Investment in British Columbia

These surpluses, in addition to ensuring a continued decrease in the weight of the debt/GDP ratio (about 14 percent in 2007-2008, the lowest of any jurisdiction in Canada except Alberta), have allowed for substantial increases in spending for health, education and infrastructure, including the $14 billion investment for public transit that has been hailed as the largest public-transit announcement [...] The Board generally endorses the recommendations included in the CSLS report, and specifically recommends the following: • The most profound area for improvement to productivity, but also the most difficult to achieve, is in replacing the Provincial Sales Tax with a value-added tax, preferably harmonized with the Goods and Service Tax administered by the federal government. [...] The Board has considered the current economic climate from the point of view of measures that can be taken to position the province well to take the fullest advantage of a global economic recovery. [...] In theory, declines in the unemployment rate, higher labour force participation rates, and increases in average annual hours worked could offset the decline in the size of the working age population. [...] After reaching Canada’s level of M&E investment intensity in the wake of the early 1990s recession, a significant gap opened between the province and the rest of Canada.