B.C. announces HST 'transitional rules' on new homes

By Michael Smyth, The Province February 17, 2012

BC Finance Miniater Kevin Falcon has announced the details of the HST rollback on new homes, which will involve raising the HST rebate threshold until the tax is finally scrapped on April 1, 2013.Photograph by: Nick Procaylo , PNGVICTORIA — The government will raise its new-housing HST rebate threshold to $850,000 from the current $525,000 to help offset the consumer cost of the unpopular tax, until it is finally scrapped on April 1 next year.

It will also introduce a similar rebate for new recreational and secondary homes built outside of greater Vancouver and Victoria, to stimulate that market until the tax is gone.

The long-awaited HST “transitional rules” for the new-home market are designed to provide certainty and fairness until the tax is cancelled, said Finance Minister Kevin Falcon.

“The homebuilding industry has been looking for clarity and certainty and that’s exactly what we’re delivering today,” said Falcon, who also confirmed for the first time that the HST will be officially scrapped on April Fool’s Day next year.

The HST was voted down in last summer’s referendum, and Falcon defended the lengthy timeline for returning to the old provincial sales tax.

“When you are going backwards, this is uncharted territory — we’re the only jurisdiction in the world that has done this,” he said, while attacking a suggestion by NDP leader Adrian Dix that the HST should be scrapped by this June.

“It’s irresponsible to suggest ridiculous, unreasonable, irrational timelines like that,” Falcon said. “It would be a catastrophe.”

Instead, Falcon said winding down the HST on April 1 next year is “the fastest date we can get there responsibly” and the transitional rules for new housing will assist a market hit particularly hard by the tax.

Starting on April 1 this year, the government will provide a partial HST rebate on new homes priced at up to $850,000. The amount of the rebate will max out at $42,500, will apply to more than 90-per-cent of new homes, and will mean new home prices will be roughly the same under HST and PST. The HST does not apply on re-sale homes.

For secondary and vacation homes outside of greater Victoria and Vancouver, which had been subject to the full HST on the entire purchase price, the government will bring in same $850,000 rebate threshold.

“This will be a very positive impact for the industry,” Falcon said.

The government also announced that for newly built homes where construction begins before April 1, 2013, but ownership and possession occur after, purchasers will not pay the seven-per-cent provincial portion of the HST. Instead, purchasers will pay a temporary, transitional provincial tax of two-per-cent on the full home price.

New home builders, who earlier complained buyers were waiting on the sidelines until the HST was scrapped, were pleased with the transition rules.

“The industry is going to be quite happy,” said M.J. Whitemarsh, CEO of the B.C. division of the Canadian Homebuilders Association. “I think people will get out and start buying again.”

“We’re very happy with what has happened,” said Peter Simpson, president of the Greater Vancouver Homebuilders Association, and a fierce HST critic. “This gives us the clarity and relief we’ve been asking for.”

msmyth@theprovince.com

Ice skating coming to Whistler Olympic Plaza

Christopher Poon


chris@whistlerquestion.com



Starting next month, Whistler Olympic Plaza will be transformed into a winter wonderland complete with an ice rink, snow play area and perhaps even sledding.

WHISTLER OLYMPIC PLAZA OFFICIAL OPENING

SHOWCASES A RANGE OF TALENT AT A SPECTACULAR OUTDOOR PAVILION

August 9, 2011: Whistler, BC - On Saturday, August 27, 2011, the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) will officially open Whistler Olympic Plaza, one of the most technically-sophisticated outdoor venues in Canada, showcasing a well-known roster of talented performers. CBC Radio's Jian Ghomeshi will host the evening as entertainers and special guests share stories of Whistler Olympic Plaza. For the first time, the stage, framed by the spectacular Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, will be set in the new pavilion with free concerts by Juno Award-winning Sam Roberts Band and Canadian alt-country star, Kathleen Edwards.

Whistler Olympic Plaza is the site where the best athletes in the world stepped up to the podium at Victory Ceremonies during the 2010 Winter Games and where the Paralympic Closing Ceremony concluded Whistler's role as Host Mountain Resort. "From the early '80s, Whistler visionaries designated this land as community space," says Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed, "and today, Whistler Olympic Plaza is consistent with the community's vision toward sustainability, including: supporting arts and culture, offering a gathering place where locals can meet visitors, building family amenities, expanding diversified tourism facilities, and more."

Weather or not...

Cool temperatures, grey skies have mixed impact on resort business

By Andrew Mitchell

There's no question that it's been colder and greyer than usual in Whistler - up until Tuesday, July 26, the month of July 2011 is the coldest the resort has experienced since 1986, according to Environment Canada weather records.

With visitors to the resort booking later than ever - days or sometimes hours ahead of arrival rather than weeks or months out as they have in the past - weather does play a role in travellers' decisions. How big a role is debatable.

Despite the cold and grey, the summer is on pace to be one of Whistler's best ever - third best at this point by a few percentage points. Crankworx was a huge draw in recent weeks, and last weekend's unexpected sun probably helped convince some of our visitors to make last minute plans.

"The resort was literally buzzing (on the weekend)," said Breton Murphy, senior manager of communications at Tourism Whistler. "Definitely it was great for the resort and for the general morale in the community because we got great weather and a surge in visitation. But the interesting thing is that when we look at May (room nights) were down slightly, June was busier than normal and up nearly 20 per cent over last year. And now we're pacing in July and August to be stronger than the same months last summer... the pace of bookings is definitely looking a few percentage points above what we saw last summer."

Property Disclosure statements: Think again!

Whistler Blackcomb's new lift ticket app

In the not-too-distant future, snowboarders and skiers won't have to queue up at the lift ticket window or deal with the flapping and ripping of paper tickets attached to jackets and pants.
Resort Technology Partners (RTP) has partnered with Whistler Blackcomb and TELUS, a Canadian telecommunications company, to create a smartphone app functionality that will allow riders to use their mobile phones as lift tickets.

The free "Whistler Blackcomb Live" app already has plenty of non-ticket features, including GPS trail maps with run tracking that lets users see their total vertical distance skied and what their maximum speed was, snow and trail conditions, access to webcams, and an integration with Twitter and Facebook.

Runners comment on beauty of Whistler Half Marathon course

June 4, 2011

Cori Alfreds
Special to The Question

With the first sunny day Whistler has seen in a while, friends, family and volunteers welcomed Jim Finlayson, winner of the inaugural Whistler Half Marathon, to the finish line this morning (Saturday, June 4).
The Victoria resident finished the 21.1 kilometre course in one hour, nine minutes and 25 seconds.

Finlayson is an avid jogger, but despite his extensive marathon track record he said he found the course beautiful yet challenging — especially the downhill sections.

"You're putting a lot more stress on the body, so you feel by the end of the hills you're running in quicksand. I found the steeper downhills the toughest," he said at the finish line in Whistler Olympic Plaza.


In the top 10 overall and the first female to cross the finish line was Care Wakely, who clocked in at 1:21:04. She said the uphill part of the course was most challenging.

Despite wanting to collapse by the last two km, Wakely said she couldn't help but notice the Whistler course's natural beauty.

She traveled from Victoria to participate in the race.

"I'm really excited to come to Whistler. I love coming here and the race was great, really well organized, and I am happy to have won," she said.

Among the more than 800 participants was first time half-marathon runner and Whistler local Karen Blaylock, who said she was just happy to have completed the course no matter how long it took her.

"It was so fun to finish it and now I won't have to do another one because I can say I have done it," she said with a laugh.

For full race results, click to http://racedaytiming.ca/whistlerhalf2011.html.