Government policies were much on the minds of Western Investor readers in 2023, but the most-read stories of the year were dominated by moves in a few select asset classes.
The top story in terms of readership was a September report regarding a federal plan to double a $5,000 hiring incentive offered through the BC Construction Association to employers of apprentices registered in one of 39 Red Seal trades who self-identify as a woman, person with disabilities, Indigenous, racialized or 2SLGBTQI+.
But three of the other four stories in the top five regarded large chunks of ranchland heading to auction in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
The biggest by area was the “Yellowstone North of 49” property near Beaverdell, B.C., a sale handled by CLHbid.com. The property fetched $15 million when bids closed August 15. CLHbid.com also handled the “First Class” sale in Saskatchewan, which saw strong interest from outside the province but ultimately sold to an expansion-minded local buyer.
The ongoing fallout from the sharp rise in interest rates in 2022 and the economy’s post-pandemic normalization drove other stories that commanded reader interest.
The prospect of rising foreclosures in Metro Vancouver’s high-priced real estate market attracted readers in early November, the same week as readers ate up a report on into monthly trends in recreational real estate where transactions have backed off the highs seen in 2021. Both heralded a return of caution to the market, an environment that created opportunities for purchasers ready to move while those who needed time had the leeway to work through their concerns.
Residential was also at the centre of an Oct. 30 report on Artis REIT, which has more recently made headlines for the divestment of its retail assets as part of a business transformation strategy.
The pre-grand opening of its 40-storey rental tower 300 Main in downtown Winnipeg focused on the high rents the tower is commanding as an income-producing property in the core of a city the Winnipeg Free Press reported this week was no longer safe to be at night.
However, the tower represented fresh investment and confidence in a precinct that’s pinning its hopes on multiple redevelopment projects to restore vibrancy.
Within B.C., the province’s NDP government was in the spotlight for its management of the province’s finances and rules governing short-term rentals that are setting the pace for the rest of the country. The fiscal outlook, in particular, is raising the spectre of slower economic growth in the year ahead and a decline in per-capita income even as the cost of living remains high that concerns the BC Business Council.
With a provincial election less than a year away – surely one of the top stories of the year to come – the pressure is on the BC NDP to show signs the province is moving ahead, not through further restrictions on business but by getting out of the way.
This is the kind of positive approach that drove one of the undeniably good news stories Western Investor posted in 2023 – the completion of Keyera Corp.’s Key Access Pipeline System (KAPS), a 575-kilometre gas pipeline running from the Montney and Duvernay production basins north of Grande Prairie to Keyera Corp.'s liquids processing and storage hub in Fort Saskatchewan, northeast of Edmonton.
KAPS, valued at more than $1.3 billion, will transport 350,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and condensate, and represented successful engagement and partnerships with 10 municipalities, 22 Indigenous communities and 60 Indigenous-owned or affiliated businesses along the route.
The project showed how government, working with communities and businesses can set the stage for innovation rather than complicating it.
With interest rates normalizing and the appetite for growth increasing after four years of pandemic and geopolitical disruption, this is the kind of good news that’s high on the wish list for 2024.
