Part 1: Defining the attributes of your successful retirement community
Who says you have to go on living in the same location when you retire? The choice is yours. City or country retirement is ultimately a personal decision. But it draws significantly on your prior life, and the skills and personal attributes you can bring to the retirement community you choose. How you retire is…
Is the affordability crisis – and the lack of government intervention – a metaphor for something much worse?
I want to describe Vancouver’s awful housing market as a metaphor for something else. I’ll reveal the ‘something else’ later in the column. For now, let’s just stick with Vancouver, the city I grew up in. When I was a little boy, our Dunbar neighbourhood had a broad cross-section of residents. Our family’s cleaning lady…
Governments and taxpayers need to look more closely at several factors, including transportation, impact and costs
Listen to the promoters and you would think the Vancouver-to-Seattle-to-Portland high-speed rail proposal is a great idea. For many, high-speed rail is a panacea that promises to solve all of our transportation and environmental problems. But governments and taxpayers need to look more closely at several factors, including transportation, impact and costs. High-speed rail has…
It hurts to be rejected or see a dream come to an end, but it shouldn't impact our ability to live with integrity and find success
We all face disappointments and challenges. We don’t get picked for a team, we don’t get a promotion, we’re turned down by a potential lover or we see a dream come to an end. What’s important in life isn’t what happens to us, however. It’s how we respond. Great people aren’t without problems. They’re people…
Canada's office market posted positive absorption of nine million square feet in the 12 months ending June 30 – significantly more than the nearly six million square feet absorbed in the prior 12-month period, says Avison Young's Mid-Year 2019 Global Office Market Report released on Tuesday. The report said demand was strongest in Toronto, Montreal and…
The garbage at the centre of an international dispute was to arrive in Vancouver on the weekend
Canadians have fought a lot of tough characters over the years. Sudanese warriors of the Mahdi, Boer guerrillas, armies of the German, Austrian and Japanese empires, Nazi SS, Red Chinese, North Koreans, Serbs, Croats and Taliban all came to rue the day they messed with the boys under the Maple Leaf banner. Heck, our navy…
For an issue that’s been so polarizing, the arguments against the pipeline expansion are surprisingly flawed
Nothing has been as divisive to national unity as the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in the 25 years since the Quebec independence referendum. But unlike separation, this project – approved again last week by the federal government – is good for the country and will benefit all Canadians. Moving to Vancouver two years ago from…
Money budgeted for an elevated greenway for walkers and bikers should go to housing the homeless or easing traffic congestion
Vancouver is a great city. For people like me who use their feet for most of their transportation, it’s wonderful. But sometimes city decision-makers go overboard. For recreation and exercise, there’s the 28-km seawall, part of which circles Stanley Park. It’s been voted the best place to run in Canada. There’s also the nine-km Arbutus…
The Canadian response to being stranded for 11 hours on a BC ferry? Free food, cheers and applause!
“Please be advised that the next sailing from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay has been delayed by at least four hours. Those passengers wishing instead to return to Powell River, please pull over to the right-hand side as you exit the ferry, and you will be guaranteed a return trip. …” “Hmmmmm. What’s that all about?”…
Precious little good will can come from Victoria city council's campaign, but it will certainly cost a great deal of money
The City of Victoria wants to round up municipalities to sue oil companies for damages from climate change. Not only is such a case virtually impossible to prove, it’s also full of rich ironies. Weather-related damages, termed “perils” in Canadian insurance plans, are more commonly called acts of God. How ironic that environmentalists envision the…