December 2014 BCBusiness 15 bcbusiness.ca
Building the Tech Ecosystem
More companies, both large and small,
setting up shop in Vancouver, Victoria
and elsewhere in B.C. will only have a
positive net effect ("The Global Temp,"
October 2014). We need to have a strong
digital/tech industry ecosystem, and to
do that we need a good mix of large tech
foreign investment and indie develop-
ment companies.
Foreign tech companies attract sig-
nificant investment, pay competitive
global wages and benefits, provide
excellent training, produce high-qual-
ity product, help increase the size of
our tech labour pool, help fill gaps in
senior management and technical posi-
tions and bring experienced Canadian
talent back home that might have left
years ago when prospects weren't as
appealing as they are today. As a result,
the indie and start-up development
community benefits from a larger and
more experienced talent pool to better
execute on their ideas. It becomes a
win-win situation for us all.
Patrick Sauriol
Executive Director, DigiBC
Vancouver
Making Room for Mental Health
In B.C., we have made immense strides
in the accommodation of employees
with physical disabilities in the work-
place ("The business case for accom-
modating employees with disabilities,"
BCBusiness.ca/your-business). We are
more considerate of them than in the
past: there are elevators, and most work-
places are wheelchair-accessible. Some
elevators have Braille keypads. But we
have been negligent in caring for indi-
viduals with mental health issues. Mental
health is shrouded in stigma, and those
individuals who fall into this category are
reluctant to come forth and announce
that their issue is schizophrenia, bipolar
affective disorder, depression and so on.
Each individual is capable of contribut-
ing in some measure—and we have to
recognize that if we utilize that contribu-
tion effectively in small business in B.C.,
we will increase our profit margin and
become leaders in Canada.
Trusha Desai
Innovation Management
Vancouver
What's Nice, Anyway?
I think the key to your question is under-
standing that "nice" has a different
meaning for everyone ("A nice house or a
nice life? Canadian Gen Xers overwhelm-
ingly pick the latter: study," BCBusiness
.ca/real-estate). One person's nice could
be a rented one-bedroom basement
suite, while another person's nice could
be owning a 6,000-square-foot house
with a pool and tennis court. As for a nice
life, that's also up to the individual. With
that being said, everyone's goal should
not be one or the other, but both.
Mike Nunn
Operations Team Leader,
Ideon Packaging
Richmond
@John_Yap (October 8)
Wonder how SeattleTacoma Port man-
ages 'oppose everything' B.A.N.A.N.A.
(Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere
Near Anything) types? ("Vancouver's
port faces new, larger American rival,"
BCBusiness.ca/manufacturing-transport)
@shannomiller (September 30)
The juice is really good, and these ladies
are lovely. Nice to see them mentioned
in @bcbusiness ("Nectar Juicery sup-
plies juice on tap to corporate clients,"
BCBusiness.ca/retail)
@Gryph43John (September 26)
Oh what's $10 B here or there given that
B.C. has already squandered its wealth in
past years. ("Christy Clark unconcerned
as Petronas teeters on $10-billion
LNG
investment,"BCBusiness.ca/natural-
resources)
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