Just Ask Retailers

They know the North Okanagan's economy.
They feel it every day when totalling cash register receipts.

And the public sees it too, with the plethora of For Lease, For Sale and For Rent signs in the area's commercial and industrial areas, and the burgeoning "inventory", as realtors call it, on the market.

The Chamber of Commerce manager, George Duffy, hears it from his membership.

And youth know it too, as they struggle to find "meaningful employment" as one 19 year old put it last year.
"I can't even afford gas for my car if I'm flippin' burgers for $10 an hour," he says.  So he left Greater Vernon and moved north "where the money is, because there are no employers here." 

But Vernon's Economic Development Manager, Kevin Poole, is splitting hairs with his opposition to the report.  He doesn't have the answers either.

The Conference Board of Canada's just-released report indicates that Vernon's total gross domestic product (GDP) has--in 7 years--dropped from $2.1 million to $1.5 million.   If GDP statistics make your eyes glaze over, then this will hit home:  the report indicated that Vernon's jobs dropped from 31,300 to 19,000 in that same 7 years.

That's 12,300 fewer jobs in seven years!
Whether it's in Vernon alone, or in areas that include Spallumcheen and Lumby (higher manufacturing), the City of Vernon is frantic to attract new employers. 

Mayor Sawatzky was reported in the Morning Star as saying, "We can't give tax holidays as they can in the U.S., which caused municipal bankruptcies."  Businesses are well aware there are no tax holidays.

Yet with all this information--most of which has been obvious to most people throughout these seven years--the District of Coldstream still wants a Town Center.  (reminder: find an incredulity icon???!!!)