On Council Collaboration, Expensive Consultants, and the AAP: A Conversation on Prince George’s Path Forward
Q: What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing Prince George right now, and what is your plan to tackle it?
John Zukowski: Ultimately and overarching, it’s taxation. Everything derives from taxation, we cannot address crime or other city issues without it costing money. The problem is that our current council has turned a blind eye to realistic spending, as seen in continuous tax hikes and AAP spending requests. There is no sense of reality regarding what residents can actually afford.
Q: With rising operational costs and aging infrastructure, how would you cap tax increases while maintaining essential services like roads and public safety?
John Zukowski: We need to get back to basics. We have to look at what basic services actually cost, utilize our existing facilities and infrastructure more efficiently, and eliminate waste in departments engaging in unnecessary projects. We must establish what we can and cannot afford, ensuring we never push taxpayers under financial stress.
Q: How do you plan to address crime and downtown security while staying within strict budget limits?
John Zukowski: We need to work smarter instead of just throwing money at the problem. We’ve funded more RCMP officers, yet we still haven’t gotten a handle on the situation, and we have no direct control over their billing. Expanding the Community Safety Officer (CSO) program allows us to get two CSOs for the cost of one RCMP officer. That puts direct, controllable boots on the ground under the watchful eye of City Council and the public.
Q: How do you plan to spur local economic development to help share the tax burden?
John Zukowski: We need to overhaul Development Services to reduce unnecessary costs and red tape for developers. Cutting those costs stirs development, which drives economic growth and expands our commercial tax base. Instead of gouging current residents for things we can’t afford, we build revenue over time through growth and quantity.
Q: When voters go to the polls, what is the key message you want them to remember about why you are running?
John Zukowski: I’m not scared to kick the hornet’s nest. I will never vote blindly on council. If I don’t understand something, I will ask the tough questions to ensure taxpayers are getting the truth, not just being strung along for a “yes” vote. For too long, council has rubber-stamped unsustainable spending. I’m here to bring accountability back to City Hall.
Q: Who on city council are you willing to work with?
A: Every single member. But ideally, I want to sit at a table made up of specialists. Imagine a council where each member brings a distinct, real-world skill set, their own “wheelhouse”, to the table. When you bring together leaders with different personal specialties, you build a powerful toolbox for the city.
By drawing on that collective experience, council can learn from one another, evaluate challenges more effectively, and reach solid, common-sense consensus for Prince George.
Q: How does this “toolbox” approach benefit local voters?
A: It means decisions are grounded in practical expertise rather than political posturing. Voters should look for candidates who bring proven, real-world background to the table, whether that’s in financial oversight, public safety, technical infrastructure, or local business. A council of specialists ensures every problem is tackled by someone who actually knows the terrain.
Q: How does having a “council of specialists” benefit Prince George taxpayers?
A: It directly cuts down on our reliance on expensive outside consultants. Right now, far too much tax money is funneled to external consultants simply because city administration lacks specific expertise in key areas.
By having real subject-matter expertise directly at the council table, we can evaluate projects internally, ask the tough technical questions, and stop rubber-stamping unnecessary studies. Furthermore, the decision to engage an outside consultant should rest with elected council, not city administration.
Q: What is your take on the current incumbents running for city council?
A: Some of the incumbents are certainly worth reconsidering, there are individual members who bring value. However, the voting block at city hall needs to be broken up.
Right now, we have a council dynamic where a group of six councillors consistently vote as a tight unit. When you have a group that rarely diverges, debate stops. They exhibit short temperaments when challenged, and there seems to be a reluctance to ask the difficult, probing questions. It has become far too easy to simply rubber-stamp proposals rather than rolling up their sleeves, doing their own research, and putting in the work to debate alternative angles.
Q: What should the relationship between council and city administration actually look like?
A: City administration is hired to run the operational business of the city, not to run city council. Council members are elected, and paid, by the taxpayers to exercise independent oversight, challenge assumptions, and bring fresh perspectives to the table. We cannot rely solely on the answers handed to us by staff.
Council’s fundamental job is to ask the tough questions, demand solid data, and ensure decisions truly serve the public interest. Breaking up the “yes-man” consensus and restoring active, rigorous debate is vital for accountable governance in Prince George.
Q: What is your position on the city using the Alternative Approval Process (AAP) to borrow $30 million, and how do you view the AAP system itself?
A: The way the recent $30 million AAP was rolled out was fundamentally unfair and heavily stacked in favour of city administration getting an automatic “yes.”
The current paper-heavy system seems designed to make public participation as arduous as possible, forcing residents to track down physical forms, fill them out perfectly, and submit them manually, only for many to be rejected over technicalities. Under the Community Charter, local governments have the authority to modernize how these processes are delivered. We should leverage simple, secure digital verification, such as using existing property tax folios—so verified taxpayers can cast an authenticated response online in minutes. Modernizing the system removes unnecessary barriers and ensures the real voice of the community is accurately measured.
Beyond the delivery flaw, moving forward with $30 million in new debt right now shows a complete disconnect from our local economic reality. With the devastating news of Canfor permanently closing the Northwood pulp mill and 300 families losing their livelihoods, Prince George is facing a serious hit to its tax base and local economy.
City council should immediately pause and freeze significant long-term borrowing projects to reassess the financial landscape. Asking taxpayers to absorb tens of millions in new debt when hundreds of local workers have just lost their jobs is plain irresponsible. Council needs to step back, re-evaluate our long-term tax implications, and align city spending with the reality on the ground.
When a major industrial footprint shrinks, that tax burden doesn’t disappear, it gets shifted directly onto the shoulders of everyday homeowners and small business owners. Council pushing through millions in new borrowing while major industrial tax revenue is actively shrinking is fiscal blind spot governing at its worst.
Q: What are Prince George’s biggest economic opportunities, and how can we establish ourselves as British Columbia’s next major hub for development without letting bureaucracy or red tape stand in our way?
A: Prince George is literally a jewel in the rough, and we’ve been sitting in the rough for far too long. It is time to step up, take ownership, and show the province what this city can truly do. We already have incredible foundational assets; we just need a city council with the vision and drive to stoke those coals into a full-scale economic fire.
Look at what is sitting right in front of us:
- Air Cargo and Customs Infrastructure: Expanding our airport capabilities with a dedicated bonded warehouse allows industrial and commercial goods to clear customs directly here in Prince George, rather than sitting in bottlenecks down in Vancouver. That alone saves regional businesses millions in transportation, handling, and supply chain delays by landing equipment, clearing it on-site, and shipping it straight to northern job sites.
- Regional Emergency Services Training: We have the location and infrastructure to build a premier regional Fire Training Centre to educate and support rural departments across Northern BC. Partnering with the Justice Institute of BC, we can train local responders right here in modern fire suppression, auto rescue, and heavy extrication techniques without sending them down south.
- Specialised Healthcare and Academic Development: With UNBC, CNC, and the recent development of a $92 million, 72-bed involuntary mental health and addiction facility at the former youth custody site, Prince George can become the northern centre of excellence for specialized care. This gives us a massive opportunity to attract young students, clinicians, and researchers, training the next generation right here in addiction medicine, psychiatric care, and drug interdiction.
We do not need to wait for Victoria or Ottawa to map out our future. They can hand over our share of tax dollars, but then they need to get out of our road. This is our city, and with strong, proactive leadership on council, we will build and drive our economy on our own terms.
Q: When are you planning to officially announce your run for Prince George City Council?
A: At this moment, I am waiting to see what shoes drop before making a formal announcement.
If I put my name forward, I want to be certain I am stepping up alongside leaders I know I can genuinely work with, people who ask the hard questions, aren’t afraid of a little heat, and are ready to roll up their sleeves and do the real work. We simply cannot afford another council that rests on the laurels of sanitized, spoon-fed information provided by city administration.
As elected councillors, our primary responsibility is to act as the sober second thought before approving or rejecting anything brought to the table. We aren’t elected to hand out taxpayer money to everyone who asks for it. Our duty is to evaluate long-term costs, examine real long-term benefits, and ensure every single decision serves the people of Prince George, not the personal interests of those sitting around the council table.
That independent oversight and critical scrutiny is exactly what Prince George needs at city hall moving forward in 2026.