BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-07

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Victoria Airport sticks to ambitious expansion plans despite aviation worries

On the surface, Canada`s airline industry should be facing a crisis with fuel prices skyrocketing and people railing at the rising cost of travel.

But the reality, at least in Victoria, is the airport charged with handling aircraft, passengers and cargo has never been busier.

Other than a slight dip following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., little has changed the steady increase in use of Victoria International Airport, which had a $30-million renovation and expansion completed in 2006.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...f5-52825ecc20df

 

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Check before you dig (or bury)

The elderly man who tried to bury his recently deceased family cat in the backyard last summer probably expected a private sendoff for his beloved pet - until he hit the gas line.

The first unexpected guests who arrived shortly after he dialed 9-1-1 were eight firefighters in two fire trucks.

They ordered his none-too-happy neighbours from their homes until the final attendees, a two-man repair crew from Terasen Gas, arrived within 20 minutes to repair the ruptured yellow, three-quarter-inch polyethylene pipe.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...b2-80578f2937f3

 

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Tsawwassen prepares for summer of protest

DELTA - They have tried legal appeals, petitions and using their cars as blockades.

Now the mothers of Tsawwassen are escalating their fight against power-line construction by appealing to the patron saint of suburban families: Oprah Winfrey.

"Oprah loves children, she loves teachers, she wants to do the right thing," Heather Wahlberg said Friday, standing on the bumper of a pickup truck in her sleepy seaside neighbourhood where the B.C. Transmission Corp. intends to string up 230 kilovolt power lines.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...7b-9c04553dd9bc

 

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Golf communities flourishing

If there is a universal image with which retirement planners and developers and builders pursue prospects, it`s the golfer -- usually male, usually under a full head of silver hair -- driving, putting or hitting a sand shot against a luminous green and the harvest hues of an immaculately landscaped country club. "This is what you`re working for," the image proclaims. ``Once you retire, you can golf every day.``

Bob MacKenzie typifies the guy in that image. More than a decade ago, the then Richmond school principal and his wife, Myrna, bought a lot at one of the first golf-course communities in British Columbia, Gallagher`s Canyon outside Kelowna.

Neither he nor his wife ever planned to retire to the Okanagan, much less live on a golf course.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...26-b5f814cc5b44

 

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Coalbed methane worries raised at Shell meeting

Shell Canada`s public information meeting about its proposed Klappen coalbed methane program was met with some opposition yesterday.

Des Nobels, chairman of the Friends of Wild Salmon society stationed himself outside the civic centre where the meeting was being held to hand out information about some of the environmental affects he fears will take place.

"Our major concern is regards to contaminated groundwater and that contamination of groundwater to surface water and the effects on the marine environment and the fish and other wildlife in the environment," said Nobels. "This has happened elsewhere where coalbed methane extraction has taken place."

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/princerup...ca-d528af43036c

 

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Port Ed gets injection of cash

Funding grants were the topic of the day at the last Port Edward council meeting.

First off, Port Edward received written correspondence from the provincial government regarding a new LocalMotion and Towns for Tomorrow grant. The funding of $40 million during a four-year period that is available to B.C.`s smaller communities can be used to make a community "become even better places to live and work," said B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

Port Edward has been trying to secure enough funding to eventually replace the aging waterlines in the community, and Chief Administrative Officer Ron Bedard is hopeful the district can get something out of this grant.

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/princerup...44-d923d159bdc7

 

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Public invited to meeting on boundary extension

The issue of boundary expansion will come before Pembertonians again next Tuesday (July 8), when the Village of Pemberton (VOP) Council hosts a public meeting at 7 p.m. in the Council chambers at 1350 Aster St.

Representatives from Stantec Consulting, the firm hired by Council to lead the boundary expansion effort, will be at the meeting to present maps of the potential changes, discuss the process and the tax implications for affected landowners, answer questions and solicit public feedback. VOP administrators are strongly encouraging everyone interested to come to the meeting. Stantec planner John Steil said it`s an opportunity to explain the process from the planning side, as well as implications including tax changes, while soliciting feedback.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/madison/WQ...13?OpenDocument

 

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2010 rental commitments needed soon: officials

Twenty months until the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the crunch is already being felt. With ticket sales only a few months away, there is a need to confirm accommodation for corporations, sponsors and national organizing committees, organizers said at the 2010 Games Accommodation Forum last Wednesday (June 25). "There`s quite a bit of work that has to be done between now and (October) to ensure that when people go to buy tickets, they can also get accommodation at the same time," said Jodi Westbury, director of research and product enhancement at Tourism Whistler (TW), who has done research on Olympic accommodation in Beijing and Park City, Utah.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/madison/WQ...26?OpenDocument

 

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Full sustainability by 2060 eyed: Melamed

Those who have heard the buzz around the phrase "Whistler 2020" may be disappointed to know that Whistler is a long way from being a sustainable community — a lot further away than 2020, in fact.

Whistler`s ultimate goal is to be sustainable by 2060, Mayor Ken Melamed said at a public meeting last Thursday (June 26). He added that Whistler is still in its early stages of becoming fully sustainable. "Just in case there`s any misperception," said Melamed, who is passionate about the environment, "Whistler is not sustainable, and it`s going to be some years before we get there.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/madison/WQ...84?OpenDocument

 

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Curses, foiled again!`

FORT ST. JOHN – Thieves looting apartment complex laundry machines in Northeastern BC are getting more than money.

They`re getting caught. Sterling Management`s Rob Herman said he`d had enough after thieves netted a sum of money in a two-month period of breaking into the coin-operated machines, so he implemented surveillance systems and cameras.

"We`re happy. It`s paying off and now they`re getting caught," he said. Sterling manages more than 200 units in Fort St. John, Chetwynd and Dawson Creek. Herman said he noticed the rash of thefts in May and June and took steps to eliminate the problem.

http://www.northeastnews.ca/index.php?opti...1&Itemid=48

 

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City has dilemma on services issue

FORT ST. JOHN – The city has embarked on a process to define when it`s OK for them to provide water and sewer services in regional district areas. A discussion paper city manager Dianne Hunter presented to council June 23 may have been prompted in part by concerns that a local developer has been able to hook a commercial development in the regional district into city water and sewer services. But Hunter said the discussion isn`t to be based on specific incidents but on the need for a comprehensive policy that outlines clearly if and when such services may be provided.

"We don`t want to mislead rural residents or city residents until we have a policy," she told Northeast News. "These are important considerations that need to be debated."

Northeast News has learned developer Bruce Reid`s new commercial park on Airport Road offers city water and sewer, even though it`s in Area C of the regional district. Area resident Linda Vopika says she doesn`t like that the services are offered to some and not others, and she wrote to the Peace River Regional District to complain.

http://www.northeastnews.ca/index.php?opti...9&Itemid=48

 

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Downtown neighbourhood open house next week

DOWNTOWN OPEN HOUSE

The next step in the city`s strategic plan for downtown neighbourhoods is being developed, and the city will hold the next open house on July 8 at Evergreen Hall from 6-8:30 p.m.

The city wants feedback to obtain input on preliminary land-use concepts and urban design approaches for enhancing sustainability, urban design and livability through redevelopment downtown over the next 20 years.

http://www.canada.com/chilliwacktimes/news...fd-b5d1d2affd15

 

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Realtor takes over as head of homeowners` group

The days of leaky condo construction may be over, but shoddy workmanship on new homes is as prevalent as ever, according to Coquitlam realtor John Grasty.

Grasty has just stepped into the role of president of the Consumer Advocacy & Support for Homeowners (CASH) Society -- a position that has been vacant for a year -- because of his conviction that B.C.`s booming housing industry is still in dire need of a vocal and vigilant watchdog.

"Back when they were building leaky condos they were facing a severe shortage of skilled trades people, and that has only gotten worse," he told The NOW. "I`m not necessarily taking [CASH] in a new direction, I`m questioning what the industry is doing."

http://www.canada.com/coquitlamnow/news/st...4d-7296db61bf42

 

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South Langley residents protest property tax hikes

A small band of Township residents took their concerns over high taxes to the municipal hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Organizer Anne Patterson said she hasn`t usually been active in local politics, but she`s facing a tax bill that has almost doubled in the past four years.

Patterson lives on a hobby farm in south Langley and said her monthly property tax payments have increased from $200 a month to about $400 a month now.

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/news/...39-d33e22d15124

 

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Tower raises concern

Many Queen`s Park residents spent the eve of Canada Day fighting a development proposed for the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood.

The city received an application to establish a comprehensive development district so the owner of 246 Sixth St. can build a mixed-use building with 11 live-work units on the first two floors and 64 residential units on the 14 floors above.

"We bought close to Sixth knowing it is the street it is," said Jeff Linke, a resident on St. George Street. "Having said that, 16 floors seems an anomaly, a gross anomaly."

http://www.canada.com/newwestrecord/news/s...f4-778c6c6277bb

 

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Lonsdale school developer bails out

The Lonsdale school project lost its developer last week, but the North Vancouver school district is still going ahead with a rezoning application for the site.

Amacon backed out of plans for the site on June 25.

The school district still doesn`t know exactly why the deal went south, secretary-treasurer Irene Young said. "I hadn`t had an indication that we were that far apart. We were certainly making progress."

http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/...e3-6c740c63682f

 

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Falcon wants bridge closure review

Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon is calling on police to review their bridge policies after an incident on the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing brought traffic to a grinding halt for six hours on Canada Day.

Vancouver police closed the bridge at about 1 p.m. Tuesday as part of their efforts to help a distraught woman. The closure wreaked havoc with North Shore thoroughfares as traffic was diverted to the much narrower Lions Gate Bridge. Matters were made worse when accidents on that span forced motorists to a standstill more than once during the afternoon. Roadways were not freed up again until after 7 p.m.

Much of the chaos might have been avoided with a little common sense on the part of the authorities, said Falcon in an interview with the News.

http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/...80-1c172fbfae2c

 

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Queen Elizabeth neighbours rally for trees

Seventy lofty pine, spruce, red cedar and other tall trees in Queen Elizabeth Park could soon have a date with a chainsaw if the proposed tree management plan is approved at the July 7 parks board meeting.

The plan proposes cutting the six- to 18-metre-tall trees to restore views from three spots on the north side of the park, plus pruning lateral branches of eight or more trees.

Opponents, including Norm Dooley, who has lived across from the park for 32 years, argue the trees themselves are the view.

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/new...df-3a0cb9326560

 

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Mining getting back to business

Late last year, alarm bells were going off after the announcement Galore Creek was suspending operations, which also effectively shut down the long-planned Northwest Transmission Line (NTL) project. Earlier in 2007, a joint provincial-federal environmental review recommended denying approval for the Kemess North gold mine.

But this month, a pair of announcements point to the tide turning for mining.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/business/22816759.html

 

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When planning your estate, consider joint, last-to-die insurance

The goal of an estate plan is to have more of your money available to yourself and your survivors, and less available to the government and outsiders.

Many estate plans include the use of joint last-to-die life insurance. This type of insurance generally insures two people under the same policy; the death benefit is paid when the second life insured dies. Such coverage is desirable in situations where the individuals insured share a common liability such as taxation of a RRSP or RRIF or capital gains tax. Many estate-planning strategies defer the payment of tax for as long as possible.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/business/22732764.html