Now is a very important time for the B.C. economy, Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell told the Delta Chamber of Commerce last week.
"I think we are at what is probably the most important time in all of our collective lives," he said during a breakfast meeting at the Coast Tsawwassen Inn last Thursday.
"We really are at a fork in the road.
We can go down one of two paths. We can be aggressive, we can compete internationally and we can be incredibly successful or we can miss the opportunity that is China and India in front of us right now."
Primary competition is coming from the U.S. and Australia, he noted.
"Australia is very, very good at this stuff and the United States hates to lose. I'd like us to be Sidney Crosby and float the puck into the net. I think we can do that."
If B.C. captures the opportunity the benefits to the province would be tremendous, he said, noting the province would have the kind of robust thriving economy that will help deliver the social services that people will need in the coming decades.
"When I think about what builds an economy and what we need to do in British Columbia to be successful, I often think about things like productivity, resources and filling the demand in the global market - reaching out into areas that are showing growth and have economic opportunity," Bell said.
"Who can doubt for a second that's taking place in the two very large countries of China and India right now."
Bell also discussed the province's jobs plan and the eight key sectors included in it. One of those, ports, is already a key economic driver in Delta, he said.
"One that has served the area very, very well," he said, adding that he knows it "comes with a lot of controversy. I understand that."
International education is another key sector in the plan. Currently there are about 93,000 students who come to B.C. annually and leave behind about $1.25 billion in economic value, Bell said. "We're being very aggressive in our strategies in international education. I make no apologies for it. There are some that criticize and try to say we're taking student spaces away from British Columbians.
There could be nothing further from the truth."
During a question and answer session, one of the queries was about foreign trade zones. Bell said he thinks there's a lack of understanding generally around the topic. He said a foreign trade zone can be defined in a number of ways, including geographically, by product type, or by manufacturer. He explained that goods from a foreign jurisdiction come into that zone, are re-manufactured where there's incremental value added and they're shipped to another country.
While labour laws, environmental rules, zoning bylaws, are the same as they would be for any other business, the foreign trade zone allows you to add value to goods and move them to a final destination in a competitive way, he said.
"We think the greatest likelihood of a foreign trade zone probably is today, is in connection with the aerospace industry. It's because of geographic location as it results with Washington State and to Boeing and Airbus."
BY DAVE WILLIS [email protected]
