BCBusiness

EDMONTON JOURNaL (TOp RighT); VaNcOUVER sUN (bOTTOM RighT) May 2015 BCBusiness 35 That's just the barest summary of the various troubles. And Alberta, sorry about this, but we have some very bad news. It's entirely possible that things will get even worse—and that they'll stay that way for a long time. Remember that for- estry downturn we alluded to? Well, at the turn of the 1980s B.C. was on top of the world, exactly as you were those short months ago. In 1981, our GDP per capita was 15 per cent higher than the rest of Canada's. And while migration from the rest of Canada was down a touch from the frantic 1960s, B.C. was still a powerful population magnet through the 1970s, inducing several thousand Canadians to move here every month. After all, jobs paid well and were reasonably easy to find. At 6.7 per cent, the unemployment rate was higher than on the prairies but lower than anywhere else in Canada. Because jeez, B.C. wasn't just a nice place to work: with its well- funded safety net and unmatched social and cultural infrastruc- ture, it was also a nice place to not work. At the beating heart of all this prosperity was our forest indus- try, which at its peak directly employed almost 100,000 people, or close to eight per cent of the workforce—a proportion that could be more than doubled with the application of multiplier effects. For context, about seven per cent of your workforce currently works directly in oil and gas. Beyond the dozens of mill towns that relied almost solely on forestry, Metro Vancouver was home to mills of its own, along with port facilities dedicated in large part to shipping pulp, logs and lumber, and a downtown sprinkled with the tow- ering head offices of companies like Macmillan Bloedel, with its worldwide assets of more than $4 billion. Well, within five years of the 1978-80 peak, the volume of forestry production fell by 30 per cent and the dollar value a whole lot more. Forestry's share of the economy never recovered—nor did the workforce, which ultimately saw about half of its numbers automated and rationalized out of existence. Given the industry's dominant role, this was devastating for the provincial economy, which didn't reach pre-recession levels again until 1985 (and OLD LESSONS (Clockwise from top left) Bright lights in downtown Calgary; a dull real estate mar- ket; solidarity strikes in B.C. circa 1983; the Squamish Five That's just the barest summary of the various troubles. And Alberta, sorry about this, but we have some very bad news. It's entirely possible that things will get even worse—and that they'll stay that way for a long time. Remember that for- stay that way for a long time. Remember that for- stay that way for a long time. Remember that for estry downturn we alluded to? Well, at the turn of the 1980s B.C. was on top of the world, exactly per capita was 15 per cent higher than the rest of Canada's. And while migration from the rest of Canada was down a touch from the frantic 1960s, B.C. was still a powerful population magnet through the 1970s, inducing several thousand Canadians to move here every month. After all, jobs paid well and were reasonably easy to find. At 6.7 per cent, the unemployment rate was higher than on the prairies but lower than anywhere else in Canada. try, which at its peak directly employed almost 100,000 people, or close to eight per cent of the workforce—a proportion that could be more than doubled with the application of multiplier effects. For context, about seven per cent of your workforce currently works directly in oil and gas. Beyond the dozens of mill towns that relied almost solely on forestry, Metro Vancouver was home to mills of its own, along with port facilities dedicated in large part to shipping pulp, logs and lumber, and a downtown sprinkled with the tow ering head offices of companies like Macmillan Bloedel, with its worldwide assets of more than $4 billion. volume of forestry production fell by 30 per cent and the dollar value a whole lot more. Forestry's share of the economy never recovered—nor did in 1981, our Gdp per capita was 15 per cent higher than the rest of canada's. And while migra- tion from the rest of canada was down a touch from the frantic 1960s, b.c. was still a powerful population magnet through the 1970s

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