Economic report paints four pictures of Kamloops, but study on lifestyle is needed
Domtar — what would Kamloops be without it?
THURSDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The conclusions of a study commissioned by Venture Kamloops on the outlook for the local economy are temptingly positive, but they should be viewed cautiously.
The report, released this week, offers a choice of scenarios: the status quo, the closure of Domtar, a go-ahead for Ajax, and the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Each of those possibilities, or any combination of them, would affect the economy — and by extension, the lifestyle of the Tournament Capital — differently.
Let’s start with the status quo. There’s no true status quo, of course, because economies are fluid. They either grow, or they shrink.
The study, however, treats the status quo as lack of forward movement with the other three options. That scenario is characterized as, in the words of Venture Kamloops CEO Jim Anderson, “steady but unspectacular” growth.
The closure of Domtar would create substantial job loss and negative spinoff, just as Ajax and Trans Mountain would create the opposite effect. The pipeline caveat is that it would create only a handful of permanent jobs once construction is complete.
Aside from some references to tourism and recreation, and the fact our lifestyle and affordability give us an advantage over the Lower Mainland, there’s little in the study about lifestyle.
The job of the study was to assess the economy itself and crystal ball some potential outcomes, not to delve into day-to-day life at the meeting of the waters. One take-away for Venture Kamloops is the need for a follow-up study on what to do about a potential skilled-labour shortage.
Whether you like growth or don’t, the choices don’t change. To some, slow and steady sounds pretty good. To others, bring on the jobs.
It’s still a question of what will be put at risk in boom times versus “unspectacular” times. What we need is a third study, one that helps us calculate what we’d be gaining or losing in our treasured lifestyle with the four scenarios.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Not to mention, the study only evaluated the positive side of the economic ledger sheet, and made no effort to estimate the negative economic impact of the Ajax proposal. That appears to be biased/incomplete, as tools exist to put an economic value on things like air quality, recreation spaces, agricultural land, health and quality of life. There are also tools to measure the cost of the resource, the cost of subsidies, and the cost of providing services to the project against the benefits, but as far as I can tell the analysis did not include any of these factors. Another cost would be related to medication and health care cost increases when the air quality deteriorates.
All economic activity contributes to GDP, but that does not necessarily make all economic activity desirable. The flood in Calgary have and will contribute to the GDP in Alberta, but that doesn’t mean that it was a good thing. Venture Kamloops is doing the city and it’s citizens a disservice by providing such a superficial analysis, in my opinion.
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Kelowna has had much “growth” without any mines near by.
Is life better there? Yes and no. Their crime statistics are worrisome although better shopping can be found. What do we prefer?
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