Capital Report~November 27, 2009
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Building a Stronger British Columbia

During this legislative session, the BC Liberals stayed focused on strengthening the province’s economic foundation with a massive stimulus package, supporting vital services and ensuring B.C. is ready for a strong 2010.

Major Construction Projects Reach New Heights

The value of major construction projects planned or underway across B.C. has risen to $189 billion, setting a record for the 20th time in a row.

  • The Major Projects Inventory also identifies sustainable construction projects that have been certified under a recognized green building rating system, such as LEED (which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) or Green Globes. There are 86 such projects in the September inventory.
  • Published quarterly by the Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development, the Major Projects Inventory lists all major projects that are proposed, planned or underway in British Columbia. These are projects with a capital cost of at least $20 million within the Lower Mainland, and projects valued at $15 million or more in the rest of B.C.

Click for more information.

GE Plaza Opens to Community in Advance of 2010

Skaters will take to the ice at the GE Plaza at Robson Square today – the first time the Robson Square ice rink has seen activity since 2000, thanks to a Vancouver 2010 Winter Games partnership between GE and the Province of British Columbia.

  • The new ice rink will also be a fun, gathering place for friends and family to enjoy free ice-skating. The GE Plaza will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for skating.
  • Robson Square will host regular live entertainment from now through the Games and will feature festive, family activities during December.

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Sunday, November 29

Attorney General Michael de Jong will be a guest on Constituency Report on Shaw Cable 4 Lower Mainland at 8:00am and 5:00pm.

Chilliwack MLA John Les will be a guest on Constituency Report on Shaw Cable 4 Lower Mainland at 8:30am and 5:30pm.

Quotes This Week

“We had budgeted, we had anticipated upwards of about $950,000 in business license revenue. In fact, we’ve surpassed that number by about $20,000 to $30,000 dollars. We anticipate by the end of this year, we’ll see about $980,000 dollars in revenue. So that’s fairly significant for a year that was supposed to be fairly slow.”
Randy Lambright, Kamloops Community Development Manager. CHNL, November 23, 2009 (Regarding the announcement that 2009 is becoming a record year for issuing business licenses in Kamloops)


Did You Know?

  • Stronger rules for the Graduated Licensing Program (GLP), which took effect in 2003, saved at least 31 lives and prevented 17,500 crashes involving new drivers in the three-year period following the changes. ICBC examined crash rates before and after the changes to the GLP, and used comparison groups of other drivers to rule out demographics, weather or other external factors for the decrease in crashes. In the program’s first three years, the new driver crash rate dropped by almost 16 per cent.
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