BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

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Prices based on value

whether we like it or not, people don`t buy the hours and money we entrepreneurs sink into the development of our products and services. all they`re really interested in is what those products and services can do for them. in other words, the benefits they receive. and, in the end, their willingness to open their wallets is directly linked to the value they attribute to those benefits. this is hardly a new concept, of course, and yet "cost-based pricing" continues to be the most pervasive method of pricing used in the marketplace today.

http://www.canada.com/burnabynow/news/busi...5e-7fef22912015

 

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Tri-Cities contend with new riding

Six new electoral districts have been drawn up ahead of next year`s provincial elections, and those changes have had a direct impact on the Tri-Cities.

The B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission presented those changes in the B.C. legislature earlier this year, with alterations largely due to population surges and even distribution of that growth.

Heading up the list of changes in the Tri-Cities context is the more than 22,000 Coquitlam residents living in MLA Harry Bloy`s Burquitlam riding who will move over to either the Port Moody-Coquitlam or Coquitlam-Maillardville districts.

http://www.canada.com/coquitlamnow/news/st...eb-730057b90159

 

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Delta looks to produce own power

Delta could be getting into the power producing business.

The idea of the municipality producing its own electricity, and perhaps selling surplus power to B.C. Hydro, was recently brought forward by Coun. Robert Campbell, who asked civic staff to investigate the feasibility of such a venture.

"It`s not very complex technology. In the past it`s always been an economy of scale and how much it would cost to get into it and if it`s worthwhile," Campbell told the Optimist in an interview.

http://www.canada.com/deltaoptimist/news/s...79-9abb4d92b3ab

 

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House prices dip as market continues to cool off

The sellers` market in homes is definitely over.

The average price of a house in Langley and most surrounding communities dropped between June and July, according to numbers released this week by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

Meanwhile, realtors and market watchers in Vancouver and other municipalities have also seen home sales decline and prices dip.

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/news/...7a-5f7a21e9f449

 

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Hotel will be biggest

The largest hotel in Langley Township is planned for one of the gateways to the community, at the 200th Street interchange with the Trans-Canada Highway.

Township council approved the development permit July 28 for a 196-room hotel located at 201 Street and 88th Avenue.

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/news/...74-2b483db65821

 

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Inspections prevent nasty surprises later

House prices may not be soaring this year the way they have in the past half dozen, but a home is still the biggest investment most people will ever make.

Before sinking that money into a pile of brick and lumber, Tim Hickey said getting a professional home inspection done is critical.

Hickey is a home inspector, and also a former building inspector with the City of Langley.

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/news/...1d-8881e2d91aa0

 

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Transit cuts looming

Looming cuts at TransLink are a big concern for bus drivers` union boss Don MacLeod.

"It`s always the bus service they go to first," said MacLeod, president of Local 111 of the Canadian Auto Workers.

"We make all these commitments and promises but we have no money to support it," he said of TransLink plans.

http://www.canada.com/mapleridgetimes/news...2b-cca11e814b17

 

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Katzie nation seeks injunction over water taxi

The Katzie First Nation is suing TransLink and the joint venture constructing the Golden Ears Bridge for breach of contract related to water taxi services.

In the statement of claim, Katzie First Nation says that the joint venture is breaching its contractual obligations by using its own vessels and those of third parties to provide water taxi services when it has a contract with the Katzie on water taxi services.

The Katzie First Nation formed a limited partnership with Coast Marine Services -- Katzie Coast Marine -- to provide water taxi services for the joint venture. Coast Marine Services is also involved in the lawsuit.

http://www.canada.com/mapleridgetimes/news...44-477fac27ddfb

 

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Taking its toll

New Westminster council welcomed news that the Pattullo Bridge will be replaced, but TransLink`s decision to make it a toll bridge is receiving a bumpy reception.

TransLink board directors made the decision to replace the 71-year-old bridge Thursday in a closed-door meeting.

This after receiving a consultant`s report recommending that a new, six-lane bridge be constructed 50 metres downstream, between the existing bridge and the SkyTrain Bridge.

http://www.canada.com/newwestrecord/news/s...f5-b35d10d1b56e

 

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Resevoirs already full

All that snow on the mountains in the winter and all that rain afterwards left Metro Vancouver reservoirs in good shape this summer.

Currently, the local reservoirs are at 87 per cent capacity, and, with the sudden cool down in weather, a drought seems unlikely this year.

"We are in the high end of the optimal range," said Metro Vancouver spokesperson Bill Morrell. "We attribute it to the wet spring. The reservoirs were full at the beginning of July."

http://www.canada.com/newwestrecord/news/s...f0-72d08757cfd0

 

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Cyclists to get extra room on section of Marine Dr.

With the West Vancouver Gateway project nearing its completion, cyclists are expressing concern regarding the lack of a separate bike lane on Marine Drive between Park Royal and to Ambleside.

Although it appears as though cyclists have been ignored, District of West Vancouver staff say this is not the case.

Upon completion, the road will have a shared curb lane for vehicles and cyclists. The lane will be four metres wide, half a metre wider than regular lanes in order to accommodate cyclists.

http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/...3e-8aacc5a038d5

 

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La Repubblica!

With the rising price of oil threatening our travel budgets, people are saying staying put in Vancouver is not the worst way to spend a vacation. The discussion is taking place over on Commercial Drive at the Calabria Cafe, and loudly enough so that a fly on the wall can`t help but overhear. A globetrotting couple from the West Side are so enjoying their cappuccinos that they`ve reached the caffeinated conclusion that their journey to East Vancouver has felt like, well, a real journey.

"It`s the coffee," she says. "It`s magnifico."

He says, "It`s something else--the people, look! They`re talking to each other."

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/new...d3-88e12aa778f3

 

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Cycling expert says city needs more bike facilities

Vancouver has done good work to encourage cycling, says Jack Becker, a member of the city`s bicycle advisory committee, director with the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition and president of the B.C. Cycling Coalition. But compared to European cities, we have a long way to go.

"Just look at what Copenhagen did. They [increased cycling commuting trips by] four per cent in two years, from 32 per cent to 36 per cent," said Becker. "We`re sitting and resting on our laurels instead of planning for the future and getting on with it."

His comments come in response to a bicycle plan update that went before city council in late July.

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/new...4a-6fee7c12cb62

 

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B.C. Hydro tiered rate plan a jolt for Islanders

B.C. Hydro`s proposal for two-tier electricity rates is so uneven that it fails to meet a basic test of fairness for the utility`s residential customers, according to several watchdog groups.

Final arguments on the proposed rates, on file at the B.C. Utilities Commission, indicate that the electricity pricing scheme is drawing everything from praise to skepticism to outright condemnation.

A Vancouver Island group calculates by 2015, electricity will be priced 36 per cent higher for an average Island resident, compared with a resident of the Lower Mainland.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...0d-efdb861da9a6

 

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B.C. government plan to privatize ferry routes has been cast adrift

VICTORIA - When the B.C. Liberals remade the coastal ferry service in 2003, one of their stated goals was to encourage competition.

The Liberals said the drive for "alternative service delivery" (ASD) would mean more choice for the public, more pressure on the government-owned monopoly to innovate.

Critics saw ASD as a step toward dismantling the publicly owned service and delivering the routes to private operators.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...fa-0e198b5bc8d6

 

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Online rental fraud on the increase in Victoria

VICTORIA - Bridgette Clark-Carmichael thought she`d found the perfect apartment in downtown Victoria -- a three-bedroom beauty in the Mermaid Wharf building, on Store Street, with a private rooftop patio and a waterfront view.

The rent? A mere $1,300 a month.

But the 23-year-old, who moved to the city four months ago, was about to learn the brutal reality of apartment-hunting in Victoria: If it looks too good to be true, you`re about to get scammed.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...a6-4df52af0a8fa

 

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B.C. business gears up to experience Beijing behind the scenes

While it`s the sport and spectacle of the Olympics that will be in the public spotlight for the next 17 days, a cadre of B.C. business leaders is headed to Beijing with more than secondary interest in the behind-the-scenes activities.

Much of their interest comes from the fact that Vancouver-Whistler`s Olympics will be next up to host the world.

So tourism officials are there to learn first-hand what works and what doesn`t in terms of delivering guest services around an Olympic city, and to network with the huge international media contingent in Beijing, a significant number of whom will come to Vancouver.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...dd-cbdf4d69e627

 

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Housing crunch squeezing out renters

Tish Lakes spends much of her time advising people who face eviction or rent increases as a result of landlords developing properties in the fast-growing city of Kelowna.

This month, Ms. Lakes, executive director of the Okanagan Advocacy and Resource Society, found herself in the same boat when her landlord told her that the site where she now lives in a duplex is going to be redeveloped with as many as four housing units.

With a full-time job, a landlord who followed all the rules and the savvy to find suitable housing in a city with a less than 1 per cent vacancy rate, Ms. Lakes took the inconvenience in stride, although her home will be more expensive.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ritishColumbia/

 

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Mobile-home residents hit hard by land values

They may be the stuff of jokes in pop culture, but trailer parks have long provided housing for retirees, young families and others drawn by affordability and sense of community the neighbourhoods can provide.

But mobile-home parks are being squeezed by rising property values and the desire of landowners to make more profitable or efficient use of the land on which the trailers sit.

In British Columbia, the Active Manufactured Home Owners Association maintains a list of more than 20 trailer parks that have closed in recent years or are at risk of being closed.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...PStory/National

 

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Vancouver`s housing hangover

Real estate agents are often accused of being congenital optimists. In the case of Dave Watt, that looks to be literally true.

Mr. Watt`s grandparents got into the real estate game in 1931, just as the Great Depression was pulverizing the economy. Even for a real estate agent, that was a leap of faith.

Seventy-seven years later, no one is talking depression in British Columbia, or even an Ontario-style recession-lite. But the rocket-ship housing market in the Lower Mainland is sputtering, in a bad enough way that even Mr. Watt, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, has a tough time putting a happy face on it. Gone is the brave talk of a "balanced market." Nope, now is the time to be a buyer – you can have your pick of worried-bordering-on-desperate, price-slashing sellers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...tory/RealEstate