BC Economic Fundamentals

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The buy of a lifetime - food and water

While some of our readers may be short-term investors - and flippers - no one should forget that real estate is ideally a play for the very long term. Don`t you wish your grandparents had bought a piece of B.C. or Alberta real estate and just held onto it? We should not wait to buy land, we should buy land and wait ... is the old adage.

Well, your grandkids will say the same about you. But instead of B.C. and Alberta, these kids will likely be most happy that you bought land, especially raw, land at cheap prices in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, in 2008.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...aa-4184441680e6

 

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B.C. government pulls plug on power lines through provincial park

The B.C. government has pulled the plug on a plan to run power lines through Pinecone Burke Provincial Park for a private power project on the Upper Pitt River.

In a surprise announcement yesterday, Environment Minister Barry Penner vetoed the removal of 21 hectares from the park near Coquitlam.

Opponents of the plan were celebrating "a great day."

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...e0-c061ee0fa59e

 

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Median maddens city residents

Plans to add a median to one of Burnaby`s major thoroughfares has residents seeing red.

The City of Burnaby wants to build a raised median on Willingdon Avenue from Brentlawn Drive to Parker Street. Plans will also see the stretch widened from four lanes to six.

But some residents say the median will block access to Willingdon and shunt drivers onto residential streets.

http://www.canada.com/burnabynow/news/stor...83d&k=22319

 

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B.C. board brings in alert system for Realtors

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board is set to unveil a safety system that allows agents to warn one another and police about suspicious clients almost instantly, after being hampered by nearly three years of technical setbacks. The announcement, scheduled for tomorrow, comes after Lindsay Buziak, a 24-year-old Victoria real estate agent, was found stabbed to death last month inside an empty house she was showing. Ms. Buziak received two suspicious phone calls in the early evening of Feb. 2, and reportedly told colleagues she was nervous about the meeting in Saanich. No arrests have been made.

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

 

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First Nation and developer launch Comox Valley complex

COMOX -- The K`ómoks First Nation and a private developer are moving ahead with a huge 2,083-acre development in the Comox Valley slated to include 2,500 to 3,000 housing units, a private university, golf course and commercial development.

The band signed a memorandum of understanding at a witnessing ceremony with Sage Hills Developments Ltd. yesterday to work together as the development is created out of former forestry land.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...87-26096610cc43

 

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Extreme makeover Granville Mall

Granville Mall will be outfitted with an outdoor festival ground and Cambie Street will be restored and furnished with bicycle lanes as part of the city`s $50-million roster of roadworks projects this year.

Granville Mall`s $11-million makeover will extend the mall concept south to Drake and north to Cordova with an outdoor festival space incorporated into the block between Robson and Georgia, to be completed in time for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...2a-8c393cef32fe

 

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Cost of business rises in Vancouver

High real estate values have bolstered Vancouver`s position as the most expensive Canadian city in which to conduct business, according to a KPMG study.

The study -- which examines 27 cost components and assigns a value of 100 to average costs in the U.S. -- said Vancouver`s cost index has risen from 96.9 to 104.2 in the past two years.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...3c-8a2ce4cceb0e

 

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Pitt River hydro fiasco doesn`t bode well for future

By allowing the doomed Upper Pitt River power project to advance as far as it did, the Gordon Campbell government ticked off a lot of people when they inevitably pulled the plug on it this week.

The angriest party of all, naturally, is the private company that sank a tonne of money into the scheme, believing the government would weather the storm of controversy it was bound to stir up.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...be-dcca564da0ca

 

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Alberta`s Energy Crown threatened

CALGARY — British Columbia and Saskatchewan are on the verge of a huge oil and natural gas exploration boom as companies pour hundreds of millions of dollars into land rights, shifting their focus away from the established energy capital of Alberta. B.C. raked in $152-million from its latest sale of exploration rights, the province announced yesterday. Buoyed by high natural gas prices and big exploration prospects, energy companies are rushing to stake a claim in the province`s northeast.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/energy/home

 

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B.C. economy expected to cool down in `08

The consensus seems to be in: The United States is either in a recession or soon will be. And British Columbia`s economy will be partially sheltered and suffer less than other provinces.

But that`s the consensus this week. Not long ago, the idea of a recession south of the border was still just a dot on the probability chart.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...b0-195260d5b23b

 

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TransLink levy light on homeowners

lower mainland I Homeowners were saved most but not all of the pain of TransLink`s 2008 property tax levy.

Residential property owners will face an increase of only $5 per $500,000 of assessed value.

And they will not foot the bill this year to replace the $18-million parking-site tax.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...15-e63916127064

 

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B.C. to keep trade office in post-Olympics Beijing

British Columbia will establish a permanent trade office in Beijing after the 2008 Olympics to follow up on the contacts it will make at the British Columbia-Canada House pavilion this summer.

Colin Hansen, minister of economic development, told a media briefing Friday that more than 400 Canadian companies have signed up to participate in 32 business seminars to be conducted in the pavilion before and after the Summer Olympics. The pavilion expects to host an estimated 400,000 guests and dozens of business delegations

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...9d-f124e4966d80

 

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Road construction in Vancouver? It must be spring

As sure as daffodils and cherry blossoms, road construction projects in Vancouver herald the promise of spring.

This year`s ambitious $50-million schedule holds 18 major projects in store for aggrieved motorists and residents.

The warmer weather is conducive to construction, and summer holidays reduce the flow of commuter traffic on the roads, deputy city engineer Peter Judd said yesterday.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...2b-0e4f725bc52d

 

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Canaccord willing to come to an agreement on ABCPs

Canaccord Capital Corp. said it`s willing to come to an agreement with clients who were told the asset-backed commercial paper they bought was guaranteed.

And for any other clients, the Vancouver brokerage is trying to set up a pool of funds that will enable investors to sell their notes at a set price.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...98-9e719bd9eb69

 

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Save-On-Foods opens first Vancouver location

Save-On-Foods, which operates 71 grocery stores in B.C. and Alberta, finally opens its first Vancouver outlet today at Cambie and Seventh Avenue.

Why the long delay in breaking into such a prized market? Basically, it has been a real estate issue.

"We`ve been looking for some time and when this development became available -- being central for so many Vancouver residents -- we thought it was a great opportunity to put in a full-service store," Overwaitea Food Group representative Julie Dickson said in an interview.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...e0-e25ea3b98229

 

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B.C. firm key player in Puget Energy deal

A major British Columbia investment fund manager is a key player in a $7.4-billion US takeover of Puget Energy, Washington`s largest and oldest energy utility.

The BC Investment Management Corporation, which operates pension funds for 400,000 public sector workers plus insurance funds covering almost two million workers, is part of a consortium of Canadian and Australian investment managers who want to take ownership of the utility.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...35-3365be494454

 

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The hidden menace

Growing mould in a Petri dish for science class is fun; growing mould in your home is not. Mould in the news triggers alarm, but it need not be so, says Paul Rutten, a building science specialist at Chatwin Engineering and owner of air quality auditing firm Enmedex.

Mould in the right place is a good thing. Outdoors, it helps break down and digest organic material such as dead leaves.

Mould indoors, however, has been implicated in a variety of symptoms in people who are sensitive to this allergen. Symptoms include cold symptoms, headaches, difficulty breathing, skin irritation, allergic reactions and aggravated asthma symptoms. Pregnant women, infants, the elderly, those with respiratory problems or weakened immune systems are more susceptible to mould.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...c1-6d038d0ba9bb

 

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Tax hike may be coming for Mission

If a budget plan proposed last Monday by Mission council members is approved, Mission residents could see a 7.2 per cent property tax increase this year.

But Mission Mayor James Atebe and Coun. Jenny Stevens say it was hard enough to keep the potential tax hike as low as that.

"It`s been a massive battle to keep it down - at one point, we were looking at 8.5 per cent," said Stevens, who is recovering from back surgery.

http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news...45-42fa3bacec61

 

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Changes coming to Abby, Mission ridings

B.C. voters will have six more representatives to vote for in the next provincial election, which happens next May.

In February, the B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission gave its final report to the legislature, which recommended upping the seats in the legislature from 79 to 83, with an option to add two seats to protect rural representation in northern B.C. and the Cariboo.

http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news...6b-a6d14e52d5cb

 

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City`s business ranking tumbles

Media reports this week have painted Chilliwack as the third most expensive city in which to do business in Canada. In reality, the numbers are a little more complicated.

Accounting and investment firm KPMG`s 2008 Competitiveness Alternatives study this week listed Chilliwack as the city with the third highest costs in Canada, after Vancouver and Calgary. The report examines factors such as labour force, land costs, taxes and utility costs.

http://www.canada.com/chilliwacktimes/news...f0-50d322654838