It's another beautiful day today in beautiful B.C., appropriate, we think, on B.C. Day.
We hope you are having a pleasant long weekend, and enjoying B.C. in your own unique way. From what we’re told, more people are getting out and about in B.C. this summer than in recent years – tourism figures in Nanaimo show positive trends.
Sunny skies, festival season, high gas prices and a weak loonie are some of the reasons why so many people might be choosing to stay-cation this summer. Or it could just be that our province is a pretty special place to be.
We hope many of you are finding time during the long weekend to stroll, sight-see and explore. Because there’s so much B.C. that awaits just outside our doors, beckoning us to come out and play. Consider that the most worldly traveller will never come close to seeing all that the Earth has to offer – a lifetime isn’t nearly enough time to visit every nook and cranny in Canada, B.C., or even Vancouver Island. But it’s enough time to start looking.
British Columbia means a lot of things. It’s a place. It’s 4.6 million people. It’s what the provincial government is or isn’t doing, and the state of the economy, and the news of the day, and a 144-year history and an untold future. It’s all of those things and it can be more, still, and we can make our province a better place with our votes, our work, our words and our actions.
A lot of B.C., though, is perfect just the way it is. We have a responsibility of stewardship, but with that comes the freedom to experience this vast and variegated land that belongs to all of us and none of us.
On B.C. Day or on any day, we should be proud of our province. And whenever we feel lucky to live here in beautiful B.C., it’s worth taking a look around, reminding ourselves why.