40 BCBusiness JanuaRY 2016
rank
13 kamlooPS
14 BurnaBy
15 Pitt meaDowS
16 CranBrook
17 VanCouVer
18 ParkSVille
19 PrinCe george
20 ViCtoria
21 Courtenay
22 Vernon
23 maPle riDge
24 PrinCe ruPert
city
rank
25 terraCe
26 nanaimo
27 aBBotSForD-miSSion
28 ChilliwaCk
29 PentiCton
30 Salmon arm
31 DunCan
32 williamS lake
33 CamPBell riVer
34 queSnel
35 Powell riVer
36 Port alBerni
city
him to open a branch for the firm
in Fort St. John.
"With no resumé—no noth-
ing—I was given the opportunity
here that I would not have been
given anywhere else in B.C.," says
Moser, 27. "I've gone from just your gen-
eral worker to a manager, and it opens up
a whole series of possibilities."
Moser and Scott are among the many
couples moving to B.C.'s northeast—taking
advantage of what our
Best Cities for Work
list shows is, for the
second year running,
the hottest job market
in the province. Lori
Ackerman, mayor of
Fort St. John, says she
began to see the shift
from the boom-bust
cycle around 2003,
when the year-round
s u m m e r d r i l l i n g
credit program was
approved. The popu-
lation has grown 7.4
per cent in Fort St.
John since 2010 and
by 9.9 per cent in nearby Dawson Creek
(number two on our list). Many of these
newcomers are also young: the median
age is 31 in Fort St. John and 36 in Daw-
son Creek, compared to a B.C. median of
42. "Fort St. John is a place where both
partners in a relationship can have good
paying jobs—and that doesn't happen
everywhere," says Ackerman.
Indeed, within a year of mov-
ing to Fort St. John, Moser and
Scott were able to buy a house on
160 acres of land just outside the
city—a vast improvement from
their accommodations in the
Lower Mainland (Moser lived with fam-
ily in North Surrey while Scott rented
a basement suite in Newton). "We can
afford a house and a decent lifestyle
here, and I don't have to commute," says
Moser. That said, he
sees the limitations
for many of the young
workers flooding into
town. "I find that peo-
ple who come here
either love it or they
hate it. They're look-
ing for more pubs,
clubs, movie theatres
and malls."
For Moser, t he
biggest shortcoming
has been a lack of din-
ing options. "There's
lots of restaurants,
but there isn't any
ethnic food. If you're a
creative enough cook you can go to
Save-On and make it yourself," he
says. As for Mayor Ackerman, she sees
this weakness as an opportunity: "If
people are interested in being an
entrepreneur and they have some
kind of niche service and it's not
available up here, they would find people
glad to see it."
Within a year of
moving to Fort St.
John, Moser and
Scott were able to
buy a house on 160
acres of land just
outside the city—a
vast improvement
from their accom-
modations in the
Lower Mainland
f o r W o r k i n B . C .
