[originalhypa]

Originally Posted by will068

I don't mind the foreign investing. But, our government should be capitalizing on the $$ even further to the point of greed. Be business-like for once. The tax rates for foreigner-owned residential properties should be increased exponentially. We never had this tax revenue stream before, so there is nothing to lose.

I agree that we should be capitalizing on the foreign investment, but also capping it. We have what the world wants, and I'm not against making the outsiders pay for it. Let's face it, we're lucky to have been born here, just like Swiss babies are lucky to be born in Switzerland. But unlike Switzerland, we're giving away citizenship for far less than it is actually worth.

Originally Posted by Traum

In addition to the ferry, I think a major concern for people about the Island is job opportunities. Not everyone aspires to be a senior care worker in Nanaimo / Duncan or wherever the current senior home care shortage is.

How would you say the job market / employment opportunities are like on the Island?

I'm self employed, so it doesn't really matter where my office is based, but I can't imagine the job opportunities are that great for people outside of fishing, film making, lumber, and the hospitality industries. That said, as the population grows, so do those opportunities. It's a good time to get in on the ground floor of the next great homestead. For a doctor, lawyer, mechanic, physiotherapist, book keeper, or construction worker, I guarantee that opportunities are there for them.

Makes me wish I had gone to dental school.

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Someone more knowledgeable than me please explain this to me like I'm an idiot:

With the run-up of property prices in BC the past decade, you would think the resulting effect would be a huge windfall in tax revenue for the provincial and municipal governments. If this is the case, why do we still have shit infrastructure and still have to fight tooth and nail for every incremental improvement in transit, roads, health care, schools, trash collection, etc. It just doesn't make any common sense to me unless everyone in gov't is making out like robber barons.

Christy Clark boosts maximum salaries for top aides by 18 per cent

"Clark’s deputy chief of staff can now also make up to $230,000, representing a boost of almost 60 per cent from the position’s previous cap of $144,000."

"Clark has now hired her assistant campaign director, Michele Cadario, to be her deputy chief of staff. Under the new rules, Cadario will make an annual salary of $195,148. Clark’s previous deputy chief of staff, Kim Haakstad, who resigned before the election over the ethnic outreach scandal, had been paid $149,027."

This doesn't take into account expenses, or frills. Safe to say that they're doing very well for themselves.

-Education costs the province $320 million per year.
-An additional $13.7 billion will be spent over the next three years on capital investments in schools, roads, hospitals and public safety.
-The Ministry of Children and Family Development will receive an additional $287 million over the next three years to support children and youth, including $120 million to start addressing the recommendations of the Grand Chief Ed John Report on Indigenous Child Welfare.

* There are approx 200,000 native people in BC. If 50% of those are under the age of 18, it works out to about $1200/person.

It's insane what they spend, and impossible to ensure that all of the money is going to the right place. One thing I've learned over the years is that if you want to get wealthy, suck off the gov't teat. Whether it's repairing cars for ICBC, or creating facebook ads for the provincial gov't, the checks are going to be big, and they're going to clear.

Just look at this?!
Province to spend nearly $2-million advertising new MSP cut

The Minister responsible for the government advertising budget, Andrew Wilkinsons says $1.8-million is being allocated to ads for the new MSP rate.