Posted on 15 October 2012

I really haven’t been posting much on Prince George city council lately, but this is worth sharing. As reported by Opinion250, at tonight’s meeting mayor Shari Green is going to be asking council to approve up to $35 thousand dollars for a four person delegation consisting of herself, two councillors and one staff person to go Prince George’s sister city in China.
As pointed out by the union representing city workers and Ben Meisner of 250, the timing of this may not be ideal from a public relations standpoint. It’s right in the middle of a core services review process aimed at saving the city money, a key plank in Green’s election campaign that’s supposed to see the city cut back and start saving money.
So it will be interesting to see how Green justifies the cost of a foreign relations trip while the core services review has the city actively talking about privatizing or contracting out control of things like the Four Seasons Swimming Pool and the Civic Centre, to say nothing of the recent elimination of the city’s entire environment division and 28 jobs.
Of note:

• A similar trip was taken by mayor Dan Rogers in 2010. He was accompanied by six people: two councillors (Don Basserman and Garth Frizzell), George Iwama (president of UNBC), then-Chief Frederick of the Lheidi T’enneh First Nation, Katherine Scouten (then of Initatives Prince George), and city manager Derek Bates. This trip cost $38,000, and was paid for by a $50,000 provincial grant.
• By contrast, this trip will have four people and is estimated at $30-$35,000. Only $12,000 would come from the province (that left over from the 2010 trip), with the rest coming from the city.
• A quick look online and I’ve found numerous return trips to and from China for four people coming in at under $10,000. So the remaining $20,000 or so would presumably be for lodging, food, etc. Not sure of the full breakdown for costs under Green’s estimates (maybe the staff person would deserve overtime)? I do know from first-hand experience you can stay in pretty nice places for pretty cheap on the Canadian dollar.
• Prince George is hardly the only city to spend money on trips to China. Quesnel and Dawson Creek politicians have both taken trips there recently.
• Of the $38,000 2010 trip, George Iwama said “If you can attract just 4 students to come here, then the trip will have paid for itself”. And Green does want to bring Lynn Hall because of his previous experience in the education sector, citing international education as an opportunity.

The meeting streams online starting at 6:00 tonight. Watch it here (or in person at city hall).
Update: Off they go.

Filed under: Prince George