WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 201 4 inion COLLEEN SPARROW PUBLISHER NEIL GODBOUT MANAGING EDITOR www.pgcitizen.ca Member of the B.C. Press Council A division of Glacier Media Email: letters@pgcitizen.ca. EDITORIAL Life in a northern town here are we? Prince George real estate agent Dean Birks kick-started a conversation this week by arguing that it’s not only factually incorrect to say this city is part of Northern B.C. (it’s actually southeast of the centre of the province) but it is hurting itself from a marketing standpoint by calling itself northern. “We are basically on the same parallel as Edmonton, Saskatoon, Kingscourt, Ireland and Manchester, England,” he wrote in a blog this week. “During the course of my career I have asked when talking to people in other major centers like Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and from out of country if they had a choice to live in the South, Central or North of somewhere what would they choose, given no more explanation than just that. The choice is almost always South and Central and rarely North.” Birks believes Prince George should be using the word “central” to describe itself, because it’s more geographically accurate but also in recognition of its role as a regional hub, being in the centre of the action of all of the region’s economic and social activity. Birks pointed out in an interview with CBC Daybreak North that he grew up in Churchill, Manitoba, and Prince George is neither isolated nor northern from that perspective. I grew up even further north than Birks (Hay River, NWT) and he’s absolutely right on that front. It takes at least as long to drive from Prince George to the 60th parallel, the NWT/Yukon border, as it does to Osoyoos and the American border. Furthermore, the residents of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson think Prince George inhabitants are wannabes for proclaiming themselves as northern residents. Birks is also right that words count and there is great power behind the words “north” and “northern.” North sounds cold, remote and barren. Northern suggests a lonely outpost with few people. By contrast, south and southern just feel warmer, closer and busier. Yet Birks might be overstating the negativity associated to what is north and northern. To others, those words convey an open, unspoiled environment, the freedom to explore and a place where winter is an opportunity to do things, not a hindrance. Directions means a lot to our American cousins as well. Since the Civil War, north and south are loaded words that say as much about culture, race, politics and history as they do about geography. Meanwhile, west is the word they historically used to describe many of the same things Canadians mean and think of about the north. In the American tradition, going west meant rejecting the establishment and blazing your own trail. That frontier spirit is much the same in Canada’s north, a land of opportunity where Canadians go to leave the crowds of Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal for what many would argue is the real Canada - rural, hard-working, connected to community, family, friends and the land. So the real question is not whether Prince George is geographically north but whether its inhabitants embrace that spirit of northernness. While the folks in the Peace and what CBC Radio announcers refer to as “the far north” might see Prince George residents as the Central Interior, they also understand they have much more in common with us than they do with people in Vancouver and Victoria. In other words, the question isn’t where are we but who are we? Put that way, the answer is easy. Prince George and its residents are as north and northern as Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Hay River or Churchill. As a child in Hay River, I was taught a song, whose chorus is: “We’re northerners, we’re northerners, from the Northwest Territories, wrapped in furs. From the shores of Baffinland to Mackenzie’s golden sand, we are neighbours though we’re many miles apart.” When Prince George and its residents look to their neighbours, they look in every direction but south. Though many miles apart, we see ourselves in McBride, in Mackenzie and in Fraser Lake but we see even Kamloops and Kelowna as something other, apart from us in every way. As Birks does, we should all worry about the negative stereotypes about Prince George and the north in other parts of the province and Canada. Yet we should also be unabashedly proud of where we are, who we are and why we stay. — Managing editor Neil Godbout Looking towards the next election ell the municipal election in Prince George is over and there are many positives to celebrate: the civil campaigns of two strong, engaged mayoral candidates; new council members who worked hard to get the requisite name recognition needed to win a seat; a young council member who will represent the youth constituency in the city; and a fairly respectable voter turnout. We now turn to the next election. It would be nice to keep up the momentum of community engagement because, even though voter turnout in provincial and federal elections is higher than in municipal elections, the numbers are still not great. In Neil Godbout’s editorial on Thursday, he turned his eye to the nomination process of the local Conservative Party. There have been a number of commentaries about the nomination process and the need to sign up to be a member of the party in order to vote for the nominee. I will throw in my two cents and say that, in what many call a “safe riding,” the nomination process is the place where the election happens and this can certainly make some people feel disenfranchised. I also note that one can become a party member at 14 years of age. I think this is terrific but it should not be lost in the discussion that in a “safe riding” a 14 year old gets to vote for the next MP. It is odd that we shut out youth in the general election yet allow them to select the party nominee... but TRACY SUMMERVILLE I digress. Neil’s editorial questions the idea that Cariboo-Prince George is necessarily a “safe riding” and that there will likely be a battle from the other parties to take this seat away from the Conservatives. As Neil says: “If the winner of the Conservative nomination for Cariboo-Prince George thinks he or she can just book their accommodations in Ottawa, with the tough sledding in the rearview mirror, they could be in for a horrible shock next fall, when the federal election is expected to occur. So much can change so quickly in politics and a year is an eternity, especially when the trial against disgraced former Conservative senator Mike Duffy is slated to start in early 2015.” The point Neil makes is that any candidate without considerable personal popularity in the broader community is unlikely to slide easily into the seat of a 20-plus year incumbent. Considerable attention will turn to party platforms and to party leadership when the nominee is not well known in the com- munity. And so we turn to the perennial problem of Canadian politics: the great vote split. It is true that there is a lot of time between now and the next federal election but no amount of time will sort out the problem of two possible left- of-centre parties running at the federal level. The Whitby-Oshawa by-election was considered a triumph for the Liberals. They made “considerable strides” but the fact is they did not win the seat. Once again the vote split on the left among the NDP and Liberals (and even the Green Party) meant that the Conservatives took the seat. Now, to be fair, one would need all the votes of the NDP, the Liberals and the Green Party to push the seat to the left but the point is that this is not possible at all when there are truly viable parties on the same ideological side of the spectrum running in the same riding. The Conservatives figured that out in 2003 and they have not looked back since. The reason the Liberals claimed a victory is because their numbers surged in the byelection. The test that is really underway is which leader at the left-of-centre will demonstrate the best showing because the task of Thomas Mulclair and Justin Trudeau is to beat each other - not to beat Stephen Harper. So whether any seat is safe or not might depend on how the parties divide up the electoral pie. The first-past-the-post system adds another dimension to the equation when we look ahead at elections and possible outcomes. We have already heard about potential “strategic voting” that would try to mitigate the vote split but the fact remains that Canada has three very viable parties and the current system rewards the party that stands alone on the political spectrum. MAILBOX: Your Letters No such thing as a free ride I take exception to the musings expressed in Megan Kuklis’ column “Home Again” published in The Citizen on Monday, Nov. 17. Yes, Miss Kuklis, the B.C. ferries are part of the provincial highway system but in order to allow for free or even subsidized travel our taxes would have to be increased substantially and remember that our province is still raking up debt. Read Vaughn Palmer’s column on the same opinion page. People have a choice to live on any of the various islands along the B.C. coast but that choice comes with the costs involved to travel back and forth to the mainland either by plane or by any boat transportation and someone has to pay for it and that someone is the traveler and should not be the taxpayers. In regards to greasy foods being served at the ferries cafeterias, you have a choice in ordering healthy food such as fresh fruit, salads, yogurt etc. and if you don’t like the taste of the brewed coffee, bring your own thermos along. I feel pity for any island traveler that wants to hang around in his or her vehicle below deck instead of enjoying the ocean breeze, taking in scenery as a ferry passes in between the small islands sailing to its destination. Complain as much as you like but there is no free ride in life so better enjoy it. John Zillich, Prince George Rude behaviour at polls I recently worked as a registration clerk at the civic election poll on Nov. 15. I, like the rest of those who worked there, put in a long day: 7 a.m. until after the polls closed at 8 p.m. We all do our best to get the voters through the voting process as quickly as possible. This election the polls were extremely busy and at times the lineup to vote was long. I was approached by a voter and after registering him he asked if he had to stand in line to vote. When I informed him that he did, he threw the ballot back at me and walked out. I would consider this rude for any voter, but this man is actually a lawyer in our city. I would have expected a person of professional status to have more respect for the voting process. Bill Collier Prince George LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 562-7453, or mailed to Box 5700, 150 Brunswick St., Prince George V2L 5K9. Maximum length is 400 words and writers are limited to one submission every three weeks. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes.