It's Not That Bad

(Aired on July 8, 2010)

There was a letter to the editor in the Kamloops Daily News today complaining about the number of mosquitoes in Kamloops right now.  I agree there are more than usual, but the total is still almost negligible. 

It got me thinking about how good we have it here in Kamloops.  Talk to anyone from the prairies - like me - about mosquitoes, and you realize it's all relative.  Same story goes for complaining about the cold weather in winter time.  Things aren't perfect in our city and in our province, but they're getting pretty close.  The weather is nice, and the bugs aren't that bad. 

Even the economy is doing relatively well.  In spite of the downturn, Kamloops just saw record numbers for building in a six-month period and in a twelve-month period.  And according to Finance Minister Colin Hansen, BC appears to be recovering better than expected as well.  It's not smoking hot, mind you, but it's turning around.

From my perspective, just like the weather, you don't want it to be too hot.  I lived in Alberta five years ago when the province was making money so fast it literally did not know what to do with it.  At one point, Ralph Klein actually started giving it back in lump sum cheques.  While that's all fine and good, the growth of the economy had plenty of negative side effects.  No one wanted to work in the service industry because of all of the high-paying jobs in the oilsands.  So try getting a table and a lunch in a reasonable time frame.  Urban planning in cities like Calgary was completely thrown to the wayside because growth was too quick.  And the wealth did not solve the social issues like homelessness and child poverty.  In fact, all that wealth in the hands of so many young oilsands workers led to rampant drug use and addiction.

We're doing quite well here in Kamloops, not so well that I won't be able to find something to, shall we say "point out" - but quite well nonetheless.