Cascadia Report

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  • Supreme Court to decide if ruthless competition is unfair

    Where’s the line between ruthless competition and unfair business practices? That’s the basic question before the U.S. Supreme Court today as it considers an earlier verdict against Weyerhaeuser for violating antitrust laws.

    As detailed in Hal Bernton’s excellent overview in The Seattle Times, Weyerhaeuser allegedly bid up the price of alder logs across the region in order to drive rivals out of business. The Fortune 100 company argues that it developed the market for alder products through innovation and marketing.

    The case is another sign that the wood-products industry that largely built Cascadia is a global business. The small mills that sued Weyerhaeuser still harvest logs from nearby forests and say the ability of local firms to prosper is at stake. The wood market in question amounts to a rounding error for Weyerhaeuser, which is under pressure from Wall Street as it competes for global markets.

  • So this is what took so long at the border

    Thousands of Americans returning from a Thanksgiving weekend in British Columbia clogged the border for hours on Sunday. It may be an indication of costly bottlenecks with the 2010 Olympics.

    traffic delay at Blaine crossing, photo by U.S. DOTMy snow-covered Subaru reached the south-bound crossing at 6:30 p.m. — after nearly two hours in line — with me still in long underwear, fleece and post-snowshoeing hat hair. I identified myself as a journalist who had spent two nights at Whistler and handed the agent my American passport. Our conversation included this:

    Agent: Do you have anything to declare?

    Me: No. I didn’t do any shopping.

    Agent: I didn’t ask that. Did anyone give you anything?

    Me: No

    Agent (seeing the Granny Smith apple sitting on the passenger seat): What about that apple?

    Me: I bought it at the store to eat on the way.

    Agent: That’s a $500 fine. It’s illegal to bring in fruits or vegetables without filling out a customs form. It’s on the sign out there, unless it’s covered with snow.

    Me: Oh. I didn’t know that. It had a “Grown in Washington” sticker on it.

    Agent: Is there a sticker on it?

    Me: No, I peeled it off.

    Agent: Let me see the apple. (pause) I’m confiscating it. If there’s no sticker it could have come from anywhere.

    The interview took just a few minutes but left a bad taste. If every car was questioned like this, no wonder the border delays mounted — to four hours by early Sunday evening, according to local radio. This kind of hair-splitting about obscure rules, not to mention new passport requirements, will make crossing the border more difficult and certainly turn off casual visitors.

    In order to not waste the economic opportunity from the 2010 games, it’s critical that Washington and B.C. convince their federal governments to fund better infrastructure at the border and use much clearer standards for screening travelers.

  • Seattle study finds that tolls work

    Widespread use of toll roads could cut traffic congestion, according to an eight-month study of drivers in the Seattle area.

    Tolls, especially at peak times, are key to funding new projects and making transit economically viable. But don’t expect them soon. The head of the state Transportation Commission told the Seattle Times that the area has too little experience with tolls and the public won’t accept them. “The politics of that is just too tough,” said Richard Ford, commission chairman.

    In the study, drivers’ dashboards were fitted with electronic devices that tracked their travel, and they were charged virtual tolls ranging from five to 50 cents a mile, according to the paper. Charges were deducted from accounts of between $600 and $3,000 set up for each driver and participants could keep whatever money was left at the end of the experiment. About 80 percent of participants drove less or changed routes and travel times to avoid the highest tolls.

    But incoming state Sen. Ed Murray of Seattle, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said there is already widespread opposition to tolls, even to fund projects like replacing a floating bridge. “This isn’t Amsterdam — this is the West,” he said. “One of the things we have to understand is whether the culture for this (tolls) exists here,” he added. “It doesn’t now. It don’t think that’s going to be easy to overcome.”

  • B.C. wants to stop new private health clinic

    British Columbia’s government is looking for ways to stop a new for-profit private clinic that could help make the region a center for the medical industry.

    The Vancouver center would charge a fee for “urgent care,” a violation of the Canada Health Act, which governs the country’s publicly funded health care system and bans private billing for medically necessary services. Though some private clinics for specialized care already exist, critics see the latest as an attempt to undermine the social safety net rather than stimulate new industry. The government may seek a court order or financial penalties to prevent the clinic from opening this week.

  • Victoria industry suffering from city’s image

    Victoria’s key tourism industry is suffering from the city’s image as a place for little more than English gardens and high tea. Not to mention raw sewage.

    Victoria tourism, photo by kanada-british-columbia.deThe total number of visitors to the British Columbia capital has been flat for about a decade and revenues aren’t keeping up with inflation, according to BC Business magazine (registration required). The city recently launched a C$160,000 effort to rebrand itself as a destination for dining, shopping and outdoor sports. But hurdles include dowdy shops downtown, an old ferry terminal and a relatively small C$3 million marketing budget.

    The city’s image has also been hurt by its continued dumping of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the ocean, though the government recently announced plans to build a treatment system. Delta Air Lines is launching seasonal nonstop flights to Salt Lake City next summer, which could reverse the 8 percent drop in visitors from the U.S. earlier this year. That’s important because visitors from the U.S. generally spend more than those from elsewhere in Canada. But Victoria has a way to go before it can capitalize on the exposure of the 2010 Olympics.

  • New Alaska pipeline to impact Cascadia business

    Here’s another impact of the U.S. elections: plans for a new natural gas pipeline from Alaska may stall, potentially costing Cascadia business.

    At issue is a plan where Alaska’s taxpayers to would buy 20 percent of a $22 billion proposed pipeline from the northern part of the state through Canada to the U.S. Midwest. The construction project — considered one of the biggest ever — could supply years of staging business in B.C. and Washington, as well as give a boost to Seattle’s Alaska Airlines and the rest of the travel industry.

    The project’s fate is unclear since the Nov. 7 election, when Alaskans tossed out Gov. Frank Murkowski — who pushed the plan — in favor of political unknown Sarah Palin, the Republican mayor of a small town. Democratic former Gov. Tony Knowles was the favorite of big business because of his oil-friendly history. Palin has criticized many details negotiated by Murkowski and is set to reconsider the plan when she takes office on Dec. 4.

  • Real estate slump transforming region

    As home sales across Cascadia continue to cool, there’s increasing evidence of how rising prices are directing development to new areas.

    In British Columbia the number of home sales slid 11 percent in October, the fourth straight decline, yet average home price rose 20 percent to C$410,728. In Washington the number of sales during the latest quarter slid 16 percent as the median sale price topped $300,000. Across the region the number of sales dropped as prices became less affordable.

    What’s remarkable is how the slowdown is changing development. In B.C., rural areas are being transformed as retirees and newcomers seek affordable real estate. Similarly, development of new condos is transforming Washington coast communities such as Ocean Shores, Westport and Long Beach.

  • National newspaper expands in B.C.

    British Columbia’s booming economy and population has convinced the national Globe and Mail to expand its presence in the region.

    Since launching a B.C. section of the paper in 2005, circulation in the province reportedly is up 8 percent on weekdays and 7 percent on weekends. The Toronto paper now has 13 journalists in Vancouver (up from two 20 years ago) and recently elevated the title of the new head of its B.C. office to editor from bureau chief. (Note: B.C. headlines from the Globe and Mail run on the left sidebar of this page.)

  • Dirty water costing Vancouver businesses

    Dirty water flowing through Vancouver’s taps in the aftermath of recent flooding is likely costing the local economy millions of dollars, according to David Park, chief economist for the Vancouver Board of Trade.

    The area has been getting back to normal since last weekend, though some residents and businesses still had to boil tapwater. The overall impact is likely to be small given Greater Vancouver’s overall gross domestic product of about $90 billion, Park said.

  • Seattle newspaper latest target in cross-border deals

    A once-thriving suburban Seattle newspaper has been sold to a Victoria publisher, in the region’s latest cross-border corporate deal.

    B.C. company buys Seattle newspaper, image by PBS.orgBlack Press, owner dozens of papers in British Columbia and Washington, acquired the daily King County Journal, which has a modern printing plant and circulates east and south of Seattle. The paper once dominated the suburbs but has lost at least half of its readership since the early 1990s thanks to hazy focus on the market, cost-cutting and an unambitious Internet presence. Black Press’ plans aren’t clear, but surely the new owner won’t continue the status quo. Deep cuts were announced when it bought a paper in Akron, Ohio.

    The deal widens Black Press’ reach thruough the region. Similar past regional deals include Interfor’s acquisition last year of timberlands and mills in Washington and Oregon, Cray’s purchase of B.C. computer firm OctigaBay in 2004 and Weyerhaeuser’s takeover of MacMillan Bloedel in 1999.