The state of the north has a lot to do with the state of the south in B.C.
The bad news for the north and the rest of the province, however, is that the urban economic engine in the southwest knows too little about the north and what it means to B.C.’s economy.
Metro Vancouver’s regionally self-involved might consider the north a rural backwater of isolated communities that specialize in logging and mining and dabble in energy development. It might generate some revenue and jobs, they admit, but the southwest and its knowledge-based economy is surely B.C.’s future.
Data collected and released recently by the Northern Development Initiative Trust, however, tells another story.
Its State of the North Report provides detailed information about northern challenges and opportunities that should be required reading for anyone who cares about developing the province’s natural resources and economic diversification, which still relies on the contributions of that resource backbone to fund initiatives in technology that are so crucial to expanding B.C.’s economic horizons.
As the report points out, rural B.C. annually accounts for approximately 78% of the value of B.C.’s exports. That’s somewhere between $24 billion and $30 billion – a significant piece of the fiscal pie in B.C.
The north’s real estate and other costs of living are cheaper than the south’s. Its population is also younger.
But it faces huge challenges.
Since 2014, the north’s economic growth has been weak and its population has declined; major energy project delays, trade disputes and uncertainty over mining and forestry investment are threatening survival in a lot of communities.
The south can’t do without the north, no matter what tech and green industry cheerleaders might believe. Data and informed insights like those in the trust’s report that measure the north’s historic and future value to B.C.’s economy need to be digested far and wide. We ignore them and the north at our economic peril.
