Eighties Economy

Still looking the era of the eighties, we see by graphs - none of which I have to show you -that while most Vancouverites do not work directly in the resource extraction industries, it does affect all of us. During this decade, $17 billion in exports left BC ports and those came primarily from the industries of forestry, mining, fishing and agriculture. 

The service industry made up 70% of the BC economy in 1989. This industry first rose to cater to the people who had come to BC to extract its natural resources. Gold and coal miners, fisheries and forestry workers dominated the early economy of the province. And someone had to supply them.

When the gold rushes started and men came to parts of BC to make their fortune, the really smart ones were those who started businesses to supply the miners. Those miners may not ever find their gold but they still needed supplies.

In 1969, the "goods producing" sector, consisting of resource extraction industries plus manufacturing, construction and utilities made up 40% of the province's gross national product. Twenty years later, in 1989, that level had dropped to 30%.

The "service producing" sector continued to grow in importance and approached the $50 billion level in 1989. Included in this sector is the tourist industry, which was greatly increased by Expo 86.  The revenues from that alone reached $4 billion. A breakdown is as follows: Public Administration and Defence, under $4 billion; Transportation, Communication and Storage, almost $7 billion; Wholesale and Retail trade, over $8 billion; Finance, Real Estate and Insurance, $13 billion; and Community Business and Personal Services, over $15 billion.   

A breakdown of the good producing sector is as follows: Construction, less than $5 billion; Other, about $6 billion - this represents the combination of mining ($1.9 billion), utilities ($1.8 billion), forestry and logging ($1.7 billion), agriculture ($0.6 billion) and fishing and trapping ($0.3 billion). Manufacturing, which includes sawmills and pulp mills was almost $10 billion.

Following the 1981 recession, the provincial government was under the leadership of Bill Bennett. Bennett recognized the importance of diversifying our economy and making BC less dependent on a single factor such as resource extraction.

Bennett invited foreign investors to place their money in BC. Asia answered Bennett's invitation and in the 3 years between 1988 and 1990, Asians invested a total of $6 billion in the province. During the same time period, an economic downturn struck most of the rest of the county. Thanks to some quick thinking, BC got through the recession of the late 1980s with relative ease.

Thanks to the book, Vancouver, a Visual History by Bruce Macdonald for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Mining Towns

Built in 1907, this home is at 2162 Ontario Street.

Frank Everett Woodside (1874-1954) lobbied hard in 1910 for Hastings Town site to sever its ties with Burnaby and amalgamate with Vancouver. Woodside was successful and became the first alderman for the district, serving from 1911 to 1928.

Leaving home at the age of 16, Woodside went to work in the mines of Colorado. At the age of 32, he returned to Canada, settling in Rossland, BC, to work in the mines there from 1896 to 1902. It was during this time that Woodside became the secretary of the Western Federation of Miners. Woodside pushed Premier Semlin to pass the province's eight-hour day labour bill in 1898.

Woodside had a 60-year mining career and during that time, he held a variety of mining interests in B.C. He suggested that a number of streets in this new district take the names of  B.C. mining towns, partially to show gratitude for the role that mining in the interior played in pulling the province out of bad slumps in the 1890s and 1900s.

These houses are at 2016 and 2022 Ontario Street. Both were built in 1908 and the first resident in 2016 was a machinist by the name of Alex Fraser followed by Elias Harris. An asbestos dealer by the name of William Crause first resided at 2022.

Woodside got his wish, which led to naming certain streets in the Hastings area after mining towns:

Atlin (The Atlin Mining Division), Cariboo (Cariboo Mining Division), Cassiar (Cassiar Mining Division), Kamloops (Kamloops Mining Division), Kaslo, Kelowna, Kootenay (Kootenay Mining Division) Le Roi (the Le Roi Mine, Rossland), Lillooet (Lillooet Mining Division), Nanaimo (Nanaimo Mining Division), Nootka, Renfrew, Rossland, Rupert (Rupert Mining District), Slocan (the Slocan Mining Division) and Windermere (Windermere Mining Division).

Later streets in the area were named after B.C. towns such as Hazelton (1927) and Skeena (1950). There is also the street Penticton but there is more of a story to that one.

Although it may seem that naming Penticton after the town was planned since Kamloops is on one side and Slocan is on the other, that isn't so. The street we call Penticton today was originally Clinton - after the Clinton mining district - and you can still see that name stamped in some of the sidewalks. Penticton is an Okanagan word meaning 'the always place'. (The street name changed in 1950)

Once again I would like to thank Bob_2006 at flickr.com for the information on the houses and the book Namely Vancouver by Tom Snyders and Jennifer O'Rourke for the street naming information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Frank Everett Woodside, Hastings Town Site, Penticton, British Columbia