As Canadian real estate prices simmer, Vancouver starts boiling again

THE#BCBIZDAILY
Plus, More dam news about Site C and Mount Polley

About that property price correction
Vancouver real estate just keeps getting pricier according to Royal LePage’s latest House Price Survey. In the past year, the average price of detached homes increased more than 10 per cent, with condo prices up 4.9 per cent. The number of sales also increased dramatically, up 50 per cent for detached homes. By contrast, Canada’s national real estate market showed slower than normal home price increases. The survey studied seven types of housing in more than 250 neighbourhoods across Canada. 

Construction workers give a dam
Builders of the WAC Bennett, Mica and Revelstoke dams oppose using low-wage offshore labour instead of B.C. workers to build BC Hydro’s Site C dam. Members of the original construction crews will be in Victoria April 16 to recommend a construction partnership agreement with BC Hydro guaranteeing Site C jobs go to British Columbian union and non-union workers paid industry-standard wages. Local workers would spend their wages and taxes in the province and complete the dam on budget and on time, say the original dam builders.

Mount Polley progress
On the subject of dams, on April 22 Imperial Metals will hold an open house in Williams Lake in an effort to relaunch the company’s Mount Polley mine, closed since last August after the failure of a tailings pond dam. The meeting is part of a 30-day public comment period related to the restart applications. Representatives from the regional, provincial and federal government have also been invited to attend next week’s meeting. A decision on the permit applications is expected in early June.