If you want a laugh check out “B.C. isolated from economic storm, say analysts.” There is a bit of a mismatch between the headline and the article. None of the analysts quoted in the article actually say “B.C. is isolated from economic storm.” The dumbest quote award goes to Aron Gampel who apparently said “we have this commodity and construction boom of epic proportions which is keeping the western provinces essentially at full employment.” Who knows, maybe he was misquoted; maybe he meant it as a warning rather than a positive thing. To me it seems like a BAD thing that a huge chunk of our employment comes from the construction/housing sector bubble (which is about to crash). Here’s another good one: SFU business professor Lindsay Meredith “predicts some British Columbians will start belt-tightening” but then a few paragraphs later Meredith “sees no black clouds on B.C.’s economic horizon.” Overall, shoddy journalism. Unfortunately there is no author given.
I read that… Tell that to the 9% of the people in Ft Nelson who got laid off last week. I believe that would make that region’s unemployment go up to about 20%…
An old post of mine has a quote that talks about “The “strong economy” was (and still remains) an illusion.” That was in the US but it echoes my sentiments about the BC economy right now.
Deborah, I hadn’t heard about Fort Nelson’s lay offs. That reminds me of a post I wrote 8 months ago about people losing jobs in Mackenzie “because of ‘reduced demand due to a slowed housing starts in the US.'” Ha! So much for B.C. being isolated from economic storm. It has ALREADY been effected by it.