Over the past five months, I have been discussing the economic circumstances of the province during the past two decades.
It is clear to me that numbers are not going to do the trick. They are not going to convince anyone but it is the way that I tend to think and to communicate in a professional environment. And so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that I am going to present some more numbers in the table below.
But I was told recently that the numbers don't matter. That despite the evidence to the contrary, B.C. went through horrible, dark times under the NDP. Indeed, it seems that some individuals would like to equate the NDP with Lord Voldemort.
Yes, the province went through some bad times.
I would still contend that for the majority of the 1990s, things were not anywhere near as bad as people would like to make them out to be and I would suggest that an objective reading of the numbers in the table will show that.
But the issue isn't really what happened in the past. It is what will happen in the future. That is what matters now.
Even some of my friends that are the staunchest of BC Liberal supporters seem to be resigned to the fact that in less than two weeks, we will have an NDP government again in this province. Being a natural pessimist, I am not quite as confident but if the polls do play out, it is likely the NDP will win.
The question then becomes - how do we, as a province, move forward? Will the NDP dramatically change the economic landscape? Are we all going to lose our jobs, homes, and everything else?
The answer is no. That is the point of trying to draw a comparison between the 1990s and the period from 2001 until now. Things will go on pretty much the same. That's what the numbers say.
Still, I was assured recently that local businesses are already preparing for the storm. The consensus is that we will be going back to the dark times and that our economy will collapse.
This is why I keep posting numbers. Not to prove that things were all rosy under the NDP in the 1990s (they weren't) nor to suggest that the BC Liberals destroyed the province in the past 12 years in power (they didn't).
Rather, it is to say that whichever party is in power seems to have little effect on the overall provincial prosperity. Our economy keeps growing regardless. We don't need to panic.
Have the BC Liberals been more business friendly over the past 10 years? I suspect that for most people, their gut response would be "yes". But I know small business owners that have struggled and non-profit agencies that have found themselves in dire straits. I guess it is all a question of how you define "business".
Will this really change under the NDP? Not radically, although I think that small business owners will be slightly better off. Both of the local NDP candidates have a very good understanding of business and what is involved in a healthy economy. They are not going to let Prince George down.
Of course, that is if they get elected.
Prince George seats have gone to the governing party in each election for the past 30 or so years and I am assured by people that follow this sort of stuff that Prince George has elected MLAs to the government 32 out of 36 times.
That is important if we want to maintain our status as British Columbia's northern capital.
Regardless of who wins, though, our economy will continue to grow. The government will try to ensure that it happens. As my friend Pat Bell often says: "We agree on 95 per cent of things. It is only a few things on which we differ."
Of course, he invariably points out that it is on the 5 per cent that I am wrong.
But on this I know that I am right - the economy and British Columbia's prosperity will not come to a screeching halt on May 15th if the NDP win the election.
Indeed, I would suggest that we can look forward to another decade of economic prosperity.
