Today the BC government came out with their transitional rules for the HST when purchasing a newly constructed home.

As of April 1st the new threshold will go from $525,000 to $850,000 which is a substantial increase and with that the maximum rebate will go from $26,250 to $42,500. Considering the majority of house sales are under $850,000 this will be a big help to Buyers going forward. 

The Liberal government has set up a website regarding the return to PST and the charts on the following link are easy to understand as they explain the difference

I am sure everyone by now has heard about the controversial new Bill C-30 named the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act that the Stephen Harper Conservative Government has proposed.

In this day and age where just the slightest mistake can get the average person's private business public by the click of a mouse, protecting one’s Privacy is of the utmost importance. The police cannot enter a person's home unless they have a search warrant, how then can they be allowed to enter our private conversations and internet portals without the same. That is what this bill suggests, that it will now have the rights to monitor whomever and whenever they so choose. Effectively being able to enter one’s home without the need for a warrant and invading our privacy.

For obvious reasons there has been great opposition to this. After comments from the Public Safety Minister Vic Toews  suggesting those who do not support the bill are standing behind child pornography, #TellVicEverything has been trending on Twitter. Where people across Canada are sharing everything and anything to prove a point.

After all of the controversy over the last couple days the Conservative government has come out saying they will look at re-evaluating.

Let's hope the Opposition government and Privacy Commission can put a stop to this!

What do you think about Bill C-30?

I read a disappointing article this morning regarding the possible fate of Katimavik.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/02/15/katimavik-cuts-trudeau-program-budget-tories_n_1278399.html?ref=tw

Katimavik is a program that Pierre Trudeau pioneered back in 1977 for young Canadians between (17-21 yrs old) to volunteer in communities and experience what Canada has to offer. Brian Mulroney's government cut funding for this program back in 1986. It was later brought back by Jean Chretien's Liberal government in 1994. Now Stephen Harper's government is considering cutting funding for this phenomenal program once again.

I first learned about the program when our daughter's babysitter back in Brampton, Ontario graduated from high school and was accepted into the program. My husband shared that he had always wanted to participate but by the time he reached 17 as I mentioned the program had been cut. So, we were pretty excited for her and her sister as they both (a couple years apart) not only participated in the program but truly enjoyed the experience. Our daughter's babysitter we will call her Rachel, was a quiet girl and had never really been away from her family and home before, let alone travel from one end of the country to the next. Katimavik set her up with a great group of teens aged 17-21 and they not only volunteered in the 3 different communities they visited over the 6 month period of time. But they also had to learn to work together and manage a household. Rachel gained some valuable skills that taught her how to be independent. So much so that this shy young girl had the courage to follow her dreams and move across the ocean to make a life in England all alone and away from her family. Katimavik helped to give her the skills she needed to be successful. Her family is very proud of her and so are we!

Her experience prompted us to participate in the program as billets to 6 young women over 2 years. It was a great experience for our daughter, not only were the participants grouped with people from across the country in each session but so were we. We had girls from Quebec, Ontario and the Manitoba and Saskatchewan, exposing our family to different cultures and experiences. Each one would live with us for a couple weeks and became a part of our family.

For more information on the program visit their website and let's hope that the Conservative government doesn't cut this program. Any program that helps our youth become productive members of society, is a program worth saving.

http://www.katimavik.org/

Today's blog will be short and sweet!

We hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day, give your special someone a Kiss and a Hug and cherish every moment as though it is your last. That's what memories are made of.

We say Good bye to a music icon - Whitney Houston! Our heartfelt wishes go out to her family during these difficult times. May she rest in peace.

Probably my favourite song - "I will always love you" the song she sung in "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. The movie and song came out in my last year in highschool. She had such a powerful voice like none other.

What is your favourite memory or song that Whitney Houston sang?

I was headed to a meeting 1st thing this morning and had to take Hwy 1 going west off of 176 St. Once again traffic patterns have changed although only for those heading towards 104 Ave on the other side of the Hwy. I unfortunately figured it out the hard way...by the time I realized it I had to find a place to turn around. I felt like an idiot thinking I somehow missed the directions. But I soon felt much better as I noticed a number of people having to do the same thing and turn around to actually get onto the Hwy.

As you approach the overpass, traffic is now crossing over the new overpass and there are pylons so that you can only go one way on the old overpass. But if there is no traffic going across to the on ramp and all the traffic is going towards 104 Ave then it easy to make the same mistake I did.

The construction in this province is crazy. We moved here almost 7 years ago and cursed the non- stop construction in Brampton, Ontario a community that has grown extensively. Thinking we left that insanity behind, we soon discovered the infrastructure and how it's managed here is even crazier. Roads seemed to take forever to get finished here and even when they look like they are paved and ready to go it can still take forever before they are opened up for use.

I am sure that everyone who has to endure driving Hwy 1 anywhere from Vancouver to Langley will be quite happy when they have finally finished expanding the Hwy.

Another incident I had a couple months ago as I was trying to get on the Hwy going east from 104 Ave and 160 Ave, had me terrified as I tried to get onto the Hwy. It was during rush hour traffic, I had a steady stream of cars behind me also wanting to get onto the Hwy and cars were not letting us in until the last second. I thought for sure I was going to get into an accident. For anyone who has driven that route you know the merge lane is very short and if drivers don't make room for you to get over you are going into the concrete barrier. I am shocked there haven't been more major accidents as many of the on ramps have been shortened like that one.

Then there is the new 152 St exit, you gotta love that one. I was coming back from Burnaby the day they opened the exit and couldn't get over the mayhem it created as people were scrambling to cross 3-4 lanes once they realized the change...again I am shocked there weren't more accidents. 

Tell us what you think about the roads you travel each day.

Why wait until spring to start cleaning out your home. What is it with the idea of Spring cleaning. Why do we wait until the weather is nice to start going through our closets and cupboards. This past week we've had some beautiful weather, it felt like Spring but we were too busy to enjoy it let alone clean. If we did have time it would have been to get out and enjoy some of that sunshine, not being cooped up in my kitchen cleaning out my cupboards. Which is why starting your Spring cleaning early before Spring actually arrives seems to be the way to go.

Why not pick a couple of those gloomy days to get things done!

Bell's Lets Talk event starts tomorrow Feb.8th. What a great cause, helping to bring awareness to mental health. For every text sent and every call made by Bell customers, Bell will donate 5 cents to mental health research.

Clara Hughes deserves credit for helping to put a face on mental health. An illness that's not readily shared with family or friends because people are uncomfortable talking about it.

Which is why "Let's Talk" is a great slogan for tomorrow's event.

Bell customers text away and help to raise money for mental health.

For more information visit http://letstalk.bell.ca/

2 weeks ago I wrote about a local boy - Kade McBurney. Kade has been fighting cancer since 2010 when he was only 4 years old. I had an email today from a local business offering their help after reading my blog. Our local Hillcrest Chinese food restaurant Ming and Sing contacted me to see if I could get a message to the family offering them a free meal for their family. Another small gesture that in my mind leaves a big impact on my heart and theirs.

I don't know the family, but he's a student at the elementary school where both of our girls went to before high school, which is where I first heard about the family. I wasn't sure at 1st who to contact. That's when I found the family blog diarizing the events over the last couple years. I encourage you to read it, but suggest sitting down with a box of kleenex and start to read from 2010 on. 
 
http://mcburneys.blogspot.com/

Again I must say children are supposed to outlive us as parents and I cannot even imagine the pain the McBurney family has gone through and will continue to endure.

What I can say is that I know they are in good hands at Canuck Place Vancouver, as this has become the charity that our office and many other Homelife offices in the lower mainland will be supporting for the 2nd time in our 11annual Homelife Charity Golf Classic this May 25, 2012. I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to tour the mansion last year and look forward to seeing the funds we raised and will continue to raise to help the Vancouver location as well as the new location to be built in Abbotsford.

If there is any way you can help the McBurney family or would like to donate to our golf classic to help other families like the McBurney family by supporting Canuck Place, let us know.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about Dine out Vancouver...and just realized we have local restaurants here in the Valley offering specials in honour of Dine out Vancouver. The Vault in Cloverdale is also offering a 3 course for $25 Sunday - Thursday and $30 on Friday and Saturday. Check out their menu at the following link and make a reservation as this promotion ends on February 9th.

http://vaultrestaurant.com/dine-out-cloverdale/

As well White Rock is also hosting their Bite of White Rock offering 3 course meals from $15 - $45 depending on the restaurant. For a list of the restaurants to choose from in White Rock make sure to visit their website and make a reservation soon as it ends on February 7th.

http://www.inwhiterock.com/BiteoftheRock.tsp

We highly recommend the Vault so much so we hold our monthly womens networking group there for lunch! In White Rock Onyx and Five Doors Down are 2 of many great restaurants to choose from. Make your reservations today before these great deals are gone for another year. 

You've sold your home and found the new home of your dreams....now it's time to start the dreaded job of packing. Shopping for that new home is generally an exciting experience, but there is nothing fun about packing...

I moved my family across the country almost 7 years ago and even before we listed our home in Brampton Ontario, I started packing. I often tell clients to pack away as much as they can when they ask for suggetions on how to get their home ready to sell. You know you are moving why not get things started, it makes things a lot smoother once your home sells and your moving date becomes a reality.

For my family with such a big move from Ontario to BC, I wanted to purge as much as I could. If you haven't used it or even looked at it in the last year...do you really need it? So that's what we did. I had my house packed and organized by room and with such a big move I documented everything. It really did make the move go smoothly and I knew exactly where everything was to go and where to find everything we needed.

The power of facebook to connect people from far and wide. Strangers and acquaintances, old friends and new ones. I thought today's entry might be worth chatting about since my day was filled with chatter on and about facebook.

This morning I attended a seminar about how to improve your business presence on facebook and do it effectively. I came away with some great tips from Tod Maffin - fellow Canadian, social media and technology guru.

Then there's the personal aspect that has transformed the world as we know it and continues to do so on a daily basis. So much so that Facebook filed to go public on Wednesday.

Over the past few days I have been commenting and enjoying the dialogue with people I went to school with as they prepare for a French Immersion reunion. It's not your typical high school reunion where many people going would be the ones that graduated together. In fact only a small group of those attending will have graduated together. What's different for us is that we were the 1st French Immersion class in Brampton, Ontario. We were essentially the guinea pigs to see if French Immersion would work in our community. We started in kindergarten and most of us went to school together as you would in a small town all growing up together. It wasn't until high school that we all started to go our separate ways as some continued in French Immersion, others went mainstream. Since we came from all over our community to go to the only French Immersion elementary then senior public school (as they call Middle school in Ontario), once you switched out of French you had to go to each of your perspective high schools within your own boundaries. That's where many of us parted ways. It wasn't until facebook caught on and slowly over the years a few of us have re-connected and over the last few days it has been fun to see everyone go down memory lane. I don't feel old but it is funny to go back to kindergarten and start to remember things from a lifetime ago.

What kind of facebook experiences have you had, feel free to share your stories with us. Have you re-connected with old friends, gained a new client or maybe even found a long lost family member?