A handful of Richmond businesses met with B.C.’s Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology Bruce Ralston on Tuesday, during his first tour of the city since the BC NDP formed government in May.
Ralston also visited the Richmond Chamber of Commerce to speak to his efforts to promote innovation in local business.
“I spoke about our government’s plan to establish an innovation commission and hire an innovation commissioner, who will be a senior public person who will lead the innovation efforts on behalf of the provincial government,” said Ralston.
“The challenge for us, as a relatively small population in a huge global market, is to be competitive; through innovation we can figure out solutions to create and sustain good-paying jobs into the future,” he added.
Much of Ralston’s focus is on propping up the technology sector. Although the former BC Liberal government established its B.C. Tech Strategy in 2016, Ralston said there was too much focus on the LNG sector.
“The previous government had a singular focus on one sector, the LNG sector. Only very belatedly when they realized, I think, market conditions for LNG weren’t that great in the immediate and short term, did they endeavour to switch. We’re not starting with that view, we have a whole-of-the-economy approach for both rural and urban British Columbia,” said Ralston.
Richmond-Queensborough Liberal MLA Jas Johal, is Ralston’s official opposition critic.
Johal said Ralston is “oversimplifying” the LNG claim. He suggested the NDP retain global capital investments.
Ralston said that with the commission, which is expected to be established in 2018, “we are trying to give companies, organizations, universities the competitive edge that they need. It’s only through innovation that you can bring about the organizational changes that can help companies stay ahead.”
The BC NDP was very critical of the BC Liberals’ jobs plan, claiming a significant amount of jobs are “precarious,” despite the province’s low unemployment rate.
When asked how the new, NDP government plans to raise wages, Ralston said the commission will help. Meanwhile, the government is reviewing how to implement a $15/hour minimum wage.
“I think we’re a compassionate society but we have to be hard-nosed on the business side to achieve what we want to achieve,” said Ralston.
According to the 2016 census, most of Richmond’s jobs (29 per cent) are in the sales and services sector. The regional average is 24 per cent. About eight per cent of the workforce is in “natural and applied sciences.”
In May the NDP formed a minority government supported by the Green Party of B.C., which wants more government investment in clean technology.
