The Green Party wants Prince George to acquire broadband redundancy to boost its economy | Photo: Chung Chow



Between a railway line to Chicago, a top-notch university and a cooler climate favoured by energy-hungry data centres, Prince George has considerable untapped potential, according to Andrew Weaver.

But the leader of the B.C. Green Party says the northern Interior city’s economy is missing one major component — a second high-speed Internet line connecting it to Vancouver.

“No one will invest heavily there because there’s only one line going in,” Weaver said in a phone interview from Victoria.

“If you have a driver hit a telephone pole at night and knock over the optic fibre, you disconnect [Prince George] broadband from the rest of the world. That can’t happen.”

The B.C. Green Party leader said the province could either build a 300-kilometre line running from Chetwynd to Prince George and lease it to a private company, or else could provide incentives to a private company that lays the line.

During the B.C. legislature’s Thursday (February 25) question period, Weaver proposed to Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services Minister Amrik Virk that the province invest $6-7.5 million laying a second line to provide the city with “broadband redundancy.”

Virk told Weaver during question period his ministry’s staff has examined the city’s high-speed Internet connections and found them sufficient.

“We’re going to continue to work on connectivity all across the province,” he said.

Weaver told Business In Vancouver the proposal is part of the Greens’ technology strategy, which the party will be unveiling in its entirety later this year.

Because B.C. has recently developed a strong green technology sector to complement its resource sector, Weaver said it’s time to bring the two together if the province wants to remain competitive.

“That can’t happen until you get the same people in the room — the forestry sector and the tech sector — working together and Prince George is an obvious place,” he said.

torton@biv.com

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