With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1254353
INVEST in BC 2 0 2 0 51 Official Publication of the BC Economic Development Association. In special partnership with BCBusiness. NORTHEAST ▷ Chetwynd ▷ Dawson Creek ▷ Fort Nelson ▷ Fort St. John ▷ Hudson's Hope ▷ Pouce Coupe ▷ Taylor ▷ Tumbler Ridge SHARE OF B.C. POPULATION 1.4% C yclical low prices for two key commodities, natural gas and lumber, might have spelled bad news for the economy of B.C.'s Northeast last year but for one important factor: the lavish capital spending in the region, mostly on energy megaprojects. "As of the first quarter of 2019, the combined capital value of all projects at various stages of construction in the Northeast was $18.3 billion, up 37 percent from a year ago," noted Central 1 Credit Union economists in an economic analysis released last September. Work on BC Hydro and Power Authority's $10.7-billion Site C dam, just seven kilometres southwest of the regional hub of Fort St. John, is now in full swing. Crews finished pouring concrete for the first of three buttresses to support the powerhouse, spillway and dam itself at the end of October 2019. As of POWERHOUSE: Building permits doubled in Fort St. John in the first half of 2019 compared to a year earlier (top); intake structures being built for the Site C dam (below) A Solid Foundation for Growth Big projects now under construction promise to open up still more opportunities for the future RIGHT: BC HYDRO