Tuesday, July 18, 2017

VANCOUVER | 101


VANCOUVER

‘If you cut out the agricultural land reserve, wetlands, and regional parks, Metro Vancouver's urban area is just ~850 sq km. That's slightly larger than all of Singapore, 200 sq km larger than the City of Toronto, and about 2x larger than the island of Montreal’
TRENDS


Canadians Exit Hong Kong - top story, Globe & Mail
Andrew Loo, who had a comfortable career as a banker, with three nannies and a driver in Hong Kong, says there’s no such thing as work-life balance there. He and his wife Jobina and their three children moved back to Canada in 2017.
📸: BEN NELMS/The Globe and Mail

The re-returnees: They came to Hong Kong for the hustle. Now, with China encroaching, they’re coming back to Canada

A third of Hong Kong’s population wants to leave, says a survey released by the Chinese University of Hong Kong earlier this month – and Canada was cited as the most desired destination

“there’s no such thing as work-life balance."




The sheen of opportunity and adventure that made Hong Kong into one of the world’s great gateways – the City of Life, as it calls itself – has dulled for some as the cost of living rises and the grip of China tightens.


According to a recent survey, nearly a third of the Hong Kong population is thinking about leaving the city of 7.4 million. Canada, as it has in the past, is playing an outsize role in their search for an alternative; Hong Kong has boasted an estimated 300,000 Canadian passport holders, enough to rank the Asian financial centre as the equivalent of one of Canada’s 20 most populous cities.

Many Hong Kong residents fled the island for Canada before it came under Chinese rule in 1997 – fearing Beijing’s power. They later returned for jobs. Now, the current of human movement has once again shifted, moving back toward Canada. It is for some a third cross-Pacific move. They call themselves the “re-returnees.”

“People are thinking twice about staying in Hong Kong,” said Eugene Ho, an entrepreneur who is president of the local University of British Columbia alumni chapter. It is holding a session on Tuesday to guide people through the process of moving back to Canada, from sorting through taxes to securing a mortgage and finding the right school for their kids. 

A third of Hong Kong’s population wants to leave, says a survey released by the Chinese University of Hong Kong earlier this month. Their top reasons were “too much political dispute” and social rifts, overcrowding and dissatisfaction with local political institutions. Fifty-one per cent of those between the ages of 18 and 30 want out. They cited Canada as their most desired destination. 

Canadian immigration data show that the number of people from Hong Kong applying for permanent residency in Canada increased by 50 per cent in 2016, to 1,360, and has remained at that elevated level.

What those figures do not count, however, are the people who already hold Canadian passports, and who are slipping back across the Pacific.

They are people such as Harjeet Grewal, 39, a Cantonese speaker who was born in Hong Kong but is disturbed by its changing political environment and influence from Beijing. “You have to be careful what you are saying and I don’t want to live in that kind of climate for the long term," Ms. Grewal says.

John Luciw has his own reasons. Mr. Luciw, 51, a long-time Hong Kong resident who plays in a Tragically Hip cover band, runs a news site for expats and is now so done with the city’s brutal cost pressures that, “I don’t even know if I’m going to come back for a visit." 
... MORE

Published January 13, 2019
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-the-re-returnees-they-came-to-hong-kong-for-the-hustle-now-with/
Video by Dr. Melissa Carr

China Minsheng's Partial Ownership in Grouse Mountain Marks a Seismic Shift for Vancouver


Last week the Globe and Mail broke the news that the iconic Grouse Mountain in Vancouver has been sold to an overseas investor.  They pointed out in an article on the weekend that its what foreign investors do in Canada that matters*.  The property and its operations has been on the market since last year.   The transaction closed yesterday at B.C. Lands Title Office.  

 That China Minsheng wants to invest in Canada is a vote of confidence in the country.  China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG), the country's largest privately owned investment manager.

China Minsheng and China Poly** both have North American roots well established in Vancouver.

Timing Is Everything

The closing of this significant transaction is unrelated to the sensitive geo-political events within China of the last few days.

For Vancouver, Canada the significance of these three events cumulatively mark the 'growing up' of the city as an investment capital from SME and entrepreneurs and training ground for princelings, to a serious place for Asian Institutional Investors to park their people and their money for generations,   From previously a 'recreation home', many will move back and stay for the long term.   Vancouver has long been an important Asia Pacific City maintained primarily through the bamboo network of human capital more than financial capital.

Here is the press on this transaction as at time of this post.  

By Andrea Eng
Let’s connect on Facebook
My profile: andreaeng.com


* If you are not open the linked article because no subscription, suggest you download their app and will be able to access the article.
** My recent visit to China Poly >  http://hellotaitai-shop.blogspot.ca/2017/07/chinese-contemporary-art.html







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