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A bright future beckons
You have to give credit to fellows like Frank Lovsin Sr., Lorne Mann, and Don Allan.
Lovsin, from Peace River, is one of the main movers and shakers behind the Freson IGA chain. He has stores across Alberta, including the IGA in High Prairie.
Mann, also from Peace River, is that town’s mayor.
Don Allan, hailing from Red Deer, is the president of the Bluesky upgrader planned between McLennan and High Prairie.
We’re sure each of these fellows had their down days. They aren’t perfect and for sure, each has taken their fair share of criticism. They do share however, a common characteristic. No matter what, each is absolutely boundless in their enthusiasm for the future. What might look bad to most people, looks wonderful to these guys. This enthusiasm rubs off on others.
Frank Lovsin welcomes the day his IGA, and the rest of Peace River retailers, will go up against Wal-Mart in Peace River. Quoted recently on Peace River radio CKYL, Lovsin said (and we paraphrase), “This will bring all kinds of business to Peace River. People from Manning and High Level who are driving right through Peace River to Grande Prairie will stop here. Peace River is going to become a destination. The opportunities this will bring are fantastic.’’
Lorne Mann is noted for his arguments. Not only does he scrap over cost sharing with the three municipal districts that surround Peace River, he scraps with the provincial government and even the Peace Region Health Authority. It would be easy to dismiss Mann as quite the troublemaker, considering his opponents outgun, outnumber and outweigh him on all counts. You have to admit though, Mann wants the best for his town and people, even if that means putting himself out of office. He’s said numerous times dissolving the Town of Peace River and turning over the keys to one of the municipal districts is just fine with him. Again, where many would see doom and gloom, Mann thinks big, argues big, and is extremely confident in the future.
Then we have Don Allan. Allan’s billion-dollar upgrader at Kathleen still gets the pooh poohs from many of our more experienced players. Well, Allan’s plans scared Shell Oil enough they spent a couple billion dollars buying out Black Rock Ventures last year. Black Rock was going to be the main feed stock supplier to Allan’s Peace River Oil. This could severely cramp expansion plans at the Shell so-called “experimental’’ in-situ plant at Peace River. Even with this setback, Allan is forging ahead. Peace River Oil is now in the oil lease buying business, (which leads to being their own feed stock supplier) and has announced plans to go into bio-diesel. With seven multi-billion dollar upgraders in some kind of planning stage to be built around Edmonton, and even more talked about in various parts of the United States, there’s not much to dislike about Allan’s project right in our own backyard. Liking a project, a big box store or a local government isn’t the point. The point is, it’s the ability of these three people to look ahead and smile. Where many see troubles and failures, these three continue to see much, much more opportunities. Good for them.
Jeff Burgar
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