Astronaut meeting Julie Payette takes time to meet Nanaimo girls. PAGE 21 Leave ’em laughing Former SNL regular Jon Lovitz does stand-up. PAGE 28 Timbermen tie WLA squad fights back from 6-1 deficit to earn draw. PAGE 7
Workshop creates buzz PAGE 3
www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012
VOL. 24, NO. 19
Bleak forecast hanging over Island economy
SLACKING OFF
BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
RACHEL STERN/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Kalen Braun tries to maintain his balance as he navigates his way across a slackline attached to two trees in Maffeo Sutton Park Saturday afternoon. Braun, from Bella Coola, and his friends had rigged up three slacklines in the park.
awmbas www.rawmbas.ca
#101-572 STEWART AVE., NANAIMO
250-591-2114
www.countryclubcentre.com
The mid-Island’s economic forecast for the next year is about as bleak as the recent weather – mostly grey with some sunny spots. Woody Hayes, of Hayes Stewart Little & Co., said a number of factors have combined to drag the economy down, notably job reduction, slow population growth, and a decrease in housing starts. A recent study indicates the Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast region lost 16,700 jobs last year, with 92 per cent of those outside the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area. The industries that suffered the largest losses were health care, social assistance and trades, which combined for 12,600 job losses. “The economic recovery we started to see in 2010 gained little momentum last year,” said Hayes. “Population growth, which has been the engine for much of the region’s economic growth over recent years, was at a 10-year low. Housing starts and residential building permits were also down, as were property re-sales.” Vancouver Island Real Estate Board statistics show resales across the region were down four per cent in May 2012 from May 2011, and average sale prices in Nanaimo dropped eight per cent from $379,410 in May 2011 to $349,554 in May 2012. The area’s unemployment rate currently resides just above six
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The economic recovery we started to see in 2010 gained little momentum last year.
per cent, one per cent below the national average. Students under 25 are having a harder time finding work – their unemployment rate is 10.5 per cent in B.C. Resource industries made nominal job gains, however, with forestry, fisheries, mining and oil and gas increasing by about 2,400 jobs. Forestry, while still lagging well below pre-recession standards, was propped up slightly due to Asian demand for pulp and lumber said the study, released by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C. That demand prompted some mill reopenings, including Western Forest Products’ Ladysmith sawmill, while Catalyst added recent hires in Port Alberni and Powell River. Raimo Marttala, an economics professor at Vancouver Island University, said global uncertainty, which is evident in the markets, has a big effect on the local economy, as do provincial cutbacks. ◆ See ‘PROVINCIAL’ /6
Rawmbas Restaurant coming to Nanaimo’s North End soon. Check out our menu on facebook.
Winner of Best Vegetarian Dish “Bite of Nanaimo” 2011