This was last year's list

1) Surrey
2) Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows
3) Abbotsford
4) Kamloops
5) Kelowna
6a) Dawson Creek
6b) Fort St. John
7) Comox Valley
8) Penticton
9) Vancouver
10) Prince George
11) Vernon
http://www.reincanada.com/press-releases-view/articletype/articleview/articleid/127.aspx

Interesting to see that there is a criterium specifically for Surrey. kind of strange.

Vancouver 'hosts' 20,000 drug addicts, and is a magnet for every wacko and criminal in the country (and a lot of 'guests' from other countries currently encamped at the Art Gallery). Everyone knows how business unfriendly Vancouver has become, adding just 46 new business licences from 1998-2010. BUT WE FINALLY BEAT THEM THIS YEAR.

House prices are very low here compared to any of the towns in the list. A house in PG is a bargain, even compared to Hinton, Edson, Merrit or just about any place you can think of in BC or Alberta.
Sooner or later the prices have to rise I would guess to match every other town.

Prices will only rise when there is a demand for them. With a shrinking population there doesn't seem to be much of a demand lately.

Based on the report factors, I'm surprised that PG is as high as 10th! It doesn't seem to meet any of the criteria.

Doesn't really matter what the house price is if there is not any employment available.
Look at places like Las Vegas and Phoenix. House prices are close to 1/2 what a comparable would be in PG but there is no influx of people just because housing prices are low.
Unless you like the winter months, somewhat rainy summers, grubby unkept streets, air pollution, PG will certainly not be the city of choice for residence. Of course PG does have a big new runway at the airport but then again how many of us own airplanes.

Hey everyone - here's some positive news about PG. Lets all kick ourselves in the teeth now and reinforce our low self esteem!!

We need city hall to get in gear and promote PG as a great place to have a business. We have all the resources and transportation needs that any company would want!

I think point 4 should be Prince George, not Srrey. A print error.

Twinbell91 I agree with you except we pay more taxes here and it is continually getting worse. Another 2% + increase in garbage pickup and that is only the beginning. Another gift from our departing Mayor and council.

IMO, shouldn't the Chamber of Commerce be trying harder to sell the merits of PG? Isn't that part of their job? Instead they take the opportunity every three years to ask old and newbie candidates how to do the job? As for the IPG, IMO, they seem to attract more tax payer funded projects than real people funded ventures. Kudos for a couple of hundred phone jobs. They sure have a swell website. With the multitude of containers going to and fro from our rail yards, how much hard currency is being returned to the vault under city hall in respect to this added "business"? Be specific. (Spin will be noted.)

I agree with Johnny Belt. PG doesnt seem to fit any of the criteria to any great degree. These reports seem to be in contradiction to the action on the ground.

In any event at the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves. If we ;meet all the criteria, and have done so for a number of years, where is the business, and where are the people.

Very few of either have come to town for a hell of a long time. Lets try to deal in some specifics, and talk about **new** business, as opposed to **new** Government Projects.

I have not heard of any business that is chomping on the bit to locate here. I have heard politicians of all strips talk about how we have to be more business friendly etc; etc; etc;, however nothing specific.

Look at this this way. PG is on a list.

So what is the list?

A list put together by the real estate industry for investment in REAL ESTATE. Nothing more.

So, if you wanted to invest $600,000 in an apartment building and leverage a mortgage of 70% of purchase price ($2million) where would you do it?

According to that survey I would try to find a location in 9 other places first before I would try PG. In fact, I would try to get a better than a 70% mortgage so that I use less of my money and get a better return on net investment. The further up the ladder one goes from Surrey at the moment, the higher the risk and the less likely a bank will consider that proposal.

We are still not Kamloops, Kelowna, or the Peace.

Kelowna is losing ground as is Vernon, which is a good sign, for us in PG at least.

I noticed someone opened up a new Fabricland in the Hart Mall and the whole mall looks on the up and up now....

What? Not downtown with a tax break? Wow!

The reality is this. Housing prices will not increase in PG until demand increases. Demand will not increase until their are reasons for people to move to PG. (jobs)

There will not be more jobs until more businesses find reasons to set up shop in PG. So, in the end, we should be spending much more of our time and resources attracting more businesses to set up shop in PG.

So, how have we been doing in this area? Mayor, Council Members? How have we done? Do you really believe that if we do more of the same things we have been doing will change the outcome? If so, keep voting for the same people to run our city.

If on the other hand you are a little disillusioned about our progress, maybe you should consider changing the guard? This isn't rocket science. Is it fear of the unknown? Or, is it settling for the devil we know?