What's fuelling BC's economy? : Examining the role of the energy sector in comparison with BC's other economic drivers

"It's often said that British Columbia is a resource-based province. In actual fact, the reality is much more complex. While it's true that much of BC was built on natural resources, and that even today sectors like technology and construction have a certain amount of inter-relationships with primary resource sectors, the basis of our economy has overwhelmingly shifted to service-based industries. More than four-fifths of us work in services and over 76% of our GDP now comes from those sectors, while just 3% comes from oil, gas and support services. Over the past few decades, a quiet but monumental shift has been taking place. ... Much is made by industry proponents of multiplier effects and how the growth of one sector, for example energy, will also lead to positive knock-on effects in other sectors. This is undoubtedly true - an increase in GDP in any one sector will generally have positive multiplier effects - but it's not the real question: instead, we should be asking if a boost in the energy sector will increase the rest of the economy more or less than a boost to say, the high tech sector. And, additionally, what are the knock-on secondary effects on other sectors and are they being counted? While this report doesn't attempt to make complex assessments of multiplier effects for different sectors in BC, or indeed measure the complex inter-relationships between sectors, it does aim to share some basic information about GDP, tax revenues, job creation and future trends that can begin to put the energy sector into context alongside other sectors in BC. We hope that it will be the beginning of further, more in-depth analysis of this important issue"--