1) "The Chinese" are responsible for rising housing costs - I object to this complaint against a particular immigrant or racial group

2) The city government had to spend over one million Canadian to clean up the oil spill. Insurance did not cover it. Imagine how much historic preservation that would have paid for. Maybe the government does not have any more money for preservation because they spent it all on oil cleanup? Next time you have to manage a hazardous material, take a little more care, because the cost to clean it up is going to come out of your preservation budget.

While I don't agree with the bigotry expressed in some of the previous posts, it is important to note that high house prices in Vancouver are a very real problem and have been for many years, and foreign buyers using real estate as an investment tool has been a significant contributor to this. Many of them are based in China, so while he could have written it better and more politely the claim is not entirely without basis in fact.

The Province actually imposed additional taxes on foreign buyers a few years ago, though how effective this has been is debatable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_28_(British_Columbia)

Southwestern British Columbia has long had a large Asian immigrant population, dating back to the arrival of large numbers of predominantly Chinese labourers who built the western section of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The city is sometimes nicknamed 'Hongcouver' in reference to this, just as my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta is sometimes called 'Edmonchuk' in reference to our large Ukrainian immigrant population (this has changed from a derogatory nickname to a point of pride in recent weeks).

As for the oil spill, I'm surprised and disappointed that their insurance did not cover this. But before condemning them for their hazardous material handling practices it is important to note that this appears to have been an act of vandalism in a out-of-the-way rural area (look up where the McLean Mill is on Google Earth).

https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/news/po ... oil-spill/

Site security and management of fuel, oil and other hazardous materials probably deserves its own thread. I suspect that many organizations have at one time or another had at least one loaded tank car at their site, not to mention the oil bunker in a locomotive tender which could be equally vulnerable to this.

Not everything under the sun is bigotry you know... BC has a HUGE problem with Chinese organized crime gangs, and Chinese/Hong Kong Billionaires and Millionaires buying up all the property they can... not to mention all the fentynal that gets smuggled in...

These are REAL and legitimate problems. Further exacerbated by the fact that these groups have corrupted just about all the institutions in BC, so that they can operate with impunity...

The RCMP knows ALL about this, but mysteriously, never does anything about it...

Most interesting to see the self-righteous head pop up to a simple comment to the facts in Canada and how it does relate to the future of STEAM railroading.

First for the haughty here , at 70 years old I make no apology's to any one. Not only do I have considerable experience on how things are developing in Canada and that involves the Canadian government with which we get regulated considerably in the mining field, but in the way society goes since we are affected considerably by FOREIGN influence/money.

My comment was, as the culture changes in Canada and yes that means non western European "whites" so goes the interest in history of said and that includes the preservation of steam locomotives including tourist trains. Different immigrants and influences change directions. Chinese are not interested in and I will use a phrase in Canadian news, "historical Canadians" . A term used to describe the truckers and supporters heading to Ottawa. Money controls government and that controls ways of life. This all affects the future of steam in Canada in general. Admit it.

I have spent to date 18 months waiting on a well known tourist theme park to close a purchase/sale of one of their in very good condition 3 foot gauge locomotives. With the virus shut downs they are re-configuring their attractions based upon a shift in demographics of their visitors. All theme parks are owned by big money managing capital investors. This is a lot of market forecasting, profit loss schedules and such. This park is moving away from anything that is not globally generic. Old Timey Antique Americana steam locomotives are getting the boot as the majority of park visitors ( the majority here are not USA citizens ) only relate to locomotives such as Tommy the Tank Engine. Children pull toys. So the big money says what I said is right. The Knotts now theme park not too long ago sold off a lot of what it called unnecessary Americana which included paintings and artifacts that were part of the then Western theme park, even Walter Knott's Model T Ford he used at the start. Including I forget it 1 or 2 galloping geese narrow gauge.

For the self-righteous. I have worked in the Philippines for near 40 years in gold mining. Married a Filipino and employ varying between 80 to 120 Filipinos at any given time, some of which are CHINESE !!.

I enjoy all forms of locomotives old, new, restored and rusty junk. But not every one else does. The world is changing.

Dan

These are blatantly racist posts, and apologies to any Asians who are members of this forum.

Investment purchases of housing are happening all over North America. It has nothing to do with "Chinese" investors.

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/14/1080145270/its-not-just-home-prices-rents-rise-sharply-across-the-u-s?t=1647386140677

As much as I do not want to promote the off topic drift of this thread, I just had to reply that Chinese investment in American real estate is a real phenomenon. I do not think that it is bigotry to notice it. This investment is caused largely by the huge trade imbalance. We send hundreds of billions of dollars a year to China to purchase products made there. That makes some Chinese people exceptionally wealthy and they then choose to invest that money in American real estate. It is just a fact.

https://www.fortunebuilders.com/one-third-of-vancouvers-real-estate-market-is-owned-by-chinese-buyers/

Rick, we don't need these PC lectures. I ask that this garbage be removed from this otherwise informative discussion.

Getting back to #112, this engine has one highly unusual feature which I've never seen on any other logging locomotive, or any Canadian locomotive for that matter. I wasn't going to post on this as it's just from rusty memory, I was hoping to go have a look at the engine before commenting further. The first time I had a climb around on this engine was when it was sitting derelict at Beaver Cove. I was surprised to find a steam turbine driven centrifugal water pump. At first I assumed this was a part of the firefighting equipment. But on further poking around it was in fact piped into a boiler check, with a control valve in front of the firemans seat. The usual injector was on the engineers side, there was no sign of any feed water heating anywhere. If memory serves you can see the apparatus in many pictures of the engine in service, on the engineers side beside the smokebox. Now obviously this is not Baldwin original, but I wonder when it was added? Was it in Snoqualmie? When it came to Canada? It was also used as a stationary boiler for its last few years of service at Nimkish, so is it possible it was a fire fighting apparatus that was piped up for boiler feed when it was a stationary boiler? I really wish I had a picture of the pump now, I'll report back once I've seen the engine again, and talked to some of the Port guys. And to return to this threads main theme, perhaps it can be replaced with a newer turbine water pump off of a Chinese QJ.

Pat

With all due respect, nothing about this is racist it's purely an accurate representation of life within "the Vancouver model" https://complyadvantage.com/insights/vancouver-money-laundering-model/#:~:text=The%20Vancouver%20Model%20is%20a,regulatory%20approach%20to%20financial%20crime. and people who call it racist are the reason that it's been able to succeed and grow for 25 plus years. If you lived somewhere where the average wage was $17 per hour but the average home price was $1.7 million you wouldn't be so quick to claim racism.

Sir, I must disagree with you on your comment. As a fellow academic, I will assume in your country, when you make a statement to the youth you are educating it is from an informed position rather than emotion 'fired from the hip". Based on a basic internet search, it would seem that what has been previously posted here is not 'racist' but indeed fact, enough so that the Canadian Govt. has launched a formal Inquiry and has been reported on by the Federally funded news agency, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- ... -1.3144146

Now, can we please get back onto the OP topic?

About five miles from my house, a group of people from China purchased an historic church building a couple of years ago. It is now a meeting and educational centre for Uyghur Muslims who, thank heavens, were able to get out of China.
It is common today for socialist westerners to toss out the racist card whenever someone says something that does not align with their world view. It is sad, but true.
If you want to understand blatant racism, please research the Uyghurs. Also research the Christians and others of their own citizens being brutalized in China today.
What is happening in China today is on the level of racism that the Japanese practiced in WW2, wherever they went, and whatever creed or colour they encountered. Racism, despite the views of North American or European leftists, is practiced world wide by many cultures, and not just old white Canadians. (Us old white Canadians might be among the most accepting and least racist people of any time!) The Chinese government just happens to be one of the worst purveyors of this evil today. They certainly do not need to be abetted by leftwing ideologues in the west.
Incidentally, the Uyghurs have been welcomed into our community with open arms. I hope they have found a new home where they will be safe and content.
May God bless the Uyghurs. If we want to get more of them to safety from the genocidal Chinese, we batter work fast.