Opinion: B.C. needs more than megaprojects to grow

By Jock Finlayson and Ken Peacock – Castanet

The B.C. government’s economic development strategy is increasingly centred on facilitating a new wave of large projects—mainly in the energy, mining and infrastructure sectors. Such projects are important and offer the tantalizing prospect of kick-starting a struggling economy.

Advancing more projects will generate good jobs, foster new business for local suppliers of “inputs” (like engineering, technical and financial services), and add billions to the economy. But on their own, a few big projects will not be sufficient to sustain a healthy pace of growth or materially move the dial on overall economic well-being.