacity closer to home.

The third prong would focus on cargo.

Prince George already has an intermodal rail port and an airport with one of the longest runways in North America. Bird wants to leverage that existing infrastructure while expanding the community’s ability to handle international cargo.

She points to FedEx’s plans in Prince George as another opportunity to connect road, rail and air transportation.

“I mean, FedEx is coming to Prince George. They’re building a huge warehouse and facility here, so why wouldn’t we try and tie that to our airport?” Bird said.

A key element of that plan, she says, would be increasing customs capacity.

“We have very minimum capability for Customs here, which we are using when we have international flights. But I’d like to see that expanded. So instead of just dealing with international flights, we should be dealing with international cargo.”

Taken together, Scott says the existing assets make the proposal closer to a “plug and play” opportunity than might typically be possible for a project of this scale.

“A lot closer to plug and play than you will typically get because they’re looking for the infrastructure to support their efforts and at the same time to be able to respond quickly to disasters, to fires, to do the necessary kind of training for increasing the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Scott says Prince George already possesses much of what would be required.

“We have an awful lot of what they need already in place, and it’s relatively cheap to build the rest now.”

He also sees an opportunity in the federal government’s current approach, saying a sense of urgency is leading Ottawa to move more quickly than it traditionally has.

“It is definitely the time for action, and the federal government seems seized by that,” Scott said.

He says that creates an opening for communities capable of advancing priority projects quickly.

“At least at this stage of the federal government, there is an active response at a much quicker pace than we used to,” Scott said. “We certainly are able to give them what they’re looking for, which is serious forward motion on some priority files quickly.”

However, a proposal combining defence, emergency training and cargo infrastructure would ultimately depend on decisions beyond Prince George itself.

Scott says that makes political advocacy important now.

“This is really where your elected officials at all levels need to be talking to their appropriate counterparts provincially and federally to make sure that the decision makers know that the community would welcome this kind of a step.”

For Bird, the concept brings several pieces together: Prince George’s geographic location, transportation infrastructure, available land and the prospect of increased federal defence investment.

What remains to be seen is what the final proposal will look like, who will back it, and whether those advantages can be turned into federal and provincial commitments.

For now, Bird has made clear where the project sits on her agenda.

Number one.

by Cheryl Jahn

Bird puts inland port at top of agenda for Prince George

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