Niels Bendtsen is one of Vancouver's longest-standing design and manufacturing success stories. He has been designing and making furniture in Vancouver since 1963 and his Ribbon Chair sits in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But a recent eye-popping property tax assessment has Mr. Bendtsen considering if he should relocate his business to another city.
Mr. Bendtsen owns warehouse, manufacturing and office space in Railtown, which is part of the Downtown Eastside. The rundown area near the city's industrial waterfront had long been ignored. But nearby residential real estate prices have skyrocketed, gentrification is pushing eastward, and even an area strictly zoned for industry is feeling the pressure of greater demand.
A couple of high-priced recent sales and increased interest in the area have meant major jumps in property values. Mr. Bendtsen's property at 365 Railway St. tripled in value: It was assessed this month at $12.245-million, compared with $3.93-million the year before. In 2016, he paid $60,307 in taxes on the property; based on the 2017 value, his taxes will climb to $147,000. Full story.
Calling the CRA? Busy signals and inaccurate answers are all too common, says report
Small business owners are getting incomplete and sometimes inaccurate answers when they call the Canada Revenue Agency for help, according to a new report that calls for better service to help companies comply with Canada's complex tax rules. Full story.
Mid-sized businesses 'falling through the cracks' of Ontario energy programs
While Ontario has brought in relief measures to help small and large businesses, mid-sized manufacturers like Progressive Anodizers, Copper Core Ltd. and Automatic Coating Ltd., feel left out because they're are either too big or too small to qualify for government rebates and incentive programs. Full story.
Independent video game studios are on the rise
Patrice Désilets is just one of a growing number of "indie" developers who are making games that look just as polished as those made by major studios, known in the industry as AAA games. Many of those developers have backgrounds in AAA. Full story.
Control your Facebook account from the afterlife, and other services
Final Wish allows users to make decisions not only about their funerals but who will have access to their social media accounts and who might look after their pets. Full story.
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Generation AI: Canada's early start in artificial intelligence set it up to be today's global powerhouse
It was a big news item for the startup community when Microsoft announced last week the acquisition of Maluuba – a Montreal-based deep learning research lab for natural language understanding, and the doubling of its AI campus there. But the reality is, an acquisition by a major player is quickly becoming old news in the artificial intelligence (AI) world (a term that is also applied to the disciplines of deep learning and machine learning). Full story.
Inside Frank + Oak's Ambitious Strategy of Constant Reinvention
On a snowy Thursday in Montreal, as Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and locals mourn the opening days of their interminable winter, the offices of Frank + Oak are humming with activity. Full story.
Small firms split on fears and hopes over 'hard Brexit' says study
Nearly a third (29%) of small businesses expect their level of exports to fall when the UK leaves the single market, research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has revealed. Full story.
Vancouver company building world's biggest grow-op
Vancouver-based Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX-V:ACB) is building a marijuana grow-op the size of nine football fields at Edmonton International Airport (EIA).
What is being hailed as the world's biggest medical marijuana production facility is also throwing a lifeline to an Alberta industrial real estate market cratered by the crash in oil prices. Full story.
Compiled by Sarah Efron.