CRD considering incentives to get residents out of their cars
Transit pass subsidies and pay-as-you-drive insurance are among incentives that could be offered to the public, according to a Capital Regional District committee that spent a year studying possible transportation initiatives.
"If you`re really going to make a change, you have to affect a change in how you deal with land use and transportation, linked together," said Saanich Coun. Vic Derman, who chaired the travel demand management and pedestrian and cycling subcommittees of the CRD.
Karyn Holyk apologetically stepped around the bodies of men lying in the corners of almost every room as she showed her guests from the Canadian Paralympic Committee around the skeleton of B.C. and Canada`s new Olympic pavilion.
It was break time, and the workers, who have been feverishly working since early March to transform Beijing`s Planning Exhibition Hall into a piece of Canada away from home, had rested their heads on their helmets, turned their faces toward the walls, and gone to sleep.
University College of the Fraser Valley to become a university
ABBOTSFORD - The University College of the Fraser Valley will become a university, to be called the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), Premier Gordon Campbell and Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell announced today.
The B.C. government is investing $5.7 million in geoscience projects to boost the exploration and development of oil and gas in B.C.
The funding is going to Geoscience B.C., an agency created with seed funding of $25 million from the provincial government , which has targeted most of its efforts at increasing knowledge of the province`s mineral potential, particularly in regions hit by the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
Province provides city $50,000 for twinning initiatives
The provincial government is providing city hall with $50,000 to pursue twinning opportunities with three cities in China, MLAs Pat Bell, John Rustad and Shirley Bond announced Monday.
Specifically, the money will be used to formalize twinning agreements with Yichun, about 200 kilometres south of the Mongolian border in Heilongjiang province in northeast China, Pukou near Nanjing in Jaingsu province in the southeast, Mianyang, in Sichuan province to the west.
$351-million contract will create 110 shipyard jobs
A new $351-million frigate upgrading contract -- the largest in Victoria Shipyards` 15-year history -- will create 110 new jobs and provide economic stability for 450 workers already at the Esquimalt site.
"What it really means is a real future in the shipbuilding industry again," said Bill Morrison, business agent for Local 191 of the Boilermakers Union, one of 11 trades working at Victoria Shipyards.
Parksville farmer Bud Shelly is raising a stink by threatening to raise pigs after city council blocked his application to withdraw land from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Shelly, 67, wants to withdraw a 20-acre section of his 135-acre farm, located four blocks from downtown Parksville, to expand a manufactured-home park.
VANCOUVER -- Western Forest Products says it is shutting down its Ladysmith sawmill indefinitely on Friday, laying off 40 workers and curtailing a vital supply of wood chips to nearby pulp and paper mills.
The Ladysmith mill, once the flagship in the forest empire built by Herb Doman, had been operating only its small-log line after shutting down its large-log line -- and the 100 people who ran it -- last December.
Metro Vancouver is heading to court over the B.C. government`s decision to use a portion of Pacific Spirit Park to settle a land claim with the Musqueam Indian Band without compensation.
In its challenge, the regional government`s board of directors "will ask the courts to rule on whether the province has the constitutional authority to expropriate land for the settlement of First Nations` title and rights claims," the regional district said yesterday in a press release.
B.C. is being flooded by fake IDs -- many from China -- and other fraudulent documents, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.
The province tops Ontario as the intended destination of seized mail items, according to the CBSA Pacific Region`s "Document Intercept Program" report for 2006-07.
British Columbia`s sweeping plan to force local governments to capture greenhouse gas emissions from small-scale landfills means new opportunities for businesses focusing on green energy -- although some experts are warning that there`s no cheap or easy fix for the problem.
Landfill gas -- primarily methane generated during the process of decay -- has 22 times the negative impact on the earth`s atmosphere as an equivalent volume of carbon dioxide, and in B.C. it accounts for about nine per cent of total annual greenhouse gas emissions (see chart).
Find out exactly what`s planned for Lots 1 and 9, or the Village Forest, at a community information update next Thursday (April 24). Community members will have the chance to review the plans and talk one-on-one with members of the municipal project team at the event, which will run from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Whistler Public Library.
Quesnel budget shifts costs more towards homeowners
Industry in Quesnel could bear a slightly lower share of the community`s property tax burden in the future.
Although it remains subject to final adoption, city council approved Monday a call to reduce industry`s share to 60.5 per cent, a 0.2-percentage-point drop, which will translate into a 0.6-percentage point increase in the burden covered by households and businesses.
The shifts remain subject to the total tax levy rising by no more than three per cent this year.
A northern Ontario community leader advised Tuesday that communities in northern B.C. join together to fight for provincial forest policies to prevent major corporations from closing plants and allowing raw log exports.
While one community will have little influence to change government policy, dozens of communities would, particularly if they are joined by unions, chambers of commerce, smaller companies battling for access to timber, and universities and colleges, said Al Simard, president of the Saving the Region of Ontario North Group.
NANAIMO -- Premier Gordon Campbell is expected to officially announce today that Nanaimo`s Malaspina University-College will become a full-fledged university.
The province invited stakeholders to a "special event" at the school this morning. That comes after announcements of full university status for Kwantlen University-College and the University-College of the Fraser Valley.
CHEMAINUS -- The old Doman mill site was a bustling hot bed of activity yesterday as 5,000 people looked for bargains on more than 450 pieces of industrial equipment on the auction block.
Vancouver-based Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers paraded equipment that ranged from golf carts to heavy-duty grapple yarders -- much of which ended up at the auction as the result of bankruptcies or downsizing in the dwindling coast forest industry -- before the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd in the fast-paced auction as bidders vied to get the best deals possible.
Housing affordability a critical issue in Victoria
Housing affordability is becoming a critical issue in the country -- particularly in Victoria which is the second-most expensive city in Canada to buy a home, says the regional vice-president of Re/Max Western Canada.
"Affordability is on the top of everyone`s mind," Elton Ash said yesterday from Kelowna.
Vancouver takes first place as the least affordable city in Canada with the average price for a home, including condominiums, at more than $600,000, according to the latest Re/Max survey.
Dear Condo Smarts: Our 179-unit strata recently held an emergency special general meeting to approve a special assessment for $450,000 for an emergency roof repair.
We were instructed by our property manager to submit our proxy by fax or mail to a specific location within seven days to ensure our vote would be counted. We found out by letter that the resolution was approved and we received a letter demanding our portion of the special levy no later than May 1 this year.
First-time homebuyers are using 40-year mortgages and low or no down payments to cope with soaring home-ownership costs in B.C., said a report released yesterday by real-estate firm RE/MAX.
The report examined first-time homebuying activity and trends in 21 Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna -- three of the most expensive markets in the country.
