Today, I braved a day away from the office to attend the VBT British Columbia Economic Forum at the Wall Centre with my friend Suzanne Scott (who I met at the recent excellent Women’s Campaign School). David Emerson and Gordon Campbell gave the breakfast & lunch keynote speeches respectively – and while admittedly rallying the troops and preaching to their converted/core (blue chip business crowd), I nonetheless thought they both came off as innovative thinkers & deeply committed to the success of BC. A unifying theme on the upcoming federal and provincial agendas is a big focus on Asia, i.e. “to more effectively leverage BC’s close proximity to the emerging economies of China and India to drive future economic growth in an increasingly competitive global market.” A panel on the current real estate market, moderated by the always gracious Graeme Stamp, was fun with the always on optimism and charm of top realtors. And, yes, Ozzie Jurock, Gordon Maroney (BCREA), Georges Pahud, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver predictably announced that it’s still a great time to buy. Although, Ozzie did concede that downtown condos have probably had their day in this cycle. The word is cash flow is where it’s at, which can only be had these days in places like Mission, Dawson Creek, Fernie, Prince Rupert. In 2004, there were 96,300 homes sold in BC and 28 billion dollars changed hands, with an average home price of $280,000. In our lovely Yaletown neighbourhood, for anything under 300k you’ll be lucky to get a condo slightly larger than 500 square feet, sigh.