BC's shipping Business
I was looking out over English Bay this afternoon and saw something: 10 freighter's sitting in Burrard Inlet waiting to unload shipments. none of them moved out of the area for about 2 hours...none of them moved into the unloading docks in the east end.

But this isn't uncommon.

On any given day you will see many ships in the harbour waiting to offload shipments of all kinds. Why? Why are there backups in our harbour? There is a billion dollars a day that goes through vancouver's harbour, and yet there might be double or more that amount sitting to be offloaded. why is there even hesitation on the part of the province and federal government to approve the 4th loading dock for Vancouver? There should at least 2X as many offloading docks. Why? Why not? Vancouver could be the hub of shipping from Asia and increase the amount of high paying longshoreman jobs. There will be more and more businesses that would locate to vancouver. not only that:

1) more tax revenue
2) more ability to ship to asia
3) it makes vancouver ever closer to asia
4) more high paying jobs
5) more infrastructure for trade
6) cuts down on the amount time that businesses have to hold inventory
7) tightens up the supply lines

Why does Chretien even balk at the amount of money needed for the new convention extension at Canada Place and the new offloading dock? The return on investment for vancouver and yes, businesses all over canada would be huge.

Why stop there, though? Prince Rupert, Vancouver and New York have the largest natural deep sea ports in north america.....now vancouver is basically the focal point to the east, as all canadian shipping is done through that point, there is more than enough justification for putting money into the infrastructure of Prince Rupert as well. The northern economy is sagging after the softwood tariffs and rupert is no exception with skeena cellulose closing down...but there is opportunity for Rupert to become the end of the line for albertan and bc's growing oil sectors...northern alberta has loads of oil that could be more cheaply shipped from Rupert as there is an existing natural gas pipeline from Kitimat to alberta...piggybacking the pipeline you could have brand new oil distrbution point at Rupert...Anyways, there is a lot of potential for rupert as a shipping centre....especially since the mackenzie pipeline has been making some serious steps towards becoming a reality...

Western Capital Markets
since time began, the western half of north america has had to bring ideas, presentations, persuasive business men, connections and money to get the capital markets of the east to recognize the great advancements and put money into the west. the question is why aren't the western states and provinces able to do that on their own?

Why can't the western half have its own capital markets, made up of the largest companies of the west coast? why does it take years for great western businesses to make it on the TSE, NYSE or Nasdaq when they could be fully capitalized out west. The VSE and ASE stuck their necks out too far for the TSE to take notice...no, no! they said. we have to have all the money centralized into one big exchange or canada will not have a viable market.

maybe. maybe it does cut down on waste, duplication etc...or, its also possible that the eastern establishment did not like seeing the VSE and ASE raising their own capital away from Bay St. They saw an opportunity to take listings away from the west and put them all under the watchful eye of the Canaccord, RBC, BMO, Nesbitt, etc... Let me ask the question: if the western firms now incorporated into the TSE were needed "for their own good" to be listed under the TSE banner, why weren't they listed there before? why did these rational actors choose Vancouver or Alberta for listing their companies? obviously, they thought they were better served by the western markets.

and why not? durning the 1930's alberta had to scream for toronto to hear that the oil had been struck and was spilling from the ground. did they get anybody on bay st. listening? nope. but the US was.Now its the 2000, alberta oil is still undercapitalized, but mostly being financed by american firms. What the hell happened?Personally, i believe the western states, including california, nevada, oregon, washington, idaho,etc and the western provinces of alberta and BC could make a killer exchange of western companies. From silicon valley and seattle right up to the northern gas fields of alberta and BC. mind you, most of the silicon valley firms are not going to delist from the NYSE or Nasdaq, so we would just be looking at the additional listing of a western exchange.

So why the push though? why now? what has changed? Several variables lead me to think it would be a great idea.

1) canada is divided anyways. the new corporate HQ of Canada is in Calgary, which has the most and newest company HQ in canada. not toronto. calgary. and its a loooonnngg way from calgary to TO. Different attitudes, work ethic and views towards government.
2) our population base: the columbia basin, which runs from the interior of BC to oregon is the fastest corridor of population anywhere in north america. The comox valley was the fastest growing region of canada last year and continues to be a hot growth centre. otherwise, the major centres of vancouver, calgary, edmonton, seattle, San Fran, portland and LA all constitute major trading routes that bind. Contrary to what that pretender Ralston saul says, most trade is north-south, not east west.
3) our companies. The west is at the forefront of the biotech technology. according to the economist, canada has the second most amount of biotech firms on earth (about 420 or so) second only to the US with 1400. There are so many hot biotech and tech firms in bc, we warrant an exchange right there. QLT and Creo are just the beginning....ballard power, questair and a host of others need proper capitalization that cannot be done by trying to convince the eastern tunnel vision in ontario. South of the border, we have microsoft, silicon valley and a host of others...
4) time difference. This may sound silly, but regular people attempting to make trades will not wake up 3 hrs early to hit the morning bell in the east at 6am PST. for most people this is way to early. by the time they hit the office, have some coffee and make a trade, its almost noon back east. this is three hours that the west has no time to trade...out of an what? 7 1/2 hr trading day? we get screwed.
5) growth potential. Alberta is primed for continued growth in oil as it has more reserves than Saudi Arabia. but will the east see this? no. never has. never will. BC is making a valiant effort for the offshore oil and its mining sector will be up and running shortly (remember the pre-ndp days? mining was a driver of the economy). Our lumber is struggling, but the removal of tariffs will help. with tax cuts, right wing governments and a cooperating world economy (japan is beginning to get back on track) the west is brimming with potential. we have more growth, more people, more resources and better pro-business government than most of canada, and its similar in the US......except for that idiot gray davis who is doing nothing for california or the west coast in general.

Overall, there is enough population, infrastructure (the old VSE trading floor is still around), money and resources to make it happen. the junior market is not enough. the west needs a decent capital market.