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April 2014 B.C. Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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News articles for April.
 

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Christy Clark boasts B.C. will rival Alberta's domination once LNG starts flowing






OTTAWA ` Premier Christy Clark is projecting British Columbia will rival energy giant Alberta in terms of "contribution to Canada" once the province starts exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia.





Clark is preaching the gospel of natural gas exports in Ottawa with a large delegation that includes energy industry business people and a few First Nations leaders.









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Northern BC real estate on par with trend





Northern BC real estate agents are agreeing with a recent Conference Board of Canada report. The CBOC says Canada's housing market is going to do better than predicted thanks to growth in employment. Northern BC Real Estate Board President Ken Laursen says thats on par with what's happening in the North.





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Metro Vancouver owners favour detached homes in suburbs, condos in tony urban areas





VANCOUVER ` Buyers favoured houses in the suburbs and condos in pricier urban communities in March according to sales results released Wednesday for the Lower Mainland`s main property markets.





March sales showed an improvement from a year ago, but transactions continued to trend below their 10-year average, according to the reports.









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Kelowna's economy changing





In Jon Manchester's March 18 editorial, "Room for Improvement," he theorizes our economy is too focused catering to baby boomers, well-heeled retirees, and deep-pocketed summer vacationers, which tend to support low-wage and part-time retail, tourist accommodation and food service positions. He says we need more good paying jobs in industry and manufacturing.


Kelowna's economy is in transition. We have a more diversified economy than many believe and we are becoming better positioned to be successful in the future with the "four pillars" of UBCO, Okanagan College, Kelowna General Hospital, and Kelowna International Airport serving as the foundation on which to build.





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BC added 18,000 jobs in March





Statistics Canada says British Columbia`s unemployment rate fell in March as the province added 18,000 more jobs, the largest employment growth since the autumn of 2012.





The gains were split between full-time and part-time jobs and pushed B.C.`s unemployment rate down by 0.6 percentage points to 5.8 per cent, making it the fourth lowest in the country, after Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.






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Rising cost of Vancouver homes means it might be worthwhile to rent





VANCOUVER ` Renting a place may be the last, best real estate bargain in Vancouver, and a majority of the city`s residents are taking full advantage.





With unaffordable house prices in the region getting all the attention, it`s easy to forget that 52 per cent of Vancouverites rent.










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Huge demand for tiny rental units in Vancouver








Some of the most affordable rental units in downtown Vancouver would make great closets in a typical home.





A 100-square-foot rental in the Living Balance Group`s 50-unit complex at 620 West Pender can be had for $570 a month, but it is not available until June and there`s a waiting list of people wanting to rent other units when they become available.






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BC rushes to approve LNG regime as global competition heats up





British Columbia`s final decision on its liquefied natural gas fiscal regime could come before the summer and not fall as originally thought, as the provincial government moves quickly to engage companies that are poised to build billions of dollars worth of export projects on the West Coast.





`The final decision is set for the fall legislature, but you can expect it earlier,` even before summer, Steve Carr, British Columbia`s deputy natural gas minister, told the Financial Post Friday on the sidelines of an investment symposium organized by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in collaboration with Scotiabank.





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BC regulators eye green light for crowdfunding





Online crowdfunding has become a social force worth more than $100 million per year to cool projects and worthy causes in Canada, according to its advocates.





Now British Columbia is among the jurisdictions probing whether it can become an economic force as a method for companies to raise start-up capital from the public ` without becoming a magnet for fraud.




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Vancouver home sales pick up from year ago





VANCOUVER - Home sales in the Vancouver region picked up in March compared with a year ago, but were still well below the long-term average for the month, according to the city's real estate board.





The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Wednesday there were 2,641 homes sold through its Multiple Listing Service, up from 2,347 a year ago.





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Prince George's employment surpasses 50,000





Prince George's job market is back up above something of a milestone.There were 51,000 people in the city who were holding down jobs in March, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers released Friday. -





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Nanaimo unemployment rate drops to 4.5%





More people are working in Nanaimo, with health-care leading job creation, followed by construction and manufacturing. Nanaimo's unemployment rate dropped to 4.5 per cent in Nanaimo last month, down from six per cent a year ago.Statistics Canada collects employment rate data each month through a national labour force survey.Nationally, 43,000 new jobs were created last month.





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Jobless rate down regionally and in Kelowna





Spring prompted employers to start hiring in the Thompson-Okanagan. Spring prompted employers to start hiring in the Thompson-Okanagan.


As a result, the unemployment rate in the region dropped to 8.1 per cent in March and to 5.5 per cent in Kelowna, compared to a month earlier, according to figures released Friday by Statistics Canada.





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Kelowna seeks influx of Fort Mac workers





The marketing slogan for Kelowna's airport is a pretend abbreviation of its official code - YLW.




Some years ago, the airport began an advertising campaign that suggested the airport's designation meant the terminal was Your Link to the World.




Now, officials might want to consider another such slogan - Your Link to Work.





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Wheels start to turn for Site C mega project





VICTORIA ` Though BC Hydro has yet to receive environmental or government approval for the proposed hydroelectric dam at Site C on the Peace River, the utility has begun the selection process for one of the biggest contracts on the estimated $8-billion project.





Hydro issued a request for qualifications late last week for would-be builders of the giant earth-fill dam and associated engineering works, the first stage of a selection process that is slated to wrap up the summer of next year.





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LNG dreams power Kitimat housing boom





VANCOUVER -- Forget Vancouver and Toronto. Canada's hot real estate market is the hard-luck community of Kitimat in northwestern British Columbia.





Housing prices are surging in Kitimat as the economy gathers steam with preliminary work on liquefied natural gas projects and the construction of an aluminum smelter.





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First nations buy properties, extinguish claims on others





The purchase of two large provincial properties in Burnaby and Vancouver shows the rising economic power of urban First Nations that want to develop long-term income for their communities.





But it also shows how the provincial government has found a way to settle some land claims without settling treaties. The province paid three Metro Vancouver First Nations $24 million to extinguish potential land claims on 27 other properties it wanted to sell.







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Pricey housing near transit may be pushing out young families





As the appeal of living near rapid transit continues to push up the price of land around SkyTrain stations, Metro Vancouver is grappling with ways to keep affordable housing near transit.





An updated affordability report, which will be distributed to municipalities for discussion, suggests the high cost of land around rapid transit is forcing young families, seniors and emergency workers ­` whose wages aren`t keeping pace with housing prices ` to move further out of urban centres.












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BC first nations sign LNG revenue-sharing agreement





The British Columbia government has moved to bring First Nations on board its multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas effort. Two north coast First Nations signed revenue-sharing agreements Wednesday with the government related to development of a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal on their traditional territories near Prince Rupert.





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