Times are tough all over. Almost.
In his remarks to the Feb. 23 committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Malcolm MacLeod commented on Sicamous’ current social and economic status.
“We keep hearing people saying that Sicamous is a ghost town and things are going backwards and what have you,” said MacLeod. “I travel a fair amount and we were just down in Los Cabos, in Mexico, and the resorts down there are at 40 per cent occupancy, and the fact that most of the people down there were Canadians.”
However, MacLeod noted how things are booming for a friend of his who owns a pipeline operation in Northern Alberta. So much so that he can’t find enough people for all the work available.
“That’s the sort of thing that I like to see,” said MacLeod. “Those people, they like to work up there but they don’t necessarily like to live there. They will buy down here and the family may live here and the husband may be up there working.”
Changing topics, MacLeod said he’s received inquiries about a taxi service in Sicamous. He said he spoke to a Salmon Arm taxi service, which said it was too busy to expand.
“I know a lot of the customers have a concern about the operation hours,” said MacLeod. “So anyway, I talked to the taxi company in Salmon Arm and they said if someone out there has got the proper credentials, that they can come to council and, with our support, they can go ahead and it shouldn’t be very long at all and they could have a business up and running.”
Coun. Lynn Miller appeared to take offence to the suggestion that another taxi company be brought into Sicamous without first communicating with the current service provider.
“I know that licensing for a taxi in this town is atrocious,” said Miller. “ I certainly think, as a business owner in this town, that I would at least expect the consideration of the council to at least approach me and ask if there’s something I can do to improve my service before I get somebody else to do my job.”
After a brief exchange between the two, MacLeod charged Miller with the task of talking to the local taxi company and asking them what they might do to improve their service.