BC's annual rate of economic growth increased to 8th place in Canada (2002) from 10th in 2001. Meanwhile, the province maintained 3rd place for the level of after-tax personal income, the Board's core standard of living target, while placing 7th on the employment rate (ages 15-64) in 2002, down from 6th place in 2001. The province continues to perform well on overall outcome measures of environment and health. BC placed 1st in Canada on the Progress Board's environmental quality index (1999-2003), and 1st for life expectancy at birth (2000), the Board's core health outcome target. Meanwhile, BC placed 9th in Canada during 2001 for the incidence of low income, unchanged from 2000.

"The Progress Board continues to believe BC should place 1st or 2nd in Canada on all six core targets by 2010", noted David Black, BC Progress Board Chair and President of Victoria-based Black Publishing Ltd. "While our environment and health outcome performance is strong, British Columbia has some distance to go to achieve the Board's 2010 economic leadership benchmarks".

BC has tended to perform poorly on business investment and non-energy exports for most of the past decade, a pattern that continued in 2002. "Improving business investment levels and export performance is absolutely key to achieving better levels of economic growth", Black noted, adding, "fallout from the softwood lumber dispute and a slow North American economy affected BC's overall 2002 final results".

The report contains supplemental information measuring BC's performance relative to the 30 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). "An interesting finding is that BC's rank for average annual economic growth between 1982 and 2001 was 29th out of 31 jurisdictions, suggesting that BC's long-term stagnant economic performance during the last two decades is not limited to comparisons with key competitors in North America", said Tim McEwan, the Progress Board's Executive Director. "BC's recent economic challenges are a long time in the making; it will take time to turn things around", he added.

BC is showing positive overall trends in innovation and education performance. Despite placing 9th for its inter-provincial high school graduation rate (2001), the province boasts 4th ranked overall performance out of 31 jurisdictions on the 2000 OECD Program for International Student Assessment which tests 15 year olds on reading, math and science literacy. BC has the 2nd highest percentage of population (aged 25-54) with a university credential in Canada (2002), and the 3rd highest number of registered apprenticeship completions (2001) per 1,000 population. "These results demonstrate BC is achieving education excellence, though our high school graduation rate needs further improvement and our post-secondary institutions confront serious challenges providing access for many qualified students", David Black noted.

Provincial performance on research and development (R&D) spending relative to GDP has increased to 5th place in Canada (2000) from 7th rank in the first Progress Board report two years ago. "BC continues to lag central Canada, US pacific coast states, and two thirds of OECD jurisdictions on R&D spending, but the solid track record of our universities at patent creation and commercialization of technology, coupled with BC's 2nd place standing for Internet use and its 1st place for broadband connectivity in Canada (2002) suggests BC has a solid innovation track record and tremendous potential for knowledge-based growth and job creation", Black added.

BC continues to perform well relative to other provinces on overall environmental outcomes, ranking 1st in Canada on the Progress Board's environmental quality index which averages inter-provincial performance on urban air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, wastewater treatment, and protected areas. "Despite ongoing inter-provincial data gaps, BC continues to earn top marks overall where comparisons can be drawn", Tim McEwan stated.

BC performs very well relative to other provinces, US states, and OECD jurisdictions on health outcomes. In addition to BC's 1st place position on life expectancy at birth (2000), the province has the lowest cancer and cardiovascular mortality rates (1999) and the fewest smokers in Canada (2002). For the incidence of low birth weight infants, an internationally recognized indicator of overall health and social condition, BC placed 5th (2000) among the provinces, 1st relative to key US and Canadian competitors, and 5th relative to 31 OECD jurisdictions. "Our benchmarking shows BC is steadily improving life expectancy and mortality rates due to cancer and cardiovascular disease", McEwan noted.

Despite a 23.1% percent improvement between 1993 and 2002, BC's personal and property crime rate (2002) is the worst in Canada and second worst among North American jurisdictions. "While BC has certainly improved, further efforts are needed to reduce property crime which accounts for 84% of overall reported crime", David Black noted.

This year's report also includes expanded Regional benchmarking. BC's regions continue to under-perform the Greater Vancouver area on most measures of economy, innovation and education, while environment, health and society results are more even. "The key to enhancing prospects in BC's regions and urban centers is to recognize they are mutually dependent, to focus on improving export performance, and to build on local strengths", Black added.

Black also commented on report findings that gaps between the Aboriginal and general population are narrowing on indicators of employment, earned income, education, and health. "Continuing efforts to close remaining gaps is critical to improving the overall social condition of Aboriginal communities, is essential for building First Nations capacity, and is vital for economic development efforts in the Interior and Northern reaches of the province", Black concluded.

Further results from this year's two-volume report -- along with past BC Progress Board publications and other information -- is available at www.bcprogressboard.com The Progress Board also invites public feedback via its website or by e-mail at: ideas@bcprogressboard.com

The BC Progress Board, established by Premier Gordon Campbell in July 2001, is an independent Panel of 18 senior business and academic leaders. The Board's mandate is to competitively benchmark BC's progress and advise on ways to improve provincial performance.