Local mayors and regional district staff met this weekend with Premier John Horgan in Prince George to discuss such issues as lumber markets and softwood duties; timber supply in the wake of last summer’s wildfires and increasing beetle infestations; and the pending legalization of marijuana. …In co-ordinating the meeting, Simpson focused specifically on Prince George, Quesnel and Mackenzie – the three pulp mill locations – and the areas which provide fibre for those mills. “With the whole issue of the changing timber supply, what can we do to avoid what happened on the coast, where the manufacturing sector collapsed because the governments of the day didn’t start answering the questions of what kinds of investments do we need in the manufacturing centre to match the changes that are happening on the land base?” said Simpson.