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WORK: Day of Mourning in Prince George
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CONDOS RAZED Canfor puts $30M into Polar mill
Allan WISHART/Free Press Firefighters from all Prince George halls were at the scene of a huge blaze Wednesday morning. The upper floors of a multi-storey condo at 3271 Westwood Drive were engulfed in flames. All residents were accounted for, and there were no reports of injuries.
Cougars sale OK’d Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com It was a 15-year journey, it was a sevenmonth journey, or maybe it was a four-month journey. “I’ve mused about it with buddies for maybe 15 years,” Prince George businessman Greg Pocock said Wednesday afternoon from Calgary. “The process itself took about seven months, which was much longer than anyone anticipated.” Earlier Wednesday, the Western Hockey League board of governors unanimously approved the sale of the Prince George Cougars to a group led by Pocock. Pocock is the leader of EDGEPRO Sports and Entertainment Ltd, along with Ernest Ouellet, Raymond Fortier and John Pateman. Current NHL players Dan Hamhuis and Eric Brewer, both former Cougars, are also members of the new ownership group. The transfer marks the end of the Rick Brodsky ownership era. Brodsky brought the team to Prince George in 1994 and had
owned it since. Pocock said the key moment came in December. “We commissioned a business evaluator to determine a fair price for the franchise. This was a guy I had worked with in the past, and I trusted his judgment. “He came back and said, ‘Greg, you’ve got to do this deal.’” WHL Commissioner Ron Robison said there were no surprises at the meeting Wednesday. “They had a very solid plan in place. They have a lot of work to do, though. “We’re always looking for prominent local businessmen to be the owners, and having a pair of former Cougars in the group as well is great.” Although Pocock doesn’t expect the transfer of ownership to be complete until sometime next week, he and his partners are already being involved in the team’s future. “We’re going to be meeting with the scouting staff tonight (Wednesday) for the Bantam Draft, which starts Thursday morning. They’ve done a real nice job of including us in
their operations already.” The Cougars’ first pick in Thursday’s draft was fifth overall and head scout Todd Harkins announced the team had chosen centre Justin Almeida, who played last year with the North Shore Winter Club. Speaking to Shaw TV after the selection, Harkins said: “We’re very excited to have him. He likes to get to the net.” The new ownership group has scheduled a media conference and public welcome for May 13 at the CN Centre. There will be free refreshments outside the arena from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. At 12:15 p.m., the media conference will take place, followed at about 1 p.m. by a cake-cutting ceremony and a meetand-greet with the new owners. Also on Wednesday, the WHL board approved the sale of the Regina Pats to Queen City Sports and Entertainment Group Ltd. Robison said he didn’t anticipate any more franchise announcements in the near future. “We continue to be focused on making our franchises viable in their current communities. There are not other ownership transfers or franchise moves on the horizon.”
$ Phone 250-563-6444 Toll Free 1-800-219-6327 910 Third Avenue, Prince George, BC Email polarrefrig@telus.net polarrefrig.ca
Canfor will be spending approximately $30 million to improve infrastructure, productivity and cost performance at its Polar sawmill at Bear Lake. The project will include upgrades to log processing, lumber handling and residual systems, as well as replacing electrical components and the sawmill building structure. The capital improvement scope includes design and technologies to enhance the mitigation of combustible dust. Work related to these capital projects will commence in May 2014.
For the record Our story, They were good guys, Prince George Free Press April 25, 2014 requires correcting. The story should have read that Lakeland employee John Engstrom suffered two compressed vertebrae in his back when he lifted a wall off injured workers during the April 23, 2012 blast at the mill. In addition, the story should have stated that his neck was injured when the blast hit him, and that injury could have been worse had it not been for his strong neck muscles. We apologize for any misunderstanding.
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