Economic & tourism in Shuswap OCT 2011

Economic Development

The Downtown Community College (DCC) outreach to the rural communities has not been stellar and many of the directors feel that their areas are not being considered enough within the planning of the DCC. Education for adults in the North Shuswap has not been a big issue for the area. There is a case made of poor return for the amount of time/money invested in rural areas. Public interest courses seem to have the most interest in rural areas. Education for employment has not seen a demand in the electoral area, is there a need for employment education courses? The outlying areas are not the only places waning in learning; courses in Salmon Arm are running at 30% capacity showing a lack of general interest in education or a lack of courses that are relevant to the current economy and employment.
CSRD is in the process of reviewing an Agricultural strategy for the Shuswap area and also presently researching what other areas do for their Agricultural Plan. This initiative will be submitted to the board in the 2012 budget for approval. The South Shuswap has an interesting situation cropping up in their ALR near Sorrento. The land is near the lake and residencies and the owner is putting in a chicken boiler barn in their midst. You can imagine the concern from the local people with the smell, waste and disposal of the byproducts of such a business. ALR land is not often thought of in those types of industrial uses and is (I think) generally thought of as a way to keep green areas in a community. The ALR is a very powerful legislation and trumps any local government laws; therefore all ALR lands can be slated for boilers, egg laying, piggery and other agricultural industrial uses. The Director in Area “C” is trying desperately to solve this problem with the provincial government.
Concerns of the economic state of BC/Shuswap area was discussed and what can we do to turn it around. Concerns were; much of the new housing has stopped because of HST, the province has to wake up and do something. Alberta has lots of jobs; booze and gas are cheaper and taxes lower. Competition from the USA is drawing Albertans and other Canadians away from BC; commodities are 30% less. Flying from Bellingham is considerably less than Vancouver, was one instance given.
The lack of rural infrastructure (highway, transit, high speed internet connection, medical services etc) needs to be included should be involved in getting support from Governments. You have to speak up and rattled cages, from the different government heads.
Agri- forestry from the province; has funding for multiple use of forestry and agricultural where they could be used together. An example is sheep grazing in vine yards to keep the grass down – supporting sheep production and the vineyard. Is there any farms that could use agricultural use for forestry production?



Shuswap Tourism
A houseboat tour of Mara Lake was donated by Waterway house boats, to the members of Shuswap Tourism and an introduction of houseboats and the changes that have been made by the houseboat industry was presented by Waterway General Manager – Neil Millar. When pressed about the pollution that the house boats create on the lake; they told us the changes they have made to help prevent or reduce the impacts on the lake from house boats. They now have lock outs on hot tubs so the water cannot be dumped out into the lake, they have removed dishwashers and they can now do round trips without needing pumps outs. There is a difference in houseboat companies in how they deal with waste and their impact on the lake. The type of people on the house boats have calmed down there are not as many wild parties as they used to be. While house boat companies are easy targets to single out by government and non-government agencies about 1/3 of the houseboats are private ownership that have no monitoring, other than themselves, like leisure boats.
Application for funding to support “Experimental Tourism” for a Southern Interior Business Association Committee (SIBAC), with Shuswap Trails Alliance, is being researched. The “Routes & Blues was a huge success by going out in the rural areas in its outreach program. The North Shuswap was the biggest benefactor by having 3 venues in our area, out of five!