Cambie Street merchants should hang on, says minister

Merchants along Vancouver's Cambie Street who have suffered losses because of Canada Line construction should just cope the best they can until business rebounds, according to B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon.

Falcon said the shop and restaurant owners along the Cambie Street corridor will enjoy an economic boost once the rapid transit line is complete, and should be prepared to wait out the current drop in business.

"I'm not saying that there's no impact on these folks there clearly is. But I guess our message would be recognize that when this thing is done along the corridor in six months I believe six months is what Canada Line and TransLink are talking about that there will be some significant benefits."

Falcon, who is responsible for the Canada Line,also said it is not up to the province to help businesses in the area that are suffering due tothe construction.

He added that if there were compensation, it should be from the City of Vancouver.

Small businesses suffering

Some Cambie Street businesses have shut down and others have moved to other neighbourhoods in Vancouver since the Canada Line crews dug a massive trench down the street, disrupting traffic and limiting access to businesses.

Simon Kim has closed his Cambie Street restaurant, saying business at the Don Don Cafe had dropped 70 per centafter the street was dug up.

"B.C. is going through unprecedented boom times in the economy, and here we are businesses on Cambie Street are just struggling to survive," he told CBC News.

Kimsaid the businesses along Cambie have been ignored by all levels of government.

Last month the transportation ministerrejected an NDP private member's bill that would have provided grants and interest-free loans to the affected businesses.

He maintained that TransLinkis already doing enough to help businesses with a Cambie Street marketing campaign.

The minister also argued in the legislature that there are no more empty businesses along Cambie Street than there were when the construction began.

Merchants treated like 'crap'

Former TransLink director Jon Kingsbury said the Vancouver merchants should get the same kind of treatment accorded businesspeople in Portland during that city's major transit construction project.

Kingsbury, who was a part of a delegation to the Oregon city while mayor of Coquitlam, said businesses there were kept afloat with interest-free loans, subsidies and promotions

NDP MLA Gregor Robertson, who put forward the private member's bill to help the merchants,said it's clear that small businesses have taken a back seat to construction companies and the Olympics.

"They're being treated like crap, and big businesses are making big profits out of it."

TransLinkspokesman Ken Hardie said some of Portland's ideas were put into place. But he also said there are significant differences between the two cities' rapid transit projects.

The 19-kilometre Canada Line will connect downtown Vancouver with suburban Richmond and Vancouver International Airport. The $1.9-billion construction project is scheduled to be completed by 2009, in time for the Vancouver Winter Olympics the following year.