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/1514012
30 To u r i s m V i c t o r i a BC BU S I N E S S .C A F E B R U A R Y 2 0 24 To delve deeper into the state of the cur- rent economic climate, we've once again worked with research partner Environics Analytics to assess the performance of 50 of the province's largest communities against a battery of 10 economic indicators. Taking a broader view of economic resil- ience than in pre- COVID years, our ranking considers factors such as housing growth, unemployment and economic diversity, while also taking into account aspects of social and environmental resiliency. (For details, see page 42.) To better unravel the post-pandemic complexities faced by B.C.'s cities, we're spotlighting communities from three of the top-performing regions. We've reached out to local business leaders in aquaculture, aerospace and film production to gain insights into the challenges and opportuni- ties for their industries in the year ahead. THIS YEAR'S LIST Our 2024 ranking reflects a dichotomy observed every year in B.C. communities: a relatively stable collection of reliable year- over-year performers standing in stark con- trast to an unpredictable batch of dynamic gainers and tumblers. Among the former are this year's top three cities: Central Saanich (No. 1), Sid- ney (No. 2) and Langford (No. 3), which all make a return appearance to the top 10— along with Kelowna (No. 5) and Squamish (No. 6)—and cement Vancouver Island as this year's top-performing region. Rep- resenting the latter, Burnaby (No. 4), the Township of Langley (No. 7), the District of North Vancouver (No. 8), Saanich (No. 9) and the City of Langley (No. 10) all made double-digit gains to round out the top of the list. For four years running, Vancouver Island has secured its position as B.C.'s top region. It owes its continued strength to strong household finances, low residential GHG emissions, minimal unemployment and sturdy residential sales and housing starts. This year, its economic centre of gravity has solidly shifted to the Capital Regional Dis- trict—represented by its four leading com- munities in the top 10, plus Victoria (No. 16) and Sooke (No. 25)—where the province's highest per capita job growth occurred. However, the largest collective rise was made by Metro Vancouver communities, where eight cities made double-digit gains, including Richmond (No. 13), Vancouver (No. 15) and Surrey (No. 29), which rose by 25, 18 and 14 spots, respectively, from the year prior. Overall, stronger job creation helped push the region higher over the previous year. PLANE VIEW The Saanich Peninsula dominates our list this year with Central Saanich, Sidney and Saanich all making the top 10 ▶ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25