With a nominal GDP of CAD 306.3 billion in 2019, British Columbia (BC) accounts for 13.3% of Canada's GDP, making it the fourth largest province behind Ontario, Quebec and Alberta in terms of economic performance. The province is also the third largest destination for immigrants in 2019 and is one of the least indebted provinces in Canada.
The B.C. provincial government is responsible for activities such as education, health care, highways and enacting legislation for the people of the province. Victoria is the administrative capital and the seat of Parliament. The Legislative Assembly is composed of 87 members elected by first-past-the-post for a four-year term.
British Columbia has a majority NDP government. The 42nd Legislature was elected on October 24, 2020. The Premier of the province is John Horgan (for a second term) and the Lieutenant Governor is Janet Austin. The official opposition is the Liberal Party of British Columbia.
The BC government's vision for the province's economic future is an inclusive, sustainable and innovative economy. The province offers investment and business opportunities in many industry sectors and attracts investors from around the world. The province's significant natural, energy, mining and forestry resources, diversified economy, low taxes, and stable and well-regulated financial system are key assets for investors.
The province's GDP is composed of 75.7% service production and 24.3% goods production. In 2019, industrial production accounted for 13.4% of the province's GDP, the energy sector for 5.5%, and the information and communications technology (ICT) sector for 4.5%. In terms of export destination, in 2019, 50.6% of the value of exports was to the United States, 14.5% to China and 10.3% to Japan.
The BC market is supported by fully integrated port, rail and road systems. Vancouver is a key connecting hub to growing Asian markets and a major international transportation hub, with the Port of Vancouver, the largest port in the country and closest to Asia. The Port of Vancouver connects the province's forest industry with more than 170 economies around the world, while the Port of Prince Rupert in northern B.C. is home to North America's deepest natural harbour and North America's fastest shipping lane to China.
Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is also consistently recognized by passengers as the best airport in North America. It is the second busiest airport in Canada.
The Greater Vancouver region is the economic heart of the province with a population of 2.7 million. The region's companies and research institutes are internationally recognized and are global drivers of research, experimentation and innovation.
British Columbia has over 150 agri-technology companies, with the largest employing over 100 people.
The provincial government is continually exploring new ways to support increased food production and innovation in food processing, while ensuring that world-class standards of sustainability, quality and safety are met. As a result, regional expertise has developed in vertical farming, agricultural robotics, agricultural genomics, cellular agriculture, and food processing and waste reduction technologies.
In 2019, the province's agri-tech sector generated about $500 million in revenue.
Because of its competitive tax credits and substantial financial support from the provincial government for film, television and interactive digital media production, British Columbia has earned a reputation as one of the world's leading creative media centers. The province provides substantial support to the digital sectors through organizations such as Creative BC and DigiBC and programs like the Canada Media Fund.
The region is an international center for console game production and is home to 600 digital media companies and leading creative game groups such as EA(Electronic Arts), Microsoft, Relic Entertainment (Sega), Eastside Games, IGG Games, Kabam (Net Marble). In total, these companies employ over 16,000 workers across the province.
BC is also an emerging hub for virtual and augmented reality technology. The Greater Vancouver region is home to more than 260 immersive virtual reality technology companies, including Microsoft, Cloudhead Games and Archiact; placing the region just behind the famed Silicon Valley. In total, these immersive technology companies generated $2.3 billion in annual revenue in 2019.
British Columbia is also the largest full-service film center in Canada, the third largest in North America and is considered one of the top five film production centers in the world. The province offers a diverse range of production facilities with nearly 250,000 square metres of studio space across the province. Commonly referred to as thethe Hollywood of the North"Vancouver is considered a global center for animation and special effects, film and television and is home to some of the world's largest studios.
British Columbia is at the forefront of green innovation. With the highest technology growth rates in Canada, the province is home to some of the world's leading companies. These companies focus on water and waste management, clean transportation, desalination processing, carbon capture and renewable energy.
The region has 200 companies generating $1.7 billion in annual sales. Leading clean and climate technology companies in BC include Awesense, Axine Water Technologies, Ballard Power Systems, Damon Motorcycles, General Fusion, MineSense Technologies, Saltworks Technologies, Svante. In addition, 3,000 students graduate each year from engineering and applied science programs offered in the province.
In 2021, the BC government has partnered with the Government of Canada and Shell to establish a new Clean Energy Innovation Centre, with initial funding of $105 million. The center will bring together innovators, industry, government and academia to accelerate the commercialization and scale-up of clean energy technologies across the province.
Vancouver is also ranked among the top 10 cleantech cities in the world by the Global Cleantech Cluster Association.
British Columbia is also a leader in the use of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) with the highest per capita ZEV adoption in North America. The province has one of the largest public charging networks in Canada, with over 2,500 public charging stations by the end of 2020.
The fintech sector is booming in the Greater Vancouver area. In 2019, Vancouver was named one of the top 25 cities in the world for its startup ecosystem and the number one city for high-tech job growth in Canada, ranking it 15ᵉ globally.
The province's companies have a global reputation in quantum computing systems in the aerospace, biomedical and manufacturing sectors.
In addition, British Columbia is the second largest center for artificial intelligence (AI) and is becoming a global hub for AI research. Supported by government programs and research generated by the region's universities and labs, many Canadian AI companies are locating in B.C. Established international technology companies, such as Amazon, Tableau, Fujitsu, Change Healthcare are also looking to the province to expand their AI capacity, reinforcing the province's reputation as a hub for digital technology and innovation. The Greater Vancouver area's proximity to the world's largest software development hubs (Portland, Seattle) is also helping the sector grow.
The governments of Canada and B.C. also offer a range of initiatives to support the AI sector, such as the BC Tech Fund, a $100 million venture capital fund that invests in emerging technology companies such as D-Wave, the world's first commercial quantum computer provider.
The natural resource sectors (forestry, mining, agri-food and energy) account for about half of the province's economic base. British Columbia's economy remains dependent on natural resource exports. The province's international exports represent CAD 43.5 billion or 8% of Canadian exports. A significant portion of manufacturing activity is directly related to the processing of raw materials. Wood (CAD 7.5 billion), coal (CAD 6.7 billion) and natural gas (CAD 2.7 billion) alone will account for 39% of the province's exports in 2019.
Access services account for 14% of the province's economic base. This includes transportation and logistics services associated with the Vancouver and Prince Rupert seaports, the Vancouver International Airport, and British Columbia's road and rail transportation systems.
Together, natural resources and access services account for two-thirds of the province's economic base. Other manufacturing contributes 16% of export earnings, while high technology and film production contribute 6%. Finally, exports of leisure tourism and financial, insurance and real estate services contribute 7% of export earnings.
British Columbia's impressive size (944,735 square kilometers), diverse geography, and temperate climate make it easy to grow a wide range of foods. In 2018, the province exported $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products, seafood and processed foods to 149 countries. The United States is the largest export market, with a value of over $3 billion. Other important export markets are China with a value of $532 million, Japan with $224 million, South Korea with $73 million, and Hong Kong with $73 million.
British Columbia's farms and ranches produce beef, dairy, chicken, turkey, eggs, pork, sheep, lamb and other animals and animal products. The province exported over $364 million worth of animals and animal products in 2018. Meanwhile, farmers produced 245,400 tonnes of grains and oilseeds in 2018, including wheat, canola, oats and barley.
In addition, production in the agricultural subsector increased by 11.5% in volume due to the acceleration of legal cannabis production.
British Columbia is Canada's second largest wine producing province. Its wine industry is world renowned and includes over 350 licensed wineries. Over 80 different grape varieties are produced in the province, with the top 10 being Merlot, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah.
British Columbia also produces artisanal ciders, beers and spirits (whiskey and vodka), and is recognized as a premium producer of glacial spring water and a variety of fruit and vegetable juices.
The seafood sector produces more than 100 different species of wild and farmed fish, shellfish and marine plants, with world-class fishing grounds, salmon rivers and pristine oceanic farming areas.
These rich harvests of fish and seafood are shipped to markets in Asia, Europe and North America. Major exports include salmon, crab, shrimp, geoduck, hake, herring, halibut, tuna, sea urchins, oysters, sablefish, clams, flounder and sea cucumbers.
British Columbia has six species approved to display the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label: halibut, hake, albacore tuna, sockeye salmon, chum salmon and pink salmon. The MSC "Sustainable Fishing" label guarantees that the fish have been caught in a responsible manner that respects the marine environment and that the fisheries have respected the following three fundamental principles: sustainable fish stocks, minimized environmental impact and effective fisheries management.
Forestry is a very important economic activity in British Columbia, making the province one of the largest exporters of wood products in the world. Approximately 80,000 jobs are directly dependent on forestry across the province.
Forests cover 56% of the total area of the region, which contains one of the only temperate rainforests in North America. The trees that grow here are suitable for the lumber trade and the construction industry (frames, furniture, boats).
Logging in British Columbia accounts for approximately 33% of all logging in Canada, making it the province with the largest market share. Revenues from the lumber industry can reach up to $14 billion annually. The industry is most efficient inland. Forestry operations account for 60% of the province's total industry.
The province is also home to many small and medium-sized businesses offering a wide range of wood products, including treated wood, engineered wood, shakes, pulp, biomass and wood pellets.
The mining industry is the third largest economic sector in British Columbia. The province has numerous copper, gold and zinc mines, but the most important resources remain coal, oil and natural gas. The total value of minerals mined is estimated at C$5.7 billion, while exploration investment amounted to $367 million in 2019.
Energy products account for about 28% of international exports in 2019. In comparison, agricultural and fishery products account for 5% of international exports, while automotive, aeronautical, electronic, electrical equipment and industrial machinery account for 12.3%.
The province's budget also provides financial support for continued growth in the mining sector, with more than $600 million dedicated to mineral exploration in 2021. This represents a 50% increase over the previous year. This is the highest amount invested in a decade, as demand for minerals is increasing worldwide. This is because of the key role minerals will play in a low-carbon future.
Tourism is an important part of British Columbia's economy and is constantly growing. The province receives over 15 million visitors annually from around the world.
In the region there are 7 national parks and more than 600 well-maintained provincial parks, the largest number of glaciers in North America and 6,500 islands along the Pacific Coast, the largest number of resident wildlife species in the country, and 13 world-class ski resorts, including Whistler, which hosted the Nordic events of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In terms of exports, British Columbia plays a prominent role in Canada. It offers the greatest diversity among Canadian provinces and exports its products to the United States, Japan, the European Union and the Pacific Rim.
TheCanada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUMA) is a revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed on January 1, 1994, which was intended to facilitate trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada. In addition to being the most ambitious trade agreement in history, NAFTA also created the world's largest free trade area and brought together two wealthy developed countries and one less developed state. As a result, the agreement has fostered the development of international trade by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers and domestic regulations that could restrict the import of goods and services. In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to renegotiate the agreement or even cancel it. After numerous renegotiations, NAFTA was replaced by the MEPA on July1, 2020. This new agreement facilitates the temporary entry of business people who are U.S., Mexican or Canadian citizens and who are engaged in trade in goods or services or in investment activities. The agreement also eliminates the need for all business persons subject to the agreement to obtain a labor market impact assessment. Finally, for professionals and intra-company transferees, the MWEA expedites the application process as the application can be submitted at the port of entry.
The European Union (EU) is the second largest trading partner. TheComprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union offers Canadian businesses preferential access to the EU market and excellent opportunities for growth in the region. September 21, 2022 marks the fifth anniversary of the provisional application of CETA. The agreement will enter into full force once all EU Member States have completed the ratification process. Until then, the provisional application of CETA continues and remains available to Canadian and European businesses. Since its inception, CETA has resulted in a significant increase in two-way trade and provided a particularly favourable environment for entrepreneurs on both sides of the Atlantic. British Columbia thus offers interesting prospects to French companies wishing to establish and develop in North America.