The Canadian Press released its choice for news story of the year, based on submissions from newsrooms across the nation, including The Citizen. The Fort McMurray fire received 39 of the 67 votes cast. The settlement of Syrian refugees received 11 votes, one of them being The Citizen's. The fentanyl crisis took six votes and the Tragically Hip's farewell tour had five.
There is rarely unanimous consensus in our newsroom and the vote for the national news story of the year was typical. Fort McMurray was the obvious pick by several reporters and editors but others focussed on the national angle, noting that the wildfires didn't touch communities across Canada or ignite political debate the way the Syrian refugees have.
Both stories touched Prince George in 2016.
Local residents were worried about friends and family in Fort McMurray fleeing the flames, as were we at The Citizen about Ginette Graves, one of our former employees and a longtime resident of Prince George. Graves was forced to leave without her husband, a police officer who had to stay behind to help with the massive evacuation. She was one of the lucky ones who didn't lose her home to the fire.
Prince George also opened its arms to the Syrian refugees, with local church groups and other organizations taking in several families. The first refugees to arrive were greeted with a warm welcome at the Prince George Airport, even though their flight arrived in the early morning hours of a cold January night. More families arrived as the year went on.
The Canadian Press also took a poll for newsmaker of the year and business story and newsmaker of the year (if they took one for sports story and newsmaker, we didn't receive a ballot). CP will be releasing the results of those polls in the coming days.
The Citizen's choice for Canadian newsmaker of the year was a local one. Cindy Blackstock is the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and she made national headlines this past year with her efforts to increase federal funding for child welfare services in indigenous communities. A recipient of an honourary doctorate from UNBC in 2012 in recognition of her national advocacy work, Blackstock was born in Burns Lake, is a member of the Gitxsan Nation and graduated high school from Kelly Road secondary in Prince George.
Again, The Citizen newsroom was not united in its choice. Others pointed to Jian Ghomeshi and the trial of the disgraced former CBC Radio host. The night shift editors picked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Sports reporter Ted Clarke picked 16-year-old swimming sensation Penny Oleksiak. "A four-medal Olympics is a lifetime achievement and she's only just beginning her career," he wrote.
There was more consensus in our newsroom when it came to choosing the Canadian business newsmaker of the year, with most of us pointing to foreign investors and their effect on the real estate market, primarily in Vancouver and Toronto, but even in Prince George. Several local real estate agents have offshore clients and PEG Development from Utah is the developer of the Marriott Courtyard hotel project. News editor Arthur Williams was the outlier - he picked federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
There were several choices from the group for the national business story of the year, with pipeline politics eventually chosen for The Canadian Press poll.
While the cancellation of Northern Gateway and the approval of Pacific Northwest LNG and the TransMountain expansion loomed large, other Citizen staffers felt the economic fallout from the Fort McMurray fires was more significant. Both of the night editors took a more global perspective, choosing the free trade deal with the EU finally reached after seven years of talks. Voting in these kinds of polls can even be personal. Clarke voted for the state of the newspaper industry as the business story of the year because it's "the most important and pertinent story to me."
With that in mind, we'll announce our online poll on Christmas Eve for local residents to choose the 2016 Prince George newsmaker of the year. We'll share the results with you in our final print edition of the year on Dec. 31.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
