What’s ahead for the next two years?
The BC economy will continue its strong pace into 2010. Employment growth will be bolstered by investment in non-residential construction, while increased purchases of machinery and equipment signals business confidence and future productivity gains. Consumer spending, underpinned by wage growth and low unemployment, is on track to equal last year’s strong performance.
Interest rates are facing downward pressure, but expect both the Bank Rate and fixed mortgage rates to remain flat this year. Bond yields will edge up in 2010, impacting fixed mortgage rates, and further eroding housing affordability.
While the robust provincial economy continues to stimulate housing demand, affordability constraints will keep some would-be home
buyers on the sidelines. As a result, home prices will rise more moderately this year, five-eight per cent on average, but still several times the rate of inflation
Major newspapers
The Vancouver Sun
has a good coverage of what is going
on in the lower mainland (in and around Vancouver).
The electronic version has headline stories and you can
subscribe too, if you want access to more.
The Globe and Mail is a national Canadian paper,
so doesn't cover local stories quite as much as some of the
other papers. Electronic addition has subscriber only elements,
but you can get headlines by e-mail.
The Province is another Vancouver center newspaper.
The Times Colonist is a Victoria based newspaper.
Victoria News is another Victoria based newspaper
Other regional papers:
There are a huge number of regional and community papers.
See a list at:
BC Newspaper Group
Other papers:
The Georgia Straight is Vancouver's art and lifestyle weekly free paper. Worth a read to see what is happening from a slightly left wing perspective. Good for restaurants, movies, theatre, music, books and bars. Has back issues online and is searchable
Radio stations
When we were waiting to go to Canada, we sometimes enjoyed listening to some of Vancouver’s radio stations. Again you can get a feel for a community from some of the DJ's banter or the calls that come in.
Here are a small selection of radio stations to choose from:
CBC Radio BC (news and talk from BC, Vancouver and Victoria)
