10 features

November 16, 2011 - Over the Edge

this is a comic

Well Clown #7 Vancouver
Qyeny thing Lect So prety

Coverh ‘in Snowy

CRED.STEPHANIE BRODOWSKI

MYRT TURNER RUNNING
FOR CITY COUNCIL

Local Business Owner Taking a Shof

ROSINA TASSONE
CONTRIBUTOR

yrt Turner has lived in Prince George for over
M: years. Since 1984, she has owned and oper-

ated a small employment business located in
downtown Prince George. M. Turner and Associates helps
people find work and helps employers find employees they
need to both grow and maintain their business.

Myrt has been an active community volunteer and has

served on the following boards:
Bob Harkins Library Branch, Prince George and Dis-
trict United Way, Prince George Chamber of Commerce,
BC John Howard Society, DARE BC (founding board
member), Prince George Community Foundation, Cul-
tural Grants Committee City of Prince George and the
Rotary Club of Prince George. Myrt currently sits as a
provincial board member on the Multicultural Advisory
Council(MAC).

“Prince George has many great attributes. We have a
world-class university and community college that bene-
fit not just the citizens of Prince George but other smaller
communities across the region. We have outdoor recrea-
tion opportunities that are second to none. We are a city
of volunteers-people who step up to the plate and make
things happen. Our population is not growing and we have
a shrinking tax base. People and businesses are locating
to the other more “desirable” locations. We need this to
be the best place to live with good paying Jobs. We need
a change in direction to make that happen. We must find
ways to innovate because if we don’t we will continue to
stagnate.

There is only one taxpayer and that taxpayer expects
value for their dollar. Taxpayers want a Mayor and a Coun-
cil who will maintain the city’s assets and infrastructure
within a fiscally responsible, accountable and transparent
framework. People want to see what value they are getting
for their tax dollars.

Prince George is the economic heart of the province and
we need to capitalize on that.. Increasing the tax burden
on each of us-our population has not grown in the past
decade and we need to increase our population to meet
our labour market demands on both today and the future.
Businesses both large and small depend on that labour sup-
ply to remain viable. We need to make Prince George the
community of choice to live no matter where in the north
they work.

We need business processes in place that protect the
city taxpayer but are not so onerous that nothing gets done.
We need to make things happen. We are part of a global
economy and we are competing with other communities
for business development and good paying jobs. We need
to demonstrate that we are open for Business!

The next council needs to set up a 3 year plan that is
specific, measurable and fully costed. The People of Prince
George want to know - in between elections- What are you
going to do as a council, did you do what you said, what
did it cost and what is better in my neighbourhood because
of that plan.” — Myrt Turner