Improved access to Maple Ridge, together with our relative afford ability and forecast population and job growth are among the reasons cited by the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN) when naming us '2010 - 2015 # 5 Top Canadian Investment City' REIN

British Columbia's unemployment rate dropped last month, as the Canadian economy created more jobs than economists expected in December.

Statistics Canada says while employment numbers stayed the same in B.C., the unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 6.5 per cent.

British Columbia could emerge as the world's second largest exporter of liquid natural gas if all its proposed LNG projects are developed, a Conference Board of Canada report suggests.

In the short term, Canadian gas production is expected to decline due to low market prices and a glut of cheap United States gas. This is deterring drilling activity all over North America- which is bad news for B.C.'s treasury because it means less royalty revenue to be collected by the province.

OTTAWA — Canada’s largest private sector bank is taking a relatively bullish stance on the prospects for the economy going forward.

The Royal Bank’s latest quarterly outlook predicts growth will accelerate to 2.4% next year and continue to expand to 2.8% in 2014, following a year that saw the weakest growth since the recession and a virtual stall in the third quarter.

The forecast is slightly rosier than the Bank of Canada’s call for 2.3 and 2.4% growth in the two years, and even more at odds with the consensus forecast of 2.0 in 2013.