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reportonbusiness.com: Vancouver must heed warning signs on horizon - The Diigo Meta page

www.reportonbusiness.com/...home - Cached - Annotated View

Yule Heibel's personal annotations on this page

lampertina
Lampertina bookmarked on 2007-11-13 business infrastructure_funding municipal_funding reference vancouver
  • Quality of life - everything from social services to creative spaces and recreation programs - requires tax money, particularly taxes paid by business. And there are signs that Vancouver is at risk of losing its business base.
  • Labour productivity, gross domestic product, exports, employment income in British Columbia lag behind the rest of the country. Yet Vancouver housing prices continue to soar beyond the means of most working families. Companies that want to do business in the city often can't find the space, or the employees. As for location safety, Statistics Canada lists Vancouver among the highest in Canada for violent and property crime rates.


  • These are the factors that are starting to drive businesses, employees and infrastructure to places such as Richmond, Surrey, Langley and Abbotsford. In the recent economic boom, jobs in Vancouver are growing at less than 2 per cent, compared with 10 per cent for Metro Vancouver's 21 municipalities. Combine all this with downturns in the export industry from the rising dollar, and it spells trouble for this growing city.



    In the VEDC report, business and community leaders speak about a hollowing out, the prospect that Vancouver could be a bedroom community enjoyed by the wealthy, owned by absentee condo owners who prefer to do business elsewhere.



    How will Vancouver keep businesses from voting with their feet, and taking their jobs and tax payments - and thus quality of life - with them?

  • The lesson for business, community and municipal leaders across Canada is that quality of life is not the result of a shortlist of features or amenities. Quality of life is the sum total of social, environmental and economic factors that integrate and work together to support one another for the long haul.
  • But people and business won't come just for beaches, skiing and restaurants any more. A strong and growing economy must be here: head offices, commercial and industrial space, and jobs.

This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 13 Nov 2007, by Yule Heibel.

  • 13 Nov 07
    lampertina
    Yule Heibel

    business infrastructure_funding municipal_funding reference vancouver

    • Quality of life - everything from social services to creative spaces and recreation programs - requires tax money, particularly taxes paid by business. And there are signs that Vancouver is at risk of losing its business base.
    • Labour productivity, gross domestic product, exports, employment income in British Columbia lag behind the rest of the country. Yet Vancouver housing prices continue to soar beyond the means of most working families. Companies that want to do business in the city often can't find the space, or the employees. As for location safety, Statistics Canada lists Vancouver among the highest in Canada for violent and property crime rates.
    • 3 more annotations...

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