The Hook

Yeah Van Isle

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

The EI Office....

Hmmm....

Looks like the places we probably won't be seeing Gordon Campbell's mug over the next 14 days or so are starting to mount.

And mount.....

.

Have to get those Americans to Build Houses...

...again, and get the Chinese and the Indians to need more mined commodities.

It all adds up to being patient and waiting for the world economy to take off again, as well as coming to agreements with all the stakeholders. The world banking system is going to take some time to settle. The other big item will be tourism.

"The forest industry is in the midst of considerable change and uncertainty, and even though employment levels
in Williams Lake are below their historical highs, this sector still represents the core of the community’s economic base and wealth.

Mining and mineral exploration have always played a role in the Williams Lake’s economy, although large
swings in activity are common as mines open and close. With a favourable geology, projects in advanced stages
of development and an experienced labour force, the minerals and mining sector represents arguably the singlebest
opportunity for expansion and diversification of the local economy. Unfortunately, exploration activity and
mine development, and the investment flows on which they depend, are linked more closely to national and
global market and commodity conditions than they are to local affairs. The other key issue related to new mine
development is environmental regulations particularly that of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans policy of
zero net environmental impact. While there is little the community can do to directly encourage activity, it does
have the opportunity to improve the business and investment climate. This would include working with First
Nations to ensure their goals and needs are part of the development process.

Adventure/eco-tourism is amongst the fastest growing tourism markets worldwide and the Cariboo-Chilcotin
has natural resource features with appeal and development potential in several product areas. However, product
development significantly lags that of other competing regions and it is for this reason that the region has
registered below-average performance on many tourism performance measures such as room revenue and total
visitor expenditures. There are some very successful backcountry lodges and guiding operations which have
proved that the area has the capacity to attract high-value international markets. For the adventure/eco-tourism
sector to expand, there has to be further development of facilities, products and marketing."

The sale of resources is the

The sale of resources is the sale of capital, warned against in every business theory. It is like a shot of junk into some drug addict and has no future. It is not an income and should not be GDP.

The mines have a relatively short life expectancy and what then ?

Williams Lake's future is now promised to be the so called Prosperity copper and gold mine, in the Chilcotin with a life expectancy of 20 years.

Luckily, the FN Chiefs are suing against it and hopefully will win.

Any society that builds its future on such childish gimmicks is a society of fools.

Campbell is now making huge efforts to get rid of the two hard working NDP MLAs, Charlie Wyse and Bob Simpson, who have been in the news every week, digging up dirt, and return the yes-person seat warmers the South Cariboo had for 4 and the North for 9 years, where John Wilson was elected twice and never heard of again.

That's the kind he wants and the good, unemployed mill and forestry workers may just give them to him again.
\
Ed Deak, Big Lake.

Hmm don't hold your breath

... there was a story in the NYTimes this morning that said house prices in Phoenix had already fallen ....what was it now?

Oh yeah, money quote:
"From Atlanta to San Francisco to Chicago, not one of the 20 cities posted a gain in home prices between January and February, and values in all but five cities dropped by double digits from a year earlier.

The 51 percent drop in Phoenix is not an isolated plunge. Prices in Las Vegas are down some 48 percent from their peaks. They are down 45 percent in Miami from their highest levels, and down 40 percent in Los Angeles and San Diego.

No matter whether housing prices are in a free fall or a controlled one, economists said they were still heading down, and would probably continue to fall as Americans worried about rising unemployment and the broader recession put off big financial decisions, like buying a new home."

citation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/business/economy/29econ.html?_r=1&hp

realisticman

"Adventure/eco-tourism is amongst the fastest growing tourism markets worldwide"

I wonder how much of a dropoff there will be in eco-tourism now that we're putting roads, transmisision lines, buildings and all the other associated stuff in the places eco-tourists wanted to go to in the past?

Perhaps some believe adventurous Europeans will pay big bucks to take a look at the newest Plutonic Power project?

touring rotting brush piles and scarred landscapes

You're absolutely right Frank! That is exactly what tourists want to see! Scarred landscapes and thousands of hectares of dead forests. Replanting? Who thinks that replanting is a good idea? Not Gordo and his crew. Several nurseries have gone out of business, apparently even though we have the world's biggest dead forest, and thousands of hectares of old clearcuts, seedling orders are down.

I'm so glad Campbell and his cronies brought in self regulation of the forest industry. It appears to be working wonders for forest health... We wouldn't want those poor big american companies to have to actually use all of the timber they rip down. It is obviously much better to have thousands of tons of wood rotting in big piles all throughout the interior.

Jobs? They don't matter.

The only jobs that matter

The only jobs that matter are minimum wage part time jobs, as they are "competitive", to give CEOs multimillion buck salaries.

Ed Deak.

Williams lake...

Campbell won`t be back in Willie`s puddle,with the closing of seniors care beds and being ignored,the NDP will carry the riding,(Call it a NDP lock)

Liberal is a dirty word in Williams lake!

Campbell can bullshit about a world recession,rural BC has been in recession(because of Campbell giveaways) for 3 plus years.
I wonder how the media are going to spin the next Angus reid poll that has the NDP leading in the polls.

Don`t shoot the messenger.

Liberal is a dirty word in Williams lake!

Actually "Liberal should be a dirty word in all BC!" The Caribou has some of the strongest MLA's. Bob Simpson is one of the most articulate MLA's. Both will be an incredible asset to Carol James' gov't as well as our own Doug Routley locally.