95 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

Welcome to vibrantvictoria 29er Radio.

[Mike K.]

But wouldn't you say it's disingenuous for a reporter to claim British Columbians are in favour of such a move (in the headline of all things!) when in fact it's not even on our collective radar?

I've seen this Victoria bashing from born-and-raised Victorians before. These kids move out of the city then turn around and lament the place while praising wherever they happen to live. Just let it go. You've moved on now quit whining

[Dimitrios]

All this whining about how isolated the capital is... rather than do something dumb like suggest moving the location of parliament (how much net benefit would that provide??), this could be part of a nice argument for building a bridge to the mainland. I know this has been discussed before in BC, though others here probably know the details much better than I.

[G-Man]

The article does lend itself to the conversation on amalgamation though. It goes back to one of the chief benefits of amalgamation, that being that Victoria can be seen as a city of 400k versus a city of 80k which is what people often point to when asking why the capital is here.

[VicHockeyFan]

The reporter is on CFAX from 1pm today.

[Mike K.]

...and what happened?

[baconnbits]

...and what happened?

this is pointless. it will never happen. forcing the thousands of government workers in victoria to move to vancouver, probably forced to lay off a bunch more, hundreds of millions in relocation costs.
it will never happen. and beyond that the article is just wrong.
quebec city v Montreal
edmonton v Calgary

Salem v Portland
Springfield v Chicago
Albany v New York
Olympia v Seattle
Sacramento v LA or San Fran
carson city v las vegas
talahasse v jacksonville/orlando/miami

it exists all over the place for historic reasons and also to provide a major employer in an alternate location beyond the largest city, typically the capital of commerce.
similarily done with national capitals - ottawa over toronto or montreal, canberra over sydney or melbourne, washington over new york or san fran or boston, wellington over auckland, etc etc

[LJ]

The article does lend itself to the conversation on amalgamation though. It goes back to one of the chief benefits of amalgamation, that being that Victoria can be seen as a city of 400k versus a city of 80k which is what people often point to when asking why the capital is here.

I don't think you are right on that. If I am telling somebody from elsewhere where I live I always say Victoria and if they have been here they always mention Butchart Gardens etc. They make no differentiation between the smaller communities. None of them have heard of Langford or Colwood, it is all just Victoria.

When I think of Vancouver as an outsider, I think of the whole lower mainland, not just Vancouver City. When I lived in "Vancouver" and you were talking to people from the lower mainland they would say they lived in Surrey, Langley whatever, if they lived in Vancouver City, when you asked them where they lived they would say "downtown".

[phx]

I found out today that the small staircase leading to the rotunda top just below the Captain Vancouver Statue hase been condemned and unsafe by worksafe Bc. No one allowed up there anymore not even for changing lightbulbs. That will (all) be done be crane now.

Has the staircase degraded in some way, or has Worksafe gotten more fussy?

[G-Man]

I don't think you are right on that. If I am telling somebody from elsewhere where I live I always say Victoria and if they have been here they always mention Butchart Gardens etc. They make no differentiation between the smaller communities. None of them have heard of Langford or Colwood, it is all just Victoria.

When I think of Vancouver as an outsider, I think of the whole lower mainland, not just Vancouver City. When I lived in "Vancouver" and you were talking to people from the lower mainland they would say they lived in Surrey, Langley whatever, if they lived in Vancouver City, when you asked them where they lived they would say "downtown".

I was not really referring to the general population but rather to those in the political world that would consider something like this.

[Mike K.]

Ha! That's hilarious, LJ! I was recently sitting in a bar half way around the world and mentioned to a guy that I was from Victoria and he immediately reminisced about the gardens. I figured he must have been no older than 35 but obviously well traveled.

[aastra]

...if they lived in Vancouver City, when you asked them where they lived they would say "downtown".

I have to say, I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say they lived downtown unless they actually lived downtown. Nobody who lives in Marpole or Kitsilano would ever say they lived downtown. Although I have occasionally heard suburbanites refer to Broadway as though it were downtown, which always seemed funny to me.

[Bingo]

At one point in time it might have made sense to move the capital to the mainland, but we have progressed beyond the era of the telegraph and the horse and buggy. You can run the government from just about anywhere today, except nowhere else in BC has the location, location, location.

[HB]

[Bob Fugger]

An articulate and impassioned defence of Victoria in a Letter to the Editor in today's National Post: http://fullcomment.n...ays-letters-14/

What a shame that the "journalist" couldn't be bothered to engage in good writing, instead of stooping to cheap journalism by fabricating a polemic that doesn't exist outside of the writer's head.

[Mike K.]

That's it.