On Heroes, a high dollar and hot economy

But before I get to mine, let me first say that my Canadian of the Year is Steve Nash -- his relentless pursuit of excellence and the way he handles his success is a role model for all of us.

And he couldn't have been honoured as the NBA's most valuable player at a better time. The Gomery Commission, the gun-related violence in Toronto and Vancouver, the health scandals on native reserves and the Supreme Court findings that the vaunted Canadian health-care system was killing people waiting for treatment hopefully shook up even the smuggest Canadian, (although I have my doubts).

But then I think of Steve Nash, or the world's No. 1-ranked squash player, Jonathon Power, or the 2005 world junior hockey champions, or world champion diver Alexandre Despatie or Esther Matsubuchi, whom Reader's Digest honoured as one of its five Canadian heroes of the year for her work in educating the public about breast cancer.

When it comes to the top stories, I look for ones that are what I call tip of the iceberg. It's hard to escape the thought that the riots in France and the bombings in London are not early chapters in a far bigger story.

I feel the same way about the incredible demonstration of courage shown by the millions of Iraqis who ignored threats that "the streets will run red with blood of voters" to cast their ballots not once but three times.

When it comes to business, in December 2002, in this space, with the Canadian dollar trading at 63 cents, I wrote that the biggest business story of the next few years would be its dramatic rise versus the U.S. dollar. The following year I thought it would be the impact of the massive bull market in commodities.

Both of those trends continue to have a profound impact on my top three business stories of 2005.

No. 3

Whether you measure it in terms of loss of market share, plant closures, or the billions in financial losses, the news was basically all bad for General Motors and Ford. The message is clear: Massive changes need to be made to their industrial model, which isn't able to compete with their more flexible, non-unionized rivals from Japan and Korea.

No. 2

British Columbia is back. Housing starts, the real estate market, the non-residential construction boom, new business starts, job creation, mining, oil and gas and retail sales all reflect the strength of the B.C. economy. If long-term thinking prevails over short-term convenience, the current commodity boom affords B.C. the opportunity to position itself for a generation of prosperity.

Business Story of the Year

The dramatic rise in energy prices impacted every sector of the economy. Government coffers swelled, oil-patch employment soared, the tar sands hit the international stage and investors reaped double-digit rewards. Wind power, solar power and hybrid power became immediate beneficiaries of government support.

At the same time consumers saw their discretionary income hit by $1.20-per-litre gasoline, American car companies saw their sales of SUVs and big trucks take a hit when they could least afford it, homes became more expensive to heat and businesses saw their costs rise.

The big question now becomes: Are we on the brink of $100 US-per-barrel oil, as some analysts predict, or $45 per barrel, as others believe. We'll see how it plays out, but in the meantime I'm sticking to my prediction of two years ago that nuclear power is about to make a comeback that would make Mariah Carey's look tame by comparison.

Happy New Year.

(prepared by Michael Campbell/Vancouver Sun)