Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Premier Christy Clark's BC Jobs Plan Isn't Working - Look At The Results


The BC Jobs Plan pitch from Premier Christy Clark - the results, not so good.

Another number one for BC: The worst unemployment rate in western Canada.

Bill Tieleman's 24 Hours Vancouver / The Tyee column

Tuesday December 10, 2013

By Bill Tieleman 

I'm going to run in the next election on the strong economy. I'm going to run on [being] number one in job creation."


B.C.'s Jobs Plan isn't working.

And neither are about 8,000 British Columbians who actually lost their jobs in November alone, according to Statistics Canada's latest labour force survey, bumping the unemployment rate up to 6.7 per cent from October's 6.5 per cent, even though 21,600 jobs were gained nationally.

The number of people employed in B.C. has dropped 15,500 since Nov. 2012, StatsCan reports.

Clark launched her BC Jobs Plan with a $15-million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign back in Sept. 2011 that promised work. But in the past year, it has only delivered pink slips.

Worst in western unemployment

It's rather hard to lead the country in job creation when you are shedding, not creating employment.

B.C.'s unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent is the worst in western Canada, with Saskatchewan at just 4.1 per cent jobless, Alberta at 4.7 per cent and Manitoba at 5.6 per cent.

Vancouver has the highest jobless rate of major cities in western Canada at 6.6 per cent, compared to Regina at 3.9 per cent, Calgary at 4.6 per cent, Edmonton at 5.1 per cent and Winnipeg at 5.9 per cent. Clark's new hometown of Kelowna, where she is now an MLA, has a 6.2 per cent unemployment rate.

From Sept. 2011 to Nov. 2013, British Columbia added a minuscule 1,800 more jobs while the population increased by 83,300, according to StatsCan numbers.
Meanwhile, during the same period Canada as a whole added 435,000 jobs.

Help Clark do her job

If Clark's jobs plan continues to enjoy this rate of success, B.C. would lead the country in job creation by, well, never.

Kind of doesn't validate what Clark claimed when she launched the BC Jobs Plan on Sept. 22, 2011: "The first pillar is job creation, job creation with a common sense government that opens doors, instead of closing them."

But let's be charitable and give the premier a positive suggestion: restore the position of Jobs Protection Commissioner that was abolished in 2001 by ex-premier Gordon Campbell.

Between 1990 and 2001, the Jobs Protection Commissioner helped save 75,000 good jobs by bringing together workers, employers, creditors, investors, unions, government and community leaders to find constructive alternatives to employment termination.

That's one B.C. jobs plan that might actually work.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christy Clark has done nothing other than, lie, deceive, thieve, and mislead the people of this province.

Christy may have jobs coming into BC. However, are the jobs for the people of BC and/or are, Christy's jobs for Communist China?

Christy's economic and job action plans, are identical to Harper's. She doesn't have any either. Strangely, Harper and Christy prorogued Parliament and the BC Legislature, nearly at the same. time.

My own personal belief is? I do not believe, it is Christy running this province. I believe Christy works for Harper too, just as Campbell did before her.

DPL said...

Ms. Photo Op opens her mouth well before getting her brain in gear , and most times get's away with it. She has no interest in sitting in the Legislature because she can't answer most questions directed to her. So she keeps making statements with nothing to back them up. The mainstream press sits quietly by and never seriously questions her ramblings. BC is heading down a long road of dumb decisions, and we of course have to live with them. Just like when the Socred's were in power, nobody admitted they had voted for that party.

Anonymous said...

Still fighting the last election are we?

and DPL, few people admitted they voted NDP once fiascoes of the NDP began to show up, one after another

The NDP can't complete an easy to handle election, and this is what we end up with.

Vanstar said...

So, Bill, can you outline the NDP's economic platform for us?

Anonymous said...

Vanstar, it is the BC Liberals who are in power so they should have a plan that is being enforced rather than just empty blather.

Anonymous said...

The NDP's Jobs plan when they were in office didn't work either.

Well it did..

.. a job for Joh Laxton (BC Hydro)
.. a job for Bob Williams (Crown Corporation Secretariat)

.. a job for Gordon Wilson (Minister
Reponsible for Ferries).

and on it went.