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Worker shortage pushes tourism industry wages higher in B.C.

B.C. tourism industry wages rose by an average of 10 per cent in the past two years -- with outdoor adventure guides topping the list with a 28-per-cent wage hike, according to the industry's human resources association. Source.

$18 million to help disabled

A total of $18 million in contracts has been awarded to three organizations to help disabled workers find jobs through the new Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities, provincial Employment Minister Claude Richmond announced Monday. Source.

Beetle battle gets more federal money

The federal government delivered another instalment Friday on its $200-million commitment to fight the mountain pine beetle. Source.

Consumers finding few benefits with strong dollar

Note to Canadians: Your dollar is worth more in the United States than it is in Canada.

That's the conclusion drawn by BMO Capital Markets economist Douglas Porter after analysing the disparity in prices between some commonplace goods sold in Canada and the United States.  Porter compared the Canadian and U.S. prices of everything from a cup of Tim Hortons coffee to a new Chrysler 300, factored in the higher value of the U.S. dollar, and determined that consumers are not being sufficiently compensated for the dollar's 50-per-cent rise against the greenback over the past five years.  Here.

Canadians find meaning in non-profit

Tired of spinning their wheels in rat-race jobs that lack meaning, more Canadians are shedding the shackles of corporate life to find work in the non-profit sector and the news couldn't come soon enough for thousands of organizations that rely on highly skilled professionals to keep the sector afloat.  More.

Public service faces job-filling challenge

CALGARY -- Public sector advocacy groups say more needs to be done to attract people and keep them in the public service, especially since the sector's employees are generally older than the Canadian average. Source.

Homeowners are moving on up

If you're looking for an affordable way of life, just sell your home and head north. That's the conclusion of a survey by the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board, which found that despite average house price increases of 30 per cent across northern B.C. last year, owning a home in the region consumes less than half what a homeowner in Vancouver would pay in terms of proportion of household income. Source.

UBC profs get $627,000 for forest research

Three University of B.C. professors have received $627,000 for research projects related to sustainable forest management -- including a look at the effects of rising water tables in dying pine forests.  The non-profit Sustainable Forest Management Network has given $196,500 to Bruce Larson, Forest Renewal B.C. chair of silviculture, $241,000 to Paul McFarlane, head of the department of wood science, and $190,000 to Dan Moore, Forest Renewal B.C. chair of forest hydrology.  Moore's group intends to look at the effects of major disturbances -- such as the mountain pine beetle infestation -- on forest hydrology. Specifically, they'll examine changes in the way water moves through the landscape once the trees are dead or gone.  Source.

Interfor plans Interior mill

Interfor announced plans Thursday to spend $100 million on a new state-of-the-art Interior sawmill with special design features to handle beetle-killed pine.  Company president Duncan Davies announced the new mill, replacing an existing facility at Adams Lake northeast of Kamloops, at Interfor's annual general meeting in Vancouver.  "The new sawmill at Adams Lake is specifically designed to address the challenge of timber killed by the mountain pine beetle; the mill will incorporate proven technology," Davies told shareholders.  Interfor has already spent $30 million on a new bio-energy system that uses wood waste and has built new kilns at the site.  Source.

Hot Trends for 2007

What will be the hot gardening trends in 2007? And what will be some of the exciting new plant introductions and key gardening events in the New Year?  The key factor shaping the direction of gardening more and more today is the reality that people have less and less time to do it.  Busy work schedules, hectic social lives plus multiple distractions and competing interests have drawn many people away from spending time in the gardens actually doing the work.  Source.