For an election campaign, this one would appear to be a bit ho-hum so far.
I drove from downtown to the university on Sunday, checking up and down side streets for lawn signs. There were plenty of signs on public land for both Mike Morris and Bobby Deepak but I saw only one on someone's front lawn. Normally, the number of signs on people's lawns is an indication of support for a particular candidate or party and usually an indication of the level of engagement in the election. But if that is the case, no one is stating their support either way.
Maybe this whole election is happening on social media and other such outlets. But in terms of local presence, it seems just a bit lackluster right now.
Generally, I find more people talking about the NHL playoffs than the provincial showdown. (Wouldn't it be great if a Canadian team could take the Stanley Cup this year?)
Of course, hockey games are filled with political commercials. Christy Clark telling us about all the wonderful things her government has done and how we don't want to go back to the bad old days of the NDP. John Horgan pointing out how much money the B.C. Liberals have raised from corporations and how this government has rewarded their friends with tax breaks.
Some claims made by the premier really make me scratch my head.
For example, we are repeatedly told there are more British Columbians working now than ever before.
Sounds impressive, right? But as our population increases every year, there better be more British Columbians working right now than ever before. After all, there are more British Columbians!
If people are coming to this province or the provincial population is increasing without increasing the size of the workforce, we are in much bigger economic trouble than either the B.C. Liberals or the NDP could create.
This factoid is invariably followed up with the statement there are 239,000 more jobs in the province. I am sure this is right but it is provided without context. In what time span? Since the B.C. Liberals first took office? Or since Christy Clark became premier? Over how long?
It certainly isn't in the past year. However, I would suggest the way it is presented, that is what we are expected to believe. For the record, according to Statistics Canada, B.C.'s population grew from 2,826,558 in 1981 to 3,373,787 in 1991 or by 54,723 people per year. From 1991 to 2001, when the population reached 4,076,881, it grew by an average of 70,309 people per year. Since 2001, our population has climbed to 4,751,612 so during the reign of the B.C. Liberals, the population has increased by an average of 42,170 people per year. We better be adding 30,000-plus jobs per year.
There are several other inferences which can be drawn from this data. The simplest is that despite the growing economy and the "best in Canada" job rates our population hasn't been growing anywhere near as fast as it did under the NDP or Social Credit. People are not flocking to this province like they used to. Do they know something we don't?
A bigger question is how do we continue to have a growing economy without the skilled workers necessary to fill the positions? The government's own labour market analysis and job plan - another item touted in Premier Clark's commercials - indicate we will have more jobs available over the next five to ten years than we have available workers. We need to be bringing in way more people than we are at present.
In any case, simple math would say since there are more people living in the province than ever before and the number is increasing ever year, there better be more people working. And we better be generating enough jobs to keep everyone working.
I am not talking about fictitious jobs either working at constructing LNG plants which have yet to materialize. These need to be jobs supporting the foundational structure of our economy.
Yes, our economy appears to be booming and GDP is up but why? It turns out many of the major industries B.C. has depended upon for decades are, at best, stagnant. For the past 10 years, for example, forestry and agriculture sector has remained relatively constant in chained dollars - $3.827 billion to $3.965 billion according to BC Stats. Indeed, the goods producing sector has been flat - from $47.7 billion to $49.3 billion.
At the same time, our GDP grew by $20 billion.
Where did that come from? Mostly service related industries and about half is tied to real estate - an increase from $28.8 billion to $38.1 billion. Real estate is a very risky investment upon which to stake a provincial economy.
It may be a lackluster campaign so far but there are serious questions which need to be answered.
