Local Vancouver News & Commentary

Greg Armstrong-Morris delivers a star turn as Albin in this Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company production of the '80s musical.

My editorial on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's fiscal update:

 

"The economic and fiscal outlook for Canada remains very positive." -Finance Minister Jim Flaherty

There was nothing positive in the downbeat fiscal update Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered Tuesday, unless continuing deficits for six years can be considered careful custodianship of the public purse.

While it is true that Canada did not fall as fast or as far into the pit as many other industrialized countries did during the recession, the outlook for the Canadian economy is uncertain at best, and the promised return to surplus by 2016 is in doubt, coming on the heels of an earlier vow to achieve the same goal by 2014.

The federal debt is expected to climb from $519 billion in the fiscal year just passed, to $628.7 billion in 2015, before it slowly begins to decline. But the history of economic cycles suggests the government in 2016 may well find itself facing another downturn and projections of revenue growth will be seen in hindsight as wishful thinking.

In fact, most of the rising government revenue foreseen in the fiscal update comes from a 46-per-cent increase in personal income taxes between now and 2016, to $151.7 billion from $103.9 billion, based largely on the assumption of an increase in personal income.

The combination of weak economic growth and a wave of baby boomer retirements over the next few years, however, would seem to make significant increases in personal income unlikely.

With that being said, Flaherty is taking a prudent course in cutting his forecast of economic growth this year, to 2.5 per cent from 3.2 per cent cited in the March budget. He has identified the fragile global recovery, and particularly the continuing economic woes of the United States, as the greatest threats to Canada's own economic revival.

Yet his caution is not reflected in program spending, which continues to increase -- by about nine per cent from next year through 2016. That's the same percentage by which the Liberal government of Jean Chretien cut spending in the mid-1990s, which ushered in an era of budget surpluses until the Harper government fell victim to the second-term spending syndrome.

To put the fiscal house in order, the Liberals were focused and disciplined as they imposed tough-love policies on Canadians. They froze salaries, slashed programs and -- unbelievable as it sounds -- reduced the number of employees on the public payroll.

The Conservative government has used praise from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Monetary Fund and The Economist magazine as propaganda to persuade us that it's doing a great job managing the economy. The fiscal update tells a different story.

Flaherty could demonstrate his concern for deficits and soaring debt by committing any revenue in excess of its projections directly to debt repayment.

Doing so might not make the economic pain any less bearable, but it should shorten its duration.

If the Conservatives hope to fight the next election on their economic record, they'll have to show more backbone in the next budget.

On May 1, real estate mogul Bob Rennie will open the second exhibition at his private museum, which is located in the historic Wing Sang building in Vancouver's Chinatown. The gallery's inaugural exhibition in October 2009 featured the work of Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum. This time, the works are by Los Angeles artist Richard Jackson.

Vancouver's 'Condo King' Rennie is a figure of international significance in the art world, a fact reflected in his recent appointment to the chair of the North American acquisitions committee at Britain's Tate Modern Museum. His art collection includes works by more than 170 artists, 40 of whom he collects in depth.

I visited Rennie's museum last week as part of a photo and video shoot to accompany a feature by Miro Cernetig. The Rennie Collection, its owner told me, contains dozens of pieces of Richard Jackson's work - they can't all be included in the exhibition. In fact, many of them have never even been made. They exist as drawings, as mock-ups, and as ideas.

When you buy a piece of conceptual art, Rennie explained, you buy the concept, not the finished product, and not even necessarily the materials. Although, he told me, laughing, back at home he does have a room full of feathers and a fan - the ingredients of a deactivated artwork. (You have to wonder what kind of special occasion would inspire him to switch it on.)

That's not to imply that the works in the Jackson exhibition are ephemeral. They are indisputably solid objects of real and physical impact. Jackson's Bear series, some of the components of which have been shown at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, are recongizable to anyone as sculpture, though not of the chiselled-marble variety. Massive, imposing and giggle-inducingly whimsical, the life-sized bears stand at what appears to be a row of urinals, holding beer bottles where their bearhood should be.

But not all of Jackson's pieces are quite as portable. Although he works with paint, Jackson does not create paintings as most people define them: works on canvas or board that can be hung, removed, crated and rehung elsewhere. Instead, he extends the way we think about paint by using it to create site-specific installations that are made (or "realized") within the exhibition environment and must be destroyed or dismantled in order to be removed. So what is it that the Rennie Collection "owns" of these works? Only the thoughts behind them: the plans behind the pieces, and the right to show them, if they are called into existence at all. It's common practice for an artist to enlist the help of studio assistants when installing works like these. Sometimes the artist doesn't get involved in it at all, their heavy lifting having been done at the concept stage. But for this exhibition, 71-year-old Jackson has flown up to Vancouver and by opening day will have spent the better part of a month here creating and installing these artworks himself.

In one piece, hundreds of painted canvases are used as building blocks, stacked on top of each other in a massive, stepped sculpture in the centre of the gallery. In Jackson's wall paintings, the canvas is used as a tool to apply paint directly to the wall. As Rennie says in our video, this is an intrusion into the gallery space - and it's meant to be. But rather than scrape it off and whitewash over it when the exhibition ends, Rennie has a plan to preserve the artwork while clearing the gallery walls for his next show: He will simply build another wall in front of Jackson's work. Now that's a new framework for a traditional medium.

Richard Jackson is on display at the Rennie Collection from May 1 to Sept 25. The show is open to the public by appointment - to book a private tour, go to renniecollection.org.

Click on the screen below to see the video.

 

What can the pop star teach business about branding?

In the three years since 16-year-old Justin Bieber was “discovered,” he has released two albums (the first an EP), appeared in several television shows, performed for U.S. President Barack Obama and launched a major concert tour, which lands in Vancouver on Tuesday.

Whatever one might think of his look or sound, that’s not a bad start for a kid who used to busk outside the Avon Theatre in his hometown of Stratford, Ont.

Raised by a single mother with limited financial resources, Bieber is now a multimillionaire and likely to become much wealthier as time goes by. Published estimates put his net worth at US$5.5 million and his earnings at $45,000 a month, but these figures seem low when one takes into account the volume of record sales, his concert earnings and his merchandising and endorsement income.

Since its release last March, Bieber’s My World 2.0, along with his earlier release, My World, have repeatedly topped the Billboard 200 charts, having sold some four million albums at last count in addition to nearly eight million songs digitally downloaded in a year when overall sales are down 11 per cent from a year ago. That makes him a hot property for his label, Island Def Jam. Sales of the record have been getting a boost from his concert tour and so, presumably, does his income.

Successful tours are money-spinners. Consider that Miley Cyrus averaged nightly box office of $1.2 million during her recent tour of 57 dates, and Jay-Z grossed more than $1 million per concert in his Blueprint 3 tour earlier this year.

It goes without saying that some are more lucrative than others. Lady Gaga, according to some estimates, brought in just $31 million from 106 concert dates. Using the more conservative assumption, Bieber should reap proceeds of roughly $22 million for his 75-city tour, given that he is playing some smaller venues. In Regina, for instance, only 6,000 seats were available, with ticket prices at $45 and $65, making it tough to break $300,000 gross for the gig and turn a profit.

After all, there are four dancers, five musicians, four backup singers, the usual army of technicians, helpers and hangers-on, as well as the warm-up act, Jasmine Villegas, all dipping into the same pot.

Of course, these numbers may well understate the revenue potential. We don’t know how much of the staging costs of Bieber’s tour are covered by the sponsor, Xbox 360, which has made product placement part of the act. Neither is it known exactly what return accrues to concert promoter AEG Live.

In case Bieber’s adoring fans (or their parents) needed any more incentive to buy tickets to see the mop-topped heartthrob, Bieber’s handlers have seen to it. Out of each ticket purchased, $1 goes to Pencils of Promise, a charity committed to increasing educational opportunities in the developing world. Bieber has said he hopes to build 15 schools around the world for needy children. It is the perfect marriage of philanthropy and marketing.

And speaking of marketing, a mighty merchandising machine supplements Bieber’s income through sales of T-shirts, posters, hoodies, jewelry, wristbands, baseball caps, lunch boxes, water bottles, buttons, teddy bears and his new book, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever, My Story, all available at the official online store, where orders over $25 receive a free guitar pick inscribed with his name. All of this is handled by an independent licensing agent, Bravado International, a division of Universal Music Group.

In September, Lady Sandra Home Fashions Inc. of Montreal announced a licensing partnership with Bieber to create a line of bedding, bath coordinates and beach towels reflecting, an article in Home Textiles Today said, “the young rock star’s many emotions and states of mind.”

The dominant colour of the collection is purple, apparently Bieber’s favourite.

Bieber’s team comes by merchandising naturally.

His manager, Scooter Braun, is a former marketing executive; and his mentor, rap star Usher has — among other offerings — a line of fragrances including Usher VIP, “a confident, charismatic, masculine scent.”

Of course, the records, tours and merchandise are nothing new. The music industry has been built on this business model. What makes Bieber unique is his use of social media to promote his brand. If media reports can be believed, at any given moment, Bieber accounts for three per cent of all traffic on Twitter. Not only does Bieber deepen his fan base with Twitter, but he has created an asset that can be monetized. His Internet drawing power, for example, led to a deal, said to be worth $3 million, to pitch for Proactive, an acne medicine.

Moreover, as competition in the social media realm heats up, rivals will be anxious to recruit Bieber and other tech-savvy celebrities to their cause — and be willing to pay for the privilege.

Legend has it that Braun saw a video of Bieber on YouTube, tracked him down and flew him to his headquarters in Atlanta where a star was born. Clearly, social media are the bedrock of Bieber’s brief career. It will be fascinating to see whether the Bieber phenomenon survives the frenzy live and online, or fades away, as fleeting as one of his tweets.

After a bright, dry December, Vancouver weather will return to form just in time for Christmas, making spirits ... damp.

There is, however, a one in five chance it will snow this Sunday, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Cindy Yu.

“We probably won’t have a white Christmas,” she said.

Thus far December has received only about six per cent of its usual rainfall. But “that’s about to change,” said Yu, who predicted showers beginning Thursday night to continue through the weekend across the Lower Mainland, with about 20 millilitres of rain per day.

“You’ll definitely need an umbrella, that’s for sure,” she said, adding that she expects the rain to continue into New Year’s festivities.

Once the weather system comes in from the Pacific, she explained, the cloud cover will probably keep temperatures above freezing in Metro Vancouver.

But on Cypress Mountain it’s another story. The mountain had its earliest start ever this year on Nov. 8 thanks to a relocation of the ski hill’s 35 snow guns, said Joffrey Koeman, the resort’s director of sales and marketing.

Temperatures have been “perfect for making snow,” Koeman said.

Rain in Metro Vancouver this weekend means snow for the North Shore mountains.

“It’s just what we asked for for Christmas,” Koeman said.

The sun in opposition to Jupiter—the planet of increase, expansion, excess, and inflation—completes another over-the-top week.

One of the most frequently asked questions we get asked is how to make extra payments on a mortgage without incurring a penalty. In fact, with all the features available on an RBC mortgage, it’s possible to prepay as much as 20% or more of an original mortgage balance each year.

There are a number of options available to help you build your home equity faster and save significantly on interest payments over the life of your mortgage.

• Increase your Monthly Payments – Once in each 12 month period, you can choose to increase the amount of your mortgage payments by as much as 10%, without administration fees, and the increased payment amount goes directly toward reducing your principal.

• Make Double-Up® Payments – RBC Royal bank’s Double-Up® option gives you the flexibility to prepay any amount between 4100 and the equivalent of the principal and interest portion of your regular monthly mortgage payment on any or every payment date.

• Accelerate your Payment Schedule – You can save interest by increasing your mortgage payment frequency. When you select an accelerated weekly or bi-weekly payment option, you are essentially making the equivalent of one additional monthly payment each year which will help pay off your mortgage faster.

• Select a Shorter Amortization – If you choose a shorter amortization period, you can save a lot of money and live mortgage-free sooner.

• Make Principal Repayments – If you choose a closed mortgage, you may prepay up to 10% of the original principal amount of your mortgage once in every 12 month period. The prepayment is applied directly to the principal of your mortgage. You can make a principal prepayment of $500 or more to your open mortgage as often as you like.

Jeff Fraser

RBC Royal Bank T: 604-839-7216

How Can I Pay Off my Vancouver Home Sooner? is a post from: Vancouver Real Estate-Vancouver Homes For Sale

After a 3-1 loss, Vigneault described his players' performance as "terrible".

Eunice Oh got a round of applause when she announced the death of Kim Jong Il to a gala evening of Korean Canadians on Sunday night.

"Every single person got excited about that news," said Oh, the president of the Korean Society of B.C., adding that she thinks the vast majority of Metro Vancouver’s 80,000 Koreans are cautiously optimistic after the North Korean dictator’s demise.

Kangil Choe, president of the National Unification Advisory Council for Koreans in the Lower Mainland, said the news came as a "shock."

That surprise quickly gave way to "what ifs" after he and his church group learned the news Sunday night. North Korea can be a violent, unpredictable neighbour, Choe explained.

"Nobody knows what they’re going to do. That’s our biggest concern," said Choe.

Other questions swirled in the community about Jong Il’s possible successor.

"We are hoping for a more reasonable leader," Oh said.

The dream scenario would be a unification of North and South Korea, a vision many local Koreans share, said Oh.

Choe agrees.

Without help from the international community, North and South Korea "cannot be one again," said Choe. "Hopefully the death of Kim Jong Il is a positive sign."

More Canadians are telling pollsters that they won't be shopping in the United States. Is this linked to growing public anxiety over more open borders?

Fukushima, why you gotta be like that?

Most of B.C.’s Top 10 Firms in 2011 Saw a Share Price Drop – Vancouver Real Estate News is a post from: Vancouver Real Estate-Vancouver Homes For Sale

Are prices up or down? Are listings increasing? Are sales up or down? What’s the average days on the market? What’s the average price? How do prices compare to a year ago. How flexible are sellers on their list price?

2011 vs 2010

Sales are up in 2011, listings have dropped dramatically and prices are also up

October saw a decrease in sales and flat listings compared to September

The Stats

• Listings 19
• sales 1
• days on market 5
• average sales price $1,750,000
• average $psf – 1,128
• list price/sale price ratio 4%
• 19 months of inventory (up from 6 in August)

The Bayshore Drive Buildings

1790 Bayshore – 4 listings

1710 Bayshore – 1 listings

1717 Bayshore – 3 listings

1777 Bayshore – 2 listings and 1 sales

1680 Bayshore –  1 listing

1650 Bayshore –  5 listings

1616 Bayshore – 3 listings

Bayshore Prices range from $899,000-$6.9M

Year to Date Stats vs Last Year

2010- Average Price $1,306,200 . 72 days on the market. sellers moved an average of 5% off list price. 25 sales YTD

2011 –Average Price $1,584,579. 96 days on the market. sellers moved an average of 4% off list price. 34 sales YTD

Buying or Selling in Coal Harbour?

• Check out my Buyer Services and Unique Marketing Proposition for Sellers
• Follow my monthly Coal Harbour real estate market update on this blog
• Check out all the Coal Harbour condo buildings
• I come armed with stats and graphs for the neighbourhood and your building
• Hyperlocal knowledge
• Educate you about the market and the process
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Coupled with decades of Vancouver real estate experience

Vancouver Real Estate Analysis for Coal Harbour’s Bayshore – Oct’11 is a post from: Vancouver Real Estate-Vancouver Homes For Sale

Here are some ideas to keep your favourite traveller on the road.

Director Christopher Petry’s new crime drama Marilyn was made entirely in Vancouver and features some of the city’s finest film talent. It’s only fitting, then, that the flick’s soundtrack is similarly local-minded.