Next month, B.C. police could have power to remove people from the street in extreme weather

Jonathan Fowlie
Sun

Police across British Columbia could have the power as early as next month to forcibly move homeless people to shelters during extreme weather.

On Thursday, Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman introduced the Assistance to Shelter Act, which would afford police the power to bring homeless people off the streets when an extreme weather alert is in effect.

The proposed legislation gives police power to use “reasonable force” to get people to the door of a shelter, though Coleman said that once there people will still have the right to decide whether or not they want to go inside.

After introducing the legislation, Coleman said the bill is intended to help save lives of the province’s most vulnerable, though he acknowledged that crafting the bill was a difficult balance.

“This is one of the toughest pieces of legislation I’ve worked on probably in the last eight or nine years with regards to trying to get to a balance,” Coleman said after introducing the bill Thursday morning.

Coleman added he believes the bill might be challenged in the courts, but said he welcomes that as being “healthy.”

“To be honest with you, I think Canadians have to at some point decide whether our emergency service providers, and we as a society, should have some ability to help save a life when somebody is actually putting their life at risk,” he said.

“We just think we need the tool to get them [homeless people] there [to shelters].”

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, raised several objections to the legislation, including a belief some people who don’t want to go to shelters will be put at greater risk because of the law.

“These people will actually hide themselves away from police if they believe they are going to be taken against their will to a homeless shelter,” he said, adding these people could end up in medical distress without being noticed by passers by or outreach workers.

New Democratic Party critic for housing Shane Simpson said the bill ignores the real problem taking place on the streets. “The bill itself accomplishes nothing that needs to be addressed here. It doesn’t deal with housing issues, it doesn’t deal with shelter issues,” he said.

“Nobody wants people out on the street in extreme weather. But I don’t think you do that in a heavy-handed fashion,” he added.

Simpson also said he believes the law could put undue pressure on police.

In a statement, Vancouver police department spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness said: “We share the government’s concern for the safety and well-being of the homeless. We have always taken extraordinary steps during harsh weather to ensure that they have safe and secure shelter, and this winter will be no different.”

If passed, the new law will take effect immediately.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Phil Reimer
Province

Travelling in the shoulder season, which is just before or after the high season, has its advantages. Prices are lower, the crowds are smaller and most people involved in the tourist market are happy to see you.

That was the case last week when I cruised the Mexican Riviera aboard Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas.

It’s been a tough year for Mexican Tourism. The recession and the H1N1 flu have hurt them badly. Although it’s been difficult, Mexicans are optimistic about this winter.

The typical Riviera ports for cruise ships are Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. Our schedule was turned upside down due to tropical storm Patricia, but we managed to visit all three ports.

Mazatlan, according to our guide Umberto, is the music capital of Mexico and, once you hit the Zona Dorada, or Golden Zone, you’ll encounter club after club and wall-to-wall stores. Along the waterfront, as you travel from Old Town to the Golden Zone, are statues that honour everything from Mazatlan‘s pulmonia taxis, which look like golf carts, to one of their biggest employers, Pacifico Brewery.

As in most of Mexico’s coastal cities, walking is the best way to see the old parts of town. The Church of the Immaculate Conception was worth a visit in old Mazatlan.

I didn’t go, but I heard favourable comments about the beach on Stone Island, the Papantla Flyers show and the day trips to the Sierra Madre Mountains and the towns of Concordia and Copala.

When we got to Puerto Vallarta, we had an authentic Mexican food experience. It started with breakfast at La Canoa at Marina Vallarta. It is a simple family restaurant with true eggs ranchero, orange juice, bottled water and coffee for less than $6.

It ended with lunch, typically eaten at 2 p.m., at 8 Tostada, which was only about a five-minute drive from the port. I started with a marlin tostada followed by a Mexican version of bouillabaisse that was loaded with fresh fish.

Between meals, we drove downtown and then to the old section of Puerto Vallarta.

I spent the morning at the Dolphin Adventure Center where you can swim with dolphins. They are truly amazing when you are up close to them. For more details go to vallarta-adventures.com.

The best beach in town is in the Romantic Zone. There is also a pier where you can watch local people fish with nothing more than a line and a hook, no rod or reel needed.

Our final port of call was Cabo San Lucas where Mariner anchored offshore and we tendered in.

While many passengers participated in a myriad of water sports, Mauro Butron from Terramar, a well-known tour organization started by former Vancouverite Kim Clapham, had a different idea.

We immediately took off with him for San Jose Del Cabo that is some 50 kilometres down the main road on the way to Fortuna. San Jose represents the true Mexico.

I avoided the tourist stores as Butron took me to authentic Mexican craft stores such as Negri for ceramics, Veryka for Mexican artisans and Antigua Los Cabos for more authentic goods. All are located in the Mission Plaza.

After sitting and talking in the courtyard at La Panga Antigua restaurant, we enjoyed more Mexican food, this time a meal of delicious chicken mole. We then travelled down a dusty, rutted road to a most amazing botanical garden that featured cacti. Of the world’s 1,500 known cacti species, 800 are grown at the garden which is called Wirikuta.

I blogged every day on this trip so if you are interested to read more about the cacti garden, each port and the ship, then go to my blog at portsandbows.com.

Visit portsandbows.com for daily updates on the latest cruise news. You can also sign up for an email newsletter. Phil can be contacted directly at [email protected].

© Copyright (c) The Province

The two Cancuns provide a taste of the Mayans’ ancient playground

Gary May
Sun

When the Mayans erected their majestic stone cities 1,000 years or so ago, they typically built in the tropical rainforests of Mexico and Central America. Tulum was unique among those cities — the only one that was walled and the only one facing the water.

It’s a fanciful but not entirely unlikely thought that like today’s travellers, the ancients delighted in the region’s shimmering turquoise Caribbean waters, endless beaches and blazing sunshine. Yet its isolation kept Cancun, just north of Tulum, out of the tourist spotlight until the 1970s. Since then, Cancun has grown from a slumbering fishing village into Mexico’s showcase tourist paradise, a destination so varied in its appeal that it offers something for just about anyone’s tastes.

Today there are two Cancuns: the city of half a million built around the downtown El Centro, and the hotel zone, a strip of shining towers that resembles Miami Beach, hugging a spit of land featuring sandy beaches facing the ocean and a palm-laced lagoon to its back.

Second World War American servicemen discovered the area’s splendid opportunities for diving and snorkelling while they were stationed on Cozumel, just off the coast from Cancun. Jacques Cousteau paid a visit in 1959 and declared it a diver’s dream. That, in combination with planning for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, set the Mexican government to thinking. The concept of a mega-resort zone was hatched, and the first upscale hotels built on the beach strip in the 1970s.

Today, the opportunities for adventure — for those who want more than rest and relaxation on the beaches — are endless: you can try parasailing, diving, golf, tennis and deep-sea fishing. Nearby are Mayan archeological sites, little villages where you can find a quiet guest house, B&B and cantina. You can swim with the dolphins and snorkel around offshore reefs or in the world’s largest natural aquarium. Most hotels offer excursions to area attractions and points of interest.

Indoors, entertainment ranges from discos to quiet piano bars, and there are world-class restaurants serving an array of international cuisine and authentic Mexican fare. There’s shopping for all tastes and budgets, with high-end shops stocking designer labels.

Cancun offers more than 150 hotels and more than 25,000 rooms. The most coveted are those from which you can walk out onto your Caribbean-facing balcony and take in the warm sea breezes. Accommodation along the beach-facing hotel zone is generally more expensive than the more modest hotels and guest houses in El Centro. The zone, or strip, offers everything from villas and self-catering condos to five-star hotels, resorts and spas.

While the strip provides a broad range of shopping, the best places to find locally produced handicrafts and art pieces can be found in El Centro.

El Centro is easily and inexpensively reached by public transit or taxi. It has its modern facade, but interspersed there are generous pockets of authentic Mexican culture, entertainment, shopping and accommodation.

The two Cancuns represent separate worlds. Take the food, for instance, served in the area’s 500 restaurants. The hotel strip has ample fine dining establishments as well as family-friendly buffets that let the kids fill up on hot dogs and fries while Mom and Dad indulge in more daring fare. But if you stick only to the hotel strip, you’ll miss the tasty, authentic and economically priced local dishes available in El Centro.

Yucatecan food features plenty of fresh fish, marinated meats and poultry. It liberally employs limes and oranges with unique herbs to bring out all the best in the ingredients. Exciting entrees can be had for well under $10 US. Just hop on a bus that links the hotel strip to El Centro and begin to explore for the treats — and after-dinner entertainment — that await you.

Despite its allure, Cancun has come through challenging times of late. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma wiped out much of the resort’s beaches and severely damaged hotels. The country’s drug-related violence gave some tourists cause to reconsider a visit and earlier this year, Cancun’s police chief was arrested in connection with the torture-murder of a government anti-drug fighter. More recently, several airlines suspended flights because of the swine flu and this summer a hotel was accused of stealing sand to bulk up its beaches, still suffering from the loss of sand in the 2005 hurricane. But reconstruction of the Wilma-damaged hotels is complete, the government is replacing the beaches along the 30-kilometre hotel strip in an environmentally friendly fashion and, in a sign of its confidence in the future, a second airport at Tulum is planned. And while advisories are occasionally released in connection with Mexico’s drug-related violence, tourists are merely urged to take care in choosing their surroundings.

History buffs will want to take a tour to one of the nearby archeological zones such as the ocean-side Tulum, or the sprawling, jungle-bound Chichen Itza, a three-hour trip through the rainforest where you can climb the great pyramid and get a lesson in the highly developed Mayan culture. You’ll hear that after the rainforest cities were abandoned, the vegetation grew so thickly that those who rediscovered the huge stone structures literally ran into them before understanding what they had found.

Along the way, visits to the colonial cities of Valladolid and Merida are well worth the effort. Colourfully dressed Mayan women sell their crafts in Valladolid’s Plaza. Buildings in Merida were constructed from stone taken from earlier Mayan cities. Tours can be arranged from your hotel but if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, staff will help you rent a car.

Cancun offers an abundance of nearby snorkelling venues. Xel-Ha is a salt-water lagoon and the world’s largest natural aquarium, teeming with thousands of multi-coloured tropical fish. There, you can also swim with the dolphins. Offshore are Isla Mujeres and Cozumel, where you can snorkel or scuba dive along coral reefs.

If you’re looking for Cancun’s quieter side, head down the coast to the Riviera Maya where there are still world-class resorts, but fewer of them, and the pace is dialed back a notch. If you want to experience a more Zen-like existence, there’s the modern town of Tulum, where resorts are often off the grid and the architecture might be described as upscale Gilligan’s Island.

Or perhaps you’d like to slip back in time, to catch a glimpse of what Cancun was like before it was transformed into a holiday retreat. If so, head 30 kilometres south to Puerto Morelos, which offers hotels, guest houses and B&Bs in a quiet community of about 5,000.

– – –

BEFORE YOU GO, IT’S GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT

– Weather. Cancun boasts a subtropical climate, with average daytime temperatures ranging from 27 C to 35 C and the landscape bathed in sunshine more than 240 days of the year. It rains more from May to October and there are occasional visits by hurricanes in September and October. Regular offshore breezes make temperatures at the resort more moderate than in the nearby tropical forest, which can be extremely hot and humid, even during January to March.

– Food and water. The purified water available from hotel taps is perfectly safe. It’s advisable to drink only bottled water while exploring beyond your hotel. In the markets and while buying from street vendors, peel all fruits and vegetables and avoid lettuce. Go slow on the Mexican spices and style of cooking if you’re not familiar with it.

– Clothing. Bathing suits should only be worn at the beach and pool. Dress is casual resort wear — jackets and ties are rarely needed. But if you’re headed to the disco, it’s customary to dress up. Most nice restaurants and bars require men to wear slacks, although some allow Bermuda shorts.

– Medical care. Mexico has a nationalized health care system. In Cancun, medical care is close at hand and most hotels have a doctor on call 24 hours a day. No vaccinations are needed to enter Mexico.

– Shopping. El Centro offers plenty of authentic Mexican shopping. Expensive perfume can be purchased for one-third of what it costs in Canada. The hotel strip offers a glitzier, more expensive brand of shopping with plenty of designer labels available.

– Gambling. The only legal gambling in Mexico is sports betting. There are no legal casinos although some resorts hold casino nights in which participants play for prizes.

– Winter break. Families and empty nester couples should be aware that students from Canada and the U.S. flood into Cancun during their winter break weeks, just as they do in Florida, turning the strip into party central.

– On arrival. From the airport, you can take a shared shuttle or private service van or car to hotels. For information call 1-800-317-1921 or e-mail [email protected].

Website: www.cancun-airport.com/transportation.htm

FACTBOX: DID YOU KNOW

– The Yucatan Peninsula was originally inhabited by the Mayans, who were expert mathematicians and astronomers and enjoyed a detailed understanding of the stars and the rotation of the sun. By the time the Spaniards arrived in 1519, their great cities, such as Chichen Itza, had already been abandoned.

– Cancun was identified in the late 1960s as a place well situated for development as a world-class resort. The first exclusive hotels were built in the 1970s, when Cancun was a small fishing village. Today the city has a population of about 580,000.

– Cancun was once called Ekab, or “black earth.” Cancun means “pot of snakes” in the Mayan language.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Provincial government set to announce $500-million project today

Richard J. Dalton Jr
Sun

The aging teflon dome on BC Place Stadium will be replaced by a retractable roof costing up to $500 million, the provincial government is expected to announce today.

The work will be done after the 2010 Winter Olympics, The Sun has learned.

A news release issued Thursday said Kevin Krueger, minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and BC Pavilion Corp. chair David Podmore would be making a major announcement today about the future of BC Place.

The release provided no details about the announcement, set for 9:30 a.m.

Krueger said on Oct. 7 that the province probably couldn’t afford the retractable roof, as bids were substantially higher than the $365 million budgeted for the renovation. Tax revenues have declined because of the recession, and the government has made dramatic cuts to spending.

But Krueger had said the province was considering using private-sector money to help pay for the roof.

“There are private sector people who have strong interest in making sure it’s a retractable roof,” he said at the time.

He wouldn’t address a report that B.C. Lions owner David Braley and Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini had submitted proposals.

Krueger said the individuals were dealing with PavCo, the Crown corporation that oversees the stadium.

PavCo has said it hopes to recover more than $100 million through the sale and lease of land next to the stadium, which could accommodate a total of 1.4 million square feet of residential and commercial space. It was not clear what effect the recession has had on the viability of that plan.

Analysts have said the retractable roof would increase ticket sales, sponsorships and other revenue streams, and double the B.C. Lions’ franchise value, according to Tom Mayenknecht, a marketing and communications executive focusing on sports.

Mayenknecht said a public-private partnership could help Braley because it would grant him more control over stadium revenues, boosting the value of the franchise.

Hints during the summer that the retractable roof was in danger raised concerns that it could threaten the status of the Major League Soccer franchise recently granted to the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

“All of the renovations to BC Place were key in Major League Soccer awarding Vancouver an expansion team,” MLS senior vice-president Dan Courtemanche said from the league’s New York headquarters in late August.

“If things change, we’d have to address that. Clearly it’s something that would be addressed by our commissioner and the league’s board of governors.

The upgrades to the stadium, which include the new roof, were supposed to be completed by the spring of 2011, when the Whitecaps are to begin playing in the MLS.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

One of the greatest side effects of the Olympics is the sleek and silent 26-minute marvel transporting passengers from YVR to downtown

Barbara Yaffe
Sun

It surely is an unusual occurrence to become besotted with a municipal infrastructure project.

But there you have it: I’m in love with the Canada Line.

While never particularly enthusiastic about Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics bid, I now believe the associated inconvenience, costs and even a few minor infringements on civil liberties will have been worth it — because, as a result, we were able to finance the sleek and silent 26-minute marvel that, since Aug. 17, has glided effortlessly from YVR to the downtown harbour.

The city that never had freeways within its limits now, at last, is possessed of the healthy pumping artery it has long needed through its core area, providing a robust 19.2-kilometre, 16-station rapid transit experience that rivals counterparts in Toronto and Montreal.

Our line arguably is more boast-worthy, featuring a link to an international airport; Vancouver is the first Canadian city to offer this convenience.

My initial Canada Line experience came last month when I set off from home to catch a transatlantic flight.

The journey to YVR, by bus and Canada Line, was effortless, saving me $22 over cab fare.

My second flirtation came during an October downpour, waiting too long for a regular bus. I hopped aboard an alternative which took me to the Oakridge Station.

I then zipped — yes, zipped — to the Waterfront terminus, discovering I’d shaved 15 minutes from my commute.

I was hooked.

More recently, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet of the ride — for some reason, passengers are less inclined to use cell- phones — and the complete cleanliness.

A transit official this week appeared on a train, requesting proof of tickets. Everyone complied.

After experiencing rapid transit in Paris and Rome where hideous graffiti is scrawled everywhere — on cars and between stations — the spotless grey Canada Line reveals an impressive civility.

It’s not surprising that just two months after its opening, the Canada Line is at 80-per-cent capacity — 82,000 passengers daily.

This augurs well for future stations, planned at West 33rd, West 57th and Sea Island.

While governments sometimes waste taxpayer dollars, this $2-billion project, four years in the building, shows off government expenditure and cooperation at its best.

The feds anted up $450 million, which arguably they might not have, had Vancouver not snared the Olympics.

B.C. kicked in $435 million and the city, $29 million.

Other contributors: YVR: $300 million, TransLink: $334 million and private partner InTransitBC, owned by SNC-Lavalin, the Investment Management Corporation of B.C., and the Caisse de Depot et Placements de Quebec: $750 million.

The Canada Line came in three months ahead of schedule and on budget, albeit hurting Cambie Street’s business owners.

If there’s a quibble, it’s that the stations, signage and South Korean-built cars are too plain, giving no sense of what sort of city Vancouver believes itself to be.

Subway lines can make valuable contributions to urban personalities.

Toronto, with clean and functional signage and stations, says “I am a clean, safe city.”

Paris, with its curly-Q wrought-iron “Metro” branding, flashes its style.

The Canada Line’s lack of charm results from the fact that “everything was cost-driven,” according to Mayor Gregor Robertson, who came to office confronting a big unanticipated tab for Olympic Village construction.

Once the Games conclude, Robertson should assign a task force to develop a civic-identity branding for the Canada Line, which is fast becoming a terrific source of pride for this city.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Farmers, local politicians argue report is ideological and full of errors

Brian Lewis
Province

The right-wing Fraser Institute unveiled a shocker yesterday — any time your tummy rumbles and you satisfy that craving with locally produced food, you are contributing directly to B.C.’s high housing costs.

No kidding, the think-tank’s news release on its latest study didn’t mince words: “B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserve a Costly Failure Responsible for the Most Expensive Housing Costs in North America.”

According to study author Diane Katz, not only has protecting B.C. farmland from housing and industrial development for the past 35 years triggered very high housing prices, but she says the whole idea of the benefits in producing food locally is a crock anyway.

“The policy failures of the Agricultural Land Reserve and its costly consequences supply ample justification to dismantle the program,” the author writes. “The restoration of property rights and economic freedom to B.C. landowners would have immediate and long-lasting benefits . . . Ultimately the preservation of farmland should be relegated to the private sector.”

As you can imagine, reaction to this study was predictably brisk and brutal in some quarters, and that’s not surprising, given the Fraser Institute ‘swell-earned reputation for never letting facts get in the way of its ideology.

Garnet Etsell, for example, simply laughed when first asked about the paper. He’s chairman of the Abbotsford-based B.C. Agricultural Council that represents the province’s food producers.

“I think there’s a lot of ideology talking in this report,” he said, while trying to suppress a chuckle.

“It says B.C. has the most strict agricultural land regulations in the country but we also have the most mountains and less than five per cent of our land mass is arable,” Etsell tells me.

“Agricultural land here is scarce and, if we don’t protect it, the land will be lost to development. While the Agricultural Land Commission isn’t perfect, we also know that building houses is easiest on farmland.”

Etsell also slams the paper’s views on locally produced food and points out that it conveniently ignores the fact that local producers, such as those in the Fraser Valley, also export just over half their total production.

The chairwoman of the Fraser Valley Regional District, Patricia Ross, wasn’t impressed, either.

“Sure there are some problems with the Agricultural Land Commission, but this study suggests we throw the baby out with the bath water,” she says. “It’s essential we keep the Agricultural Land Reserve, but it does need fixing so it’s less politicized.

“Don’t forget that the Fraser Valley has some of the richest and most productive farmland in the world.

“Unfortunately, this study makes an assumption that the housing market is more important than producing food — and that doesn’t make sense.”

And Rhonda Driediger, who owns the 64-hectare Driediger berry farm in Langley Township, also doesn’t buy the Fraser Institute argument.

“I think the Agricultural Land Reserve is doing what it was designed to do,” she says. “Of course consumers buy local and imported food but there’s a nice balance between the two.

“Nor is everything that’s produced locally consumed locally,” she adds. “I’m actually a net exporter.”

There you go, Fraser Institute — a little food for thought.

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

The land reserve is more about preserving real estate value than ensuring we have things to eat

Steve Lornie
Sun

As governments and citizens of the world endeavour to find ways to lessen our carbon footprint on the planet, there is a tendency to blur the distinction between local food supply as a carbon reduction strategy and that of local supply as a food security issue.

And while there is robust and informed debate on all sides of the carbon reduction issue, food security often gets superficial, though impassioned, treatment, but the signficance of the issue certainly warrants its own informed analysis.

Thanks to reduced protectionism, efficient transport, and competitive markets, Canadians have never had better food choices at lower costs than we do today.

The fact that (to quote Peter Ladner from Business in Vancouver) “the world’s supply of available food has shrunk from a year’s supply a couple of decades ago to five weeks today” shows just how efficient and balanced our free-market system has become.

No longer do we put food in tin cans to sit in a grocer’s warehouse for a year, or rely on turnips moldering in the root cellar.

Instead we can buy fresh food in January, grown in a local greenhouse, or produced by a farmer in a warmer climate.

Like Toyota with their “just-in-time” inventory, we food consumers have enjoyed the benefits of modern cost-effective production and efficient low-cost delivery.

We must stop pretending that “food security” is achieved by growing our own food.

It is not.

Food security is achieved when societies such as ours become wealthy, and it eludes those which do not.

True food security requires free and open markets, accessible by both consumers and producers wherever they may be.

We must also stop confusing the concepts of food security with food safety.

There are only two things these subjects have in common: Both are used by the left to attack free markets, and neither one is a problem worthy of more than our passing attention.

Serious food safety issues are rare, and food security is a cover for other issues (such as protectionism, rent-seeking, land-use issues, etc.) completely unrelated to food.

Those who indulge in an obsessive focus on food security should not ignore the harm it causes others, especially the young and the poor in this country.

One of the most damaging of the food security arguments is the one that supports the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).

This 35-year old legislation has less to do with food security than it has to do with protecting high real estate values and controlling growth in semi-urban areas.

It is a sacred cow that has managed to avoid serious examination.

One can speculate that the popularity of the ALR is due to the fact that 70 per cent of voters in the Lower Mainland are homeowners whose homes have been artificially inflated by the ALR-caused land scarcity.

The other 30 per cent of our citizens (predominately made up of young couples, single-income families, and new arrivals) have been priced out of home ownership, in a large part directly due to the ALR.

True food security comes from having many producers around the world supplying our needs, not from an artificial propping-up of inefficient and non-competitive at-home production.

Don’t slam the door on the struggling farmers of the Third World.

Let them play a role in our food security.

Open access to free markets and free trade is what keeps our food costs low and our supplies secure, not subsidies, tariffs, marketing boards, and poorly thought out land-use restrictions.

Steve Lornie is president of Stonecroft Management, a Vancouver construction management company.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Small and medium firms must choose

Jim Middlemiss
Sun

As of Jan. 1, 2011, small and medium Canadian companies will have to decide what standard to use in reporting their financial statements.

They must choose whether to stick with Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or adopt a global initiative known as the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).

Publicly-traded companies don’t have an option: They will be required to use IFRS.

While 2011 might sound far away, it’s not. The real legwork for those who want to — or must — adopt IFRS will take place in 2010, say lawyers and accountants.

That’s when companies must start tinkering with their accounting systems and preparing to produce statements that meet the seal of approval created by the International Accounting Standards Committee and adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board in a bid to bring harmony to the world in financial reporting.

“The next six months is pretty crucial for a lot of private companies,” said Tahir Ayub, leader of the Alberta private company services practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“A lot of private companies who haven’t really thought about this should be talking to service providers to discuss which option best fits their circumstance.” Robert Young, a partner in KPMG’s national assurance and professional practice, said the changes will be noticeable.

“IFRS is going to be a more expansive accounting framework to maintain. There are more fair value measurements. It’s more complex and expensive to generate financial statements under IFRS. They are much more detailed than they are under private Canadian GAAP.” Whether or not a company should convert depends on who it does business with and who uses its financial statements, experts say.

“If you are doing business domestically only at this point in time, I don’t see any economic or business factors that would drive you to adopt IFRS,” Mr. Young said.

If you have operations across the globe or are doing business offshore, the standard provides “a common accounting language that is streamlined and makes it easier to assist you,” said Sal Bianco, a partner at PwC in Toronto.

“If you expect to be accessing capital from lenders other than in North America, there is a much stronger probability that the only accounting framework they will find suitable is IFRS,” Mr. Young said.

Adopting the standard may also be beneficial to firms that benchmark themselves against public companies or European or Asian companies, he added.

Simon Romano a lawyer at Stikeman Elliott in Toronto, said a company’s holdings should also be a consideration. Adopting IFRS now “may assist with the future sale of a business by a buyer who uses IFRS,” he said. It may also help if “you later go public.” Mr. Romano also noted that companies may be required to adopt IFRS if they want to continue doing business with lenders, customers, suppliers or credit parties that are adopting it.

But he warned that adopting IFRS is complex and companies will incur transitional costs.

Mr. Young agreed, adding that companies might need to renegotiate some contracts or bank covenants. For example, a company bonus plan for employees could be affected.

“Net income will probably be more volatile than under historic Canadian GAAP,” he said. “I would only go there if I perceive a business benefit of doing it.” In the end, the switch might be inevitable even for small businesses, Mr. Young said.

“In 10 years, I would expect that Canadian private companies will be using an accounting framework that is going to be a lot closer to IFRS than it is today.

How close, time will only tell.”

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Transit system will be pushed to limit but we have a plan: Officials

Damian Inwood
Province

A fleet of 180 transit buses will be ready to ride to the rescue if Metro Vancouver’s transit system overloads during the Vancouver 2010 Games.

And if the Sea-to-Sky Highway is blocked by a major rock slide, B.C. Ferries vessels will be on standby to shuttle Olympic traffic to Darrell Bay, near Squamish.

These are two of the measures to stop traffic gridlock that were outlined Wednesday in a detailed briefing on Olympic transportation.

While Doug Kelsey, the region’s Olympic transit planner, said he’s confident the transit plan will work, he cautioned people to be ready for delays during the Games.

“There are going to be lineups,” he said. “To think that everyone’s going to get on a bus or a train and there won’t be lineups at different points of time is not realistic. The system will be taken to its highest level ever.” Expanded transit is a key element in the 2010 transportation plan, which was unveiled in detail Wednesday.

It includes times of road closures, the introduction of Olympic lanes, parking restrictions and a vehicle checkpoint on the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

To prevent downtown Vancouver being gripped by gridlock, it’s imperative to get 30,000 cars off the road every day of the 17-day sporting event.

Kelsey said transit planners learned from previous Games and decided to put the 180 new buses at different points across the Lower Mainland and keep some in reserve if the system chokes up.

“In case of [passenger] surges, mechanical breakdowns, weather issues — there’s a whole menu of things — we’ll deploy those,” he said. “If Vancouver has significant stresses downtown, we might have ‘turn-backs.'” That might mean that buses can’t get into the downtown core.

Kelsey said commuters should plan for trips to take longer during the Olympics.

“If you have tickets for opening ceremonies and you think you might do what you do for a normal Vancouver Canucks hockey game and walk down there while they’re singing the anthem, you’re going to miss your event,” he warned.

Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem said she’s “confident” that there won’t be gridlock during the Games.

“We know that a successful transportation plan is fundamental to the perception of the success of the Olympics,” she said.

Ballem said that 150,000 extra people are expected to flood downtown on any given Olympic day, more than the 125,000 residents who live there.

“We have a public information plan starting on Oct. 19 to help our citizens understand that they will have to make plans and will have to change how they do things,” she added.

Terry Wright, 2010’s boss of Olympic services, said officials are still fine-tuning transportation plans for the Feb. 12 opening ceremonies.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck day,” he said. “It’s a day when all the media wants to come, where we bring all the athletes in, where we have the stadium full of spectators and we have our sponsors, all of our international dignitaries, heads of state and so on.” Wright said the busiest place during the Games will be the east end of False Creek, where GM Place, B.C. Place, the Olympic Athletes Village and two party plaza sites are located.

Keeping the Lions Gate and the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows bridges open are key pieces of the plan.

Supt. Kevin deBruyckere of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit said a lot of work is being done to prevent the lengthy bridge shutdowns due to suicide attempts.

He said putting nets under the bridges, similar to those used in San Francisco had been considered.

“We’ll have a significant increase in uniformed, visible policing presence at or near the bridges,” he said. “Hopefully, that will provide a strong deterrent.” Mike Proudfoot, assistant deputy transportation minister, said that nets won’t be used during the Games, but are being studied as a future measure.

They would cost “tens of millions” to install, he said.

© Copyright (c) The Province

Closures make getting around difficult

Damian Inwood
Province

1. In Metro Vancouver the best bet is to leave your car at home. Rush hour will become crush hour and will start earlier and end later during the Games. Olympic organizers recommend taking transit, car-pooling, using bicycles or walking in order to reduce traffic by 30 per cent or 26,000 vehicles. Travellers are encouraged to travel into downtown Vancouver before 7 a.m. Or after 9 a.m. and leave before 2 p.m. Or after 7 p.m. Information can be found on www.travelsmart2010.ca

2. A vehicle checkpoint on the Sea-to-Sky Highway at Alice Lake runs northbound from Feb. 11 to 28 in peak hours. Permits are needed to travel north of Squamish between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Two permits will be issued per residence and permits are transferable. They’ll be needed by property owners and guests, renters and guests, hotel guests, employers and employees, commercial vehicles and through traffic. People travelling outside peak hours don’t need a permit, nor do southbound vehicles. Permit offices will open next month in Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton.

3. The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts close Feb. 5, a week before the Games start. First road closure is on Nov. 1 on a new road at 1st Avenue, cutting through the Olympic Village. Other phased- in road closures start on Jan. 1. Roads around the main media centre at Canada Place start closing on Jan. 27 to allow an estimated 13,000 media to get in and out on buses. Expo and Pacific Boulevards will close Jan. 29.

4. Olympic-only lanes start Feb. 4 and run to March 1. For example, restricted lanes will be in place in both directions on curb lanes along Hastings Street from downtown to the PNE.

Only accredited vehicles, transit buses and emergency vehicles will be allowed to use them. Major downtown parking and no-stopping restrictions come in on Feb. 4 and run until March 1.

5. Bus hubs will be set up in Vancouver, Burna-by and on the North

Shore to get spectators to the mountain venues.

Buses will cost $25 return to Whistler and $12 return to Cypress Mountain.

Trips can be booked online starting Nov. 24. People going to Whistler Olympic Park and the Whistler Sliding Centre will bus from BCIT’s Burnaby campus and Lonsdale Quay, while spectators going to watch the downhill at Whistler Creekside will leave from Langara College.

Cypress Mountain spectators going to watch snowboarding or aerials will leave from Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus, Capilano University or Lonsdale Quay.

6. Get ready to lose some sleep as deliveries will be allowed 24 hours a day in downtown Vancouver, with the preferred times between midnight and 6 a.m. In Whistler Village, deliveries must be made between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Temporary truck routes are planned downtown on Hastings, Nelson and Smithe streets.

7. A pedestrian corridor along Hamilton Street, linking the city’s two live sites at David Lam Park and at Georgia and Cambie, will be in place between noon and midnight starting on Feb. 12 and running until Feb 28. Cross-streets will be open and bicycles and pedicabs will be allowed.

8. Plan extra time for any journeys. Transit officials predict lineups at bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus and WestCoast Express stops and terminals. Olympic officials say it’s common to sit inside an Olympic event for three hours before it starts.

9. Downtown Vancouver is not considered a “red zone” and businesses and homes are accessible during the Games. For example, the Costco next to GM Place will be open for business.

10. Extra transit and longer operating hours are geared to make buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus and Westcoast Express a viable alternative.

Millennium and Expo Lines will run from 5:15 a.m. to 1:15 a.m., while the new Canada Line will run from 4:50 a.m. to 2:15 a.m.

The NightBus service will be extended to run around the clock and the last regular bus will leave downtown Vancouver at 3 a.m.

The B.C. transit fleet in the Sea-to-Sky corridor will triple from 39 to 135 buses.

© Copyright (c) The Province