Around the riding this week a number of you mentioned that you'd seen our exciting Asian 'Welcome' ceremony at Vancouver International Airport.

Stay calm. I'm not talking about the illegals which have been getting 24/7 coverage. I'm talking about something which will get less coverage but yield positive results for years to come.

It was the first official group of Chinese tourists coming to Canada under what is known as 'Approved Destination Status' (ADS). This is a designation granted from China to other nations on a country by country basis.

Without it, tour operators in China have not been allowed to book Chinese tourists into undesignated countries, like Canada.
It is estimated that 46 million Chinese citizens went abroad as tourists last year. Since ADS status had not been awarded to Canada that meant our economy missed out on most of those travel opportunities.

The United Nations estimates there will be 100 million Chinese tourists looking for great places to visit by the year 2020.

That growth is a result of China continuing to allow free(r) market and capital principles to take hold in various parts of their nation. That is resulting in increased levels of prosperity being enjoyed by increasing millions of Chinese workers.

China now (like India for the same reasons) has a rapidly growing middle class. More and more of their workers are pushing for (and receiving) higher wages.

Though China has many challenges, as its citizens continue the path of upward mobility their desire for global mobility will also increase.

All of that to say, it was hugely important when last December President Hu Jin Tao agreed to Prime Minister Harper's request for ADS status for Canada.

Previous federal governments had been asking for this for years. The official signing of the designation took place in June at the G8/G20 meetings in Canada.

That's why it was very exciting to be with Premier Campbell and others this week at the Vancouver Airport to welcome the first 3 plane loads of happy tourists to arrive here as a result of this agreement.

Now our tourism and related businesses can move full speed ahead to do all we can to get attract a healthy share of that potential target market of 100 million people.

Are you ok with another good news story? Well, even if you're not, here it is.

Since it got virtually zero coverage at the announcement in the Lower Mainland this week you can be forgiven if you missed it.

You know how we are well accustomed over the years to reports of building projects coming in way over budget and way over time? Well, here's a little reversal of that trend for you.

This week, along with provincial Ministers, we were able to announce that 21 BC infrastructure projects which had been on hold for lack of funds would now be able to move ahead. Where did the new funds suddenly appear from?

As you know, we have had in place an Infrastructure Stimulus Fund as we worked through the global downturn. A lot of projects in BC have already moved ahead (and been completed) because of that. Those projects are all competitively bid.

What the auditors have now pointed out is that many of those projects have are being finished ahead of time and under budget. Surprise, surprise. As a matter of fact, the savings so far have amounted to $42 million!

And those saved dollars meant we could announce another 21 projects, some of that dough will be landing right here in the Okanagan.

Congrats to everyone involved in making this happen!