Business Climate in British Columbia

British Columbia has been awarded the highest rating from both S & P and Moody's as a result of strong growth and prudent fiscal management

Doing Business in Vancouver

• In KPMG's Competitive Alternatives 2008 report, Vancouver was ranked by a Cost Index that assumed parity in exchange rates. Even with this less favourable exchange rate, Vancouver was among the least expensive west coast locations.
• If a 10% or a 20% depreciation in the Canadian dollar is applied, Vancouver becomes an even more favourable location in terms of cost of doing business. This is illustrated in the table below.

Overall Cost Index of West Coast Cities at Varying Exchange Rates

(KPMG 2008 Competitive Alternatives, Exchange Rate Sensitivity)

Doing Business in British Columbia

Here are some other facts about doing business in British Columbia:

• The bilateral Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement between B.C. and Alberta was fully implemented on April 1, 2009, removing trade barriers that restricted the free movement of people, goods and services between British Columbia and Alberta, thus boosting B.C.’s competitiveness and reducing costs for business.
• B.C.’s HST (to be implemented on July 1, 2010) will lower tax on new investment by 40 per cent, creating jobs and new opportunities in every region of the Province.
• B.C. has initiated the $3-billion Gateway Program, the largest infrastructure project in British Columbia’s history, helping expedite the movement of goods – by truck, train, airplane and ship – and encouraging Asian importers to choose B.C. as their North American transportation hub.
• The province has removed over 164,000 needless regulations since 2001, a reduction of almost 43%.
• Since December 2001, British Columbia's economy has added 361,700 jobs.  
• In 2008, British Columbia led all of Canada in job growth, creating 70,800 new jobs.
• It’s estimated 250,000 people will visit British Columbia in 2010 for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The 2010 Winter Games are expected to have a worldwide viewing audience of over three billion people – an unprecedented opportunity to showcase and market British Columbia to the world.

Doing Business in Canada

KPMG recently released its Competitive Alternatives 2008 (see www.competitivealternatives.com).  Here’s what the report said about Canada:

• Canada statistically ranks 2nd overall and first among G7 countries for affordable business costs, with a nominal 0.6 percent cost advantage over the United States.
• Canadian corporate tax rates, incorporating future effects of the tax cuts announced in last October’s mini-budget, are now moderately low in comparison to the US and a number of the other countries studied.

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