SpongeG
Mar 21, 2007, 9:52 PM
Demise of small towns greatly exaggerated Olympic fever Costs of living
By Tom
Fletcher
Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter for Black
Mar 21 2007
B.C. Views
New census figures showing significant population drops in remote rural communities quickly became the political story of the week here at the B.C. legislature.
NDP MLAs represent most of the areas that feel left out of the “golden decade” touted by Premier Gordon Campbell, and they quickly seized on the disparity. Some of their arguments were legitimate, while others were political efforts that undermine the confidence of small towns at a time when they need it most. And a few factors were overlooked.
I spoke with Skeena MLA Robin Austin about his hard-hit riding. Kitimat shrank by 12 per cent for the second census in a row because of the government allowing Alcan to sell power rather than smelt aluminum or power other industry in the region, he says. And Terrace is seeing its second sawmill being dismantled because big timber companies used up the best trees and sold unprofitable tenures back to the government. The B.C. Liberals also broke the link between forest licences and local jobs.
Even Prince George recorded a slight decline in population, despite the increased cut of pine beetle timber and diversification that includes a university. Bob Simpson, NDP MLA for Cariboo North, says the population decline stretches from his home town of Quesnel up through the whole Central Interior. He said the government’s economic development trusts and pine beetle recovery plans haven’t produced much, except for things like a new tourism centre.
Forests Minister Rich Coleman responds that BC Hydro’s recent call for wood-fired power production is going to create a whole new industry from the beetle epidemic. He points out that in these days of high-efficiency mills, most of the forestry jobs are in the harvesting and transport end anyway, so power projects, along with plants to make wood pellets or oriented strandboard, will keep loggers and truckers working while new strategies such as mining and oil and gas are developed.
The urbanization trend isn’t just in B.C., of course. We see it across Canada. Rural pubs are closing in booming Ireland. In China hundreds of millions migrate to cities. But rural B.C. has its own advantages, and legitimate prospects for industrial diversification are only part of the story.
Real estate: There are thousands of new real estate millionaires here, but the only way they can actually cash in their windfall is to sell in the hot markets and relocate to those where bargains await. Recreational properties have been snapped up all over B.C., even in places where the census reports population declines.
Tourism: Like Expo 86 before it, the 2010 Winter Olympics will put B.C. in the world spotlight. While it’s waiting for the International Olympic Committee to allow promotion of this (not until after Beijing 2008, you know), B.C.’s tourism ministry needs to be selling the province. Next year is B.C.’s 150th birthday, and I’m still looking for even a bare outline of a marketing strategy for that.
Terrorism: It’s close to a miracle that North America hasn’t seen a major terrorist attack since 9/11. If you think the danger is over, stick some flowers in your hair and put your head back in the sand. Foreign and domestic instability, along with increasing crime and disorder in swelling cities, will continue to make moving to a peaceful small town more attractive.
Technology: The B.C. government’s deal with Telus to wire up every community in the province to high-speed Internet service will pay dividends in years to come.
It’s not just people who are on the move in B.C., it’s also plants and animals as the climate shifts. More on that in next week’s column.
As successful as it will likely be, if you’re living in northern Vancouver Island or in the Kootenays, the 2010 Olympics is going to do for your local economy what Expo 86 did. Which is to say, doodley squat. And the sooner the B.C. Liberals admit that, the better off the ‘heartlands’ will be.
I recall the run-up to Expo 86, when those big earthen berms were constructed outside of towns and decorated with welcome signs. I called them Billyboards, in honour of then-premier Bill Bennett, and they did indeed create a few days work for local catskinners and landscapers.
The Olympic equivalent of the Billyboard is the Spirit Square and the Olympic Live Site, basically downtown decoration and recreation grants for smaller towns. These are fine, but they are no substitute for the kind of tourism promotion that used to take place across Canada and internationally.
Stan Hagen, the latest tourism minister shuffled into what used to be considered an important job, seems preoccupied with Vancouver’s over-budget convention centre and, of course, the Olympics.
Robin Austin talks of a tipping point in his home community of Terrace. Investors bought one of the local hotels and were preparing to relocate, when their wives found out the area’s schools have been reduced to a four-day week to save money. They insisted on keeping the families in the Vancouver area. Good point.
During debate on transportation ministry estimates last week, NDP critics Claire Trevena (North Island) and Doug Routley (Cowichan-Ladysmith) portrayed fuel surcharges as strangling infant coastal economies in their cribs. Not such a good point.
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon replied that fuel surcharges add a couple of bucks to a fare that’s substantially subsidized by B.C. taxpayers.
http://www.vicnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=36&cat=48&id=857004&more=
By Tom
Fletcher
Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter for Black
Mar 21 2007
B.C. Views
New census figures showing significant population drops in remote rural communities quickly became the political story of the week here at the B.C. legislature.
NDP MLAs represent most of the areas that feel left out of the “golden decade” touted by Premier Gordon Campbell, and they quickly seized on the disparity. Some of their arguments were legitimate, while others were political efforts that undermine the confidence of small towns at a time when they need it most. And a few factors were overlooked.
I spoke with Skeena MLA Robin Austin about his hard-hit riding. Kitimat shrank by 12 per cent for the second census in a row because of the government allowing Alcan to sell power rather than smelt aluminum or power other industry in the region, he says. And Terrace is seeing its second sawmill being dismantled because big timber companies used up the best trees and sold unprofitable tenures back to the government. The B.C. Liberals also broke the link between forest licences and local jobs.
Even Prince George recorded a slight decline in population, despite the increased cut of pine beetle timber and diversification that includes a university. Bob Simpson, NDP MLA for Cariboo North, says the population decline stretches from his home town of Quesnel up through the whole Central Interior. He said the government’s economic development trusts and pine beetle recovery plans haven’t produced much, except for things like a new tourism centre.
Forests Minister Rich Coleman responds that BC Hydro’s recent call for wood-fired power production is going to create a whole new industry from the beetle epidemic. He points out that in these days of high-efficiency mills, most of the forestry jobs are in the harvesting and transport end anyway, so power projects, along with plants to make wood pellets or oriented strandboard, will keep loggers and truckers working while new strategies such as mining and oil and gas are developed.
The urbanization trend isn’t just in B.C., of course. We see it across Canada. Rural pubs are closing in booming Ireland. In China hundreds of millions migrate to cities. But rural B.C. has its own advantages, and legitimate prospects for industrial diversification are only part of the story.
Real estate: There are thousands of new real estate millionaires here, but the only way they can actually cash in their windfall is to sell in the hot markets and relocate to those where bargains await. Recreational properties have been snapped up all over B.C., even in places where the census reports population declines.
Tourism: Like Expo 86 before it, the 2010 Winter Olympics will put B.C. in the world spotlight. While it’s waiting for the International Olympic Committee to allow promotion of this (not until after Beijing 2008, you know), B.C.’s tourism ministry needs to be selling the province. Next year is B.C.’s 150th birthday, and I’m still looking for even a bare outline of a marketing strategy for that.
Terrorism: It’s close to a miracle that North America hasn’t seen a major terrorist attack since 9/11. If you think the danger is over, stick some flowers in your hair and put your head back in the sand. Foreign and domestic instability, along with increasing crime and disorder in swelling cities, will continue to make moving to a peaceful small town more attractive.
Technology: The B.C. government’s deal with Telus to wire up every community in the province to high-speed Internet service will pay dividends in years to come.
It’s not just people who are on the move in B.C., it’s also plants and animals as the climate shifts. More on that in next week’s column.
As successful as it will likely be, if you’re living in northern Vancouver Island or in the Kootenays, the 2010 Olympics is going to do for your local economy what Expo 86 did. Which is to say, doodley squat. And the sooner the B.C. Liberals admit that, the better off the ‘heartlands’ will be.
I recall the run-up to Expo 86, when those big earthen berms were constructed outside of towns and decorated with welcome signs. I called them Billyboards, in honour of then-premier Bill Bennett, and they did indeed create a few days work for local catskinners and landscapers.
The Olympic equivalent of the Billyboard is the Spirit Square and the Olympic Live Site, basically downtown decoration and recreation grants for smaller towns. These are fine, but they are no substitute for the kind of tourism promotion that used to take place across Canada and internationally.
Stan Hagen, the latest tourism minister shuffled into what used to be considered an important job, seems preoccupied with Vancouver’s over-budget convention centre and, of course, the Olympics.
Robin Austin talks of a tipping point in his home community of Terrace. Investors bought one of the local hotels and were preparing to relocate, when their wives found out the area’s schools have been reduced to a four-day week to save money. They insisted on keeping the families in the Vancouver area. Good point.
During debate on transportation ministry estimates last week, NDP critics Claire Trevena (North Island) and Doug Routley (Cowichan-Ladysmith) portrayed fuel surcharges as strangling infant coastal economies in their cribs. Not such a good point.
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon replied that fuel surcharges add a couple of bucks to a fare that’s substantially subsidized by B.C. taxpayers.
http://www.vicnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=36&cat=48&id=857004&more=