Ridley Terminals, Prince Rupert, BC – North America’s shortest shipping route to China.

China’s emergence as an economic power and the rapid growth of its manufacturing sector has made it a perfect fit as a customer for goods from British Columbia’s resource sectors.

BC Stats took a look recently at the goods exported from the province. For example, did you know the share of BC’s exports shipped to China has increased seven-fold in the last decade, from just over 2 per cent in 2001 to 14 per cent in 2010.

You may be surprised by a couple of other BC Stats findings presented here in these excerpts from their March 11 feature called “Year in Review: A Change in Direction for BC’s Exports.”

Last year, more than $5.1 billion of coal was shipped from British Columbia to destinations around the world. China has provided a new market for BC’s softwood lumber. BC shipped $668 million worth of lumber to China in 2010. That’s more than double the value shipped a year earlier. The growing Chinese market helped push BC’s overall softwood lumber exports up 29.4 per cent last year. But coal is king where BC exports are concerned. In the last three years, coal has ranked first in terms of goods exported from the province, surpassing softwood lumber shipments.

China’s phenomenal economic growth has also had an impact on the economies of countries around the world, not just that of BC.In the last few years, China has surpassed Canada as the leading source for imported goods into the United States. However, Canada remains the top destination for American goods exports. In terms of two-way trade, Canada kept its position as the top trading partner for the United States in 2010. However, Mainland China has gained significant ground in the last several years and now ranks a close second.

Did You Know?

• BC is wrapping up a week-long forestry trade mission to China this week. A delegation led by Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, is promoting BC wood for sustainable housing in China.
• Flickr photo set. Have a look at an energy-efficient wood-frame apartment building, a magnificent western red cedar canopy, a truss factory and wood-frame research centre and more.
• BC Stats publishes a weekly statistical digest called Infoline. Subscribe for free.
• An April 12, 2012 story in The Northern View looks at the impact of increased economic activity at the Port of Prince Rupert since 2009. The value of wages attributed to direct jobs (2,330) has jumped from $80M in annual ages in 2009 to $130M in 2011.

In March 2011, Ridley Terminals loaded ships with 885,770 tonnes of M and T coal, and petroleum coke — up about 40 per cent over March 2010 last year.

Keenan always knew that retail and office work weren’t right for her. With help from the ITA Women in Trades Training initiative, she has found work that allows her to develop marketable skills while exploring her creativity. She loves the tools, the workshop environment, and watching the wood come to life in her hands.  She comes from a long line of carpenters, but she is the first woman in her family to pursue a career in the trades.

Raven, mother of two, tried a lot of different jobs before discovering that a career in plumbing was the right fit for her. She worked as a substitute teacher, payroll administrator, receptionist, care aide and even a hunter before the ITA Women in Trades Training initiative helped her find her true calling.

Keri put everything on hold to take care of her three kids, but when she was ready to go back to work, she decided to pursue her passion and build a career in the trades.

Did You Know?

B.C. is going to need many more trade workers than we currently have.

Where will these workers come from? Females.

• Currently women represent only 3 per cent of trade workers.
• Along with attracting Aboriginals and immigrants to the trades, female trade workers are vital for avoiding a labour shortage.
• The Industry Training Authority (ITA) Women in Trades Training initiative connects women to training opportunities across B.C. with programs providing career counseling, training and financial assistance.
• There are more than 140 trades in British Columbia where you can train as an apprentice.
• Meet Jayme and Carmen. Watch their videos.
• So far more than 200 women, like Jayme, Carmen, Raven, Keenan and Keri, have participated in the program and are on their way to a career in the trades.

Rick Burns with fresh catch and his Pacific Provider, shown here by Lisette Falls, northwest of Bella Coola.

Athletes often identify an Olympic performance as a launching pad for the next stage of their career, but a Vancouver-based fisherman is one of many B.C. entrepreneurs telling the same story about their experience at the Vancouver 2010 Games.

Rick Burns provided pink salmon for “The Canadian Food and Wine Affair” hosted by the Province during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics to showcase and promote B.C. foods and wine.

Legendary Vancouver Chef Tojo featured Rick’s salmon in a sushi dish, which won the Affair’s People’s Choice Award. The delicate and fresh flavours left the audience of 200 chefs, restaurateurs, growers and producers and media wanting and asking for more: more of Rick Burns’ pink salmon, and more information about its award-winning taste.

Investing in freshness
Preserving the flavour of each pink salmon starts as soon as the fish lands in Rick’s boat, the Pacific Provider, but it really began 15 years ago when Rick and his wife Lynn Prestash upgraded their vessel’s hold into a state-of-the-art freezer. Within one hour of being caught, the salmon are cleaned and placed in the freezer where, after four hours, they are frozen to a core temperature of -27⁰ C. The frozen-at-sea salmon retains the same fresh taste and texture as when it is caught, whenever and wherever the meal is served.

“The Canadian Food and Wine Affair placed my pink salmon in the minds and kitchens of some of Canada’s most influential chefs, many of whom were difficult to meet independently,” says Rick. “The Olympic event brought them and our salmon together. Once they tasted the possibilities, their interest and orders soon followed.”

Rick’s menu of frozen-at-sea fish includes much more than pink salmon. Over the years it has included direct sales of Chinook, sockeye, coho and chum salmon at the public fish sales docks in Steveston and False Creek, as well as Chinook and coho salmon to seafood restaurants across the city.

In rare company
On Feb. 18, 2011 Pacific Provider-caught coho salmon was served at the Canadian Gold Medal Plates competition in Kelowna, which celebrates and crowns Canada’s best chef.

Rick attended the competition with the Coho as his one-way travelling companions, and left with another major Vancouver hotel requesting he exclusively supply their kitchen.

“Having our salmon at the Canadian Food and Wine Affair changed everything,” says Rick Burns. “From the perspective of a small businessperson, it was the meal of a lifetime.”

In the year since the Games, Rick’s salmon sales have expanded in Vancouver, as well as to Whistler, Calgary and Edmonton.

In addition to being a mainstay on lunch and dinner plates in Canada and across the world, B.C.’s fisheries are an integral part of B.C.’s economy. More than $757 million of wild B.C. seafood was caught and sold in 2009.

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Provider-caught Coho salmon served at the 2011 Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna last month. Rick’s coho was prepared by Chef Duncan Ly from Calgary and served with duck torchon and the Okanagan’s 2009 Tantalus Vineyards Riesling.

How’s your job? Been at it for a while? Ever dream about doing something different? These women did.

Jayme and Carmen both needed new careers. Jayme was bored in her job at a sporting goods store. Carmen needed more money to support herself and her young daughter.

The problem?

Neither of them could afford to go back to school. The old expression, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” was certainly part of their secret, but Jayme and Carmen tell it better in their own words in these short videos.

Meet Jayme and Carmen, and watch the videos to find out how they changed their lives.

Did you know?

B.C. is going to need many more trade workers than we currently have.

Where will these workers come from?

Females.

• Currently women represent only 3 per cent of trade workers.
• Along with attracting Aboriginals and immigrants to the trades, female trade workers are vital for avoiding a labour shortage.
• The Industry Training Authority (ITA) Women in Trades Training initiative connects women to training opportunities across B.C. with programs providing career counseling, training and financial assistance.
• So far more than 200 women, like Jayme, Carmen, Keenan, Raven and Keri, have participated in the program and are on their way to a career in the trades.

Meet Carmen

Historic Cole Island, located in Esquimalt Harbour, is easily accessible by small water craft from downtown Victoria. Heritage tourism is a growing part of B.C.’s economy.

It’s Heritage Week in British Columbia. Lots happening. Feb. 21-27.

British Columbians are particularly proud of their heritage. Did you know there are  5,200 historic places officially listed on community heritage registers around B.C.?

• Take a fun and educational virtual tour of Heritage BC stops. 100 stops of interest | nine regional tours.
• Time Travel BC. Search for heritage experiences by region or by travel categories.
• B.C. certainly has a rich history. Take this short quiz to test your HQ (heritage quotient or knowledge).

Heritage tourism is growing in British Columbia, particularly in the rural areas, where it bolsters tourist spending and creates jobs.

• Fort Steele Historic Town is estimated to have an annual economic impact to the Regional District of East Kootenay of $11.7 million and provides direct and indirect full-time employment for over 240 residents.

• Barkerville National Historic Site is estimated to create over 156 year-round jobs and $16.9 million of economic activity year-round.

This year the Heritage Week theme is B.C. Parks, in honour of the upcoming centennial of the creation of the first provincial park. March 1, 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the very first provincial park in British Columbia — Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. Learn more. Find BC Parks on Facebook. HelloBC slideshow features 2011 Heritage Week theme. BC Parks recently partnered with BC Heritage Branch and community stakeholders to create Statements of Significance (SOS) for historic places within 11 provincial parks.

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Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park is located in the breathtaking Coquihalla Canyon, significant for its sheer vertical walls and spectacular views. Five former railway tunnels, cut through the solid rock in a straight line, are valued as an engineering marvel and for their location near the convergence of several historic trails. Historic resources in this park include the Othello Tunnels and associated trestles.

1. Where is the house Emily Carr grew up in located? Answer.

a) At the back of the Royal British Columbia Museum.

b) Haida Gwaii.

c) Government Street in Victoria.

2. Barkerville is named after: Answer.

a) Billie Elliott.

b) Billy Barker.

c) Wild Bill Hickok.

d) Wild dogs that roamed in the area.

3. What British Columba town served as the head of navigation for paddlewheel steamers plying the Fraser River? Answer.

a) Tsawwassen.

b) Richmond.

c) Yale.

4. The Hallmark Society promotes: Answer.

a) Collectible greeting cards.

b) Heritage preservation in the Capital Regional District.

c) Major B.C. sporting events.

5. Where is the oldest Chinatown? Answer.

a) Barkerville.

b) Vancouver.

c) Victoria.

6. Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse is a historic site because: Answer.

a) It was the first school to abolish the strap.

b) It was the site of one of Vancouver Island’s first farming communities.

c) It was the site where biologists hybridized the craigflower.

7. The Royal British Columbia Museum has “royal” in its title because: Answer.

a) The Queen owns it.

b) Royal icing is used on all of the cupcakes served in the cafeteria.

c) Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the Royal title upon it in 1986 during a visit.

d) Prince William and his bride will visit it this summer following their nuptials.

8. Winston Churchill made an impact on Victoria’s landscape by: Answer.

a) Suggesting the colour scheme in Victoria’s hanging baskets.

b) Planting a hawthorne tree near Beacon Hill Park along Quadra Street.

c) Loaning his gardener to landscape Government House gardens.

9. British Columbia was the last western province to create a provincial park. True or false? Answer.

10. There is a campaign to have this provincial heritage site named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Which site is it? Answer.

a) The Beacon Drive-In.

b) Barkerville.

c) Craigellachie.

11. RCMP Superintendent Samuel Benfield Steele of the North-West Mounted Police was the first person to camp at Fort Steele. True or false? Answer.

12. James Douglas is the name of: Answer.

a) An actor at Barkerville.

b) The governor of British Columbia.

c) A botanist after whom a fir tree is named.

Answers

1 – c Emily Carr House is located at 207 Government St., Victoria. It is a national and provincial historic site. The house behind the Royal British Columbia Museum was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, a surgeon with the Hudson’s Bay Company who went on to become a statesman and help negotiate the entry of British Columbia into Canada as a province. Helmcken House is one of the oldest houses in B.C. Top

2 – b Barkerville was named after the region’s most successful miner, Billy Barker, who on Aug. 17, 1862, went against the advice of many to try his mining luck around William’s Creek and was proven correct. Top

3 – c In the second half of the 19th century, miners on the Gold Rush Trail provisioned at Yale, which was the head of navigation for paddlewheel steamers travelling the Fraser River. Top

4 – b Top

5 – c While Chinatowns exist in both Barkerville and Vancouver, Victoria’s Chinatown traces its origins back to 1858 and the sudden expansion of Victoria during the Fraser River Gold Rush. Victoria’s Chinatown is a popular area for locals, tourists as well as the artistic community. Top

6 – b Top

7 – c Top

8 – b Every year on Jan. 23, members of the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Vancouver Island gather at the tree to mark the anniversary of Churchill’s death.Top

9 – False. Strathcona Provincial Park was created by the B.C. government in 1911, marking the first Western Canadian provincial park to be created. The park will celebrate its 100th anniversary on March 1. Top

10 ­– b Barkerville Top

11 – False. The Ktunaxa people camped near Fort Steele for thousands of years prior to European settlement. Superintendent Steele is credited with peacefully easing tensions between the Ktunaxa and the white and Chinese settlers who came to the area. Top

12 ­– a and b Incredibly, there really is a professional actor at Barkerville Historic Town named James Douglas. He wrote us after we posted this quiz! See the comments section right below this answer. The other James, of course, is Sir James Douglas. He was a company fur-trader and British colonial governor on Vancouver Island from 1851 to 1864. He is sometimes referred to as the father of British Columbia. In 1858, while still governor of Vancouver Island, he became the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, in order to assert British authority during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, which had the potential to turn the B.C. Mainland into an American state. And for BC heritage trivia buffs, the Douglas-fir fellow’s given name was David. Top

Thanks for taking our quiz. What did you learn? We learned people liked the quiz! Thanks for your participation. Here’s another blog post all about 2011 Heritage Week in British Columbia.

This infographic is a snapshot of 2010. But we all know that the most enjoyable “snapshots” are the ones visitors take with their cameras during their time in Beautiful British Columbia!

Click the image below to see the full infographic of 2010 travel picture. Download a PDF version.

Your comments on this article are most welcome. Find us on Facebook, too.

Did You Know?

• British Columbia has posted its seventh straight month of gains in international overnight visitors, including a jump of 6.2 per cent in people arriving from the U.S., a key market for the province’s tourist industry.
• Figures released Feb. 17, 2011 by Statistics Canada show a 6.6 per cent increase of overnight visitors entering B.C. in December 2010 compared with the same month in 2009 – nearly triple the 2.4 per cent rise across Canada.
• This brings the province’s total increase in 2010 to four per cent, compared with 2.3 per cent for the country as a whole.
• Overnight visitor arrivals from Asia-Pacific countries rose 10.5 per cent in December, compared with December 2009, while entries for the entire year were up 11.1 per cent, representing 806,901 visitors.

Tourism is seasonal, so year-over-year comparisons are used instead of month-over-month. For more information, visit www.tti.gov.bc.ca/research.

From beach to Oyster Bar: B.C. oysters have become part of romantic dinners around the world.

This week, crews from Fanny Bay Oysters will harvest over 200,000 oysters from the pristine waters of Fanny Bay off Vancouver Island. There is a high likelihood the peculiar looking crustacean will play a part in romantic dinners in B.C. and elsewhere.

Fanny Bay Oyster general manager Brian Yip says oyster sales spike about 30 per cent around Valentine’s Day as people create special culinary experiences to celebrate the occasion.

“Oysters are very much part of B.C.’s culinary tourism landscape. Visitors recognize that we produce some of the best seafood in the world, and it is sustainable.”

In addition to tasting great, oysters are great for you. They are high in zinc, calcium and iodine and low in cholesterol.  Indeed, eating an oyster a day will provide close to the daily requirement of zinc, which boosts immunity.

Last year, Yip and about 20 other B.C. oyster producers exported close to $7.5 million worth of oysters. The Comox Valley is known as Canada’s Oyster Capital, and oysters from the region are coveted for their taste derived from the nutrient rich and pristine ocean waters.

International trade is a critical factor in B.C.’s economy, creating both businesses and jobs for British Columbians. Exports of agricultural and fishing products totaled $2.375 billion in 2010, up 3.9 per cent from the year before.

Did you know?

• Modern refrigeration and handling methods have ended the old notion that oysters should only be eaten during the months with “R” in them. B.C. oysters are available year round.

• Where to buy B.C. oysters direct? British Columbia Shellfish Growers Association has a list of places you can buy B.C. oysters in your region.

• An oyster’s flavour reflects the environment it grows in. Tastes range from salty to sweet and may even hint of other flavours such as melon, cucumber and kiwi. For a taste description of B.C.’s oysters, see Pacific Kiss Buyer’s Guide

From shop floor to B.C.’s school districts in time for full-day kindergarten next fall. Modular classrooms are being built in Aldergrove and Kelowna.

A crew of more than 60 trades people in Aldergrove are building a new kind of classroom for B.C. students.

Shelter Industries is working on 138 new bright, open modular classrooms that will give school districts enough space to handle all the new students when full-day kindergarten goes province-wide in September.

“This is a really, really big deal. It’s a big deal to B.C. It’s a big deal to Shelter and we are very happy to have this project,” said Shelter Industries spokesman Rick Munn.

Randy Plewes, project manager for Shelter Industries, described building the $28.5-million classrooms as a “complex project.”

The classrooms are designed to meet the needs of teachers and students, be energy efficient, include wood products, be seismically sound and be able to withstand everything from the rains of Vancouver Island to the snows of Fort St. John.

They are also designed to be moved quickly and easily into areas as shifting school populations demand.

“This is something that’s never been done before,” said Plewes.

The structural integrity means each unit will have a lifespan of about 40 years, the same as a regular classroom.

Shelter delivered the first of the new classrooms February 10 to the New Westminster school district.  The company’s Kelowna plant is going to start producing modular classrooms in about a month as well.

Modular classrooms are part of the Province’s $144.5-million capital plan to provide classroom space  for the approximately 40,000 students expected to enter full-day kindergarten across B.C. in 2011.

Time-lapse video shows modular classroom construction at Aldergrove plant.

• Watch B.C.’s new modular classrooms being built.  Photo gallery.
• Photo of first modular classroom delivered February 10 to New Westminster school.

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Did you Know?

• It will take 200,000 hours for Shelter Industries to produce and install the new classrooms in 25 school districts across British Columbia.
• That translates to seven months of full-time employment for 180 B.C. workers in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Kelowna.
• In March, 2011, Province announced that Freeport Industries of Kelowna will build 30 of the modular classrooms, creating more than 25 jobs for workers in the area. That’s over and above Freeport’s regular full-time employees.
• The modular classrooms have efficient heating and cooling systems and visible wood in 50 per cent of their construction.
• The classrooms have plenty of windows for natural light and cross-ventilation. They’ve also been designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.