Economy
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!colspan=3|Economy (2001)
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|Rate|| City || Province
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Unemployment rate||10.3%||8.5%
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Participation rate||69.5%||65.2%
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Poverty rate||16.5%||17.8%
|- style="text-align:center; background:#f7dbdb;"
|Average male income||$49,551||$50,191
|- style="text-align:center; background:#f7dbdb;"
|Average female income||$30,846||$35,895
|}
The economy of Dawson Creek is based on four major industries: agriculture, retail, tourism, and oil and gas. Agriculture has historically been the most important industry to Dawson Creek, as the city is the regional transshipment point for agricultural commodities. The city is surrounded by the Agricultural Land Reserve, where the soil can support livestock and produces consistently good yields of quality grain and grass crops, such as canola, hay, oats, alfalfa, wheat, and sweet clover. The service and retail sector caters to the city's inhabitants, smaller nearby towns, and rural communities. However, there is significant retail leakage to Grande Prairie, the closest major Alberta city, where there is no provincial tax on retail purchases, while British Columbia charges 7%. In 2006, the BC government rejected a proposal to lower the sales tax in the province's border communities to 4%. The problem of leakage has been exacerbated in recent years by the introduction of large-format retail stores into the small city. Residents still cross the border for high-priced items but now also purchase medium- and low-priced items from foreign-owned large-format chain stores.
Dawson Creek has a large tourism industry as Mile "0" of the Alaska Highway. Thousands of people drive on the highway every year, starting in Dawson Creek and ending in Fairbanks, Alaska. The trek is often made with recreational vehicles, sometimes in convoys which gather in the city. In the winter, the hospitality industry caters to workers from the oil patches. Discoveries south of Dawson Creek and higher energy prices have spurred oil and gas activities, which have in turn driven the nearby Fort St. John economy to spill over to the Dawson Creek economy. British Columbia's first wind farm, Bear Mountain Wind Park, was constructed southwest of the city in 2009.
Transportation and infrastructure
thumb|300px|The City of Dawson Creek in relation to the highways and the Dawson Creek watercourse
Dawson Creek's road network was laid out in the mid-20th century as the town rapidly expanded. The city maintains 88 km (55 mi) of paved and 11 km (7 mi) of unpaved roads. The primary roads generally follow a grid pattern around large blocks of land. Because the grid contains many internal intersections with stop signs, traffic is forced onto two arterial roads: 8 Street going north–south and Alaska Avenue going southeast–northwest. These two roads meet at a traffic circle where a metal statue marks the beginning of the Alaska Highway, and the Mile Zero Post is now located. Officially designated British Columbia Highway 97, it runs north from Dawson Creek to Fort St. John and the Yukon – where it becomes Highway 1 – before reaching Alaska. The other highways emanating from Dawson Creek are the John Hart Highway, also 97 (southwest to Chetwynd and Prince George), Highway 2 (south to Grande Prairie and southern Alberta), and Highway 49 (east to Peace River and northern Alberta). A road with few intersections along the southern and western borders of the city, incorporating a stretch of Highway 2, is designated as a "dangerous goods route" for heavy trucks so that they can avoid traveling through the city. However, Highway 49 has no direct access to such a ring road, so many trucks bound to or from the east use the city arterials, slowing traffic and damaging roads.
thumb|left|Looking south past traffic circle down 8 Street, with the metal statue pointing the way northwest to Alaska
The Dawson Creek Airport, was built in 1963; its 1,524 m (5,000 ft) runway was paved in 1966. Scheduled services were provided by various airlines over the years, the most recent being WestJet, but as of 2026 there are no commercial flights to the airport. There are larger airports in Fort St. John and Grande Prairie with existing scheduled services.
Passenger rail service was available in Dawson Creek between 1931 and 1974. Service began when the Northern Alberta Railways (NAR) built its northwest terminus in the town and was extended in 1958 to Vancouver with a rail line through the Rocky Mountains. Passenger rail service ended as commodity shipments of grains, oil and gas by-products, and forestry products became more important in the resource-based economy.
The city draws its water supply from the Kiskatinaw River, 18 km (11 mi) west of town. Before reaching the city, the water is pumped through a settling pond, two storage ponds, and a treatment plant where it is flocculated, filtered, and chlorinated. The city also provides drinking water for Pouce Coupe and rural residents. Sewage is processed by a lagoon system east of town and released into the Pouce Coupe River. The largest event, held annually since 1953, is the Dawson Creek Fall Fair & Exhibition — a five-day professional rodeo, with a parade, fairgrounds, and exhibitions.
City recreation facilities include two ice hockey arenas, a curling rink, an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor ice rink, and a speed skating oval (which is now operated by members of the Dawson Creek Speed Skating Club) . The South Peace Community Multiplex, a new facility completed in 2010, boasts a pool, indoor rodeo grounds and ice rink. Voters approved building the Multiplex in a 2004 referendum which projected its cost at C$21.6 million. The project became controversial when construction began and the cost projection was raised to $35 million. The facility is located close to the city's exhibition grounds, away from residential uses. It features an indoor rodeo arena and a 4,000-seat convention centre/ice arena with skyboxes. Nearby Bear Mountain, located south of the city, provides over 20 km (12 mi) of snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails, as well as areas for downhill skiing and about 500 km (300 mi) of trails for snowmobiles, mountain bikes, and all-terrain vehicles. The city was once home to a North American Hockey League team, the Dawson Creek Rage, beginning in the 2010–11 season until it ceased operations in 2012 due to financial difficulties.
Media
Dawson Creek was served by several regional newspapers. The Dawson Creek Daily News (formerly Peace River Block Daily News) and Fort St. John's Alaska Highway News, both part of the Glacier Ventures chain of local papers, are daily available in the city. The Vault Magazine is a free alternative newspaper available in the city bi-weekly. The Northeast News, a free weekly published in Fort St. John, has a sub-office in Dawson Creek. The Dawson Creek Mirror and The Alaska Highway News both ceased operations in October 2023, since then a small local newsletter is produced weekly named This Week in Dawson Creek
The only radio station broadcasting from the city is 890 CJDC AM, which first went on air in 1947. Originating in Chetwynd, 94.5 Peace FM (CHET) is rebroadcast in Dawson Creek on CHAD-FM 104.1. The Fort St. John stations 95.1 Energy FM (CHRX), 101.5 The Bear FM (CKNL), and 101.1 The Moose FM (CKFU) also reach the city. Also available locally is CBKQ-FM 89.7, repeating CBC Radio One station CBYG-FM from Prince George; and CBUF-FM-7 93.7 FM, repeating Première Chaîne station CBUF-FM from Vancouver.
CJDC-TV, a long-time affiliate of CBC Television before moving to a CTV 2 affiliation in 2016, has been broadcasting from Dawson Creek since 1959. A local community group, the Cable 10 Society, operates a community television station. Dawson Creek is also served by local repeater CFSN-TV channel 8, owned locally by Dawson Creek Hypervista Communications and repeating CTV station CFRN-DT Edmonton in analogue. As of 2016, CBC Television service in the area is maintained only through pay television means.
Government and politics
The City of Dawson Creek has a council-manager form of municipal government. A six-member council, along with one mayor, is elected at-large every four years. Current mayor Darcy Dober assumed the position following an election win over Council member Shaely Wilber in October 2022. Previous mayors of the city have included Dale Bumstead (2013–2023), Mike Bernier (2008–2013), Calvin Kruk (2005–08), Wayne Dahlen (2001–05), Blair Lekstrom (1997–2001), Bill Kusk (1994–96) and Robert Trail (1967–75, 1982–93). The city government administers infrastructure and services such as the provision of drinking water, sewage and garbage collection, fire protection, recreational facilities (including parks, trails and arenas), roadway maintenance, snow removal, library services, street lighting, public transportation, and the airport. The city also partially funds a 22-officer Royal Canadian Mounted Police municipal detachment. For creating its Community Energy Plan, which involved the installation of low-voltage street lights and solar-powered hot water heaters, the city was awarded the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2007 Sustainable Community Award. City council appoints one person, usually the mayor, to serve as a board director with the Peace River Regional District. Concurrent with municipal elections, residents also elect two school board trustees to School District 59 which consists of seven trustees.
For representation in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Dawson Creek is situated in the Peace River South provincial electoral district and is represented by Larry Neufeld of the BC Conservative Party. Mike Bernier has served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly since 2013 provincial election until 2024, and prior to that served as mayor of Dawson Creek between 2008 and 2013. His predecessor, Blair Lekstrom, also served as mayor of Dawson Creek between 1996 and 2001 before being elected as the MLA. Before Bernier and Lekstrom, Peace River South was represented by Dawson Creek resident Jack Weisgerber. Weisgerber was first elected in 1986 as a member of the Social Credit Party and served as the province's Minister of Native Affairs for three years. While the Social Credit Party lost power in 1991, Weisgerber was re-elected and served as interim party leader. He joined the Reform Party of British Columbia in 1994 and won re-election in 1996 as party leader, even though Dawson Creek polls put him in third place behind the BC Liberal Party and New Democratic Party candidates.
Federally, Dawson Creek is in the Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies riding, represented in the House of Commons of Canada by Conservative Party Member of Parliament Bob Zimmer. Before Zimmer, who was elected in May 2011, the riding was represented by Jay Hill since 1993. The riding was represented by Frank Oberle of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1972 to 1993. Oberle served as Canada's Minister of Science and Technology in 1985 and Minister of Forestry in 1989.
Notable people
- Dan Brennan, ice hockey player
- Donna Feore, choreographer and musical theatre director
- Roy Forbes, singer-songwriter
- Ben Heppner, opera singer / tenor
- Cayden Lindstrom (born 2006), ice hockey player, picked 4th overall in 2024 NHL draft by Columbus Blue Jackets
- Phil Sykes, ice hockey player
- Gary Vandermeulen, international swimmer
See also
- List of cities in British Columbia