BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-11

[joeiannuzzi]

What`s Behind the Curtain?
B.C.
2008-11
Daily Online Edition
BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-11


The following codes will be at the top of each post using an eight sequence alphanumeric description of the month, year and area:

MMYYAREA

Examples


1108BCBC = Nov 08 British Columbia

1108VANC = Nov 08 Vancouver

1108VICT = Nov 08 Victoria


If you wish to view only one area, you can use the advanced search mode and select the "Result Type" > "Show results as posts".

I have also color coded each area along with the caption to make it easier for you to simply scroll through the posts and locate the ones you are interested in.

All the small towns that have online newspapers are covered on Sundays.

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Third gas pipeline bombed in northern B.C.

Another explosion site has been found in northern B.C. near the site of two earlier bombings that targeted sour-gas pipelines.

Around 12:30 p.m. yesterday, an explosion site was discovered at a natural-gas wellhead, about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, near Dawson Creek.

RCMP say the explosion appears to be a deliberate act and it`s in a rural, isolated area.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...26-d366d30a32d7

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Don`t renovate before you sell

Question: We are planning to sell our home and would like your advice on whether we should renovate or not. Our home is 23 years old, with the original lino flooring in the kitchen, bathrooms and hallways. Should we change this to stone tiles? The carpet is also original. Would wood flooring or perhaps a berber carpet be better?

Finally, what is the most appealing wall colour for resale? We want to get as much as we can for our home, so any suggestions you have will be most appreciated.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...fc-3da9cf90742e

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
2,000 workers affected by Canfor mill shutdowns

Canfor Corp. says it is shutting down its 12 sawmills for two weeks at the end of the year in response to the deepening housing crisis in the United States.

The two-week curtailment is expected to affect 2,000 workers.

The company timed the closure over Christmas to reduce production at a time when workers can take the holiday season off, Dave Lefebvre, Canfor director of public affairs, said Friday.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...1f-8d0064cc94ee

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VICT
Rural values battle urban pressures

Prominent landmarks: Victoria International Airport, Swartz Bay ferry terminal

North Saanich is farm country, only without the farms.

But don`t tell that to the people who live there, because they like to regard their big-lot, acreage homes as rural, even if most aren`t producing food on a commercial scale.

Judy Reimche, a former editor of the Peninsula News Review, watched politics in North Saanich for many years, and said few landowners in North Saanich have enough land to run a commercial farm. Agriculture is generally on the hobby-farm level, she said.

But Reimche added North Saanich residents don`t like to be told that. "They do see themselves as farming and rural," she said.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...a8-3294b5a85203

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Forest-dependent towns want more than ideas offered by premier, NDP

Port Alberni Mayor Ken McRae hates to see trucks loaded with raw logs leaving his community. He hates it so much that two years ago, he stood toe to toe with anti-export protesters to blockade the only road out of town.

So it comes as a surprise when he says there`s no way he can support the proposal by NDP leader Carole James to curtail log exports as part of her $2-billion economic plan for the recovery of the B.C. economy. His reasoning is simple:

He wants better conditions to encourage local sawmilling, rather than a ban on exports.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...ea-5d445dbeef31

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Assessment freeze `is sensible`

B.C.`s move to freeze property assessments for one year to protect homeowners is "quite sensible," says Oak Bay`s Mayor Christopher Causton.

By holding the line on assessments, the province expects to give markets time to stabilize and reflect proper market values. This breathing space also gives property owners a better idea of what they`ll be paying in property taxes and helps local governments figure out how much they will be collecting.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...d5-8fa9defccbd0

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VANC
Premier must get on board with Valley transit planning

The B.C. government continues to miss the train when it comes to transit planning south of the Fraser River because it`s failed to accommodate the region`s pronounced public opinion shift toward light rail as a viable transit alternative. This isn`t terribly surprising, I suppose, given the all-too-common stubbornness and "we know best" attitude Victoria has exhibited elsewhere in the region (the transmission line fiasco in Tsawwassen and the South Fraser Perimeter Road are two examples).

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...f9-10305ac702d2

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VANC
City will put a new shine on historic regions

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan announced a $1.5-million community improvement program Monday for the Downtown Eastside`s historic neighbourhoods -- Chinatown, Gastown, Japantown and Strathcona.

The work will be part of the $10-million Great Beginnings initiative by the provincial government that is set to mark the province`s 150th birthday celebrations.

"The goal of Great Beginnings is to help revitalize four of Vancouver`s most historic neighbourhoods," Sullivan said.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...0f-8a5646871948

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Market fall erases year`s real estate gains

The decline of the Lower Mainland`s real estate market continued in October, with the fall in prices erasing any equity gains homeowners saw in the first part of 2008, the region`s real estate boards reported Monday.

Battered consumer confidence, despite B.C.`s better-than-average economic performance, kept buyers on the sidelines, with the Greater Vancouver region recording less than half the number of Multiple-Listing-Service sales and the Fraser Valley experiencing an almost 50-per-cent decline from October 2007 sales levels.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...a9-c73cd125021a

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
B.C. receives few complaints about usurious lending

If you, like me, wonder why hundreds of usurious lenders get kid-glove treatment from B.C.`s legal system, several readers think they know.

Blame Wally Oppal, they say -- plus a long line of previous attorneys-general of Liberal, NDP and Socred persuasion. These readers, including a few lawyers, point out the unusual Criminal Code provision requiring the attorney-general to personally approve prosecutions under the section outlawing interest rates in excess of 60 per cent a year.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...d0-304876080d69

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
If you broke it, strata can fix it but you have to pay

Dear Condo Smarts: What does the strata corporation do when an owner refuses to repair damage to their townhouse?

We have one owner who recently backed up into his unit and broke off the water tap and tore off a section of siding.

He is refusing to fix the damage, and with winter approaching we`re concerned that the damages to the siding and the plumbing could make matters much worse.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...c9-6fc7e67648c3

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Two shots in the arm for B.C. TV industry

B.C.`s sagging TV series industry received a boost Tuesday with the announcement of two new Canadian series that will soon begin shooting in Vancouver.

The series will not be financed by U.S. producers seeking to take advantage of a weaker Canadian dollar, but have been commissioned by CTV and Canwest Broadcasting.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...16-1ad1a72dafb0

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108BCBC
Financial crunch slows B.C. ski resort project

A billion-dollar luxury ski resort and condominium project in Revelstoke, B.C., is the latest major real estate development touched by the global credit crunch.

The Revelstoke Mountain Resort is slated to open on schedule Nov. 27, but officials say it will be with delays to a number of projects, including a $6-million hotel complex and high-speed gondola.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/c...3e-117a7bb8ce8d

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VICT
House sales tumble

Residential real estate sales in Greater Victoria tumbled 38 per cent last month -- and slid by more than half from October a year ago, according to data released late yesterday by the Victoria Real Estate Board.

The average price of a single-family house in the region rose last month to $565,741, up from $549,284 the previous month. The median price declined slightly to $495,000 in October from $500,000 in September.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...46-ac2c9b7b1968

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VANC
Rural schools await funding in B.C. revitalization plan

A multi-million-dollar program to revitalize B.C. schools has been quietly extended to four more Vancouver schools, drawing protests from those who say that district is getting preferential treatment for political reasons.

The decision, communicated to the Vancouver board of education last month, brings to seven the number of schools that have been promised benefits from the provincial Neighbourhoods of Learning program. All are in Vancouver.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...53-3314f07ec4d9

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VICT
No water for homes with illegal suites

Central Saanich council is moving to cut off water to homes with illegal suites.

Councillors have voted to begin the process of amending bylaws governing the water supply and municipal enforcement. The goal: giving themselves the power to shut off water to offending property owners.

According to a background document presented to council, control of the water is described as "an inexpensive tool by which to achieve compliance where voluntary compliance cannot be achieved."

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...ad-f2b0c696619b

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VICT
Resort`s development splits residents and council alike

On Tuesday night, while most people were at home watching Barack Obama become the first black president-elect of the United States, Highlands residents crowded into the truck bay at their local firehall for an all-candidates meeting.

It was a sign of how seriously they take local politics in the Highlands that people passed up a chance to witness history in favour of discussing a new community centre, groundwater and the urban containment boundary.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...89-0c35852f61e9

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VICT
Cook Street building purchased

Cook Street Village`s newest commercial building has been sold for $11 million to a Vancouver real estate investment firm.

The sale of the 13,280-square-foot building at 230 Cook St. closed about three weeks ago, Ken Cloak of Colliers International`s Victoria office said yesterday.

The building was developed and sold by Vancouver`s Amadon Group. Cloak is not releasing the buyer`s name.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...44-3ce7189a9751

 

[joeiannuzzi]

1108VICT
Builders seek faster security clearances

Victoria construction companies are participating in a new program to fast-track security clearances in the hopes of winning bids for major upcoming projects at CFB Esquimalt.

Greg Baynton, president of the Southern Vancouver Island Construction Association, said federal officials told him that the combined value of upcoming projects over the next several years will be in the neighbourhood of $300 million.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...f7-cfcb399675aa