Vancouver, BC - The BC Progress Board tabled its Sixth Annual Benchmarking Report "Building on Our Progress - Striving for Excellence" today with the provincial government. Volume I of the comprehensive two volume report benchmarks British Columbia's performance against other jurisdictions nationally and internationally on measures of the economy, innovation, education, environment, health and society. Indicators used in the report reflect the most recent final data, usually for 2005.

The Progress Board continues to report on six core targets for British Columbia's overall performance. The province's annual rate of economic growth per capita was 2nd in Canada in 2005, unchanged from 2004 following data revisions by Statistics Canada. BC ranked 3rd in real personal disposable income per capita in 2005 - the Board's standard of living measure - also unchanged from 2004. The Board's core jobs measure - the employment rate for the working age population (ages 15-64) - held steady at 5th place for 2005, unchanged from 2004, and continued to reflect strong province-wide job growth. BC ranks 1st on the Progress Board's environmental quality index, 1st on the health outcomes index, and 9th on the social condition index.

"British Columbia is now an economic leader in Canada, and we have achieved this standing five years ahead of the Progress Board's target to rank 1st or 2nd in economic growth by 2010", commented David Black, Chair of the BC Progress Board and President of Victoria-based Black Press Ltd. "Importantly, BC's economic growth rate remained above the national average in 2005 for the fourth consecutive year", Black continued.

Looking closer at BC's economic performance, the province scores highly on two key fiscal indicators, taxpayer supported debt (2005/06) and provincial surplus/deficit (2005/06), with both ranking 2nd among the provinces. BC also placed 2nd on real average hourly wage levels (2005), 2nd for the lowest top marginal personal income tax rates (2006), and 2nd for net inter-provincial migration (2005/06). BC ranks 3rd in Canada on combined residential and non-residential business investment (2005/06). The province continues to post middling performance on productivity (5th in 2005, up from 6th in 2004) and per capita combined provincial and local tax burden (6th, 2005/06). Meanwhile, provincial performance on exports (goods and services) per capita remains weak (8th, 2005).

"Overall, BC's economic performance has been strong", Black continued. "Over the medium term, government, business and individual efforts should continue to focus on boosting provincial competitiveness, productivity performance, and export diversification", Black noted. "The challenge and opportunity before British Columbians is to take advantage of emerging trade opportunities throughout the Pacific Rim, while continuing to build a highly skilled, knowledge-based economy", Black continued.

BC's overall innovation performance, measured by research and development (R&D) expenditures relative to GDP, remained 4th in Canada (2004). BC placed 19th out of 31 OECD jurisdictions (2004) and 39th out of 61 provinces and states (2003) on the same metric. This year's report examines BC's mediocre R&D track record, citing BC's dominant natural resource orientation, relatively large service sector, an underdeveloped venture capital market as being among the possible reasons BC accounts for just 8.8 percent of Canadian public R&D, compared to 48.6 percent in Ontario and 27.7 percent in Quebec. BC performs better in terms of Business Expenditure on R&D, ranking 3rd among the provinces for the period 1990 to 2004.

"BC has the necessary attributes to be a leading jurisdiction for research and development", noted Tim McEwan, Executive Director of the Progress Board. "Our universities are top notch, we have a highly skilled and talented workforce, and we have a tremendous opportunity with our relatively close proximity to US technology clusters", McEwan continued. "Building a research and development culture in British Columbia will require efforts to keep business and personal taxes competitive, while maintaining BC's high quality of life", McEwan concluded.

Turning to education, BC's high school completion rate held steady at 79 percent in 2004/05, unchanged from 2003/04. BC ranked 8th (2004) in Canada for the number of secondary school graduates per 1,000 population aged 18 years at 714, and spent the 3rd highest amount per student in 2003/04 in Canada. "BC's educational outcomes are solid, though ongoing work is required to smooth our variability in regional outcomes, in part, by reducing high school drop outs", McEwan noted. "This will require policy makers and all parties with a stake in the provincial education system to work together to broaden pathways to graduation through measures such as increasing trade and vocational training opportunities", McEwan continued.

Among the provinces, BC ranks 1st for the all-inclusive proportion of citizens with a post-secondary certificate, diploma, or degree, at 57.9 percent of the population aged 15 and over. BC posts the 2nd highest number of university graduates (aged 25-54, 2005) among the provinces, and ranks 6th among provinces for population (aged 15 plus) with a trades credential. BC also has the 4th highest proportion of the working age population employed in natural and applied science and related occupations (2005), up from 5th place in 2004.

BC continues to place 1st on the Progress Board's environmental quality index, an average of inter-provincial rankings of urban air quality (5th, 2004), greenhouse gas emissions (2nd, 2004), and protected areas (1st, 2003).

"BC's environmental outcomes relative to other provinces have been strong overall since the Progress Board's inception where we are able to draw comparisons", McEwan noted. "Looking ahead, British Columbians will have to consider the impacts of climate change on the province and should take a leadership role in shaping national and international responses to this critical issue of our time", McEwan continued.

BC continued to hold its top rank on the Progress Board's health outcomes index in 2005, which averages provincial performance on life expectancy (BC was 1st, 2004/05), cancer mortality (1st, 2003), cardiovascular disease mortality (2nd, 2003), infant mortality (2nd, 2003), and potential years of life lost, an indicator of premature mortality, (2nd, 2003). The report also includes supplemental information on comparative provincial wait times. BC matched the Canadian average of 4.3 weeks on wait times for specialist visits in 2005, but lagged for non-emergency surgeries at 5.0 weeks compared to 4.3 for Canada overall.

"BC continues to lead Canada in overall health outcomes", McEwan noted. "The key strategic issue for British Columbians is how best to address the challenge of escalating health care costs given the twin realities of population aging and demographic change", McEwan continued. "Part of the solution is a broad societal focus on preventing illness through healthy lifestyle choices", McEwan concluded.

BC ranks 9th in Canada on the social condition index based on an average of rankings of the province's performance on: low income incidence (or LICO, 2004, 10th); low birth-weight infants, a universally recognized measure of social condition (5th, 2004); the reported incidence of personal and property crime (2004, 9th); reliance on income assistance (2nd, 2004); and long-term unemployment (i.e. greater than 52 weeks, 9th 2005). Supplemental North American benchmarking of low birth-weight newborns places BC 3rd (2004) among 61 provinces, US states and the District of Columbia.

"The Progress Board has been concerned with BC's persistently poor performance on overall measures of crime", stated David Black. "This year, we commissioned expert work which - among other things - suggests that efforts are needed to tackle the primary causes of crime and criminality in BC which include wide-spread substance abuse, defective childhood development practices, mental disorder, and impoverished and unstable lifestyles", Black continued. "In a similar vein, BC's relatively poor - though improving - performance on low income incidence and long-term unemployment led the Board to commission expert work in the area", Black continued. "The result is a companion discussion paper that is being released concurrent with this year's annual benchmarking report", Black concluded.

The Sixth Annual Benchmarking Report, "Building on Our Progress: Striving for Excellence", is available on the Progress Board's website: www.bcprogressboard.com www.bcprogressboard.com

Other recent discussion papers - The Social Condition in British Columbia; Working Together to Improve Performance: Preparing BC's Public Education System for the Future; and, Reducing Crime and Criminality in British Columbia - are also available on the BC Progress Board's website: www.bcprogressboard.com www.bcprogressboard.com

The BC Progress Board is an independent Panel of 18 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.

Contact:

Tim McEwan Executive Director B.C. Progress Board 604 775-1664