Canadian cities booming

The prestigious travel and leisure magazine Conde Nest Traveler’s recently announced the Readers’ Choice Awards for the top ten cities of the world. We’re proud to have three Canadian cities listed out of ten — Quebec, Victoria and Vancouver.

On the subject of being "cool", my friends often wonder why I look relaxed and unhurried. My answer is simple - "I don’t e-mail and I don’t carry a mobile phone." Life can be simple but modern technology can also make living complicated. Do I really have to know what my friends and family members are doing when so much is happening in the world? Don’t you think that we should be seeking for facts instead of having a regular dose of trivialities?

Here’s a fine example of modern living. When our local telephone company refused to accept cash from a couple in Kewlona to pay their telephone bills, the couple sued the company. A judge rejected that argument but did rule that under its customer service contract, the company should accept cash. The couple was awarded damages of one dollar the cost of the service fee to pay at the bank. The telephone company is now reviewing the ruling but there are no plans to change the no-cash policy. So what’s wrong about carrying cash and not owning a checkbook?

More and more people are buying homes and apartments in Vancouver. And the construction boom and general property values increase will continue in 2003. Last year, Vancouver’s total property value was $6 billion, the biggest increase in a decade. The property value now totals $86 billion. There’s an additional $1.3 billion worth of new buildings added to the city’s property roll, almost double the amount last year.

As more properties are bought and occupied, there will be more households which mean more housing units, requiring more building materials, land and infrastructure. This means higher per capita resource consumption as big families become smaller families.

A leading publication dealing with nature commented that moving back in to live with mom and dad or getting married or moving in with friends will be less energy efficient, or likely less to threaten nature. It’s an interesting concept but not quite acceptable with the change in independent lifestyle. It sounds ridiculous to me because it is not advancing but retreating one’s life and living.

According to Ottawa Citizen, the country’s latest census figures demonstrated the degree to which Canadians are opting to live in smaller households. The data showed that households consisting of four or more people has shrunk to one in four, as opposed to one in three two decades ago. The census data also showed that more young adults, aged 20 to 29 are still living with their parents. The percentage in 2001 was 41 per cent compared with 27.5 per cent 20 years earlier.

It was a pleasant surprise to see a Philippine product properly displayed in a high-end herbal/health shop. Charantia tea (ampalaya tea for diabetics) is now available in Canada. Nicely packaged, the endorsement of the Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines and the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs will hopefully assure the Canadian public that Charantia is not another questionable food supplement.

If you’re thinking of immigrating to Canada and will be looking for employment, do consider what the Conference Board of Canada revealed to us last week. The Board said that the three Western cities of Calgary, Saskatoon and Edmonton are expected to post the fastest economic growth of 18 major cities in Canada in 2003. Calgary’s GDP is expected to rise by 4.9 percent, Saskatoon by four while Edmonton’s Gross Domestic Product will increase by 3.8 percent.

The other provinces that will grow significantly include St. Catherines, Toronto, London (not UK), Sherbrooke, Trois Rivieres, Regina and on the bottom are Vancouver and Victoria. In the case of Victoria which was listed in the last place, the 1.4 percent increase is due to the tourism slump and cuts to public sector employment. Another factor is that British Columbia is the only province this year that did not boost employment. Overall, employment grew by 3.7 percent in 2002, the highest annual growth rate since 1987.