Prince Rupert in Poverty?

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@Astrothug

Prince Rupert will never get 40 thousand population, not in our life time anyways, and the container port is all hype how many people does it take to run a container port, a few hundred. this town needs to take its head out of its ass, during the peter Lester years the city with a ego the size of Vancouver never let big business come in and only relied on the pulp mill way too much.

I on the other hand think we should have some sort of theme park, like a fort or a first nation type of park, authentic buildings, carving, food, dress, employing first nation people. I believe there is a plan in place to do this. .

Also eco tourism seems like a great idea, one that would cater to all types of people and not just the rich; we have a lot to offer in our area.

Well, I think we are falling into the same trap we have always done, we are just thinking of ourselves here and now, as most of our community does. No it might not be seen to its full potential in our lifetime, but what about our children, what are we going to be leaving for them. What will be here for them to want to stay in Rupert. I for one am going to buy up what I can, even if it is just one house, and create some sort of base for my children. Not It might not make my life here much better, not as good as everyone is saying this port will be, but if any of you have attended the conference on the port that has been happening the last two days you would no that most people in this town have no idea how big this is going to be for our little town. How it effects our town in the positive or negative will be how we as a community choose to deal with all the problems or opportunities that will arrive over time.

One thing that was said is that "yes" one will have to come up with ideas for businesses that will benefit from the port, there are programs in place to help realize those ideas, grants, loans, and other programs. But they cannot give us the ideas, that is up to us, will we sit around and complain that we have not seen any change and wait until we do, or will we start thinking of ideas to better our town and make some of what is going to happen, happen for us, and not some large company who has the money and will not put it back into our community ( like the short term book store in the mall ).

Another thing that was mentioned, which I was pleased yet surprised to hear, was a recommendation to give our children opportunities to see the rest of the world. It is a big thing down under, and it is very common for a child to travel overseas to experience the world and get a better idea of what they have at home. I will be honest with you, I left Rupert 14 years ago swearing I would never come back to Rupert, and yes I regret that statement. I had only been back for a week 9 years ago for a wedding. I had a chance to travel overseas soon after that and have come to realize that we have a wonderful little town with lots for a person whether it booms or not.

After the last two days of the conference I have come to realize that it will boom, when is not for me to say, but sooner that a lot of people think. There will be a skills shortage here when that happens, and we should decide now if we want those jobs filled with strangers or our friends and family who have decided to move away. At the very least we should be telling our friends and loved ones who have moved away to consider the idea of moving back and taking these jobs, and maybe they can think about coming back so when this all happens they are not tied down to where they are.

Now is the time to start thinking of opening a business, maybe not starting it but have everything laid out, have a business plan done up, research funding, so when you feel the time is right you can get it started, before anyone else or a big conglomerate comes in and does it for us.

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I feel so good now.lol

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[quote=“expat no more”]
Another thing that was mentioned, which I was pleased yet surprised to hear, was a recommendation to give our children opportunities to see the rest of the world. It is a big thing down under, and it is very common for a child to travel overseas to experience the world and get a better idea of what they have at home.[/quote]

That’s a big problem with North Americans and their views on the world outside of their bubble: they don’t travel enough!

Aside from the trip down to Disney World, Las Vegas or Mexico, not so many folk get to experience travel, let alone witness different cultures, lifestyles and oppinions first-hand.  How many people do you know who have a valid passport?  Hands up.

It makes sense though, everything is there to encourage NOT being cultured: vast expanses of land with a huge distance over culture-change ratio, a very work-orientated way of life, and the expenses of going abroad (to name only a very few).

Yes, Canada is extremely multi-cultural, but that doesn’t count for anything.  You can interact with the denizens of Chinatown but that’s dealing with new citizens on your own turf, citizens who may be holding onto their old ideals, really working against the concentration gradient.  That’s just skimming the surface.

Canada is a great place to live, but nothing says that it’s the greatest.  Then again, nothing says that it ISN’T the greatest, but the latter shouldn’t be assumed as fact.  Get out there and find out why it is or isn’t so super.

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Huh? In a poverty thread your bashing people for not travelling enough? What a joke I guess by going to see other countries and seeing their problems, the poverty and lack of opportunity in Prince Rupert will be ok? It takes money to go anywhere so, the people in charge or that are already feeling comfortable in life if they travel abroad and see people poorer than what they see at home they can come home and feel good because the poverty in their home town is nothing compared to what they seen in other parts of the world. Thank goodness for all the "cultuered " people in the world making it ok to be poor but not too poor.

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@chiefdave

Huh? In a poverty thread your bashing people for not travelling enough? What a joke I guess by going to see other countries and seeing their problems, the poverty and lack of opportunity in Prince Rupert will be ok? It takes money to go anywhere so, the people in charge or that are already feeling comfortable in life if they travel abroad and see people poorer than what they see at home they can come home and feel good because the poverty in their home town is nothing compared to what they seen in other parts of the world. Thank goodness for all the "cultuered " people in the world making it ok to be poor but not too poor.

Fair enough statement Dave,  I do realize the catch 22 in what I said,  however I was raised in a poor family and I managed to scrimp and save enough to travel because I was encouraged to do so. as they say “where there is a will there is a way”.
I was in no way bashing people for not traveling,  I was only stating that it opens peoples eyes to what we have here, and maybe our children will not move away like me and most of my generation.  As for lack of opportunity in Rupert,  I have been away and though it does not make me better I also see what we do not have here, in that there is plenty of opportunity for a person who has the right drive.