tougher to explain. It's easy to point to a
business-friendly provincial government,
a competitive tax regime and a strategic
West Coast location between power cen-
tres in the U.S. and Asia. But Ken Peacock,
chief economist and vice-president of
the Business Council of B.C., believes the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
"Something's going on in B.C.; it's a
good place to be right now," Peacock says.
"There's no doubt we are much more
diversiƒied. The past ƒive, seven, eight
years have just reinforced that trend."
Diversi†cation has made the province
more resilient, not only in the Lower
Mainland, with its booming port and
vibrant science and cultural sectors, but
in the Okanagan, where agriculture and
real estate have been going strong, and
the Peace, where construction of the Site
C dam and other infrastructure projects
have oŠset slower times in the oil and gas
sector. The depth of the gains will stand
B.C. in good stead as China's growth shifts
into lower gear. "When the U.S. economy
was weaker, our exports were being
driven by China," Peacock says. "Now we
barely see an increase, and it actually fol-
lows a couple of years of decreases. So the
China story fuelling B.C.'s prosperity and
expansion has largely run its course."
Instead, smaller economies like India,
Japan and South Korea are picking up the
slack, a trend that will help if softwood
R E A L E S T A T E
C H A R I T I E S
RANK COMPANY REVENUE 2016
($000)
REVENUE 2015
($000)
1 Ledcor Group 3,100,000 3,000,000
2 Charlwood Pacific Group 1,000,000 800,000 e
3 Imperial Parking Corp. 723,222 407,000
4 BC Housing Management Commission 636,375 651,068
5 Polygon Family of Companies 580,000 610,000
6 Shato Holdings Ltd. 500,000 e 475,000 e
7 Concert Properties Ltd. 400,000 e 375,000 e
8 Aquilini Investment Group 375,000 e 350,000 e
9 Bosa Properties Inc. 375,000 e 350,000 e
10 British Columbia Investment Mgmt. Corp. 295,400 251,561
RANK ORGANIZATION DONATIONS 2016
($000)
DONATIONS 2015
($000)
1 University of British Columbia 68,419 39,628
2 Audain Foundation 35,859 25,625
3 Vancouver Foundation 34,274 e 39,651
4 BC Children's Hospital Foundation 31,804 32,723
5 St. Paul's Hospital Foundation of Vcr. 28,927 19,396
6 BC Cancer Foundation 28,925 28,435
7 VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation 26,347 22,138
8 Power to Change Ministries 22,050 23,938
9 United Way of the Lower Mainland 21,487 23,048
10 Union Gospel Mission 16,120 11,823
e=estimate Revenue is by fiscal year
e=estimate Revenue is by fiscal year
80 BCBUSINESS JULY/AUGUST 2017
