BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-07

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What`s Behind the Curtain?
BC
2008-07
Daily Online Edition

 

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Ainsworth expects debt restructuring to go ahead

Ainsworth Lumber says as a result of further negotiations it expect to implement its restructuring plan -- which will see the company fall out of family ownership -- by the end of July.
The company, which at one time has plans to build two panel plants in B.C.`s Northern Interior fed by beetle-killed timber, says it has secured additional support for its restructuring plan announced earlier this month.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008063...o-go-ahead.html

 

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Big dreams could reinvent Kelowna as a computing hub

KELOWNA, B.C. - A group of entrepreneurs is intent on giving this inland British Columbia city -- best known for its mild weather and hills dotted with wineries -- a reputation as storage shed for the world`s information.

The first major step is the conversion of an old truck-manufacturing plant into a massive $75-million, 46,000-square metre, structure to be engineered by IBM Canada and built by a company spun out of Kelowna-based RackForce Networks.

GigaCENTER, as it`s being called, will dramatically expand the amount of data stored in a place that, proponents say, is a prime candidate for much more of this kind of development.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...fc-118323d5c113

 

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Ainsworth restructuring taking shape

Ainsworth Lumber says as a result of further negotiations it expects to implement its restructuring plan -- which will see the company fall out of family ownership -- by the end of July.
The company, which at one time had plans to build two panel plants in B.C.`s Northern Interior fed by beetle-killed timber, says it has secured additional support for its restructuring plan announced earlier this month.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008070...king-shape.html

 

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Gas prices push $1.50 as carbon tax kicks in

Greater Victoria gas prices jumped to their latest record high yesterday with the introduction of B.C.`s 2.4 cents per litre carbon tax.

The jump was actually more than the tax, with Greater Victoria prices for regular gas settling at $1.494, up from $1.469 -- a 2.5-cent increase.

Vancouver prices surged higher, to $1.520 at many stations, up a full dime from the day before.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...66-1af4274a64cd

 

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Western U.S. governors give tentative support to oilsands

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. -- The western U.S. governors closed their three-day meeting yesterday by agreeing to develop a diversified energy strategy that will include, at least for now, Alberta oilsands.

Their endorsement came the same day that a pair of southeastern U.S. congressmen toured the oilsands and declared it vital to their country`s future energy policies.

With the price of energy surging to record highs, the governors say they`re concerned not just about greenhouse gas emissions but also about affordability and energy independence for their country.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...8a-3f8e77ccd859

 

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Developer seeks job as Victoria mayor

Businessman and developer Stan Sipos wants to be mayor of Victoria.

The 54-year-old widowed father of two who has shaped many of the downtown`s buildings over the past 20 years announced yesterday that he`ll run for mayor in the Nov. 15 election.

"We who have experienced good fortune should give back to the community," Sipos said. "I`m not looking for the paycheque, accolades or recognition. It will be a difficult job, a thankless job. But rather than just talk about the problems the city is having, it`s time to step up and do what I can to make Victoria a better place, like the one I remember."

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...4b-ed50051e01d1

 

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Winemakers in Okanagan turning into hoteliers

OLIVER -- Wine lovers and would-be connoisseurs don`t want to just visit their favourite Okanagan wineries anymore.

Many want to stay on the properties a few days, stroll around the vineyards and generally soak up the ambience.

So, winemakers are quickly becoming mini-hoteliers. In the past two years, popular B.C. wineries like Burrowing Owl, Hester Creek and Mission Hill have invested millions of dollars adding guesthouses and villas to their properties.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...87-71498655b702

 

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Agency seeks business strategy

The Greater Victoria Economic Development Agency wants to create a regional strategy for business retention and investment attraction and look into the feasibility of creating a regional zoned-land database. The requests for those proposals, which can be viewed at www.gvda.com, will be funded by the province`s Ministry of Technology, Trade and Economic Development.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...20-0db8f30660a6

 

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Get your strata insured for full replacement -- period

Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata corporation is having a tough time figuring out what to do about our insurance. The insurance agent has told us that he can provide us with a co-insurance clause that covers up to a percentage of our full replacement value.

The property manager says we must have insurance for full replacement value, and several council members are saying to just renew the policy and don`t worry about it.

In the Strata Property Act, it says we must insure for full replacement value. Is there a definition of what that means?

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...5e-96cc8dfb8681

 

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Rupert cops raid tomato grow-op

Red-faced drug cops looking for a marijuana grow-op came up with a tomato grow-op instead.

Prince Rupert commercial fisherman Bruce Aleksich said yesterday that about 15 Mounties burst into his business last Thursday, only to find 400 tomato plants in various stages of growth.

After a bleak spring, Aleksich decided to grow the tomatoes under lights.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...29-934ceb9d854e

 

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Park board to vote on demolition of Jericho wharf once used by airforce

VANCOUVER - The park board will vote Monday on whether to demolish a large part of a paved wharf at Jericho Beach that was once used by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The project would restore the natural shoreline of the area, within Jericho Park east of the Jericho Sailing Centre. A few parts of the wharf would be preserved for historical and sentimental reasons.

The plan has a projected cost of $1.9-million.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...ae-3e3221502516

 

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Residents win money back from city

COQUITLAM - Southwest Coquitlam residents took nearly $1.8 million of their money back from the city last week.

Since 1998, the city had been gathering interest on security deposit fees taken from residents, who paid between $750 and $6,000 each.

The city collected the money to pay for new sidewalks, curbs and street lamps in exchange for building permits. However, the city stopped charging deposits in 1999. Residents say improvements were never made, and the money was never returned, until Friday.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...81-184676e9a1c7

 

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Plans scrapped for addiction recovery centre

RICHMOND - They`ve fought long and hard trying to convince residents to welcome recovering addicts into their neighbourhood.

But Turning Point Recovery Society has finally pulled the plug on its hopes for a 32-bed housing development on Ash Street.

The proposal met with fierce local opposition ever since the addiction service suggested opening a recovery centre at 8180 Ash Street last year.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...a9-58b05402879a

 

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Mountain town becomes resort destination

Valemount could have simply rolled itself up when its sawmill closed and pine beetles ravaged nearby forests, but the mountain community is fighting back instead.

The village of about 1,300 -- nestled in the crook of the Cariboo, Monashee and Rocky mountain ranges about 670 kilometres northeast of Vancouver -- has always been dependent on logging and sawmilling. With that industry in decline, Valemount is hoping to capitalize on its scenic location.

The Northern Development Initiative Trust is contributing $300,000 to a project worth almost $2 million to redesign and rebuild the village`s downtown streetscape with new sidewalks, trees and street lights.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...f5-f823cfad17e0

 

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Developers to stand trial for bribery

Two Vancouver Island developers have been ordered to stand trial in B.C. Supreme Court for breach of trust and bribery of a B.C. government official.

Provincial court Judge Ernie Quantz ordered yesterday the trials of Anthony Ralph Young and James Seymour Duncan, builders of Sunriver Estates in Sooke, on charges of making an illegal payment to a government official and breach of trust.

David Basi, once the ministerial assistant to former finance minister Gary Collins, also stands charged with defrauding the government and breach of trust in connection with the Sunriver Estates case.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...f5-095cec3e37b7

 

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Rights panel to consider demand for gas bills in large print

VANCOUVER -- A human rights complaint filed by a Richmond man with vision loss to order Terasen Gas to send out its monthly gas bills in large print can go ahead after company failed in its bid to have it thrown out.

Robert Sleath filed the complaint on behalf of all "totally blind, sight-impaired or deaf-blind" British Columbians after Terasen refused their requests for alternative forms of billing.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...3d-b048b3d63a72

 

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Ellice Park petition to block homeless shelter comes up shy

Efforts to save a small piece of Victoria industrial-area green space hit a major roadblock yesterday when supporters failed to collect enough signatures required to keep Ellice Park.

Approximately 3,000 people -- half of what was required -- signed a city of Victoria counter-petition which would have forced the city to hold a city-wide referendum on whether the park could be closed to make way for a new emergency shelter for the homeless.

The issue will now go to a public hearing, most likely on July 24.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...8e-c8ae6b913778

 

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Price cuts cool real estate sizzle

Price reductions are cropping up more frequently now that Greater Victoria`s once-sizzling real estate market is cooling.

"It seems to me like this is the way things are going to be the next little while," Victoria Real Estate Board president Tony Joe said yesterday. "We are going to see this level of inventory stay with us for a while."

Price cuts are "definitely" more common, Joe said. As for-sale signs indicating price reductions blossom throughout the region, Joe said that he thinks "a lot of people have been pricing to yesterday`s market."

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...c7-1643a34f768a

 

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Big business set to take off in Delta

Sixty-seven years ago yesterday, about 5,000 people watched then-prime minister William Lyon McKenzie King and other dignitaries officially open Boundary Bay Airport in Delta.

It was 1941 and the hurriedly built "aerodrome" was about to play a key role in the Second World War as a primary facility for the training of thousands of combat pilots.

Fast-forward to today and this airport is still one of the largest flight-training centres in Canada, with six flight schools currently operating on its 120-hectare site just south of Highway 10 and 72nd Street.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...ae-e262d3cbadfb