“Boy I tell you, I get no respect around here.”
Those of a certain age will instantly recognize the above quote as one of the signature comments of American comedian Rodney Dangerfield who died in 2004.
If Mr. Dangerfield were still with us today, he could very well have used that line when reading the results of a new survey of B.C. millennials (the broad term for those who have birth years from the early 1980s to the early 2000s).
Seems that if money were no object, fully 68 per cent would live on the Lower Mainland. Victoria, southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Coming next at 18 per cent is Kelowna, and then the Thompson Okanagan ring in at 15 per cent. Then 14 per cent said somewhere outside B.C.
Nowhere is listed any kind of preference for either northwestern B.C. or, for that matter, northeastern B.C.
Ouch. Cue Mr. Dangerfield.
But wait. Out of this there may be opportunity.
Housing prices here are very modest compared to the Lower Mainland. There’s any number of outside recreational opportunities to appeal to millennials. Coffee shops and restaurants? Got those too.
Now add fibre optics, the high-speed highway without which no economy can survive, let alone thrive.
Someplace within all this, there is a strong message to be crafted to bring young people to Terrace and area.