BCBusiness

10 BCBUSINESS DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019 PORTRAIT: ADAM BLASBERG W hen I chose the city of Vancou- ver as a place to live and work back in 1990, it was mostly by default. Several family mem- bers had moved there the previous year, and for me, heading to Toronto felt too much like stay- ing in Montreal, where I'd just graduated from university. So I •ew west, with no plans and little work experience, to a town that was struggling with recession after the world had discovered it during Expo 86. Things didn't go smoothly at ƒirst, but it turned out to be a good decision. I've since raised a family, built a career and made many friends in Vancouver, while watching the city grow up with- out losing its unique character—for now, anyway. As much as I love my hometown, though, I've also watched it become a playground for the wealthy and a tough spot for young people look- ing to make a life for themselves. Our 2019 Best Cities for Work in B.C. ranking (p.29) re•ects that last short- coming. For the 'fth annual survey, contributor Andrew Macaulay shook things up by adding several economic indicators and making the whole exer- cise more forward-looking. Although the new methodolo"y means that com- parisons with last year are only so use- ful, Vancouver was one of the cities that took a dive, falling from ninth place to 31st out of an expanded list of 46. Luckily for those seeking opportuni- ties, B.C. o—ers plenty of other choices. Just look at the top 20 in this year's rank- ing, which includes representatives from several of the province's economic regions. Also, as Macaulay points out, many of the cities in the middle of the pack scored very close to each other. Speak ing of scoring, Vancou- ver may have dropped in the Best Cities for Work ranking, but it's the only B.C. community with an NHL team. On page 22, associate editor and sports 'end Nathan Caddell shows us what goes on backstage at Rogers Arena before a Vancouver Canucks game. Our guide is Jeff Stipec, COO of Canucks Sports & Entertainment, who kindly gave Caddell the run of the place one recent afternoon. Mining, a key driver of the provincial econ- omy, is one of the industries that make B.C. a great place to work. But here and across the country, mining companies face a new chal- lenge: people can now sue them in Canadian courts for alleged crimes involving their for- eign operations. As Andrew Findlay explains in "Rocked" (p.38), this change coincides with con- sumers' and the industry's own e—orts to hold it to a better standard of corporate responsibility. It's a goal that ranks high on our list. Nick Rockel, Editor-in-Chief bcb@canadawide.com / @BCBusiness ( editor's desk ) B.C.'s new generation of philanthropists change the province for the better I N F E B RUA R Y Stats and the City C ON T R I B U T OR S Andrew Macaulay is a Kamloops-based city planning assistant and geographer. His passion for urban issues and data analysis lent itself to the task of compiling this issue's Best Cities for Work in B.C. ranking (p.29). "There's so much economic opportunity right now, spurring some exciting transformations across the province," Macaulay says. Based in Vancouver, Grant Harder is an editorial and commercial photographer for clients that include Dwell and enRoute. Shooting Canucks COO Jeff Stipec ("Game Plan," p.22) at Rogers Arena during a game presented some challenges, Harder says. But "we worked fast, and Jeff stood strong while the rest of the fans and staff remained much more invested in pucks and beer than what we were up to," he adds.

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