Jock Finlayson

BCBC: Victoria, WorkSafeBC need to better consider employer needs

A "worker centric" approach at WorkSafeBC shouldn't ignore employers, write Jock Finlayson and Ken Peacock

BCBC: Ottawa is still behind on spurring capital investment and productivity growth

As a result, the typical Canadian employee has fewer and less up-to-date “tools” and Canada continues to underperform peers on productivity

Provincial economic prosperity requires continued export success

Policies for provincial growth cannot ignore B.C.'s valuable export sector

Outlook 2023: The bill for Canada’s long run of low-interest rates is coming due in 2023

The year that just ended threw up some big surprises, including the first land war in Europe since 1945, spiralling inflation and an exceptionally compressed cycle of monetary policy tightening...

Acceleration of population growth was one of the most significant developments for B.C. in 2022

In 2021, the provincial economy emerged from the pandemic in decent shape considering that many consumer services and most travel remained partially shuttered and international trade had not fully...

NDP continuing to hollow out B.C.’s invaluable forest industry

We close out our regular monthly columns for the year by revisiting the economic role and contributions of the province’s largest export industry: Forestry. The provincial Crown owns 95 per cent of...

Stimulating B.C.’s productivity growth should be atop David Eby’s priority to-do list

BC NDP leader David Eby will be sworn in as B.C.’s next premier shortly after this column is published. He will inherit an array of complex policy files. While the province has emerged from the...

West Vancouver, City of Vancouver, New Westminster among Metro’s municipal government big-spenders

With Metro Vancouver municipal elections behind us, now is a good time to review trends in local government spending. Together with our colleague David Williams, we recently did a deep dive into...

Tech-driven job displacement slow to gain labour market traction

The final week of summer is a good time to step back and assess developments in the job market and how it has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to expectations that prevailed before...

B.C.’s export economy continues to cash in on its Cascadian connections

It is well known that the United States is British Columbia’s largest export market and number one international commercial partner. Even if the specific details of export magnitudes are not widely...