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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

As the government of BC continues to allow mega mansions to ‘grow’ on Fraser Valley farmland, the price of imported food continue to increase


BC Stats Infoline, with information from Statistics Canada, had a number of bad news stories yesterday.

First off, retail sales in British Columbia(seasonally adjusted) fell 0.5% in July compared to June.  THIS WAS THE 3rd CONSECUTIVE MONTH OF DECLINES.  With that, I have to wonder what this says about confidence in the BC economy

Moving on to what it costs families in BC to live.  As the government of BC continues to allow mega mansions to ‘grow’ on Fraser Valley farmland, the price of imported food continues to increase, as shown by provincial governments latest update.

Since August of 2017, the price of groceries, purchased from stores, has climbed 1.9 percent. Within the food category, the highest rise in prices was for fresh vegetables (up 5 percent), fresh fruit (+3.9 percent), and fish and other seafood (+2 percent).

All of these just mentioned items are all in season … all being grown and harvested … and yet at the season peak for all of them, prices are rising instead of going down.  

Why? ... because that is the exact opposite of what should be happening!

Other staples and necessities showing price increases, and especially making it difficult for families with children, included housing and accommodations, clothing and footwear, transportation, recreation, fuel oil, electricity, gasoline, along with health and personal care items.

With school age children head back to classrooms earlier this month, you can see how families would be especially hard hit with many of the above items, needed for school, all having price increases.

And finally, more bad news about the BC economy, from the latest BC Stats Infoline report ... this time on the jobs front.

The number of people unemployed, and receiving employment insurance (EI) benefits in British Columbia rose 2.2% in July compared to June (seasonally adjusted), up by 900 to reach 42,570 individuals.

Not the kind of news, or numbers, that John Horgan’s NDP government would be wishing to see; of that I’m sure.

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth, and I hope you’ll join the discussion on this, or any other topic presented here.  Do you agree … disagree?  Post your thoughts in the Comment Section directly below.

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