INDUSTRY & TRADE - SPRING 2019

Industry And trades SPRING 2019

Recipe For Social Success

The Smokehouse a Hot Commodity Story Page 22

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Inside

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Minister commits to

speedier fire fighting................................................................................... pg

BDC has funds, expertise to transition ownership..............................................................................................pg

of LNG & natural resource industries................ pg

Canada North Resources Expo

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Get the top bid for your business

Federal Minister sees environmental benefits

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Coming Soon........................................................................................................................................ pg

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Making a move towards making a movie The screen arts industry starts to roll in Northern BC................................................................................................. pg

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McTavish plugged into current trades Prince George woman hits education funding milestone..........................................................................................................pg

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Wastfires are burning Bioenergy companies want to use forestry leftovers..................................................................................................pg If you can take the heat, c’mon into

The Smokehouse........................................................................................................ pg

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Cover photo:

Smokehouse Restaurant Baker Dulcy Pegg ladles gravy on to a plate during the Prince George Native Friendship Centre’s annual Christmas luncheon.

Citizen Photo by James Doyle.

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Minister Commits To Speedier Fire Fighting

PHOTO: Forest firefighter at work.

Photo courtesy of Province of British Columbia

Written by Frank Peebles

The past two summers have broken records for wildfire in B.C. They have shaken public faith in government as well.

A changing climate is indisputably responsible for a compounding set of factors that favour fire. There is already in B.C. a drier forest floor (even rainforest areas along the coast have experienced forest fires in the past two years), there is predicted to be less moist foliage in the forest understory, there is warmer and less moist ambient air, a Prince George forester told The Citizen-Industry & Trades that studies are showing trees themselves to be drier at the molecular level and thus more combustible, there is more erosion and less standing water (the pine beetled killed a large swath of forest, so trees are not there to suck up water that now cascades down mountainsides into lowlands), and a harder time establishing new healthy forests (a study in Colorado, replicated in Minnesota, show a link between warmer conditions and difficulty estab-

Greenhouse Effect Cooking Naysayers Won’t more greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere actually stimulate forest growth and offset the effects of GHG pollution? In a word, no. Climate change is hurting, not helping, reforestation.

Peter Reich, a professor of forest resource and lead author of a Minnesota study on 11 species of tree common to the North American forest, explained in the Deluth News Tribune that “These results show that low soil moisture will slow down or eliminate any potential benefits of climate warming on tree photosynthesis even in moist, cold climates like Minnesota, Canada and Siberia.”

The study was published in the journal Nature.

lishing seedlings), all of which equal a recipe average, this past decade, is about $214-milfor wildfire. lion per year.

Government can’t be held responsible for In addition to the bigger kickoff budget, Donforests that behave differently than B.C.’s aldson said the province was also investing in historic model, and wildfire that likewise beother areas of the issue, like municipal prevenhaves differently. But government can adapt. tion programs. The Community Resilience InMinister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource vestment Program, for example, was growing Operations, and Rural Development, Doug by $10-million to sit at $60-million, compleDonaldson (the MLA for Stikine, residing in mented by the Forest Enhancement Society the Hazelton area) held a visit with provincial fund for wildfire risk reduction projects which media on wildfire readiness at the start of this has $134-million. Also, noew technology is year’s forest fire season. The Citizen-Industry being experimented with including fireline & Trades was an active participant in that con- tablets for quicker information in the hands of versation. Here are the aggregated highlights firefighters, drones to get aerial views planes from that wide-ranging discussion. cannot, and night vision goggles to better spot What new steps have been taken to get ready hotspots. for Fire Season 2019?

Donaldson said community roundtables were Donaldson said the budget for wildfires had also going on, and deeper outreach with First been boosted by 58 per cent up to $101-milNations. lion.

When people defy evacuation orders, why is “It’s going to mean more boots on the ground that a problem? and more people being able to respond rapidly When 2017 wildfires bore down on the to fight fires,” he said. “I would be hardTl’etinqox First Nation, one of the Tsilhqot’in pressed to find any other specific line item in family of Aboriginal nations west of Williams any of the ministries that received a 58 per Lake, a substantial number from that comcent increase.” munity refused to leave and stayed to fight the Yes, the cost of fighting forest fires has been enormous fires. substantially more than that each of the last Chief Joe Alphonse told The CBC at the time several years, but this was front-loaded prepa- “I kind of lost it a little bit and said, ‘We’re not ration money, to hopefully get fires stopped leaving.’ If you guys (police, acting for the probefore needing the onslaught of people and vincial government) want to set up roadblocks equipment to battle major blazes - the reason on both ends of our reserve, that’s fine, but those figures ballooned. we’ll set up roadblocks right beside yours to In 2017 the final firestop you guys getting fighting figure was in. They told me our It’s going to mean closer to $570-milroadblock won’t hold lion. Only one year them back, but I said, more boots on the in the past 12 – the ‘It may not hold you outlier 2011 season back, but once you ground and more that burned only start dodging bullets, people being able to 12,600 hecatares you’ll start turning and amounted to around.’ … Take it respond rapidly to $53.5-million – has however you want, fight fires. been less than the I made a statement starting budget. and that’s that.”

– Doug Donaldson, Natural That and only two When the smoke Resource Operations, and other summers have cleared, all was well.

Rural Development come in at less than The community was $100-million. The still standing and no

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shots were fired. remote Southside When a complex community, and They [evacuation of 2018 wildfires widespread distrust ignited around the orders] are not issued of all government.

Southside com“Evacuation orders lightly. They are issued are issued with a munity between Francois and Ootsa by people who have had purpose,” said DonLakes, a force of aldson. “They are not decades of experience issued lightly. They residents stayed behind despite scare issued by people in fighting wildfires and are tactics by RCMP who have had de(residents were cades of experience in predicting wildfire urged to have their in fighting wildfires behavior. dental records at the and in predicting ready so the coroner wildfire behavior. So – Doug Donaldson, Natural could identify their I urge any resident Resource Operations, and charred remains, who is in an area Rural Development and some residents under evacuation had frantic Mounties order to listen to the tell them to flee as the fire was just over the professionals and leave the area. That’s a pernext hill when in fact it was many miles away) sonal choice. It is up to the individual property and obstruction of resources (farmers and log- owner and the individual resident whether gers defending their land had diesel shipments they decide to comply with an evacuation refused entry by officials, cattle-liners coming order. However, they should be aware of what to evacuate livestock had to negotiate past the consequences could be and what the risk checkpoints, equipment and people coming is. I would also encourage private property to help the landowners were denied access, owners in rural areas to undertake firesmart and even the snack truck coming to resupply activities on their property.” one general store was turned around by police He said his own property needed to undergo who told the driver “we don’t want them to be the firesmart treatment, which can be located too comfortable in there.”). online at www.firesmartbc.ca. Property ownIt triggered waves of smuggling into the ers had a responsibility just like governments

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and public agencies, he said, to take protective measures.

A mass water delivery system owned by Fort St. John industrial safety company Safeguard owned by Jeff Kelly was brought to the Prince George region to help last year’s firefighting efforts. It became a flashpoint when the equipment sad idle in a Burns Lake parking lot while the Southside, Nadina and Fraser Lake areas faced immanent fire danger. Why was it not used?

Here Donaldson either stumbled or parsed information to avoid controversy. He said, “The mass water delivery system was used in the fire complex south of Burns Lake. It took experimenting to find out which is the best system to be used, and we actually did deploy our mass water delivery system in combating the fires and protect structures south of Burns Lake.”

Well, no, that’s not at all true if the original point of Safeguard’s system was the reference point.

The Safeguard system was indeed set up to protect Fort St. James from one front of the Shovel Lake Fire, but in the end that wasn’t needed. After that, it sat unused in Burns Lake and was sent away for good as the fires still burned in many areas of the province.

Some sprinkler systems were used on the

Southside, but those can hardly be described “We saw last year, for instance, in the Shovel as mass water delivery system due to their Lake Fire near Fraser Lake, there was probably modest amounts as compared to the Safea dozen different municipal fire departments guard apparatus. that showed up and assisted with the local fire As reported in the most recent edition of fighters to protect structures in the town. So Industry & Trades, Kelly was taken to one spot when you get that kind of response, it’s great, on the Southside as an option for deploying but it also needs enhanced coordination. his hardware, and when he explained the We are also looking at enhanced support for water source was too small – a small pond – structure protection units that communities the fireboss declared are looking for.” there were no other Attention has been The prescribed burning possible deployment given to fighting fire initiative we are points and ended with fire. What is undertaking with a $10 further discussion. ahead for the use of Lakes abounded in prescribed burning million investment is to the fire area, with as a way to protect develop a comprehensive communities? easy access to the required volumes of strategy, and we hope to be “The prescribed burnwater, leaving Kelly ing initiative we are implementing that by 2020. undertaking with a frustrated and the region’s residents $10 million invest– Doug Donaldson, Natural even more distrustment is to develop a Resource Operations, and ful of firefighting comprehensive stratRural Development leadership. egy, and we hope to How did it go having be implementing that municipal fire departments come from other by 2020,” said Donaldson. “It really takes a B.C. communities to handle forest fires? lot of analysis and training as well. Fire hasn’t Donaldson said this was an area that needed been used on the landscape in a large way for the help of the Office of the Fire Commission fire prevention for many decades. It takes a to expand the possibilities. new strategy because of the new conditions “The expanding resources will be in helping that we’re facing, as exampled by the aggresto coordinate that kind of activity,” he said. sive fire behavior we’ve seen in the last couple of fire seasons. So the ramp-up will be after 2020. It is a tool to mitigate risk and there are many other tools, including pruning forests, thinning forests, and mechanical removal of debris.”

Debris left over from logging operations is currently left on the forest floor, where it becomes a mass of kindling should fire ever happen, or it is burned in slash piles on the spot while

bioenergy companies are calling for fiber to support their job-creating businesses.

In another form, the dead pine trees that never got harvested are now standing tall, ready to burn like no living forest possibly could, or be ground into those bioenergy products.

What’s being done to address this?

“We are looking at increased fiber utilization standards on cutblocks. That will remove more material from the forest floor and make that fiber more economical for value-added use,” Donaldson said. “We’re taking a number of initiatives that will help address the amount of wood left behind after logging operations.

Slash piles. Many people make the comment that they think there is way too much left behind, and we agree. There is a certain amount of coarse woody debris that has to be left behind for ecological purposes, but there is a lot of fibre on those landings that needs to be brought out and used economically once it is handled in a different way. That’s one way that we’re going to be addressing that slash pile issue.”

Donaldson was also asked about building fire mitigation into provincial policy, forcing municipalities and other levels of local government to minimize sprawl and cut back on the risk of interface fires that start in the bush but progress into towns and cities. He stopped short of calling for new law, but he did say “As municipalities expand, they may want to think about putting conditions on development that actually have a fire objective.”

As of this writing, the Prince George immediate area had fires already actioned in the vicinity of Moberly Lake, Hudson’s Hope, Ootsa Lake, plus spots that hadn’t been completely closed from last year’s fire season.

To report a wildfire, please call toll free 1-800663-5555 or on a cell phone dial in *5555.

PHOTO: Doug Donaldson, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Citizen File Photo by Brent Braaten

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Get The Top BID For Your Business BDC Has Funds, Expertise to Transition Ownership

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Written by Frank Peebles

The Canadian population’s transition is putting Canadian business in transition. The nation’s economy is at stake, as is the retirement outcome of a generation.

The aging population has put the public sector into flux, as waves of doctors, teachers, civil service workers, etc. all retire in a mass. If you are an entrepreneur, you may have felt this pressure as well as your workforce reaches retirement age and newer (and fewer) candidates look to fill the positions.

But if you are that entrepreneur, when is it your turn? When do you get to turn your business over – another word for that is sell – to someone new? Who will pay your price so you can enter the golden years?

The largest company owned within the Prince George region just went through that transition. Brian Fehr of BID Group started his company with his father Ike and brother David (their first initials spell BID) in 1983 in Vanderhoof, with key partners Barrie Topper and Bob Derksen. They started small, grew to include various local companies that complimented their construction core business, and they just kept growing. Today they are a multi-billion-dollar multinational corporation.

Over the years, the others bowed out of the company for various reasons leaving Brian Fehr the sole original shareholder up until this year. He wanted to move on to other ventures in life, but who could afford to buy out someone in such a valuable position?

Enter the Business Development Bank of Canada and their financing arm BDC Capital. This federal Crown corporation Story continued on page 8

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ner like Highland West.

“And it also helped facilitate some of the goals Brian had in terms of what I would refer to as had a mandate to work out financial hurdles a seamless and efficient transition of ownerlike that, especially if the prospective buyer of ship that fit in with some of Brian’s personal a Canadian company was another Canadian objectives.” interest.

Both of those dreams were achieved. BID BDC Capital’s Patrick Latour, senior vice-president of Growth & Transition Capital explained. Group can now say they control the entire process chain when a client hires them to build a “We want to retain Canadian ownership as new sawmill, and Fehr was able to hand over much as possible,” he said, and when parthe keys of his company in a mutually pleasing ties within BID Group were willing to take on deal. full ownership, retaining Fehr in an emeritus “We have successfully consolidated a leading position so his institutional knowledge could position in the North American wood processcontinue guiding them, all they needed was ing industry. And that didn’t happen just by the purchase financing. accident,” said Hofer. “It happened through Not only was this deal accomplished to keep a Canadian company in the hands of Canadians, having a strategic plan, strategic partners, the but they were also well on their way acquiring capital to do it, the leadership to be able to execute, and to integrate and to implement. major components of their growing company It’s just a great story.” in the United States.

Latour added that it could be your story, too, “As a Crown corporation, that gets us really if you are at a point your considering selling excited,” said Latour. “That’s checkmark and your business. If BDC Capital can do it for BID checkmark. That’s what we want more of.”

Group – a company situated in Prince George, BID Group’s Steven Hofer, their senior vicepresident of Operations, said it took hard work Vanderhoof, Salmon Arm, Washington State, Idaho, Quebec, South to maintain their Carolina, Georgia, position as a growing It’s going to mean Kentucky, Alabama industrial company and a bit more, with (their specialty is more boots on the 15 primary manubuilding and installfacturing sites and ground and more ing the equipment about 1,800 employneeded by the people being able to ees – then they can forest industry like do it right down to a sawmills and pellet respond rapidly to mom-and-pop store plants) and also fight fires. in Central B.C. transition from one In fact, said Latour, owner to another.

– Doug Donaldson, Natural B.C. is where more “How BDC Capital Resource Operations, and businesses are about became involved in Rural Development to change hands than BID was as a result the national average. of a group called If you own one, and Highland West Capital out of Vancouver that you’re getting to the point of retirement, don’t in 2017 took an equity position with BID,” said Hofer. “As a result of that, they brought in undersell your operation. BDC Capital is there to help you get the right deal with the right a couple of additional stakeholders including BDC to participate in the equity offering. High- buyer.

“If you want to sell your business, slowing land West Capital is a boutique private equity down is one of the worst things you can do,” firm, and unique in that they have a longer Latour warned, pointing out one of the comterm view of the investment. They use their mon pitfalls of aging business owners. “So own private money, they don’t have a hedge how do you increase your odds of selling at a fund. They were instrumental in bringing better price? There’s a lot of stuff we are able BDC and EDC (Export Development Canada) to illustrate about things that could enhance into the consortium that took an equity stake value in your business.” inside of BID.” They are in the business of helping set up that And what was that all in aid of? loan to the new owner so the business seller “Really it was two-fold,” Hofer said. “There gets true value and the business buyer isn’t were certain capital limitations that BID had overwhelmed with initial purchasing debt. at that time that were preventing us from BDC Capital has a $900-million fund to dip really executing some additional acquisition into for this purpose over the next four years, opportunities to round out the portfolio of now that one year is already successfully companies that we wanted to bring inside behind this financing program. our vertically integrated structure. When we “We finance the intangibles of the business. looked at how we would be able to facilitate That’s what’s called leverage financing. Leverthat sort of acquisition strategy, you can raise some debt yourself or you can bring on a part- age is needed when there are not enough

assets to provide security, so we are basing our financing on the overall value of the business,” Latour said, which sets their version of lending apart from the traditional banks and other lending institutions. “The fun part is, every deal is different. There is no boilerplate.

No two businesses are the same so these are customized solutions. We have the ability, with our professionals, to have those conversations, align with (the parties involved) and establish a proper structure.”

BID Group’s deal, for example, included having a business expert from BDC Capital (plus one from Highland West Capital) appointed to their board to help oversee the fiscal health of their investments. Hofer is thrilled by this almost as much as the investment money.

“We have an executive team that I would, in terms of punching weight, put up against any executive team in the forest products industry today,” Hofer said. “Anytime you have what I would view as world class professional skills and knowledge that you can have participate at the board level, it just helps you become a better company in terms of how you view strategy and how you view the next phase of growth. Having outside perspective, expertise, challenge you in a professional way, is always important in terms of the overall growth and evolution of the company. So BDC has a seat on our board and we have very much valued what they have contributed so far.”

Hofer also valued what he called “Brian Fehr’s DNA all over this company” that created the culture of doing business under that ever-expanding roof. “It’s that entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude within our organization that really separates us from our competitors. We do things at a different pace and a different scale as a result of that entrepreneurial DNA.” The earlier a business owner can call the BDC office and get into a conversation about transition of leadership, the better off your DNA will be within your company when you do decide to move on, said Latour.

“I would like a call to action, which is really to entrepreneurs who want to sell,” he said. BDC research suggests more than 40 per cent of business owners will want to cash in on their business in the next five years. “Don’t do it alone. Keep reinvesting in your business. Continue growing. If you don’t grow somebody else (a competitor) will.

Make sure you have your house in order, be-

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cause a potential buyer will want detailed reports, financials. And make sure your business stands out. Canada is very large geographically, so make sure you’re in contact with the professionals that can help you cast a wider net. All of these points will help you maximize your value for the sale of your business. If you are thinking of succession, our professionals will certainly demystify this and help out.”

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PHOTOS: BID Group, a company headquartered in Prince George/ Vanderhoof, builds mills all over North America like these sites in Georgia.

A BDC Capital program helped them transition ownership, and the same can be done for smaller local companies looking to sell.

Photos submitted.

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Federal Minister Sees Environmental Benefits of LNG and Natural Resource Industries Written by Frank Peebles

The flow of liquefied natural gas from B.C. to Asia is one way Canada can help the global climate change crisis.

The federal Minister of Natural Resources, Edmonton MP Amarjeet Sohi, said Canadian natural gas did indeed represent greenhouse gas emmisions but it will help curtail the burning of coal, oil, and other more harmful energy sources.

“The LNG Canada investment of $40-billion is the single largest private sector investment in Canada, and it will have a low environmental footprint - they way they are going to construct the facilities and develop the resource,” Sohi said while in Prince George. “It will also be a source of cleaner energy for the world, where people are so much reliant on coalfired electricity. If you are using natural gas in replacing coal, it is a benefit for the world. You are actually helping other countries reduce their environmental footprint, reducing emissions worldwide, so it is a win-win situation for everyone.”

Canada is not a catastrophic contributor to the climate change crisis, but reducing pollution is everyone’s obligation. The causes are global, the solutions must also be global, and Canada is in a position to lead, he said, while strongly advancing our own economy in the process.

“When you look at oil sands production, emis-

sions are down almost 25 per cent per barrel,” he said, drilling into some of the successes on Canadian soil. “A lot of new technology is being invested in how we produce oil, how we extract oil, in-situ technologies.”

He noted that the natural resource industries combine to uplift the emerging green energy sector by providing the minerals and ores required to manufacture solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, cell phones and more.

The answer to restoring climate balance was not halting natural resource development but rather using better tools that pollute less.

“Our government absolutely understands that our natural resources - the oil and gas sector, the mining sector, the forestry sector, and associated businesses - have been a source of well-paying middle-class jobs for decades,” he said. “We want to make sure we continue to develop these resources in a sustainable way so they can remain so for decades to come.

That’s my job and that’s the message I’m here to convey. At the same time we need to make sure that we are supporting innovation, that we are supporting environmental sustainability initiatives, that we are supporting ways for Indigenous communities to gain the benefits of resource development, that they become part of economic opportunity, at the same time that they are meaningfully included in the consultations to move forward with these projects.”

PHOTO: Minister of Natural Resources Amarjeet Sohi. Photo submitted.

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Canada North Resources Expo coming soon Written by Frank Peebles Four acres of industry will be on display all in one place, all in one weekend.

Running May 24-25, CN Centre is home to the indoor-outdoor extravaganza that revs the heaviest engines in our local economy. The Canada North Resources Expo only comes every two years and it is only on for a limited time, so the rush is on to get in on the audience. Companies that work in any of the industrial sectors have a place at this event. Sign up to be an exhibitor by following the links at the Canada North Resources Expo website (www.cnre.ca/exhibit).

“With over 8,000 qualified buyers in 2017, Canada Resources North Expo is your can’tmiss chance to generate new leads, build relationships with existing customers and increase sales,” said a statement by organizers.

Indoor and outdoor spots are available.

It is also an invaluable opportunity to network with potential partners, spot innovations useful for your own operation, and build public profile as well as business-to-business relationships.

The forest industry is naturally the focus of the event (it began as the Forest Expo back at its genesis), but mining, agriculture, construction, transportation, energy, safety, environmental protection and more will all get some of the limelight, plus all the crossover points.

Tools – large and small – will be one of the visual draws, but the expo is also about problem-solving for people involved in industry, upgrading your company with the best in capital investments, and getting close to the cutting edge of goods and services linked to the work we do on the local landscape.

It is also about human resources.

“At the show, you’ll find exhibitors who are

looking to grow their ranks and hire new employees,” said a statement from the expo organization. “Companies on the hunt for new talent will have signage at their booth to indicate they are recruiting. If you are thinking about a new career, come with your resume and meet prospective employers.”

It is a feast for the eyes and ears. All over the premises will be Tonka toys for grown-ups,

live demonstrations, and chances to touch everything from backyard sawmills to big rigs.

It pushes brain buttons for men and women, girls and boys.

PHOTO: The CN Centre parking lot was full of exhibitors and attendees during a past Canada North Resources Expo.

Citizen File Photo by James Doyle.

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Making A Move towards Making A Movie The Screen Arts Industry Starts To Roll In Northern BC Written by Frank Peebles

PHOTO: (from left to right) Christine Nicholls, Madison Keller, Kim Feragen and Norm Coyne work on the Film, Final Breath, which was filmed entirely in Northern BC. Photo by Christos Sagiorgis

Something wicked, and lucrative, this way comes.

The screen arts industry gets so much attention from governments and economists because of its collaborative necessities. Carpenters, electricians, scaffolders, and other trades are needed as much as actors, directors, musicians and makeup artists. It matters not if it’s a movie, TV show, video game or internet show, the making of a screen arts product takes a lot of collaboration at standard rates of trades pay.

Some Hollywood films and independent Canadian productions have used Prince George and the immediate region as temporary staging areas over the years (Double Jeopardy, Reindeer Games, Dreamcatcher, Hello Destroyer, Never Steady Never Still) but it was only in the past year that the Central Interior’s own people made their own feature-length movie (The Doctor’s Case) and TV series (Geoff & The Ninja) for international audiences.

Now, another project is shaping up for this area, largely produced with local input and using local settings for the plot-line. This time it is a work of dramatic non-fiction, or docudrama. The working title is Wicked Ways With Vamp. It stars international cosplay celebrity LeeAnna Vamp as host of a series that examines real reports of possible paranormal activity.

The first episode stares straight into the third eye of Barkerville National Historic Site.

“This expository and experimental documentary is a pilot for a planned travel series which will see LeeAnna investigate other supernatural stories across North America and the world,” said producer Norm Coyne. “Wicked Ways With Vamp will also feature narration by actor Mark Meer, the voice of Commander Shephard from the Mass Effect video game series and star of Tiny Plastic Men on Amazon Prime.”

Coyne is also the co-producer of The Doctor’s

Case, directed by one of Barkerville’s senior managers and longtime actor James Douglas.

These two are driving forces behind the successful Northern FanCon pop-culture convention held annually in Prince George where Vamp and the filmmakers first met and started forming plans for this series.

Other Prince George people involved in the producing, directing and writing of the series include Kim Feragen, Chris Dias, and executive producers Brent Marshall, Cameron Thun and Tammy Thun.

LeeAnna Vamp’s extensive resume in the world of pop culture has seen her appear as the event host for AMC at both San Diego and New York Comic Cons; hosting on the red carpet and other special events connected to The Walking Dead, So You Think You Can Dance, and other shows; and stars in the Syfy series Cosplay Melee.

She recently served as a judge on The Food Network’s Halloween Wars, and now she is host of this new venture.

Barkerville has an even longer history in popular culture, to say the hilarious least. The 19th century gold rush town has been a star in the Canadian tourism industry, and has been the focal location for a number of large and small screen arts productions over the years.

It’s Victorian cowboy aesthetic is what attracted Hollywood celebrities to special events that Story continued on page 16

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PHOTO: Lord Hull, as played by Andrew Hamilton in the locally produced film, The Doctor’s Case. Photo by Jesse McKinnon

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proved to be catalysts for Northern FanCon itself, which, in turn, was the catalyst for all this new filmmaking, not the least of which is Wicked Ways With Vamp who knew a compelling location when she saw one.

“Cosplay superstar Leeanna Vamp has travelled the world in search of the unknown,” said Coyne. “Now her thirst for the unexpected is taking her deep in the mountains of British Columbia and the historic town of Barkerville where she’ll lead a documentary that seeks to unravel the mystery of a haunted 19th-century theatre. Her investigation will reveal the true story behind the ghost of enigmatic gold rush pioneer Florence Wilson – a lady of many secrets.”

James Douglas gets the appeal more than anyone else, as one of the leaders of the acting crew that lives and works at Barkerville, telling the story of its history. He used his workplace for inspiration and some of the scenes of The Doctor’s Case when he directed it, and he knew all about that theatre’s ghost story that Vamp was so interested in.

“LeeAnna Vamp is a superstar in those circles, and she is going to bring a whole lot of new eyes to Barkerville and a whole new, interesting kind of audience,” Douglas said. “Barkerville has been one of the most important economic towns in B.C., and you can say that

about a period more than 100 years long. It’s still fueling the provincial economy, and it epitomizes one of the great cultural aspects of our province. There is something about Barkerville that attracts people, captivates people, and even though it looks isolated on a map it is actually defined by connections upon connections here and around the world.”

Filmmakers of every level had come to Barkerville to make their westerns and winter stories, period pieces and sci-fi flicks. Some of the highlights include Klondike Fever (Rod Steiger, Lorne Greene, Angie Dickinson), including a young Michael Hogan in the cast who was also a Year 1 guest at Northern FanCon. He sought out the Barkerville personnel at their booth at FanCon to talk about his memories of the place and they have been having follow-up conversations ever since.

Rickey Schroder filmed Call Of The Wild at Barkerville, as did Gene Hackman and Mickey Rourke in the film Eureka, and the Raymond Burr/Michelle Thrush movie Showdown At Williams Creek.

Bruce Dern and Gordon Lightfoot starred together in the western Harry Tracy: Dead Or Alive.

International film crews from India, Spain and Germany have also used the place as a set.

Musician Jer Breaks set his music video for the song Come Down, with its steampunk motif, using Barkerville as a prominent feature.

Theatre operator Richard Wright has done a number of documentaries in the town in which he works virtually year-round. He is intimately connected to the building in which the hauntings have allegedly occurred that caught the attention of LeeAnna Vamp.

The series pilot for Wicked Ways With Vamp will be filmed this June with a release date later this year.

You can meet Vamp, Coyne, Douglas, some of the acting staff of Barkerville, and many others involved in the burgeoning northern B.C. film industry if you attend Northern FanCon at CN Centre from May 3-5.

The provincial government invested strategically in this event specifically because of the economic potential it is unleashing, for performance professions but also hammer-and-nail professions.

Creative BC came on board to fund the educational component of the convention called Creative Corner where beahind-the-scenes pros talk about the way they ply their skills.

It is a set of booths, workshops, classes, and panel discussions that boost the knowledge and inspire the minds of those who might want to one day make this kind of magic themselves, because the hard, wonderful truth is, it’s not magic at all. It’s hard work and skilled labour.

“Why it was important for us is, it’s a way of engaging northern B.C. residents and visitors with film, TV and digital media industry professionals in the fields of things like screenwriting, directing, producing, production design, storyboarding, costume design, makeup, music and sound design. There was a real focus on the trades, the guts of producing motion picture, and that’s what we were trying to do – building a training initiative,” said Robert Wong, vice-president of Creative BC and a staunch supporter of Northern FanCon’s intentions to establish a film industry in this region.

Across the province, said Wong, the film industry represents about $3.4-billion in direct investment into the B.C. economy,

and that doesn’t count the spinoffs like meals and hotels, and it also doesn’t count the way professionals in the film industry also crossemploy into other industries when they aren’t making video games or movies or documentaries or TV shows or animation projects or online content.

One of the mega-strengths of the screen arts sector, he said, was how much it radiates human capacity and financial investment across so many professions and so many communities.

“So being in northern B.C., Prince George, it is very important that there is infrastructure, talent and crew based in that area,” Wong said. “The feedback I’m getting from the Creative BC team has been very positive. It’s not inexpensive to have to go to Vancouver or Edmonton or Calgary (for a similar experience) so it’s great to have something local in the northern region. I think it is great engagement. The festival itself is cool. I think it is great to see something in the north, in Prince George, and I hope it continues to grow and Creative Corner is something we will continue to support.”

Thursday, April 25, 2019

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McTavish Plugged Into Current Trades Prince George Woman Hits Education Funding Milestone Story on page 18

PHOTO: Marissa McTavish of Primus Electric is the 1,000th apprenticeship student to get Trades Training Fund money from LNG Canada.

Photo submitted.

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McTavish Plugged Into Current Trades, Story from page 17 Written by Frank Peebles The pipe isn’t even in the ground, yet, and LNG Canada is already having an impact on the northern workforce.

The corporation was the first out of the gate with a commitment to build a liquefied natural gas system linking the gas plays of northeastern B.C. with a new oceanic shipping facility at Kitimat, connected by a pipeline across the northern region.

As a sign of the incredible amounts of skilled trades employment now so near on the horizon, LNG Canada signed on with the BC Construction Association (BCCA) to bolster the trades training systems their company, and their many partner companies of the future, are going to need.

That happens one person at a time, and Marissa McTavish is one of those important early participants in that skilled employment pool. McTavish happened to be the 1,000 participant in LNG Canada’s Trades Training Fund (TTF) administrated by the BC Construction Association since its inception in 2015.

At the same coincidental time, her workplace, Primus Electric, also hit a milestone, becoming the 500th employer to sponsor an employee with the fund. Also, when McTavish walked through the doors of the College

of New Caledonia in her hometown of Prince George she became CNC’s 150th student funded by the TTF. “As a single mom, this opportunity to develop my skills in the electrical trade means steady employment, good wages, and selfrespect,” said McTavish. “I want to thank Ben at Primus Electric and LNG Canada for this support in completing my apprenticeship and launching my career.”

Her boss, Ben Primus, said the investment

by LNG Canada in such a directly applicable student funding program was paying dividends for him.

“LNG Canada’s support makes a big difference to our small electrical company and to Marissa, who is a great example of a hardworking British Columbian looking for an opportunity to support her family with a rewarding career in the construction trades,” said Primus.

“It means that I don’t have to finance my schooling on my credit cards,” McTavish said. “It’s a huge relief to be able to attend school without the stress of wondering how I will pay for it. I can just focus on doing really well.”

McTavish is a mom as well as an apprentice, and on top of the challenges of parenting, she also had no experience working in the

trades. Originally, Marissa attended university to study English Literature, but having her second child interrupted her post-secondary studies. She worked in a couple of hardware stores over the years, and had two more children along the way. She didn’t let any of that get in the way of a career idea that excited her.

“When I started as an electrical apprentice three years ago, I didn’t know how to use any tools,” McTavish said. “I was embarrassed that I had to ask my journeyman (mentor) Eli Bailie how to change a drill bit in my drill. “It’s something so basic. We can joke around about it now. But at the time, Eli was so kind and patient and didn’t make fun of me at all.”

There was a time not long ago that yet another hurdle to McTavish’s career goals would have been the most irrelevant thing of all: her gender. She is still a minority in her chosen field, and old chauvinisms are reportedly still not purged from the male side of the overall trades professions. McTavish is buoyed by her affinity for the work.

“I see so many people in jobs they’re not happy in. They feel they can’t do anything worthwhile unless they have a university education. But they’re wrong,” she said. “There are so many opportunities in the trades.

They must be willing to give it a shot and work hard to be in a better financial position in the future. You’ll learn new skills and have fun doing it. I’m doing it and it’s working out pretty well for me.”

“At LNG Canada we recognize the valuable

role all British Columbians play in maintaining a vibrant skilled workforce, not only for the emerging LNG industry, but for the prosperity of industries across B.C.,” said Tracey MacKinnon, the workforce development manager at LNG Canada. “We’re proud that our program is connecting people to successful employment in their local regions and acknowledge the leadership of the employers who are sponsoring apprentices.”

With a workforce already spread thinly by existing trades projects already underway, and even more employment numbers required for the expected projects coming soon to the region - the most notable of which is the LNG Canada mega-project - readying as many workers as possible is an economic imperative.

“In our 2018 industry survey, 68 per cent of employers said finding skilled workers is their biggest challenge,” said Chris Atchison, president of the BCCA. “LNG Canada is helping to address that gap and opening up rewarding career opportunities for British Columbians across the province.”

“A big reason I chose electrical is because I was told it takes more brains than brawn,” McTavish, 36, chuckled. “Since I’m so petite and only about 105 pounds, I thought it might be a good fit. I really hope other women are inspired to explore careers in the trades. If I can do it, so can they.”

To find a potential fit for you, check out the BCCA website, the CNC website, and ask about the Trades Training Fund.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

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Wastefires Are Burning Bioenergy Companies Want To Use Forestry Leftovers Written by Frank Peebles Pacific Bioenergy (PacBio) is leading the call to do more with woody waste out in the forest.

The maker of wood pellets wants the big lumber companies to continue getting all their necessary trees, but the waste that’s left over should go to productive use, said PacBio officials, especially since their operation is in drastic need of the stuff.

The waste to which they refer is dead pine trees still standing in the woods, and all the course woody debris (from limbs to full logs) left over from logging operations.

Currently, most of that wood debris is burned in brush piles (also called slash piles).

PHOTO: Logging contractor Liam Parfitt and PacBio forestry operations supervisor Connor O’Donnell want to prevent wasteful burns like this.

Citizen photo by Frank Peebles.

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The standing dead pine trees are no longer companies operating in the area. “When usable to make lumber, so the big compadebris remains in the forest, Canfor works to nies with lumber tenure out in the forest safely and promptly remove the fire hazard refuse to cut them down. They have to on our cut blocks to ensure the safety to our pay their full stumpage fee for every tree workers and communities, and protection of they cut, even if it’s one of those useless other resources from fire. Canfor does leave pine skeletons, so those “zombie forests” a few scatted piles unburned on harvested continue to stand out there as the lumber blocks to contribute to biodiversity, coarse companies go after live trees they can woody debris and potential wildlife habitat actually use. as denning sites.”

The slash piles and standing dead all Adhering to those government timelines amount to forest fire danger, and needless is causing a lot of that debris to go up in greenhouse gas pollution when then go up smoke, PacBio officials explained. If there in smoke wastefully. They also contribute could be some government flexibility built zero jobs or investment dollars into the local into the spring cleanup and silviculture economy, even though they are perfect for protocols, it would allow for bioenergy comPacBio and other panies to get their bioenergy compagrinding equipment nies. from site to site.

The slash piles and “As tenure holders, Government also standing dead all Canfor is legally needs to create regrequired to ensure ulatory mechanisms amount to forest cut blocks have for those dead pine fire danger, and been abated of fire trees to be cut down hazards within timewithout counting needless greenhouse lines set out in the against the lumber Wildfire Act & Regucompany’s annual gas pollution when lation,” explained a allowable harvestthen go up in smoke spokesperson from ing quotas, and at Canfor, the larga stumpage rate wastefully. est of the lumber that makes sense

for wood-pellets The Ministry of instead of lumber.

Forests told The You’d think the PacBio’s forestry Citizen-Industry government would be operations supervi& Trades that the sor Conor O’Donnell the leader in not burning problem was known said “you’d think within their departwastefully and looking ment and was being the government would be the leader actively investifor other alternatives, in not burning gated, not just for wastefully and lookwood-pellets. when they are the ing for other alter“Ministry staff are laggard. natives, when they working with FPInare the laggard.” novations and the – Conor O’Donnell, PacBio’s So why is there a BC Pulp & Paper Forestry Operations supervisor void in practical Bioalliance on new intelligence, when products that can be the public service is rife with intelligent, developed from wood waste,” said a miniswell educated, highly experienced people in try spokesperson. “Economic analysis shows these fields? that new wood-based biomaterials can “Silos – silo mentality,” said O’Donnell. “It provide high value opportunities. Ministry is literally ‘We are FFT (Forests For Tomorstaff are also working to develop Indigenous row), we plant trees, we don’t utilize fiber.’ bioeconomy opportunities.”

In fact, in the last meeting when they were The ministry also said they were introducbidding out for the layout for these (woody ing Fibre Recovery Zones that would make debris sites), they straight-out told every“changes to waste benchmarks” and “reduce one that utilization was not a priority. ‘We the amount of waste left in the bush that is are simply looking to plant trees, we don’t subsequently burnt as slash.” care about utilization.’ And we have already The ministry is aware, it was said, that burnlost some fiber right here because FFT was ing trees in any form - slash piles or forest hounding them (the contractor with the fires - amounted to a waste of greenhouse license to harvest that spot) to burn.” gasses. (Bioenergy products, on the other

hand, offset the burning of more damaging materials like coal).

“The ministry’s Forest Carbon Initiative, in partnership with the Forest Enhancement Society of BC and the federal government, is investing in projects to encourage better use of wood fibre to reduce emissions from the burning of wood waste in slash piles,” said the spokesperson. “For example, by using 100 cubic metres of lodgepole pine debris for energy or pulp, rather than burning it in a slash pile, about 17 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions can be avoided.”

Canfor officials said they look to work with bioenergy companies - PacBio and Pinnacle Pellet, specifically - and have several agreements in place already.

“We have a very good working relationship with these secondary users and these agreements allow them to gather residual material from our harvesting activities. In general, these companies will haul fibre to their facilities within a five hour transportation range.”

With just a little more attention to regulatory detail, it could become an economic hotspot as well as reduce wildfire fuel and provide a major boost to Canada’s commitment to the global climate crisis.

PHOTO: This tree processor southwest of Prince George hustled to beat the spring road bans.

Citizen photo by Frank Peebles.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

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If you can take the heat, c’mon into

The Smokehouse Written by Frank Peebles

The culinary trades are offered at a number of venues in northern B.C., most famously at the College of New Caledonia, but there is a quiet corner of knowledge being passed on at the corner of 3rd and Vancouver as well.

The Smokehouse might well look like a working restaurant on the ground floor of the Native Friendship Centre, and indeed it is, but it is also a school where Aboriginal students of all ages and backgrounds get hands-on kitchen and food service experience that lead to jobs in the cafe, camp and catering sectors that are currently screaming for labour.

These jobs are all the more important because they play a role in retaining the other forms of labour in the industrial sector. You can’t have a mine or a hotel without a food supply.

It even helps the Native Friendship Centre itself. It is the largest NFC in Canada, and is also home to a number of other enterprises that rent space in the sprawling office tower in downtown Prince George. Those people have a kickin’ coffeeshop.

Anyone who eats at The Smokehouse is also paying for the food services program that’s serving them, and more besides to modernize the tools of the trade. It is a revenue stream for the NFC, allowing for more social aid to spread throughout their organization.

“Opening our own restaurant was not our

intention, at the beginning,” said Barb Ward-Burkitt, CEO of the centre. “We didn’t go into social enterprise with that in mind.

It was to fill an important community need.

The food preparation training, the hospitality training, the way it serves people’s career and personal development, that all speaks for itself and that’s what started us down this path. It was strictly a training program, back in its early days.”

There were three intakes per year of 12 participants each. It was administrated by the PGNFC with funding from the Prince George Nechako Aboriginal Employment & Training Association.

A change in the way the federal government marshaled its funding caused the program to go into a risk situation. It was unknown, and looked pessimistic, if that the program would receive any further funding. That was in the early 2000s.

“The whole idea of a social enterprise was born in that period of worry and flux,” said Ward-Burkitt. “I talked to a lot of people about what could be done, how to approach this challenge, and one of those people was Paul Lacerte (executive director of the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, and born a Nadleh Whut’en First Nation from this area) and he put me in touch with a group that had some seed money for exploring the viability of this situation we were in, and by building that proper business plan, we knew we could move forward towards this idea of a self-sustaining training program.”

The social enterprise structure was set up,

but then came the bonus news that the original funding from the federal government came through after all, and with the proviso that it could be applied within the new business structure the NFC had created, so it gave the school a strong head start.

Leading the kitchen and showing the ways of the knife and pan is Red Seal chef Alan O’Reilly.

The Smokehouse operation has expanded to include a food truck and catering service, so there is much to teach and coordinate.

Ward-Burkitt said she is constantly re-impressed with O’Reilly and the example he sets whenever she sees him and his staff volunteering their time for other causes like meals for the homeless and the city’s hungry. The food industry can be about nourishing so much more than the basic body.

When asked about his extraordinary commitment to his kitchen, O’Reilly shrugged it off as normal business practices among abnormally inspiring people.

“The best way for me to tell it is to tell you about one of my first intakes,” he said. He remembered a man who poked his head in the doorway of the kitchen one day and started firing questions at him. What goes on in here?

What does everybody do around here? So Alan told him about the training programs and serving the food out to the public. “He said he’d really like to do that. I said why? And he said ‘it sounds really busy, and I have to be busy. I just got out of treatment and if I don’t focus on something really hard, I’m afraid I’ll fall off the wagon and lose my sobriety.’ I said ‘can you be here tomorrow?’ and he said yes. He showed up, sure enough, and that’s him over there, working in the corner. That was, like, 12 years ago. So what do we do in here? That’s what we do. That’s why we come to work every day.”

That and the bannock, the all-Canadian signature Aboriginal flatbread. In The Smokehouse kitchen that day was bannock crumble, bannock Napoleon, bannock fruit compote, bannock tarts, bannock slathered in cinnamon sugar, fry bread, basic baked bannock, and more.

But this was a special day. Bannock had a special place on the day’s proceedings. It was the day Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin was coming to Prince George and the first thing on her official agenda, on her first official visit to this city since her appointment to the post of Queen’s representative, was come to The Smokehouse.

Ward-Burkitt explained that when she was at Government House in Victoria on another matter, Austin sought her out and specifically asked about The Smokehouse. She was pleasantly surprised at the time that The Smokehouse was known to such a distinguished stranger, and taken completely aback when the call came from the Lieutenant Governor’s staff inquiring about arranging a site visit.

Austin explained everything at the greeting

circle upon her arrival. She said that once she was employed by BC Housing and word got to her desk of the transformative social development being done in Prince George by the Native Friendship Centre, led by the assertive yet gentle CEO. “I have long been aware of the excellence of this organization,” Austin said. “The Prince George Native Friendship Centre was recognized as one of the strongest social agencies in the province, so I have always known of your work and I am in awe of your contributions to your community. Barb is kind of a legend.”

With that, Austin rolled up her sleeves and began making a batch of bannock alongside O’Reilly, teenagers like Dayton McCarville who has grown up in the care of NFC programs and now stands on the threshold of graduation and post-secondary entry, and an effervescent woman who kneaded flour and proudly explained to the Lieutenant Governor that she was on day 111 of sobriety. The affectionate smile and proud nod from Austin wordlessly conveyed that this was precisely what the Queen’s viceroy expected from The Smokehouse.

“Part of the reason The Smokehouse is so successful is, it is anchored within this organization, right in the building,” said Ward-Burkitt.

“That allows us to leverage things like lease agreements that are reflective of their income.

That kind of flexibility is vital. Part of it is, The Smokehouse means more to us than a place for the people in our building to conveniently have lunch, and it means more than a revenue stream for the organization, and it means more than an education facility for some students who fit into this learning model and often don’t fit as well in other learning situations. It is all of those things, and more.”

The Smokehouse cohorts now cycle eight students at a time through a four-month program.

Some come back for more than one cycle, to ensure complete comprehension of the skills.

All students learn the kitchen and also the front-of-house aspects of the food service industry. Some even become employees who guide the next generation.

“And the food is so good,” Ward-Burkitt said.

“When people enjoy their meal and tell the staff how good it was, that is great affirmation. It builds their professional pride so authentically.”

The Smokehouse has a comprehensive menu, low prices, and they’re open Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The general public is encouraged to come sample their wares and contribute to this unique education program.

Where there’s Smokehouse, there’s fire for the local food industry.

PHOTO: Smokehouse Restaurant Executive Chef Alan O’Reilly prepares turkey for serving during the Prince George Native Friendship Centre’s annual Christmas luncheon.

Citizen Photo by James Doyle.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

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