So how far is it from Prince George to Vancouver, anyways?
It's pyschological distance, not geographic
Welcome back to the (short) week. Hope you enjoyed yourself. I went to Ignite (in the former Generator) on Friday and I think it was my first time in that building in over a decade. I will say, they cleaned it up — I’m old enough that I remember when there were carpets and smoking booths — and I’m curious how much business it is getting generally. I was thinking I would be one of the oldest people there but it was k-Os playing so I suppuse that appeals to an older demographic now (as one person shouted in my ear — “were you born in the eighties?? That’s why we’re all here”). Anyways, I think I’m glad there’s a club in the city even if it’s not generally my vibe at this point in my life. People need somewhere to dance.
The next day, I headed out to Crooked River for a ski. Beautfiul day for it — lots of otter tracks but, sadly, no otters.
Here’s today’s newsletter.
So how far is it from Prince George to Vancouver, anyways?
Question for you: How far is it from Prince George to Vancouver?
I suspect many of you answered in a unit of time — somewhere between eight or ten hours. If you went by distance, probably something like 800 kilometers.
What if I told you the actual distance is 518 kilometers?
That’s according to the official tool for distance calculation in Canada, provided by Natural Resources Canada. It is, not surprisingly, as the crow flies, so it avoids the 200 or so additional kilometers it takes to make the trip by road, which is what I suspect the majority of us think of as the “official” distance.
I bring this up because for the long weekend, I wrote a feature about the popularity of the $6 breakfast menu at OM. It was picked up by the national page, which means for a national audience the CBC style guide asks that we provide the distance to a location most people in the country are familiar with, which in B.C.’s case is Vancouver (there’s only a handful of cities in the country that don’t require this, mostly capital cities plus your Vancouvers, Calgaries and Montreals). And the style guide is that it be measured as the crow flies, which means that I inevitably will get emails questioning why I am suggesting it is a mere 500-odd kilometers to Vancouver when everyone knows it is actually nearly 800 kilometers.
Which, I get — everytime I see this measurement it feels off-putting to me, as well, as someone who is from Prince George and is very much aware that it’s more than 500 kilometers to get there, because you can travel 500 kilometers in much less time than it takes to get to Vancouver.
Except — what if you fly?
Which lots of people do. There are at least eight non-stop flights from Prince George to Vancouver every day, and about as many back again, and each of those is under an hour and a half. Those non-stop flights are a selling point for Prince George when the city is selling itself as a location to do business or host a tournament. And that short time is because Prince George is only 500-odd kilometers away from Vancouver, as the crow flies.
Compare that to a city that is actually 700 or 800 kilometers away from Vancouver — Prince Rupert or Dawson Creek. Those non-stop flights are about an hour and forty minutes — close to half-an-hour longer than getting to Prince George. It’s minimal, yes, but it does illustrate the difference in distance.
And yet it still feels wrong to say Prince George is 500ish kilometers to Vancouver, despite the fact that is arguably something that would help attract more visitors, more residents and more investment from people who want to feel like they’re close to a major hub like Vancouver. And I think that’s similar to the reasons that we like to say we are in northern B.C., even though on a map we’re in the centre of the province and to people outside of the city, moving to “central B.C.” feels less daunting and remote than moving to “northern B.C.” It’s a matter of pyschological difference, I think, rather than geographic. As a community, we like to emphasize our distance — geographically and culturally — from the south, even if a map says otherwise.
Quick news
As mentioned: $6 breakfast promo in Prince George a hit as diners watch wallets.
I love the fact there’s a newspaper article about a woman still using the same washing machine she bought in 1985. I bought my washing machine in 2012 and I’ll be shocked if I have it another decade.
The Cougars sold out their game yesterday and I’m curious when the last time that happened is.
Prince George man guilty of scribbling on city lamp post (yes, you read that right).
Sunny weather and happy faces at Winterfest in downtown Prince George.
Seniors advocate hears from Prince George residents. Also: Rural seniors in B.C. face worsening service gap, watchdog warns.
Firefighting training hubs coming to Fraser Fort George and Vanderhoof.
The Globe and Mail wrote about the hydrogen industry in northern B.C. (here’s a reprint of the article in the Citizen if you hit the subscriber block).
Special Olympics athletes heading to national snowshoe races.
Lheidli Tenneh and Caledonia Nordic Ski Club host first Family Day at Otway.
PG Public Library celebrating 40 years of Freedom to Read Week.
Province hosting workshops on improving agricultural water usage.
Cannabis summit coming to Prince George on 4/20, moving north from two sold-out summits in Kelowna in 2022 and 2023.
PG teen shares experience in Ronald McDonald House after beating cancer.
Rising stars will show their stuff at regional science fair.
Today’s song:
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Some might say the distance from Prince George to Vancouver is shorter than the distance from Vancouver to Prince George.
One of my favourite Northern BC tales:
Just outside of Terrace, near Usk, there's a turn-off hwy16W that heads due East through the mountains called the Telkwa Pass. My Dad told me it was put in during the early 80's and was going to be a bypass highway to shave over 100km off the drive from Terrace to Smithers area.
I'm not sure how much of this is just Northern folklore but the project ended up getting shut down because towns like Hazelton and Kitwanga would have more or less been economically gutted from losing highway traffic.
The Pass still exists and, interestingly, there is a large Angel memorial commemorating a fatal bush plane crash in the 90's around the halfway point.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewismcleod/11804211546