LOOK BACK: Telus announced plans to spend $1 billion building out a new high-speed fibre optic network in Vancouver, B.C.'s Aerospace sector warned cancelling Canada's order for F-35 fighter jets would cost it hundreds of millions in future contracts, and the company planning to build the Douglas Channel LNG project in Kitimat said it would delay a final investment decision pending its appeal of a $100 million duty on a floating LNG plant it was having built in China.
The cost of demolishing the Dunsmuir and Georgia Street viaducts has jumped to over $200 million from $130 million, but after two years of studying the plan, Vancouver city planners said they are more confident than ever that removal is the best option. Planners said the viaducts are vulnerable to an earthquake and estimated it would cost $60 million and $65 million to give them seismic upgrades. Removing the viaducts would open up an additional two blocks of city-owned land that could be developed into housing, planners said.
Promise to ditch fighter program takes flak from B.C. aerospace sector
B.C.’s aerospace industry is putting out a mayday call, warning that Justin Trudeau’s campaign promise to scrap Canada’s participation in the F-35 fighter jet program will cost the Canadian aerospace sector jobs and hundreds of millions in contracts. Canadian aerospace companies have landed $750 million worth of contracts from Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) on the F-35 program. Kevin Russell, vice-president for Asco Aerospace Canada Ltd., which has $40 million worth of contracts to build titanium and aluminum bulkheads for the F-35 stealth fighter jet, said without Canada’s participation in the F-35 program, companies like his might not win future contracts. “If Canada ends its participation, then there’s a lot of pressure on Lockheed to award those contracts to participating countries,” Russell said.
Telus to spend $1 billion on high-speed network
Telus (TSX:T) has unveiled plans to spend $1 billion connecting its high-speed fibre-optic network to most of Vancouver, a plan the company’s CEO, Darren Entwistle, said would deliver speeds that would “dramatically change our society.”
He said gigabit Internet speeds would allow users to download giant files more quickly, connect patients with doctors through online video without delay and lure tech companies to Vancouver. Telus said it plans to connect 400,000 homes and businesses in Vancouver with gigabit Internet over the next five years.
Sake maker fights for equal treatment
When it comes to alcoholic beverages, B.C. is best known for its wineries and craft beer breweries. But Masa Shiroki broke new ground in 2007 when he started B.C.’s only Japanese sake winery on Granville Island, and more recently he began growing rice in Abbotsford and Surrey. But Shiroki has found the sake business an uphill battle due to provincial liquor laws, which prevent him from getting the same breaks that wineries do because the rice he grows is not adjacent to his winery, which might mean he will have to close his Granville winery and relocate it next to one of his rice fields.
Dispute over floating LNG terminal delays investment decision
AltaGas Ltd. (TSX:ALA), one of the partners in the Douglas Channel LNG project in Kitimat, said it would delay a final investment decision pending an appeal of a $100 million duty the federal government plans to slap on a floating LNG plant the company is having built in China. The 25% duty was originally intended to protect Canada’s small shipbuilding industry. But as Chamber of Shipping of BC president Stephen Brown pointed out, just because it floats, doesn’t mean a floating LNG terminal is a ship.
