BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-10

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1008VANC
Vancouver bucks building permits trend

The Vancouver area bucked a downward trend across most of the rest of the country in the value of building permits issued in August, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

The value of building permits rose 13.3 per cent between July and August to $481.8 million, StatsCan said.

For B.C. as a whole, however, building permits fell 6.9 per cent to $828.7 million as the value of residential permits dropped six per cent and that of non-residential permits lost nine per cent, the federal agency said.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...be-3e64aade8b5c

 

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1008VICT
Decision on water up to Highlands: Langford mayor

Highlands council should be free to decide whether its residents need municipal water and other municipalities should butt out, says Langford Mayor Stew Young.

"If somebody wants water or somebody wants sewer in a municipality, that`s the decision of that municipality. I don`t think anybody should be held without water or sewer -- especially water in an area because somebody wants to stop development or otherwise," Young said. "I think water`s a right for anybody in a modern society," Young said.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...01-1582faade8d4

 

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1008VICT
Westhills development delays opening date

The massive 6,000-unit Westhills project is slowing down its development, telling some staff to look for new jobs and has delayed its opening date by six months as a result of the financial crisis rippling around the globe.

According to developer Jim Hartshorne, lead consultant for the privately funded project, while Westhills isn`t being squeezed financially it is feeling the effects of the market downturn.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...f2-4651dcc63167

 

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1008BCBC
Elections can bring out signs of strife in any strata

Dear Condo Smarts: With the call of the election in September, many owners started erecting signs on the common property for their preferred parties and candidates. We received a notice from council last week advising that they all had to come down. Owners are now sending notices around threatening to sue each other and take a physical stand if anyone touches their signs. Can you help us quickly put an end to this dispute before it gets out of hand?

M.J. Bedford, Delta

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...27-05414a5e9384

 

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1008BCBC
B.C. recruits workers abroad

Business leaders and government officials were in Manila yesterday trying to recruit thousands of people to work in B.C., prompting surprise and criticism at home.

It was B.C.`s first job fair in the Philippines, organized to help find workers to head off a labour shortage that the government predicts will otherwise hit six figures by 2015.

The government has said it wants to recruit an estimated 30,000 workers annually, from overseas and from other parts of Canada, from now until 2015.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...75-7ea3a3eab479

 

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1008VANC
Vanoc predicts 2010 sellouts despite the economy

Organizers of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics say demand for tickets is so strong that more events than expected will go to lottery and all events will sell out.

"Our confidence that we will sell out all of our tickets by the time the Games come has gone up," said Dave Cobb, executive vice-president of marketing, revenue and communications for the Vancouver organizing committee.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...07-ce3f85d506e5

 

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1008VANC
Falling housing market tough for both sides

Maple Ridge management consultant Mike Smith and his wife Tanya thought they were being shrewd in April by listing their house for sale at a price below its assessed value, but ran smack into the Lower Mainland`s real-estate slowdown anyway.

By October, even after reducing the asking price three times to $799,900 from an initial $839,900, the Smiths` 4,000-square-foot house on an acre of land in east Maple Ridge (with a 2008 property assessment of $842,000) is still on the market waiting for an offer.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...ee-93b50adeb788

 

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1008BCBC
Business interruption insurance can be tailored to specific needs

It was a nightmare business owners don`t want to think about -- a three-alarm fire at a nearby shop, a destroyed building, and months of waiting to reopen. For Linda Voytovech, owner of the Her`s Fine Lingerie retail store in west Toronto, the nightmare got even worse when she discovered her policy didn`t include business interruption insurance.

"I guess I didn`t read the small print at the time," she says. "It turned out we weren`t covered."

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...0e-e31fe8755d77

 

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1008BCBC
Global crisis hits large-scale B.C. projects

The tentacles of the global credit crisis are reaching into some of British Columbia`s large-scale infrastructure projects as international banks with a stake here have been struggling to find cash.

As the crisis has unfolded, Depfa Bank -- which is involved in financing the $800 million Golden Ears Bridge in the Fraser Valley, as well as projects at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and the Surrey Outpatient Hospital -- has been suffocated of the cash it needs to support its financing role in these major deals.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...95-ae26de4e645e

 

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1008VANC
Condos boost building pace

Increases in condo construction led to an increase in homebuilding activity in the Vancouver area for the first nine months of the year, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported yesterday.

Housing starts in the Vancouver area rose 5.3 per cent from the same period last year, CMHC said yesterday.

That increase came despite a slowdown in building activity in September, when overall starts fell by 6.4 per cent, CMHC said.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...7f-6acb1468023c

 

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1008VICT
Highlands mayor splits council over Bear Mountain plan

Highlands Mayor Mark Cardinal has opened a firefight on his council with his latest attempt to settle the municipality`s long-running border war with the Capital Regional District.

Cardinal surprised CRD directors this week with a map showing his proposed compromise solution in the municipality`s ongoing fight to provide sewer and water to the south Highlands, which includes an expanded Bear Mountain Resort.

The move left some of his council dumbstruck, as neither they nor Highlands staff had even seen the servicing area map Cardinal was proposing -- let alone approved it.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...9c-ef3b2d2aba88

 

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1008VICT
Victoria shrugs off pessimism

If pessimism is growing among Canadian small business owners, it`s happening beyond the borders of Greater Victoria, according to local business leaders.

"What I`m hearing is not pessimism, it`s caution," said Ken Stratford of the Greater Victoria Economic Development Commission. Stratford did says there is some apprehension considering the financial woes that have hit the United States and the uncertainty of how it will eventually plays out.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...46-7f0dad342b42

 

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1008BCBC
Forest products slump darkens economic gloom for B.C.

The latest report warning of rougher times ahead for B.C.`s economy comes in the wake of another casualty in the province`s key forest sector.

The Canada West Foundation said yesterday that worsening conditions will push B.C.`s economic growth below its six-year average of 3.4 per cent.

"While current economic conditions make it all the more difficult to accurately gauge the future performance of the B.C. economy, the Canada West Foundation expects real economic growth in B.C. of 1.5 per cent in 2008 and 1.3 per cent in 2009, the report said.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...19-93ee5b34898b

 

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1008BCBC
Global credit crisis spells uncertain future for B.C. infrastructure

VICTORIA -- As world stock markets continued their epic plunge Thursday, the man in charge of administering B.C.`s largest public infrastructure projects remained remarkably calm.

"I don`t want to overstate it. I just want to say the projects we`ve been working on -- I think we can continue with them in the way we`d expected," said Larry Blain, CEO of Partnerships B.C., which administers the province`s public-private partnerships.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...5a-89c48b98f20c

 

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1008VANC
UBC makes top 50 in new rankings

The University of B.C. is one of three Canadian post-secondary institutions to make the top 50 in an annual ranking of universities around the world.

UBC placed 34th, second in Canada to McGill University, which ranked 20th.

The other Canadian university in the top 50 is the University of Toronto, in the 41st spot.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...b4-1cd91e9e7796

 

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1008BCBC
Poll shows strong Tory lead in B.C.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives head into the final weekend of the election campaign with a strong lead in British Columbia, according to a new poll commissioned for Canwest News Service.

The New Democrats are in second place in the province but federal Liberal support in B.C. has rebounded enough that the party should retain some of its nine seats in the province.

The public opinion survey, by Ipsos Reid, found the Conservatives continue to lead in B.C.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...05-2c67455239ca

 

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BC Small Town Updates: 2008-10-12

 

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1008VICT
Stage is set for dramatic Island vote

Election night on Vancouver Island is expected to serve up some seismic squeaker results and high drama -- including the possible downfall of a cabinet minister.

With two key B.C. battleground ridings, one judged too close to call, political scientists say it`s impossible to say how voters, under a cloud of economic uncertainty and climate change, will cast their ballot come election night.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...b0-829e25343be2

 

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1008BCBC
Going to Taipei instead of Toronto for loans

Small businesses reeling from the ripple of the credit crisis might consider going to Taipei for a bank loan instead of Toronto, says Gary Kwan.

He`s assistant vice-president of CTC Bank of Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of a major bank in Taiwan that has long been better known in B.C. for serving Taiwanese expatriates -- either helping them to invest money here or wire it back home.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...f7-f4ed0ae5dd4f

 

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1008BCBC
Big scrap over Metro`s garbage

METRO VANCOUVER - A battle is brewing across the province and into Washington state for the rights to Metro Vancouver`s garbage.

Cache Creek and the Highland Valley Copper Mine near Logan Lake are vying to bury the trash in their sagebrush-covered hills in the south Cariboo, while Port Moody has just scrapped a plan to turn it into energy.

However, if Metro Vancouver has its way, the trash will stay close to home, burned in three to six waste-to-energy plants around the region.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...d1-76474278a27a