JULY/AUGUST 2019 BCBUSINESS 61 BCBUSINESS.CA
giant Bombardier. Such
deals will boost corporate
revenue and job opportunities in Cana-
da's hottest labour market. B.C.'s unem-
ployment rate ended 2018 at 4.4 percent,
Statistics Canada reports, lower than any-
where else in the country, and remained
so through the •rst quarter of this year.
That strong showing came even as reg-
ulations tightened and fears grew about
the policies of the province's
NDP govern-
ment, hitting its stride after a full year in
power. "Canada is starting to garner a
reputation as a place that's very di…cult to
get anything accomplished, particularly
on the landbase," says Peacock, noting
that the issue isn't restricted to B.C.
Government measures designed to
limit speculation and curb house prices
catered to public concerns, but develop-
ers hit the brakes and real estate invest-
ment began to ˆag. Demand remained
robust, according to Toronto-based real
estate services •rm Altus Group, result-
ing in the second-best year on record for
investment sales in the Lower Mainland,
but rising rates, trade worries and pro-
vincial policies weighed on activity. Total
investment dropped 15 percent from a
year earlier, to $12.5 billion, as developers
hit pause on residential projects.
Peacock says mining could be next in
line for investment to cool. The ˆedgling
cannabis sector—simultaneously hailed
as the next big thing in the run-up to
the legalization of recreational sales last
October and the biggest threat to food-
producing land after foreign ownership—
is already being reined in. The federal and
provincial governments declared pot a
legitimate crop but denied it the •nancial
support available to other farm products.
Meanwhile, legal cannabis sales—
projected to total $1.5 billion this year
nationally, according to a recent report
by U.S. market intelligence •rms Arcview
Market Research and
BDS Analytics—have
yet to place the likes of Delta greenhouse
vegetable grower Village Farms Interna-
tional and startups Sunniva, Tilray and
Zenabis Global in the Top 100.
Challenges at home and trade uncer-
tainties didn't dampen the province's
entrepreneurial spirit, though. The top
companies in the province form a cohort
that's more resilient than those of the
continued from page 53
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