BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-10

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What`s Behind the Curtain?
British Columbia
2008-10
Daily Online Edition
BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-10
The following codes will be at the top of each post using an eight sequence alphanumeric description of the month, year and area:


MMYYAREA

1008BCBC = Oct 08 British Columbia

1008VANC = Oct 08 Vancouver

1008VICT = Oct 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.

 

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1008VICT
Urban issues come to the fore in constituency

It`s the most densely populated of the six ridings on Vancouver Island, the smallest in size, and the most uniform in geography, yet with the exception of its obvious urban focus, Victoria is home to residents of widely divergent backgrounds.

It encompasses some of the capital region`s poorest and richest areas -- from Victoria`s downtown core with its low-income and homeless populations as well as ritzy condo developments, to the working-class and middle-class areas of Victoria and Saanich, to the upscale streets of the Uplands in Oak Bay. At $62,332, families in Victoria have the lowest annual income of the three ridings in the capital region ($72,475 in Saanich-Gulf Islands, $68,937 in Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca).

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...90-559bb74995f4

 

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1008BCBC
Canadians backing off listing houses

Canadian sellers are backing off listing properties now that sale prices and transactions have dropped at the same time inventories climbed.

"The housing market is returning to a slower pace compared to the past couple of years," the Canadian Real Estate Association said yesterday.

The average sale price in the housing market slid by 4.6 per cent year-over-year in August, the association said.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...54-d3fa9dbdf3c2

 

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1008BCBC
Consult a lawyer before trying to sell caretaker unit

Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata corporation is a 147-unit apartment complex on south Vancouver Island. We have been planning reroofing and a major repiping for some time. The most recent bids have come in about $300,000 over our projections.

To avoid any special levies, the council has decided to propose selling our caretaker`s suite. This means we will lose our long-term asset and our resident caretaker.

Our owners are insisting that the sale of the suite and the termination of the caretaker require a unanimous vote, but we cannot find anything in the legislation.

Are there some limitations set out in the act to direct us in selling our property?

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...c3-3750da44cd9b

 

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1008BCBC
B.C. may well play the role of heart-breaker or king-maker in this election

VANCOUVER -- British Columbians used to grumble - presumably many of them still do - that elections are decided well east of the province. Once the votes were tallied in Quebec and Ontario, Canadians knew the coloration of their government, and roughly the size of its majority.

No longer. With Prime Minister Stephen Harper`s Conservatives striving for a majority, but apparently still slightly shy of one as the leaders` debates begin tonight, B.C. might well play the role of heart-breaker or king-maker on Oct. 14.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...tory/TPComment/

 

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1008VICT
Greater Victoria home sales inch downward

Greater Victoria home sales inched down and inventories climbed last month amid warnings of a potential housing bust in Canada similar to the crash in the U.S.

Robert Shiller -- the University of Yale professor who predicted both the 1990s stock market boom and bust and the U.S. housing slump -- said in Toronto this week there was a natural connection between the United States and Canada.

" I would be surprised that the bubble that appeared in the United States and elsewhere didn`t appear in Canada," he said. " It`s psychology, I think that drives it."

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...2e-7bf31f1afce4

 

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1008VANC
Fort Mac route on horizon

Air Canada expects the number of passengers travelling between Calgary and Vancouver to remain steady once it starts direct flights between Fort McMurray and the coastal city. Starting Jan. 5 next year, Canada`s largest carrier will offer daily non-stop flights between Fort McMurray and Vancouver, the airline announced yesterday.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2008/10/03/6962726-sun.html

 

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1008VICT
City readies ban on demolition of rental units

Victoria councillors plan to ban the demolition of rental units in an effort to help preserve the city`s supply of affordable housing.

The proposed "housing emergency bylaw" that council will likely consider next week would ban the demolition of residential buildings with more than three units unless deemed unsafe for human occupation or the builder plans to build new subsidized rental or affordable units on the site.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...e0-53bc119da441

 

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1008BCBC
Forest firms bleed red ink

VANCOUVER -- Lumber price are crashing, forestry companies are bleeding red ink, and there`s no end in sight.

That`s the gloomy prognosis that emerged yesterday for British Columbia`s beleaguered lumber producers -- and a depressed United States housing market gets the blame.

PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that the Canadian forest industry lost a total of $1.2 billion in the first six months of the year, including $700 million by eastern companies and $500 million in the West -- mainly B.C.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...d6-2050f51f18bf

 

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1008VANC
Upscale hotel set to go

After more than a year`s delay, Vancouver`s newest boutique hotel is finally set to open this month.

Loden Vancouver, located at 1177 Melville St. in Coal Harbour, is now ready to accept bookings after more than a year of delays caused by construction issues.

The upscale hotel, scheduled to open its doors Oct. 18, will be Vancouver`s first new hotel in six years.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...e0-0a64c25705cc

 

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1008VANC
Lower Mainland house prices slide in September

House prices, which began slipping in May, have now erased all gains made in the past year in most markets across the Lower Mainland, the region`s real estate boards reported Thursday.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that its so-called benchmark price for a typical detached house in September has declined 5.8 per cent since May and, at $726,331, rests 1.6 per cent below the September 2007 benchmark.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...09-1593d17a96d1

 

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1008VANC
Not all renters losing homes to development will be compensated

Two rental buildings at Fraser and East 29th Avenue could be knocked down and replaced with new developments. But under city policy, the developer may have to help residents of only one of the buildings find new homes.

Developer Ledingham McAllister hopes to construct a four-storey mixed-use building with a total of 213 dwellings on Fraser and two levels of underground parking. On East 29th Street, it proposes five two-storey townhouse blocks with 32 three-bedroom units and one level of underground parking.

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/new...94-829e1ce6305d

 

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1008VICT
Revised bylaw will welcome urban farming

Farming will soon become a legitimate home occupation in Victoria.

Victoria councillors have approved changes to the municipality`s zoning bylaw to include urban agriculture as an allowable home occupation for up to two people living in a house.

The change won`t mean dairy cattle or hogs competing for space in your neighbour`s garden shed, though. Under the bylaw, urban agriculture will defined as the growing of fruit or vegetables only.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...c2-f8eba76b8716

 

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1008BCBC
B.C.`s newest major dam a cooperative effort involving many stakeholders

A quarter-century after the last major dam was built in British Columbia, BC Hydro finally has a new one.

It took eight years, $65 million, 300,000 cubic metres of earth -- and a whole lot of talk. But the effort appears to be worth it.

Environmentalists, first nations, local governments and even some political rivals were on-side with Hydro and Energy Minister Richard Neufeld on Friday at the commemoration of a new dam on the Coquitlam River.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...04-a763e8c1e262

 

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BC Small Town Updates: 2008-10-05

 

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1008VANC
Vancouver now top destination for all Olympic bidders

On a recent morning in Vancouver, John Furlong, the head of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, stood in front of a group of Colorado businessmen and told them what to do if they want the Olympic Games in their state.

Denver businessmen and government elite knew what to do 30 years ago. They had won the right to hold the 1976 Winter Games. But in one of those decisions that is still required reading for students of Olympic history, Denver returned its franchise to the International Olympic Committee after Colorado voters turned down a funding bill in the wake of massive cost escalation and environmental concerns.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...77-87b50b42fb8e

 

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1008VANC
Financial concerns dog Olympic athletes` village

As the credit crisis south of the border begins to creep north, concerns are mounting over the impact it may already be having on construction of the athletes` village for the 2010 Winter Games.

Last week, members of Vancouver`s city council held an emergency, in-camera meeting to get an update on the project. Much of the discussion revolved around the city`s obligation in the event the developer, Millennium Development Corp., can`t meet demands from the bank because of massive cost overruns, according to sources briefed on the meeting.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...06.wbcmason0610

 

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1008VICT
Housing woes top ills list again

Greater Victoria has made little progress in dealing with social ills such as homelessness and lack of affordable housing, says an annual checkup on how the region is faring.

But, on the positive side, Victorians like to support the arts, love their cultural festivals, are happy to give generously to the United Way and have a healthy interest in lifelong learning.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...b3-05d4538283a8

 

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1008VANC
Olympic Village way over budget

The Olympic Athletes Village is facing cost overruns of between $60 million and $65 million, the city of Vancouver`s real-estate director, Michael Flanigan, said yesterday.

"Our project is being managed very well, but we have seen some increases and they have to be dealt with," said Flanigan.

"Those cost increases are being dealt with, but by Millennium Development and their lender." The Millennium group leads a consortium of 17 firms building the Olympic Athletes Village, a $1-billion, 1,100-unit development over seven city blocks in southeast False Creek.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...00-53feaa58cd13

 

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1008VANC
A glimpse into a region`s future

Metro Vancouver is expected to be home to 3.4 million people in the next 30 years, with a third of those new residents expected to live in Surrey and White Rock -- bringing that area`s population to roughly the same size as Vancouver`s by 2040.

One million people are predicted to land in Metro Vancouver in the next three decades, their arrival driven largely in part by immigration. Of those, about one in three, or 332,000 people, will make Surrey and White Rock home, bringing that area`s total population to 766,000.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...d1-8605afadcc75