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The Cariboo is the third largest Development Region in British Columbia, with a total land area of 131,335 km2.[1] The region includes the Cariboo and Fraser-Fort George Regional Districts and extends from the Municipality of Mackenzie in the north to 100 Mile House in the south, and from the Alberta border in the east to the Coast Mountains in the west. The Cariboo Development Region’s (CDR) population reached 160,976 in 2009.[2]
Nearly half the region’s residents live in Prince George, which is a key trade centre and a government hub. Like the rest of the Development Regional, wood products have historically been the key income generator, however, the city’s economy is now diversifying due to its strong links to the global marketplace: Prince George’s strategic location, and recent infrastructure developments—the expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert and the Prince George airport, CN’s Prince George Intermodal Terminal and Distribution Centre, and improvements to regional highways—have been key drivers of this diversification.
In 2009, the global financial crisis affected the entire province. The CDR’s economy continued to weaken last year, and changes in the past five years have brought about a shift in the region’s economy. Once the most dominant industry, manufacturing is now in third place after trade and health care and social assistance.[3] The mountain pine beetle epidemic provided a short term boom for the region’s lumber manufacturers, as companies rushed to cut dead standing trees before they lost value. But mill closures in 2008 and 2009 hammered the industry, and communities like Quesnel, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake,[4] and Mackenzie, which have the highest forest vulnerability indexes in the province, are suffering. However, The increased global demand for wood products in the early part of 2010 has resulted in mills in these hard hit areas announcing re-openings which gives cause for optimism in 2010.
Despite the global economic downturn there were some positive developments in the CDR in 2009. The newly expanded Prince George Airport now boasts Canada’s third-longest commercial runway, and offers air-cargo flights between Asia and North America, and a new refuelling option on the great-circle routes. The mountain pine beetle epidemic has led to new industries related to the generation of electricity, and the Northern Bioenergy Partnership was formed in 2009 to support the growth of the forest-based bioenergy sector,[5] an emerging industry in the largest producing and exporting region of forest and bioenergy products in Canada.[6] And in February, the provincial government announced that Prince George would be the home to a Wood Innovation and Design centre—a global centre of excellence that will provide expertise in advanced building systems, engineered wood products, interior wood design and applications, and other value-added products.[7]