Building a prosperous future for the province means putting people first as the fundamental driver of wealth, says BC Tech president and CEO Jill Tipping
I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you’re 35 is against the natural order of things. –Douglas Adams
For Jill Tipping, that observation by late science fiction author Adams gets at the urgent need to shift our thinking about the B.C. economy and its future.
Tipping is president and CEO of the BC Tech Association, which recently published A New Economic Narrative for British Columbia. The report’s thesis: Our economy isn’t what we tell ourselves it is. We still cling to the 20th-century image of B.C. as mostly an exporter of natural resources. But in fact, over the past three decades, we’ve become a knowledge and service-driven economy.
“How I would describe the call to action in this report is that it’s no longer enough to describe that we’re experiencing economic growth,” Tipping says. “We actually need to understand the why so that we can understand if it’s sustainable or not.”
The report presents B.C. as a small, open economy at an inflection point in a rapidly changing world. If physical assets drove economic growth, resilience and competitiveness during the previous century, the service economy of the 21st century hinges on intangible assets such as data and intellectual property.
Just look at B.C., where services now account for 75 percent of gross domestic product, 80 percent of jobs and 50 percent of exports. “To plan for the future, we have to understand where we came from, but we’ve got to get our feet grounded in where we are today,” Tipping says. “I think the conversation continues to be dominated by things that were true 30 years ago but actually aren’t true today and definitely won’t be true tomorrow.”
A global reality check
Despite growing affluence in North America, COVID has been a reality check for the world, Tipping notes. So have the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 2016 election of Donald Trump, which could signal the end of the expansionist, globalist era, she says.
“I think today, we’re sort of at a place of, oh, I don’t know, maybe there’s more tension in the world than I thought there was, and perhaps the climate crisis is more serious than I thought, and the transition off oil and gas is sooner than I thought,” Tipping says.
“Economic growth is a good thing, but economic growth that doesn’t drive increased shared prosperity is going to be a challenging thing,” she adds. “And economic growth that’s based on industries that might be grandfathering or not growing as fast as they once did isn’t as good as economic growth that’s driven by industries that are globally growing and going to be sustainable sources of economic growth for the next 30 to 50 years.”
On that note, Tipping sees opportunity for B.C., whose technology industry keeps spilling over into other sectors. “Adjacent industries are becoming tech industries, and every industry is becoming tech,” she says. “As a consequence of that, it’s going to be a growing share of jobs.”
The provincial government projects that from 2019 through 2029, professional, scientific and technical services will see 2.5-percent annual job growth. But based on recent member surveys, BC Tech expects that category to expand by 10 to 15 percent annually during the same period—generating 88,000 more jobs than the government forecast of 98,800.
That’s good news, but when it comes to measuring the economic impact of the tech sector, we’re still using 20th-century methods, the report maintains. For example, the current North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) doesn’t separate technology and digital businesses from professional, scientific and technical services. At the same, time there’s little provincial and federal data on B.C. services exports.
Talking to civil servants at both levels of government, Tipping has found them interested in gathering better data. “It’s a challenge to find the time and the money and the teams to invest in the new,” she says. “But I do think there’s a shared understanding of the challenge and the need to adjust to this question.”
Talent, talent and talent
To help shape the new economic narrative, BC Tech lays out three steps. “First and foremost is to really embrace data,” Tipping says. “Let’s understand today’s economy, because we don’t have enough information is what is driving 80 percent of our economy.”
With that in mind, Tipping would like to see the provincial government make use of her organization’s report as it develops a new economic plan due this fall. “We’re hoping to be influential as part of that on the kinds of questions that need to be asked and answered, and specifically with a focus on the data capture piece.”
But her bigger ambition is to change the conversation, “so that hopefully, three years from now, it isn’t the case that 80 percent of the jobs get 5 percent of the conversation,” she says. “That’s something that’s a longer-term play, but even the way the report has been received so far and the conversations we’ve had so far, I am pleasantly surprised by the interest that we’re getting within government as well as in wider society.”
Step 2: Face reality. “Let’s just understand that technology innovation isn’t a choice, it isn’t an option anymore. It’s a fact, and it’s been a fact for 20 years, and it’s what is driving prosperity and growth globally,” she says. “Sometimes I think in B.C., it’s seen as icing on the cake—or, If we have time for that, we will. It’s the cake, OK? It’s become the cake.”
And Step 3? “There are three priorities in this new economic narrative, and they are talent, talent and talent,” Tipping says. “We must stop seeing people as a cost or an afterthought. They’re the fundamental unit and driver of wealth, of prosperity, of growth. And if we invest in people, whether that’s through education or infrastructure or their ideas or their entrepreneurship or their innovation about new ways to create value for old industries, whether it’s in B.C. or elsewhere, it’s the easiest money you could possibly make.”
Having previously spent several years with energy multinational Schneider Electric as VP operations and CFO of its solar business, Tipping knows about making money the hard way. “It is a really tough business,” she says. “It’s constantly focused on taking costs out. You will win in the energy business if you have the lowest-cost, most consistently efficient supplier.”
The drivers of the talent economy are completely different, Tipping notes. “You will win in the talent economy if you enable creativity and innovation and fast business cycles, and constant nourishment and enrichment and bringing in new ideas and products.”
Working in that new economy is more enjoyable, too, she says. “It’s more fun to earn your living in something that’s sustainably profitable and constantly interested in new ideas.”
Building the people economy
The BC Tech report also highlights the changing nature of economic competitiveness, which sees taxes play a smaller role than intangible assets, innovation and investment in people.
“I would say we’ve moved from a time when capital was constrained to a time when talent is constrained,” Tipping says. In other words, human labour and talent have become the scarce resource. “If you optimize for that resource, you will be a winner and a success in today’s economy and the future.”
Given its strong education and health-care systems, and the fact that generally speaking, it’s a safe and welcoming society, B.C. should be far ahead in that department, Tipping reckons. “It’s a bit hokey to say it, but if we can get as good as mining what’s in people’s minds as we were at mining what’s in the ground, that’s the source of value for the future.”
For Tipping, it comes back to what she calls the infrastructure of the people economy—education and re-skilling, but also affordable housing and good public transit.
“It’s important to have a stable and predictable environment,” she says. “But maybe that’s not the most important thing anymore. The most important thing—and this is certainly what I believe—is to be a great place for human talent to thrive. And if you are optimized for that, then industry and post-secondaries and governments and all players in the economy will find themselves with the wind at their backs.”
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
