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The plan aims to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years to build, maintain, and upgrade the critical infrastructure that underlies the prosperity and livability of the region, such as the Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Greg D’Avignon, President and CEO, Business Council of B.C., said, “In our opinion, this plan provides an attractive vision of what British Columbia can become, but it does not contain the material actions required or send a strong enough signal to either the domestic or international business community that the government can provide the certainty necessary for new investments, including ESG capital to flow into or grow within the province, in order to ultimately help pay for that vision.
“Today, B.C. does not have the welcoming conditions required to attract the private sector investment dollars necessary to realize the full potential of the province’s advantages in natural resources, innovation, or people. As a more competitive world emerges from COVID-19, other jurisdictions are more attractive to investors and offer greater certainty. Provincially and nationally, we are a comparatively high tax jurisdiction with an uncertain and inefficient regulatory environment that has become too costly and too complex.”
