James Steidle‘s scathing rebuke of Jimmy Pattison for opening another store in Prince George was simply weird, especially coming from a person that ran for a city council position in Prince George.
City council has ran businesses out of town before though. About 10 years ago, Woody’s RV bought the old golf property across the road from Polaris North to set up another RV dealer in town. While the city administration had no problem with the land use, city council gave the man the boot and the property has sat empty as an example for other businesses thinking of investing in the Prince George market.
I don’t begrudge anyone that made their own way in the world and Prince George has quite a few families that have done well in the lumber and mining business. Those families have also quietly invested heavily in Prince George.
Steidle’s monologue attacking business growth and investment, and the successful economic model Pattison represents, is simply classic class warfare for socialism and bigger government. Both socialism and the bigger government that Mr. Steidle champion as the final solution have never failed to leave the populace to starve to death.
Steidle also seems to be unaware of the enormous costs involved in getting that permit to build anything these days. Investing in Prince George is not for the faint of heart or small-time businesses as the costs are brutal. For example, I have a small lot on Queensway that I would like to hook up to water and sewer, but the price from the city is more than the property is worth, so it sits as an orphaned lot while people can’t afford starter homes.
Clearly, Steidle is wrong and I am pleased Pattison has invested, where others have decided against our town, and added another grocery store to Prince George. Lucky for us.
Lee Sexsmith
Prince George
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