Chinese Tourist

News

B.C. braces for Chinese tourist invasion

British Columbia is bracing for a Chinese invasion to boost tourism as the first group of travellers arrived in Vancouver after China granted Canada Approved Destination Status.

Three hundred and fifty people from Mainland China were greeted by Premier Gordon Campbell and federal Minister Stockwell Day at Vancouver International Airport Wednesday.

The granted status means that Chinese tourists are now permitted to travel in large groups to the country for leisure travel, and tourism companies in China can actively promote Canadian tours.

BrazilFest 2010 Set to Captivate Vancouver

Events

BrazilFest 2010 Set to Captivate Vancouver

BrazilFest aims to promote Brazil’s uniqueness by sharing our cuisine, lifestyle and culture, a culture that complements the diverse mosaic that makes up Canada.

The festival will showcase the best Brazil has to offer in music, rhythm, dance, art, soccer, food and cinema.

ICBC

News

ICBC to lower car insurance rates

For the first time in more than a decade, motorists in B.C. could see their car insurance go down slightly, following an announcement Tuesday by ICBC.

Citing a significant drop in the number of claims, the insurance corporation said it has asked the the B.C. Utilities Commission for permission to reduce basic insurance rates by 1.9 per cent.

PNE Parade Map

Events

100th Anniversary PNE Parade

The 100th Anniversary PNE Parade will take place on Friday, August 20th at 7pm, the night before the Fair opens.

The one-time special event will see 100 years of PNE magic travel along the picturesque Beach Avenue in English Bay from Stanley Park to Sunset Beach. Part of the city-wide celebration of the 2010 PNE, this parade will be unlike anything ever seen in Vancouver – paying tribute to all the special memories and highlights of the Fair’s 10 decades of history.

BC and Ontario housing markets feel effects of HST in July

News

BC and Ontario housing markets feel effects of HST in July

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says national home sales activity continued to trend down in July 2010. The decline was almost entirely the result of fewer sales in British Columbia and Ontario. A slowdown in demand in these two provinces had been widely expected in July, as many purchases were brought forward into the first half of the year in advance of the introduction of the HST.

TD forecasts 10% drop in home prices

Uncategorized

TD forecasts 10% drop in home prices

Canada’s real estate market is due for a “moderate correction” with homes that are anywhere from 10 to 15 per cent overvalued, says the TD Bank.

“The excessive pricing of Canadian housing in relation to fundamentals is now clearly correcting,” TD Bank economist Grant Bishop said in an economic note Monday. “We expect a moderate correction in prices over the coming year.”

Paul Krugman

News

Canada’s economic recovery ‘by no means a sure thing,’ expert says

Canada avoided the brutal financial meltdown that plagued the U.S. economy, but there are some red flags that make recovery for this country “by no means a sure thing,” says a leading U.S. economist.

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, New York Times columnist and renowned economic pundit, described Canada as “a very calm, very happy story” during the world economic crisis.

Canada escaped relatively unscathed, through a combination of good luck and sound, conservative regulation of banking and consumer debt in which “it is not so easy to use your house as an ATM,” Krugman told the Canadian Bar Association.