The Pacific Economic Development Agency, or PacifiCan will be opening offices in Prince George.
PacifiCan is a new federal agency dedicated to British Columbia, which will be a long-term economic partner for the Province.
According to Federal Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for PacifiCan Harjit Sajjan, PacifiCan’s mandate is to create economic growth, and quality jobs in the province.
“The reason we want to expand, we want to make sure as we’re looking at the uniqueness of BC, but we know that BC is quite vast, so we want to make sure that the knowledge base, the uniqueness of each little region, that we get that drawn in,” said on opening the Prince George office.
“We’re right now expanding the offices, finding the right people to staff them, and our team will get that done, so that way, the person who’s going to be there, is looking at the micro-needs of the region.”
“There’s so much potential here. Imagine having a dedicated office with the right person here, who is going to be able to give us advice in the agency saying ‘listen, we need to adjust our programming’.”
While the Prince George office isn’t open just yet, PacifiCan has already doled out funding in Prince George and Northern BC, including $750,000 for Exploration Place, as well as $1.9-million for the Northern Analytics Laboratory Services at UNBC.
Sajjan said it’s not clear when the Prince George office, but there’s good work being done to bring the agency to the Northern Capital.
Offices will also open in Campbell River, Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Kelowna, Prince Rupert, and Victoria, as well as a new headquarters in Surrey.