BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-07

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City reviewing parking strategy

Redevelopment of Nanaimo`s downtown and an increase in competing user groups have the city taking another look at its downtown parking strategy.

The first of two public surveys is already available online – the deadline for submissions for the first one is Aug. 5 – and the results will help the city determine its approach.

Parking has been a contentious issue downtown for some time. Merchants have said metered parking would drive shoppers out to the malls, while free parking on Commercial Street is too limited.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_islan...s/25628599.html

 

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Plans boiled down for property

Nearly two years later, potential developers and the Town of Comox have boiled down plans for a property on the Kye Bay bluffs to two options.

An application for Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning amendments, as well as a development permit for a roughly 10-hectare property on Kye Bay Road was presented as information to the town`s councillors this week.

"This is a really complicated piece of land," said engineer Ian Whitehead, representing owners Anne English and Jim Owen at council.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_islan...s/25601774.html

 

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More tree removal planned

City hall is in the process of completing the finishing touches on plans for the largest tree-removal program yet.
An exact date is still to be set, but city`s urban forester, Kim Menounos, expects a contractor will start work on Forests for the World by the first week in August.
Over the following year, the aim is to clear the dead pine from more than 100 hectares to improve safety for park users and to reduce the chance of out-of-control wildfires.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...al-planned.html

 

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Ouch! That tax letter can sting

One part of Canada Revenue Agency`s job is to confirm or correct the amount of personal income tax you are supposed to pay. The other part is to collect that money and apply it toward the amount owed. And that`s where things have been breaking down.

This year my wife, Lorraine, and I netfiled our tax returns, with her getting a refund and me waiting to pay my amount owing on April 30. Then we were among the many thousands of taxpayers receiving a late-arriving T3 slip, for dividend income received. I immediately filed T1ADJ adjustment forms, attaching a cheque for the additional $147.26 owed by my wife to her form, and increasing my payment by the appropriate amount.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...a3-5e4cb4dd86ca

 

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Energy, Olympics on table at regional summit

VANCOUVER I Energy and the Olympics will be hot topics of conversation this week as business and political leaders from Alaska to Idaho gather in Vancouver for an annual summit on economic collaboration across the Pacific northwest.

The 18th annual summit of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER), a government-funded, cross-border advocacy group, will draw approximately 800 delegates between Sunday and Thursday.

"It`s a coming together of a wide cross-section of community, government, private sector [and] academic leaders to look at common issues in the Pacific northwest," said the group`s executive director Matt Morrison.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...2f-3fc9b5c413fe

 

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Airport `ideal` for Olympic marketing

Visitors from around the world meet Vancouver at Vancouver International and 2010 Olympic organizers are making a big bid to make sure they are greeted by a strong representation of the 2010 Games.

Vanoc and Vancouver International Airport have just opened their first dedicated Vancouver 2010 store, a 1,300-square-foot boutique located in the international departures area of the facility.

"It`s an ideal market for us and an ideal place for us to be," said Caley Denton, Vanoc`s vice-president of ticketing and consumer marketing.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...69-ceff51d8a558

 

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Parking meters to be removed

Parking meters will be removed soon from downtown streets.
City council voted unanimously Monday night to remove all parking meters and institute a no-charge, two-hour time limit for on-street parking, while replacing the two-warning ticket system with a $25 fine.
Exactly when that will occur is still to be determined. With council`s direction now given, staff will work out the details of implementing the strategy over the coming months.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...be-removed.html

 

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VLA residents hope gatherings will help neighbourhood

In a bid to create positive change in the challenged Veterans Land Act subdivision, monthly gatherings have been set up by the Carney Hill Neighbourhood Centre Society.
Community gatherings and family fun nights with food, childcare and activities will be held on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. at Milburn Park (or Hadih House during inclement weather) beginning tonight, when the focus will be on neighbourhood social change for the next generation.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...ghbourhood.html

 

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Oak Bay gives the green light to deployment of electric cars

Electric cars will be legal on Oak Bay streets next month, the first municipality in B.C. to approve a bylaw that allows the innovative vehicles on city streets.

"It`s good to see Oak Bay in the lead on this," Coun. Nils Jensen said last night after politicians voted unanimously in favour of third reading of the bylaw.

That bylaw will be before council Aug. 18 for final approval. Electric cars would be legal on the streets the next day.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...da-58e88093f6af

 

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Old power lines cost B.C. jobs, business

VANCOUVER -- British Columbia and its partner states and provinces in the Pacific Northwest will forego $55 billion to $85 billion in economic activity and 60,000 jobs annually unless they take action to fix the region`s aging electrical transmission system, a new report says.

The report says transmission wires moving high-voltage power around the Pacific Northwest are so constrained that member utilities have already been forced to turn down potential new industrial customers whose needs for additional power could not be met.

The report was prepared for the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER), which is holding its annual conference this week in Vancouver, and the Idaho National Laboratory.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...4f-75befc2d9740

 

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Powerlines plan a must

Failure to build the top five planned transmission-line projects in the Pacific Northwest could cost the region $55 billion to $85 billion annually in economic activity and nearly 1.8 million jobs over 30 years, a new report says.

The region will also face a greater likelihood of rolling brownouts or blackouts from congestion of the existing grid if the lines don`t proceed, according to the report released yesterday at a meeting of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region in Vancouver.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...66-29141f8e3a9b

 

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Human waste proposed as source of natural gas

Terasen Gas customers on the North Shore could soon be firing up their furnaces and hot-water heaters with natural gas collected as a byproduct in the processing of human waste.

A $1.1-million project involving Terasen, Metro Vancouver and QuestAir Technologies proposes to capture and purify "biogas" from operations at the Lions Gate sewage treatment plant and pump it into a nearby Terasen distribution pipe for use by the gas utility`s customers.

It will be the first time in B.C. that energy from human waste is captured and used in this fashion, and it`s fairly novel on a global scale as well -- although processes using gas from landfills and agricultural waste are well established.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...b5-ae45ea0a9853

 

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B.C. booming even with global turmoil

At times when we`re hearing about economic challenges across the globe, communities and regions across British Columbia are bucking the trend by embracing new opportunities, generating new investment and creating strong, diversified economies.

Just this month, the sale of oil and gas rights hit a record-breaking total of more than $610 million in bonus bids.

Mining exploration has also set new records, with investment increasing by $416 million last year -- an increase of more than 1,300 per cent from 2001.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/ed...50-af9460b573fd

 

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Move faster to fix border delays, van Dongen urges

The Canadian and U.S. federal governments need to move faster to fix the delays truckers face at border crossings, according to John van Dongen, B.C.`s minister of public safety and solicitor-general.

At a major intergovernmental conference on Monday, van Dongen said that while governments have moved to implement programs that expedite the passage of "trusted travellers" across the border, he still sees long lineups at the Fraser Valley`s Pacific Border Crossing.

He contends that those lineups result in fewer vehicles taking more time to get across, "which represents huge lost dollars."

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...6d-3e5a363247c5

 

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No gloom and doom for B.C. economy, yet

Finance Minister Colin Hansen looked The Vancouver Sun`s editorial board in the eye late last week and maintained that, despite all the economic gloom and doom that`s going around these days, the B.C. economy is doing pretty well.

Canada, he noted, is performing better than the United States, which may or may not already be in or headed for recession. And B.C. -- still highly dependent on the U.S. for markets for our goods, although much more economically diversified than we used to be -- is holding up better than most other provinces.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...a3-4b936c36c93e

 

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The battle over lakefront development in B.C. resort towns is heating up with both sides digging in their heels


Happiness, maybe not, but there`s a certain satisfaction that comes with waterfront property, and weekends of boating on a beautiful British Columbia lake.

That`s what money is buying for Calgarians these days, as the construction cranes and concrete foundations crammed around any decent-sized body of water west of the city can attest. But one Calgarian`s joy at buying lakeside property is coming with jeers from another citizen who`s already there -- for every newcomer to a beautiful azure shore, there`s a Calgarian who`s owned a piece of the pie since the town was a corner store and a dock.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/0...239131-sun.html

 

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Beetle recovery action plan submitted

After three years of garnering input about strategies towards economic recovery, the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition has submitted its Mountain Pine Beetle Mitigation Strategy to the provincial government.
Coalition chair Donna Barnett, the mayor of 100 Mile House, presented the executive summary to Minister of Community Development Blair Lekstrom at a Monday ceremony at the town`s council chambers. Barnett praised the hundreds of volunteers who contributed to the project, which calls for long-term provincial and federal funding.
The main document that contains the strategies is being finalized.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...-submitted.html

 

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Work underway on pair of new city trails

Groundbreaking for one of two new trail connectors in the city began Tuesday along Ferry Avenue and Highway 16.
The connectors are jointly funded by the city and Local Motion, a new program created by the provincial government. Community Development Minister Blair Lekstrom and Prince George-Mount Robson MLA Shirley Bond were present at the groundbreaking.
Lekstrom said by having the city and the province team up for this project, it will help create a greener, healthier community. "We are encouraging people to get out and be more active," he said. "And in order to do that, you want to give them the opportunity to do it in a way that`s safe and certainly enjoyable. Prince George should be proud of what they have."

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...ity-trails.html

 

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New Clayoquot conflict looms over logging

VANCOUVER -- B.C. could soon see a return to protests and blockades in Clayoquot Sound as a local forestry company prepares to log an old-growth forest in the Hesquiat Point Creek watershed -- the first time a company has begun logging in such a "pristine" valley in nearly 20 years.

And this time, First Nations and environmentalists -- allies in the 1993 protests -- find themselves on opposite sides.

Since the early 1990s, forestry companies have continued logging in the sound but have limited their activities to "developed" areas that had already been logged, staying out of about a dozen intact watersheds north of Tofino on the west side of Vancouver Island that have been untouched by development for more than 10,000 years.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...63-b213a3b720d1

 

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NDP asks Doyle to turn focus on Alberni Valley

The NDP wants auditor general John Doyle to produce a sequel to his scathing report on the removal of private forestlands from three Vancouver Island tree farm licences.

And, the sequel could be even scarier than the original, says Alberni-Qualicum MLA Scott Fraser who, with NDP forestry critic Bob Simpson, is asking Doyle to look at the 2004 release of more than 70,000 hectares of private land from TFL 44 near Port Alberni.

"At the very least, the people of Port Alberni and the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations deserve the chance to get to the truth about what happened when the Campbell government released the lands from TFL 44," Fraser said.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...45-ec3f491056b6