June 2014 BCBusiness 53 bcbusiness.ca
Magazines Canada.indd 1 13-11-04 2:11 PM
facades, updating accommodations
and adding stores and services.
Rob van Adrichem, vice-president
of external relations at
UNBC, says
the centre will be "another example
of how there can be innovation in
the resource sector, and that Prince
George can be at the centre of that."
He sees the overlapping celebrations
in 2015 as more than just a soapbox to
market Prince George to the nation,
arguing that each milestone has the
capacity to complement the others.
"The fact that the Canada Games is
bringing almost 3,000 young people
to Prince George is terrific," he says,
adding that the future of the region is
being shaped by the next generation
of leaders coming out of
UNBC (which
was recently named one of Canada's
Top 3 Small Universities–ironically,
also by Maclean's). "You can't go any-
where in northern B.C. without run-
ning into grads in municipal offices,
in economic development offices, in
industry, in health care—it's grads
everywhere," says van Adrichem.
Canada Winter Games
CEO Stu-
art Ballantyne, who moved to Prince
George from the Lower Mainland in
2011, hopes the 2015 Games "rees-
tablishes civic pride for the people
that live here." The Games will be the
largest event ever hosted in north-
ern B.C.—with an estimated 15,000
visitors descending on Prince George
from February 15 to March 1—and pull-
ing it off will prove to the city, and
the country, that it has the capacity
to host major events of this calibre.
Games organizers have been working
with Initiatives Prince George, tourism
organizations, the downtown business
improvement association and the
chamber of commerce to ensure local
businesses are prepared to capitalize
on opportunities to supply and serve
the Games, as well as the influx of visi-
tors. Ballantyne hopes the Games will
help to establish Prince George as a
destination and he sees more major
sporting and cultural events in the
city's future.
"I think this could be a fascinating
period if we as a province and we as a
country really see what's going on in
northern B.C.," says van Adrichem.
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Prince George continues on Page 55
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