New Indian convenience store opening by CNC and your opinions on Mr. PG

And the Elks Hall is for sale

I really don’t have any information other than what’s in this post, but:

Tomorrow is today (Friday).

Meanwhile, another source of alternative foodstuffs is shutting down:

I’ll be in Quesnel tomorrow and perhaps I’ll find out what all the fuss over Popeyes Chicken is.

Since we’re in the section of my newsletter where I just note retail opportunities, the Elks Community Hall on Douglas St. is for sale at a surprisingly affordable price.

I don’t exactly have the money laying around, and I’m not sure what I would do with it, but I’m kind of tempted….

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Debate roundup

I was at Little Shop of Horrors last night (it was good! You should see it before it closes Oct. 9!) but I logged on to see who showed to the UNBC debate for Prince George-North Cariboo at it appears this time two candidates showed — the Green candidate, Randy Thompson, and independent Coralee Oakes, previously MLA for the B.C. Liberals/United. Absent — at least in the couple minutes I caught— was the NDP candidate and the Conservative.

The Conservative, Sheldon Clare, was there with Thompson and Oakes when the three sparred Wednesday at a forum in Quesnel, which is reported on here. The NDP candidate for this riding seems to be established as a paper candidate, having no real visible campaign material I can find and skipping out on all three events this week (the third being the CKPG event for this riding on Tuesday).

Meanwhile, CKPG broadcast the last of their all-candidate forums, this one for Prince George-Mackenzie. The Greens, NDP and Conservative all showed but independent Rachael Weber no-showed. She did attend an all candidates forum in Mackenzie, though (the CKPG debates are pretaped). So who knows what’s going on.

Going back to the UNBC events, in the video of Wednesday night’s forum, things kicked off with the organizers of the event offering a bit of an explanation, saying they had invited everyone to take part, and the option to provide answers if they could not attend.

What was not said is how many confirmations they received before setting the dates — while also indicating they set the dates in advance of the candidates even being announced.

I am not being critical of the organizers here — it’s tough to do this. I say that from the perspective of someone who has organized multiple debates and forums at a municipal, provincial and federal level, some simply over the radio and others as large-scale events with a live audience.

I will just say that in none of these instances has it been as simple as giving a date and time and having everyone show up. It involves going back-and-forth with key candidates and their campaigns to figure out which dates they can participate on, which nights are definitely out, and whether those who say they can’t make it on night X can truly not make it on night X or if they are just saying that when they have no intention to take part in any such events.

I am not sure I have ever said “alright, it’s going to be on this date” well in advance and had it actually happen on that date. I only bring this up as a bit of a caution against the narrative that the candidates who didn’t make it to these events did so deliberately — especially if those same folks are showing up in other forums they are invited to. But everything so far seems to be so random — candidates are showing up to some events and not others, I’m having a tough time tracking them down, who knows what is going on?

It is too bad things didn’t work out the way the organizers hoped, this time around, though — it’s certainly the only event I knew about in advance, because they actually advertised it, so it would have been nice for the people standing for election to show up. It would also be nice if knowing about candidate events didn’t essentially depend on whether my Facebook algorithm decides to tell me about them. It’s almost like this entire newsletter is designed to counter that need, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to give more notice about most of these things, either!

Being fully transparent, I haven’t watched any of the debates yet, though I’ve skimmed. However, I do plan to put them on in the days ahead to see if anything stands out.

PS here’s my photo of the Shop of Horrors stage — maybe the best set I’ve seen for a show here?

And in the lobby:

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Your opinions on Mr. PG

My post yesterday was titled “Mr. PG is moving downtown.” There’s two things I should clarify — 1. Although this is very much the recommendation of a variety of user groups that were consulted about the future location of our mascot, it’s still possible it doesn’t happen and 2. As UNBC’s Ben Bradley points out, it would perhaps have been more accurate to say Mr. PG is moving BACK downtown: in the 1960s he was located at the corner of George Street and 1st Ave., outside the Chamber of Commerce offices. This wasn’t the modern version of Mr. PG but rather a smaller, wooden version. That one was moved to Highways 16 and 97 in 1970, and the current version was placed there in 1983. Of course, that was on the side of the highway where the Treasure Cove Casino is now, he moved across the road a decade or so ago to his current location. So it’s not like he’s never changed places before.

Still, he’s been somewhere on the highway for more than fifty years now, so there’s no doubt people will have opinions on making such a big move again. Here’s a few of them.

In the comments section of this newsletter, Rikki Holland writes:

The Mr PG thing frustrates me from a lack of planning angle. We had a great location, why did we build a bunch of ugly apartment buildings behind him? If it were me, I would move him across the road by the signage. I like having it so you see him even if you are just driving through. Isn't that part of what makes him iconic?

Raquel says:

Mr PG has been at the cross roads since as far back as i can remember(1970’s)

I would hate to see him move

I would rather an apartment behind him than dirty downtown!

On the pro side, Kathy says:

Love the idea of Mr. PG being right near Tourism PG. It fits. Hopefully sans graffiti and debris.

Over on Reddit, curedbyflowers posts that the move is a great piece of news:

I’ve tried to take visitors to take pictures and that apartment building in the background is a huge eyesore.

The Citizen comments have your normal complaints about costs and unhoused people, but there are constructive comments in there, as well. BGeez writes:

The intersection of Hwy 16 and 97 is the highest visibility area for every RV tourist passing through PG. Even with new signage, I highly doubt RV tourism traffic will attempt to navigate its way into downtown PG.

If the City of PG had any foresight and planning skills they would have constructed a large pullout and parking area adjacent to Hwy 16 & 97 with a tourism PG centre and Mr. PG where RV tourists could stop, get info, and have pics taken with Mr. PG.
Too late for that common sense idea now though.

Eboy200:

Having Mr PG downtown would be a novelty but not necessarily a good idea. The chances of him getting vandalized would increase a lot I would think

Ken Luggi:

Why not move Mr. PG across the road to the other corner in the casino parking lot? It would make more sense as it would be a permanent location whereas the tourist/info centre will most likely be moving again in the next few years!! Tourists are always parked in that area and would also be a more favorable location for the visitor centre.....

I do understand the trepidation. Adapting my response from the newsletter’s comments section yesterday, I definitely see the argument in favour of keeping Mr. PG on a high-visibility throughway but I have been unable to think of a location where he is both 1. Visible from the highway for people driving through and 2. Accessible for photos for those who want to stop and do so.

I definitely think there is a risk that if he is placed downtown, fewer people passing through will see him, and he becomes less of a welcome symbol than he currently is.

On the other hand, we have a lot more hotels and conferences happening downtown now and those visitors are actually spending time in the city rather than just driving through, so I see the logic in trying to enhance their stay moreso than the folks just passing by.

If you are one of the hundreds of people at one of the forums hosted downtown, you currently need to take a special trip just to see Mr. PG, which seems less likely to me than a driver being willing to swing into the city centre for that same photo opp.

I will say, though, I am becoming more and more convinced that the former pool site needs to remain a parking lot for all of this to work, which was not my opinion when it was first demolished.

Also, connected to all of this, Tourism Prince George has reported a big uptick in visitors to its information centre since moving into the Canada Games Plaza. “We see that as an area where we can definitely grow in the future,” CEO Colin Carson says. So there’s some data to back this notion up.

Last word back to Rikki Holland, though:

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News roundup:

• Update on the John Hart bridge work.

• Editorial: Council shows leadership with arts funding decision (also of note: council has been asked to clarify the details of that decision).

• Discarded mill workers in Vanderhoof forced to play waiting game on potential supports.

• UNBC’s Dr. Nadine Caron inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

• Crime, fire stats reveal 'mixed picture' of public safety downtown.

• Category 2 and 3 prohibitions to be lifted across the Prince George Fire Centre.

• Hunniford Gardens hosting pumpkin patch, fright nights, and fall markets.

• Halloween Festival 2024.

• Advocates call for a new provincial forestry act in Prince George presentation.

• Future Fuels Forum to examine future of BC energy economy.

• United Way to update council on efforts in Prince George.

• B.C. Green candidates launch campaigns in Prince George.

• Caleigh Cardinal headlines a night of music for the fall.

• Here’s a little feature on a 14-year-old making money with a Rubik’s Cube challenge.

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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.