Northcoast residents have lost income in the thousands over the last five years

General Forums General Chat
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The average family in Rupert between 2001 and 2006 lost on average $6,000 of income, and in some communities like the Queen Charlottes it was even worse," – Skeena Bulkley MP, Nathan Cullen, responding to Statistics Canada numbers that show the median income is dropping on the North coast

Last week Mayor Pond penned an effusive entry for the Northern View, suggesting that things have improved on the North coast in the course of the last five years, a claim which under the hard delivery of government statistics doesn’t seem to match up with his optimistic impressions.

According to the Statistics Canada data from the years 2000 to 2005, the actual drop in income in Prince Rupert has been 12.7 per cent, among the worst performing economies in the province…

( from  the blog a town called podunk,  click on the link below to see the entire article atowncalledpodunk.blogspot.com/2 … 1892    )-

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I think that in some cases, people took a hit in some of the more remote communities because they refused to pull up stakes and go where the money/jobs are. I can’t blame people for wanting to hold onto their way of life/preferred lifestyle but if you want to be in those places (many of which are heavily resource dependent), you have to be able to balance the good with this kind of bad news. That being said, not every rural area suffered downturns over the past six or seven years; some tourist /alt resource areas have seen real growth and good economic situations.

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$2 million in retraining was granted each to Fort St. James and Mackenzie.
There’s nothing in either place to be retrained for…
The people can’t live in the towns, the towns can’t live without the people. Double whammy.

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That’s one of the problems with the north-it’s hard attracting new businesses up there because of the distances involved so when there is a resource based economic downturn and such programs are offered, it almost always involves having the trainees having to move away to get new jobs anyhow…one of the perils involved in wanting to be up north is to try and find a career that is recession proof!