1208BCBC It`s time to take a look at the neighbourhood
The rapid pace of growth we have experienced over the last decade or so hasn`t allowed much time to pause to consider how our streets, blocks and neighbourhoods are functioning in creating a sense of community and nurturing the ideal lifestyles for which we strive.
Many have taken for granted the lifestyle they enjoy in neighbourhoods that have seen the benefits of a prosperous society, but that have avoided much change. Others are the pioneers of a new urban lifestyle, leaving behind the single-family subdivisions of the 1960s and `70s and living in smaller forms of multi-family housing, in more dense, modern, more urban places. Growth has enabled their new lifestyles.
Plutonic Power Corporation is scaling new heights for independent power projects -- and the environmental concerns that accompany them -- with a proposal to BC Hydro for a 1,027-megawatt hydro power project at the head of Bute Inlet on B.C.`s central coast.
The proposal is 100 times larger than the current average run-of-river hydro project and involves a record 17 stream diversions, 445 kilometres of transmission lines, 314 km of roads, 142 bridges, 16 power houses, and a substation.
Promise of Horn River shale riches brings hope to Fort nelson, B. C.
Fort Nelson hasn`t been the same since the chopstick factory closed.
At one point in the early `90s, this tiny community of 5,000 was the largest source of disposable chopsticks in the world due to the specific qualities of the wood used to make them: smooth, knot-free aspen prized in the sushi bars and noodle houses of Japan for their cream colour, firm feel and lack of splintering.
TransLink is already $100 million short of what it needs to maintain and expand transit services in 2009. And unless it can boost revenues by $150 million annually by 2011, it could start axing services and infrastructure.
In adopting its $1.3-billion budget and capital plan for 2009 on Friday, TransLink said it will have to dip into its reserves in order to proceed with the projects it has committed to for the coming year.
1208BCBC Extended winter layoffs hit 5,000 forest sector workers
VANCOUVER -- Five thousand coastal forest workers face extended winter layoffs this year as companies respond to the worsening economic climate by shutting down mills.
Coastal lumber giant Western Forest Products said yesterday it is closing its 10 manufacturing plants for an extended shutdown over Christmas, putting 1,230 woodworkers and many of the company`s loggers out of work for up to a month.
Housing is becoming more affordable across the nation, according to a new study by RBC Economics.
In Greater Victoria, the mortgage carrying cost for a detached bungalow stood at 64.3 per cent in the third quarter of this year, down from 67.3 in the second quarter, but up from 60.6 in the third quarter of 2007, said Robert Hogue, senior economist at RBC Economics, a division of the Royal Bank of Canada.
1208VANC Hiring climate in Vancouver area turns chilly
Vancouver-area job seekers will face weaker demand from employers in the first quarter of 2009, according to a Manpower Canada survey released today.
Nineteen per cent of the area`s employers expect to hire during the January-to-March period, eight per cent expect to trim staff and 69 per cent predict they will leave their workforce at its current level, the Manpower survey said.
1208BCBC B.C. Hydro`s bioenergy quest off to a modest beginning
B.C. Hydro`s latest quest for green energy got off to a modest start this week with the selection of four projects from its bioenergy call.
The total amount of power accepted from the call is about one per cent of Hydro`s own generating capacity -- vastly less than the amount of wind and run of river power bid into Hydro`s clean-energy call two weeks ago.
It`s also just a fraction of the bioenergy power that was predicted when then-forests minister Rich Coleman said in March 2007 that a B.C. energy sector based on wood waste would generate enough electricity to light 400,000 homes.
The Victoria Airport Authority has announced United Airlines will be adding a second direct daily flight to San Francisco this spring -- but the airport is setting its sights on much bigger fish as it plans its future.
Included on the agenda of the authority`s board meeting this Monday will be discussion of infrastructure improvements designed to extend the airport`s runway to accommodate a direct flight to London.
VANCOUVER -- Calls for a moratorium on coal bed gas exploration in southeast B.C. were rejected yesterday by Energy Minister Richard Neufeld.
Environmental groups, and the provincial New Democrats, are attacking the government for an announcement last week that while it`s imposing a two-year moratorium on Shell Canada`s coal bed gas drilling in northwest B.C., it is simultaneously allowing BP Canada to proceed with drilling in the southeast.
The northwest moratorium was praised, the southeast decision condemned.
1208BCBC B.C. resurrects value-added forest program
VANCOUVER -- Forests Minister Pat Bell re-introduced a forestry program for value-added manufacturers yesterday, five years after Victoria froze it during a major restructuring of forest policy.
In a conference call with regional news media, Bell said now that commodity lumber prices have collapsed and the forest industry is facing tough market conditions, the province wants small, value-added manufacturers to have greater access to timber.
1208VANC B.C. expected to launch studies of Surrey, Vancouver SkyTrain extensions
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon is expected to announce plans Thursday to launch studies for rapid transit lines to Surrey`s Guildford area and the University of B.C.
The two projects — extensions of the Expo and Millennium SkyTrain lines — were originally announced earlier this year as part of a $14-billion transit and transportation plan for Metro Vancouver, expected to be completed by 2020.
The cost of a new home in Greater Victoria is slipping lower.
Statistics Canada said yesterday contractors` selling prices declined 1.1 per cent year-over-year, down from an annual increase of 0.2 per cent in September.
Led by cooling markets in Alberta and British Columbia, national prices on new homes declined month over month in October for the first time in over a decade, the federal agency said.
Greater Victoria is one of the hardest places to find rental housing in Canada -- and the lucky ones who do find a place are paying a premium for the roof over their heads.
The region`s vacancy rate remained below one per cent for the fourth consecutive year in 2008 -- second in Canada only to Vernon, according to a study of 34 major cities by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
1208VANC Councillor`s plan to protect renters is a recipe for slums
`Whereas Vancouver has a shortage of quality, affordable rental stock," says the first line of a motion from Tim Stevenson that`s to be considered Tuesday by his newly elected colleagues on city council.
The rest of the Vision councillor`s motion boils down to a convoluted -- though undoubtedly unintended -- plan to ensure this lamentable situation endures until it eventually gets worse.
1208BCBC U.S. government presses B.C. over lumber made from salvage logs
The United States government turned up the heat on softwood lumber Thursday, saying it is concerned that B.C. is selling beetle-killed logs to Interior sawmills at rock-bottom salvage prices.
In an e-mail statement, the office of the United States trade representative said Thursday that American officials have been gathering information on salvage log sales in B.C. USTR said the cheap wood is then being used to produce lumber destined for the U.S.
1208BCBC Taxman goes after questionable charitable donation schemes
Over the years, I have written more than a dozen stories warning people about charitable donation tax-shelter schemes that promise to turn philanthropy into profit. I don`t think they have done much good.
A few days ago, Canada Revenue Agency issued a press release saying it has reassessed more than 65,000 taxpayers and disallowed more than $2.5 billion in donations claimed under these schemes.
There`s more to come. CRA says it plans to audit every one of these something-for-nothing schemes, which means more taxpayer grief to come.
