BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-07

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Your choice of adviser had better be right on the money

EDMONTON -- Most people would agree that finding a good financial adviser is pretty important. Sound financial advice can make big differences in your financial future.

It can be the difference between financial freedom and just making ends meet; or the difference between early retirement and working in the golden years; or maybe the difference between peace of mind and financial disaster. Unfortunately, finding a good financial adviser can also be extremely difficult. Here are some simple tips to help you find good professional advice:

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...4f-c19f45c1533c

 

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Energy share prices don`t reflect billions in profits

CALGARY -- Despite eye-popping profits and operating results, Canada`s oil companies can`t get any love from fickle stock markets.

As a group, the Toronto Stock Exchange`s energy index is down almost 18 per cent since June 18 when it hit a high-water mark of 4,239.41.

After that retreat, the index is up only 4.7 per cent on the year, and that`s despite the fact that energy companies are generating record amounts of cash and billions in profits.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...90-0407bda01f1a

 

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Gaming centre seeks move to casino site

An application has been submitted to city hall to allow the Chances Good Time Gaming Centre to be moved from downtown Prince George to Treasure Cove Casino, city current planning manager Grant Bain confirmed Monday.
The application is for zoning amendments to allow the move, Bain said, but was unable to provide more details.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...asino-site.html

 

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Copper Mountain to revive B.C. property

TORONTO -- Copper Mountain Mining Corp. plans to spend $402 million to revive a copper mine in British Columbia that it expects will produce nearly 45,000 tonnes (100 million pounds) of the metal per year, the company said on Monday.

The company said production at its Copper Mountain open-pit mine should begin at the end of 2010 with a 35,000 tonne-per-day mill. The project would have an an initial mine life of 15 years, according to a feasibility study.

The news drove the junior miner`s shares up by nearly six per cent.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...82-fa1e7acd31ac

 

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Wal-Mart adds groceries

Wal-Mart`s push into British Columbia`s food-retailing sector gathers steam tomorrow when the company opens a super-sized store in South Surrey that features a full grocery.

The new store will attract people who prefer one-stop shopping and want to have everything under one roof, Wal-Mart Canada spokesman Kevin Groh said from Toronto yesterday.

The South Surrey supercentre marries Wal-Mart`s traditional big-box retail format to a grocery store with produce, meat and baked goods.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...60-5d5ed5054bc7

 

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More credits to be available for investors who bank on green technology

More tax credits will soon be available for investors who bank on green technology in B.C., the provincial government said Monday.

The available tax credits will rise by 50 per cent -- from $5 million a year to $7.5 million -- on July 1, 2009.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...1a-4f6dd9a7d000

 

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Vancouver ranks high in tax friendliness

Vancouver can boast that it has the lowest business tax burden among major Canadian cities, according to the accounting firm KPMG`s analysis of corporate tax costs in 10 countries.

Internationally, Vancouver came in fourth behind San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Puebla and Guadalajara in Mexico, but ahead of Montreal, which placed sixth, and seventh-place Toronto.

The KPMG report, released Monday, ranked Canada third behind Mexico and the Netherlands for having the lowest total corporate taxes in its peer group, which also includes Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Italy and France.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...a2-ab55cf0f28df

 

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City receives upgrade to broadband network

Northern B.C. just got connected to the world.
This week, BCNET, a non-profit society, announced an upgrade to its super broadband network that will better serve education and research in Prince George, providing network connectivity to the hub that serves UNBC, the public library, City Hall and Northern Health.
"Health care is increasingly reliant on the secure and efficient flow of patient information," said Joseph Mendez, Northern Health`s associate vice-president responsible for information services.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008072...nd-network.html

 

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Immigration numbers questioned

The number of new permanent residents living in Prince George dropped to 142 in 2007 from 152 in 2006, statistics released from Citizenship and Immigration Canada show.
But a drop in the number of permanent residents doesn`t mean a drop in the number of immigrants living here, according to the vice-president of economic development at Initiatives Prince George.
"Generally I would say our overall number of immigrants is increasing," said Kathie Scouten.

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

 

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Limits on sprawl crucial for region

The Capital Regional District has refused the Highlands` request for an amendment to its urban containment boundary to accommodate the demands of the Bear Mountain developers. Reports describing the urban containment boundary as part of a five-year-old regional growth strategy might suggest that it is out of date.

The regional growth strategy is a long-range strategy to contain urban sprawl in the CRD. Much taxpayers` money and countless hours of planning and public consultation over several years went into the development of the strategy. It has not become obsolete in five years.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...99-f21fddf9c7a4

 

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Real estate governors ratchet up discipline

VANCOUVER -- The Real Estate Council of British Columbia has handed out some of its stiffest penalties ever for the transgressions of agents in a year that has been busier than 2007`s record pace for disciplinary action.

As of this week, the Real Estate Council, the self-regulatory body that governs the industry, has handed down 56 disciplinary decisions, compared to 52 for the first seven months of 2007. Among the decisions, the council issued suspensions to 29 licensed realtors or their firms, including:

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...fb-fe3dfd69e29f

 

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Strata council cannot set aside human rights code

Dear Condo Smarts: I have been on our strata council for 11 years. We have often debated about converting our front three steps into a ramp to make the entrance more accessible and safer. However, our owners have always voted it down.

One of our owners has suddenly become wheelchair-bound for at least six months while she recovers from a serious accident. She has requested that a temporary ramp be installed so she can easily enter her ground-floor unit. Our strata council met with the owners and the proposal was voted down.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...17-1b9787393b78

 

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B.C.ers don`t like carbon tax

British Columbians don`t like the provincial government`s carbon tax on fuel and they`re overwhelmingly unhappy they`re paying for emissions while big industry isn`t, according to a poll released yesterday by the provincial NDP.

The poll of 800 adults was conducted July 11-13 by Angus Reid Strategies.

Even with a $100 climate change dividend, British Columbians don`t think they`re going to come out ahead of the tax, the poll indicates. And they don`t trust the government`s stance that the tax is revenue neutral.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...cb-c8c747f51748

 

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No tolls on controversial highway, government says

The B.C. government kick-started the controversial South Fraser Perimeter Highway project Tuesday, confirming it will be built and operated as a public-private partnership, but saying it will not be a toll road.

The province wasted no time calling for qualified teams to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the highway, less than a week after it got the environmental go-ahead.

The four-lane truck route is to run about 40 km along the south shore of the Fraser River, from Highway 99 and Deltaport in the west to the Trans-Canada Highway east of the Port Mann Bridge.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...c2-1dbd3f8c1986

 

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Teck Cominco buys Fording in $14.1-billion acquisition

It was the wee hours of Tuesday morning, close to 4 a.m. in Vancouver, when the final "i" was dotted and "t" crossed in British Columbia`s largest takeover -- Teck Cominco`s offer to buy out its Elk Valley partner, Fording Canadian Coal, for $14.1 billion.

At that price, the Fording acquisition is also the biggest coal deal on record, according to Gerard McCloskey, chairman of U.K.-based McCloskey Group, a coal-industry research company.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...fe-3bff3a66c629

 

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Business group worries about gaming centre parkade

The proposal to move the Chances Good Time gaming centre to Treasure Cove casino has raised some questions for Downtown Prince George president Shari Green, although not enough doubt and concern to prompt the group to oppose the idea so far.
Prime among them is the fate of the underground parking lot beneath the building -- Green said it must remain in the hands of the city if the building is sold to a new owner.
"That`s our big issue at this point," she said.
Construction of that parkade, which delivered about 150 spaces, cost $3 million and was paid for out of an off-street parking reserve funded by downtown property owners rather than from the taxpayers in general.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008073...re-parkade.html

 

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Gov`t needs contingency plan for 2010

It was exactly six years ago this month that Vancouver`s Olympic organizers promised the IOC that the world would have more than one way to get to Whistler for the 2010 Winter Games.

"An imaginative combination of road, rail, marine and air" options would ensure the daily deluge of athletes, Olympic officials, volunteers, spectators and journalists would whistle up and down the Sea-to-Sky corridor during B.C.`s moment in the spotlight.

That was our promise to the International Olympic Committee -- a promise that looked more like a pipe dream yesterday morning.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...d0-5f12ff3d8fd6

 

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`Plan A` to transform city

City staff call it "keeping up with growth."

But the opening of a new hospital, museum, rec centre and 7,000-seat arena -- all within the next year -- is almost guaranteed to change the face of Abbotsford.

In a 2006 referendum, a slim majority of residents voted in favour of property-tax increases to build the three civic facilities (excluding the hospital). Almost two years later, the construction is nearing completion, on time and on budget, not including some extra costs to clean up contaminated soil at one of the sites.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...ce-948f1014824f

 

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Warming means more raw sewage in local water: report

Public health and safety threats are escalating in Metro Vancouver because an aging sewage handling and treatment system will fail more often as a result of climate change, according to a federal report uncovered by The Vancouver Sun.

The report says heavier rainstorms will frequently overwhelm portions of the region`s sewage system and accelerate the spill of raw sewage into Burrard Inlet and the Strait of Georgia.

That means more raw sewage will be dumped into the ocean more often, in apparent violation of the Fisheries Act.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...82-0c996099e5fd

 

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South Surrey descends on new `supercentre`

Shoppers jammed the 1,000-stall parking lot at Wal-Mart`s newest supercentre in south Surrey, the second such format store and biggest in B.C., not long after its grand opening Wednesday at 8 a.m.

The 218,000-square-foot behemoth boasts a full grocery store with bakery and deli, a first for B.C., bringing the world`s largest retailer into this province`s grocery wars.

"[The supercentre] format is the way of the future," Rick Mather, Wal-Mart`s district manager for B.C. supercentres, said in an interview, "one-stop shopping, that`s where we`re going."

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...f8-432fe2e4fe78