Vancouver, BC - The BC Progress Board delivered its Fourth Annual Benchmarking Report "Leadership and Vision: Benchmarking for North Star 2010" to Premier Gordon Campbell today. The comprehensive two volume report includes over 80 performance indicators and a number of special topics benchmarking British Columbia's economic, innovation, education, environment, health and social performance regionally, nationally and internationally. Indicators within the report reflect final outcome data, usually from 2003. Volume I of the Report, External Performance Review, assesses BC's relative performance nationally and internationally.

British Columbia's annual rate of economic growth per capita increased to 5th place in Canada in 2003, up from 6th in 2002, following data revisions by Statistics Canada. The province continues to rank 3rd in Canada in the level of after-tax income per capita, unchanged from its ranking in last year's report. The Board's jobs measure - the employment rate (ages 15-64) - improved to 6th place in 2003, up from 7th in 2002. Meanwhile BC ranks 1st on the Progress Board's environmental quality index (1999-2003), 1st for life expectancy at birth (2002/03), and 10th for low income incidence (2002), an indicator where the province persistently scored poorly (8th, 9th or 10th rank) between 1999 and 2002. The Board has set a target for British Columbia to place 1st or 2nd in Canada on each core target by 2010.

"Importantly, BC placed ahead of the national average for economic growth per capita in 2002 and 2003, for the first time since 1993", stated David Black, BC Progress Board Chair and President of Victoria-based Black Press Ltd. BC also became a net recipient of migrants from other parts of the country in 2003/04 (3rd rank), following six years of net outflows to other provinces that began in 1997/98. "British Columbia's economy held its own against other provinces in 2002 and 2003, following notably weak growth in 2001 and subsequent shocks such as the softwood lumber tariffs, SARS and firestorms," Black continued.

BC continued to be a middling performer within Canada on business investment (6th, 2003) and productivity (6th, 2003), while its export performance was weak (8th, 2003). "Those nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that are economic leaders have focused on framework policies - competitive personal and business tax levels, regulatory reform, fiscal stability, and building an educated workforce - as the foundation for productivity and export growth and better standards of living," Black noted. "Federal and provincial governments must continue efforts to strengthen BC's competitive position, to secure access to the US market, and to tap into fast-growing Asian markets," he continued.

Overall innovation performance, measured by expenditures on research and development (R&D) relative to GDP, continues to be mediocre, with BC ranking 5th (2001) in Canada, 19th out of 31 OECD jurisdictions (2002), and 40th out of 61 provinces and US states (2001) in North America. On the other hand, BC is 1st in Canada in the percentage of households connected to the internet (2003), and its leading universities (SFU and UBC) rank 2nd and 3rd (2002) respectively among 15 Canadian universities on US patents issued per $1 million of expenditures. Both universities are very competitive in the number of spin-off firms as well. "Innovation outcomes from BC's research institutions are exemplary," remarked Tim McEwan, Executive Director of the Progress Board. "Further efforts to improve public and private R&D expenditure levels and venture financing for promising ideas and startups will be an important part of enhancing BC's productivity performance and long-term economic prospects", McEwan continued.

Turning to education outcomes, BC is steadily improving its high school completion rate (79% 2003, up from 77% in 2002), while standardized foundation skills testing (2003/04) for grade 4 and 7 students shows over 80 percent of students are meeting or exceeding expectations for reading, writing, and numeracy. On average BC ranks 4th out of 41 international jurisdictions surveyed in 2003 in the OECD Program for International Student Assessment standardized tests of math, science, reading and problem solving. BC ranks 2nd in Canada (2003) for the number of university graduates aged 25-54, 4th for the percentage of natural and applied science graduates in the work force (2003), and 3rd for the number of registered apprenticeship completions (2001). "BC continues to achieve excellence in education at all levels," McEwan stated, cautioning that "competing jurisdictions face demographic challenges similar to BC during the next decade, meaning the province will not be able to rely on immigration to fill projected needs in key areas such as skilled trades and advanced research."

BC performs well on the Progress Board's environmental quality index, placing 1st in inter-provincial rankings averaging urban air quality, waste water treatment, protected areas, and greenhouse gas emissions (1999-2003). "This year's report includes supplemental air, land and water quality indicators which confirm positive overall trends," McEwan commented.

The province maintains top-ranked performance among the provinces on overall health outcomes. In addition to placing 1st for life expectancy at birth in Canada (2002/03), BC placed 2nd (2002) among 31 OECD jurisdictions, just behind 1st place Japan. BC ranks 1st in Canada for having the lowest rates of cancer mortality (1999), cardiovascular disease mortality (1999), and smoking incidence (2002). "There was a consistent trend of improvement between 1994-2003 on cancer mortality, cardiovascular disease, and life expectancy in all regions of the province," McEwan stated. "To make continued progress, all British Columbians can help by addressing preventable health risks such as obesity, smoking and inactivity in their own lives," McEwan concluded.

This year's report also highlights British Columbia's weak performance within Canada on personal and property crime (9th, 2003). Vancouver also ranks 18th (of 18 large North American cities, 2003) on police reported crime rates. "On average, between 1994 and 2003, BC had the highest property crime and the third highest personal crime rate in the country," stated David Black. "Though rates have decreased over the last ten years, action is required by all orders of government to address BC's generally poor performance on key crime indicators," Black noted.

Black offered some comments on leadership, vision and progress. "The Progress Board believes British Columbia has the attributes necessary to lead the country by 2010," he remarked. "BC is making progress, but the task of reaching and maintaining a leadership position across all areas of our measurement framework - economy, innovation, education, environment, health and social condition - is not complete and arguably never will be," Black concluded.

The Fourth Annual Report, "Leadership and Vision: Benchmarking for North Star 2010" is available on the Progress Board's website: www.bcprogressboard.com The BC Progress Board formed by Premier Campbell in July 2001, is an independent panel of 18 senior business and academic leaders which benchmark BC's economic, innovation, education, environment, health and social condition. The Board also advises on ways to improve provincial performance.