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/1351663
APRIL 2021 BCBUSINESS 11 DON CRAIG/PROVINCE OF B.C. G O F I G U R E SOURCES: INSIGHTS WEST, STATISTICS CANADA, CANADA REVENUE AGENCY, INDUSTRY CANADA, VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, LEGER, BRITISH COLUMBIA REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION, IPSOS, GOVERNMENT OF B.C. Overall projected decline in provincial GDP for 2020: j 6.2% $10 billion+ in provincial response measures earmarked by December 2020 Domestic and international passengers at YVR , April-November 2020: 2,063,070 j 88.6% YoY Total cargo moving through the airport in that period: 152,770 tonnes j 25.9% YoY 89% of Canadians who have had to work from home found the experience largely positive At 16%, British Columbians were most likely to describe it as negative 93,953 B.C. residential unit sales in 2020 g 21.5% from 2019 Total value: $73.5 billion (g 35.6%) IN AN IPSOS SURVEY ON 2020 LIFESTYLE CHANGES: 31% 24% 18% 15% 46% OF BRITISH COLUMBIANS SAID THEY CUT THEIR SPENDING GAINED WEIGHT DRANK MORE WORKED FROM HOME LOST THEIR JOB ( the informer ) F I V E Q U E ST ION S 5. WHERE DOES INNOVATION FIT INTO THE BIG PICTURE? It's going to be central. I look at life sciences and how fast they're growing here in B.C. I look at Harbour Air and what they're doing with their electric planes. We're leading the world in that conversation. I look at mass timber and companies that are looking at how we build sustainably but at the same time build faster, and use the latest technology in how we model our buildings. And agritech–we have some of the leaders in the world when it comes to research. We've already got amazing stories, and that's something I'm going to help share. • 1 We're still in the midst of a major crisis. Is this the time to be talking about recovery? It's tricky, because whenever I raise the question of economic recovery in a public way, the response is overwhelming, like, Why are you talking about this right now? We're still in the pandemic. I understand that, and I appreciate that. So we are very much in a phase that is about supporting our businesses the best we can to maintain operations during an unprecedented time. But I think it's responsible for us as a government, and certainly for business leaders, to start thinking about what the transitioning to opening up looks like. What does the future look like? Folks say that we need to go back to normal, and I say that we need to go find what the new normal is. 2 The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates that more than 200,000 companies could shut down as a result of COVID-19. How do you plan to help employees of the many B.C. businesses that might join that group? The Canadian number needs to be separated from the B.C. number. I've spoken to the CFIB, and they will acknowl- edge that B.C. is an outlier. We are the only province that didn't shut down our construc- tion industry; we're the only province that didn't shut down our manufacturing industry; we're one of the only prov- inces west of New Brunswick that still has dining in restau- rants. And so our model and how we've handled this, that health is the foundation of our economic recovery, people's cooperation has been the key. We've probably had a net loss of about 8,000 businesses, and that number is hard for us to swallow. But I'm very opti- mistic about late quarter two and quarter three and four of this year. I think we're going to see a strong bounce-back. 3 How are you preparing for what looks like another unpredictable year in B.C.? RAVI KAHLON B.C.'s new minister of jobs, economic recovery and innovation looks beyond the pandemic by Nick Rockel It's a real challenge, and month to month, we don't know what's going to happen. So we've been preparing by being flexible, by listening, by adjusting as we go. Many of our programs have started one way and a few months later become different. That's not normal for government, but we've been adjusting to the times, and we've been adjusting to the challenges that communities and people and businesses are facing. 4 What kind of provincial economy do you think will emerge post-COVID? B.C. has a phenomenal story to tell, and that is my goal as the minister responsible for eco- nomic recovery and trade. We have a low-carbon advantage with our products here in B.C. The costs around wanting to ensure we have a stable econo- my have already been worked into our products. When we look into what's happening in the U.S. with the change in government, when they make a move, the world moves with them. There's going to be a move toward sustainability, and we're already there. I'm looking forward to working with our resource sector, with our tech and innovation sec- tors, to not only tell the story of where we are but ensure that we maintain that lead and that competitive advantage.