By Maria Asselin-Roy,
Staff Reporter

011 has slowly crept up on
Ds. and now it’s already here.

Vancouver is expecting to go
through economic changes, play host
to several events including sports,
galleries and exhibits, concerts, and
much more. 2011 is expected to be a
year of growth in all aspects.

Vancouver and the rest of
Canada will be expecting minimized
economic growth. This will be a good
change for Canada in the sense that
there will be some uplifting relief
from last years economic crisis,
which Canada handled fairly well
compared to some other countries.
The economy has yet to fully recover,
but business owners are pleased by
saying “A new year means a fresh
start.”

Douglas Porter, BMO’s Capital
Market’s deputy chief economist,
predicts that BC, Alberta and
Saskatchewan will lead Canada’s
growth with an average GDP
increase of about 3.5 percent because
of commodity prices, as well as
less reliance on the U.S economy.
Because of less reliance, business
owners are expecting to be slightly
more successful in 2011 as the stock
market is trying to dig itself out of a
hole.

2011 is most definitely going to
be a year of entertainment. As for

4

movies, Harry Potter fans will be
thrilled to see the final movie of the
series “Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows Part Two” and probably a
little heartbroken as the series comes
to an end. Also, Johnny Depp will be
starring in an animated film called
“Rango” which is expected to hit
theatres in March. Other exciting
animated films include “Cars 2” and
“Kung Fu Panda 2.” Transformers
fans are excited for “Transformers 3”
starring the original cast (sans Megan
Fox) and more robots than the first
two movies; the expected release
date is June 29. Something extremely
exciting is coming out for the Lord
of the Rings fans; “The Hobbit” is
hoping to be released on New Years
Eve in 2011. Peter Jackson will be
producing this film and it will serve
as a prequel to the Lord of the Rings
trilogy.

Contributing to the entertainment,
Vancouver has an exciting list of
upcoming concerts. Interpol will
be playing at the Orpheum Theatre
on January 27; Eric Clapton will be
performing at the Rogers Arena on
February 25. If you’re into a harder
style of music, Crystal Castles will
be performing at the Commodore
Ballroom on March 7. There are
hundreds more artists that will be
performing throughout the year
including Bon Jovi, My Chemical
Romance, Taylor Swift, Mogwai,
and Goo Goo Dolls just to name a

ou

few. For more information on concert
listings for 2011, check out ticket
master.

Sporting events will take a
significant place in 2011 as well.
The Vancouver Sun Run will take

place on Sunday, April 17. This will -

be the 27" annual Sun Run. Last
year’s Sun Run had over 50,000
people participating, and this year
is expecting even more. This is
Canada’s largest 10km run and the
second largest run in North America.
Vancouver will also have its annual
marathon, hosted by BMO. The
marathon will take place on Sunday,
May 1. The race is a huge event and
is run purely by volunteers. There is
a full marathon, half marathon, and
an 8 km run. The race will include
prizes, merchandise, promotions,
and much more. For registration and
more information on the race, please
visit www.bmovanmarathon.com.
Of course hockey and other sporting
events will be popular this year so for
information or tickets on the Canucks
and more, visit ticket master!

The Vancouver Art Gallery
will be hosting a few exciting new
galleries this upcoming year. From
February 12 to September 25 Ken
Lum will be exhibiting his work.
He is an artist from Vancouver who
will be showing works from public
spaces, sculptures from rented _
furniture, studio portrait photographs,
paintings, and interesting mazes

 

        

of mirrors with in-scripted texts.
Another new gallery event is titled
WE: Vancouver-12 Manifestos for the
City. This event examines Vancouver
through its range of practices, actions,
and ideas that make this city what it
is. The exhibition includes works of
over more than 40 Vancouver based
producers displaying various forms
of architecture, showing the different
ways in which humans occupy their
environment. Other exhibitions

can be found on the Vancouver Art
Gallery website.

With all of these listed events and
many more, we can tell that 2011 will
be a well fulfilled year. Vancouver
has all of the makings of a successful
and fun year, but according to various
sources what Vancouver and the rest
of Canada would really like to see
in 2011 is peace in the Middle East
with better governance and enhanced
security, lower taxes for hard working
Canadians, the RCMP to use less
excessive force. Also, sources say
that the government will work on the
fact that Canadians should be given
the legal right to buy insurance for
private medical treatment in 2011.
These issues will not fully come to
a halt in 2011, but we are working
on improving these conditions.
Nonetheless, 2011 will be a year
of economic progress and full of
innovative and exciting things to look
forward to.

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