The provincial government has rolled out a new website to showcase where people could invest in the Peace Region.
Investnortheastbc.ca is designed to show the high amount of economic activity around the area.
It features an interactive map identifying major projects and investment.
The website features information about what major airports there are in the region, how many flights per week the airport offers, and what carriers an airport can offer.
It also profiles communities and other information designed to advocate for investors to put their money in the area.
For example, if readers go to a dot near Dawson Creek on one page of the website, they can find a list of the major oil and gas operations in the area, including the Cutbank Ridge Resource Play Development or the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project.
Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm said that he believed the new website would benefit the area.
“I think any website that’s promoting the region is good,” he said. “It’s certainly going to attract people.”
He said that investors would likely be drawn to the area, with the possibility of the construction of a Site C dam generating new opportunities, as well as pipelines connecting gas produced in the region to liquid natural gas facilities further west.
“It’s a good place to invest,” he said. “Certainly we have a lot of potential…I don’t think it’s a secret that this area has seen a lot of business.”
"It’s going to be the doorway to northeast British Columbia for people looking to locate their businesses here, whether it’s industry or retail businesses or brand new businesses,” said Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman. “When people are looking to invest they want to make sure there’s a good return on their investment, and the northeast B.C. investment portal is going to provide that information."
The website partners between Fort St. John, Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Pouce Coupe, Taylor, Hudson's Hope, Tumbler Ridge, and the Peace River Regional District.
It's the third of these types of investment websites. Invest Northwest BC was launched last fall, and Invest North Central BC was launched in October.