Economic plan

Open pages to B.C.'s Economic Plan. Pages feature explanations for Inclusive Growth and Clean Growth sections.

The StrongerBC Economic Plan

Our economic plan is putting people first, delivering clean and inclusive growth, to build a stronger B.C. for everyone.


The StrongerBC Economic Plan sets two big goals for B.C. to accomplish in the long-term — inclusive and clean growth

Inclusive growth

Making life better, from lowering the cost of living to training people for the jobs of tomorrow

A white man wearing red waterproof gear holds up a large piece of kelp with two hands, smiling at the camera.

Clean growth

Tackling climate change, from fostering innovation to positioning B.C. to lead in a low-carbon economy

Clean and Competitive: A Blueprint for B.C.’s Industrial Future

Driving new investment, creating new jobs, and seizing opportunities to grow clean energy and sustainable industries across B.C.

Clean Energy and Clean Industry

We’re leveraging B.C.’s natural strengths to bring projects online faster, seize new opportunities, and create good jobs in every community.

Since 2017, B.C.’s 16.9% GDP growth is Canada’s highest other than PEI, and wage growth has substantially outpaced inflation. The purchasing power of B.C.’s average hourly wage has grown 11.1% to highest in Canada.

Record-setting capital investment

In just the last 2 years, B.C. attracted over $117 billion in capital investment, which will create tens of thousands more jobs as projects come online. Since 2017, the level of capital investment in B.C. has increased 96.1%, well ahead of Canada (47.5%). We’ve got $94 billion in major energy and resource economic development projects underway right now, with another $24 billion already in the pipeline, including new sustainable energy and international trade projects that will secure our future.

Building a stronger economy that works better for people

In 2024, we launched an industrial blueprint to drive investment and create jobs, cut taxes for more small businesses by doubling the Employer Health Tax exemption and started an unprecedented expansion of B.C.’s clean electricity system.

New InBC Investment Corporation to fund B.C.’s entrepreneurs

InBC, a strategic investment fund created by the Province to spur investment and growth within B.C., has invested over $81 million in early-stage companies and venture capital funds. The companies in InBC’s portfolio have raised over $400 million in total investment, supporting over 900 high-paying roles in growth sectors such as biotechnology, cleantech and robotics/AI.

New agritech plant anchors B.C.’s industrial blueprint

Vitalus Nutrition’s expansion of its facility in Abbotsford will support milk producers in the region by increasing B.C.’s milk processing capacity 50%, and it will create as much as 100 additional jobs on site.

100,000 more high-speed internet connections

We’re committed to connecting every household to high-speed internet services by 2027, to ensure people in every community have better access to jobs, education, training and health care. So far, 208 projects have connected nearly 100,000 households in rural, remote and Indigenous communities since 2017.

Rebates for rooftop solar and battery-storage systems

BC Hydro rebates will make it easier for people and businesses to generate their own electricity, reduce their energy bills and deliver clean energy back to the electricity grid.

Hundreds of good jobs in therapeutics coming to B.C.

A nearly $200-million partnership between Aspect Biosystems and the governments of B.C. and Canada will create more than 200 jobs and advance the development of cutting-edge bioprinted tissue therapeutics for people in B.C. and around the globe.

Increasing food production and helping combat labour challenges

The B.C. On-Farm Technology Adoption Program provides funding of as much as $150,000 for farmers to purchase technology to enhance profitability, productivity and efficiency, and the first funded 54 projects throughout the province to purchase and install equipment, such as a soil-moisture and leaf-wetness sensor in a vineyard, automated composter for field crops and an automated water pump for a berry farm.

New fibre-optic network

Creating opportunities for internet service providers to use the fibre-optic capacity to further develop the in-community networks that provide cellular and internet services.

Clean industry is the future

Since 2019, the CleanBC Industry Fund had reduced nearly nine million tonnes of carbon emissions.

New funding for high-tech advances in health care and more

New funding for one of Canada’s most powerful supercomputers, and the largest research cloud in the country, is supporting cutting-edge research projects in health care, clean energy, neuroscience and climate modelling that will improve people’s lives.

New Clean Hydrogen Hub at SFU’s Burnaby campus

Producing clean fuels like hydrogen right here in B.C. to replace fossil fuels helps to reduce harmful pollution while creating new jobs and opportunities in the clean economy. By supporting innovative projects like SFU’s Clean Hydrogen Hub, we can ensure that B.C. remains a world leader and attracts new investment in the growing clean economy.

Hydrogen project will create jobs, fuel sustainable economy

HTEC’s $900 million H2 Gateway project to build and operate a provincial network of 18 hydrogen refueling stations, with hubs in Burnaby, Nanaimo, Prince George and North Vancouver, will create more than 280 full-time jobs throughout B.C.

Construction workers on a sunny day raising a wall structure together.

New, sustainable manufacturing jobs coming to Castlegar

The forest industry is committed to transitioning to high-value products to make the best use out of every tree harvested. Through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, we have incentivized over $550 million in private sector capital investments into made-in-B.C. wood manufacturing and forestry operations in local communities. These investments are protecting and creating over 3,000 jobs, with more to come.

Strengthening northern rural communities

We’re working with rural communities to create and protect sustainable, family-supporting jobs that are central to our industrial blueprint. Communities in northern B.C. will receive as much as $13.3 million in Rural Economic Development Infrastructure funding for 42 approved projects to help strengthen local economies. By supporting local leaders and businesses who’ve identified priority projects that ensure a stronger, cleaner economic future for B.C., together we’re delivering opportunities for northerners to thrive in the places they call home.

B.C. bolsters advanced wood manufacturing in Kamloops

The $66 million Tolko Industries mill project will diversify production to add specialty, industrial and engineered wood products.

Strengthening southern Interior rural economies

We are giving rural communities the tools they need to diversify and grow their economies to create more opportunities and jobs for people where they live. Communities in the southern Interior region will be receiving as much as $4 million from the Rural Economic Diversification Infrastructure Program for 15 approved projects to help strengthen local economies.

New manufacturing jobs coming to Vancouver Island

We’re helping manufacturing companies modernize, innovate, and grow by providing funding for capital projects in all regions in B.C., particularly in communities affected by economic impacts or downturns.

Mass-timber manufacturing jobs coming to Okanagan Falls

We’re proud that Mercer Mass Timber’s headquarters are located right here in B.C., and that their manufacturing footprint will be significantly expanded in the Okanagan. Through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund (BCMJF), the Government of B.C. will support the purchase of new advanced manufacturing equipment and completion of factory upgrades that will modernize the facilities, improve production efficiencies and scale manufacturing of a wider variety of mass-timber products. Supporting innovative manufacturing projects helps secure good, local jobs and reinforces B.C. as a global leader in the production and use of mass timber.

Helping our robotics industry solve accessibility challenges

B.C. is home to incredible companies that are developing innovative technology and practical solutions that can make people’s lives better. Through B.C.’s Integrated Marketplace, the Province of British Columbia and the Government of Canada, through PacifiCan, are supporting an initiative to reimagine mobility at YVR. We’re helping A&K Robotics to continue developing the tools they need to continue to grow, while supporting people living with mobility challenges access the travelling services they need.

Building clean infrastructure

We’re investing in the homes, bridges, roads, ports, and high-speed internet that businesses need to grow and people need to thrive. We’ve made the largest new investment in homes in B.C.’s history. And we’re investing in solutions such as the $36-billion expansion of B.C.’s electricity system, creating upwards of 12,500 good jobs and ensuring businesses and communities have access to clean, affordable electricity to grow, and to attract more investment

Economic Plan Progress Update

Highlights of the many actions taken on issues that matter most to British Columbians

Investment and Innovation

Good Lives in Strong Communities

A new vision that outlines investments to help build a brighter future for rural communities and the people who call them home.

B.C.’s Intellectual Property Strategy

The strategy will build the province’s intellectual property capacity by increasing the awareness, use and protection of intellectual property by startups and small and medium-sized enterprises. This will ultimately create the conditions that will contribute to a more sustainable and viable innovation ecosystem in B.C.

Maritime Industries Strategy

The new B.C. Maritime Industries Strategy will chart the course for a more competitive, modernized marine sector with reduced carbon emissions.

B.C.’s Trade Diversification Strategy

The strategy uses B.C.’s competitive advantage to increase export and investment opportunities in targeted new markets, expand in key existing ones and increase the number and diversity of B.C.’s exporting businesses.

A scientist working in a lab with equipment.

Life Sciences and Biomanufacturing Strategy

The new Life Sciences and Biomanufacturing Strategy will position B.C. as a worldwide life sciences hub nurturing new talent so local businesses can expand and grow, creating high-quality jobs and making it easier for British Columbians to access innovative treatments in clinical trials, while improving government’s ability to quickly respond to future pandemics and public health emergencies.

A worker on a pneumatic lift working on rows of tall greens in a greenhouse.

Feeding B.C. and beyond

The new B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation further positions the province as a world leader in clean agricultural technology, helping improve food security in B.C. and globally, while creating hundreds of well-paying jobs.

A large panel of wood is seen from below as it is lifted by a crane to the top of a tall wood-panelled building being constructed.

Building more with low-carbon materials

Mass timber is one of B.C.’s great natural advantages, helping us get the most out of every tree in our value-added forest economy, while reducing GHGs and creating jobs. The Mass Timber Action Plan reinforces B.C.’s position as a global leader in the production and use of this high-value technology that promises to revolutionize construction at home and around the world.

A man fuelling a Fuel Cell SUV. The vehicle is white with the words "Power tech" and "powered by Hydrogen" along its body.

Helping local clean tech companies scale-up and grow

Through the Integrated Marketplace Initiative, two test beds have been launched in B.C. with an investment of as much as $11.5 million to match local innovators with industry buyers to solve industry problems, while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The Port of Prince Rupert is on track to become Canada’s greenest port and Vancouver International Airport as the world’s greenest airport.

Jobs and Economic Development

Future Ready Action Plan

An action plan to meet the challenges of today, make sure people are ready to succeed, and grow our stronger economy into the future.

Workplace Innovation Fund

Supporting key sectors to adopt new technology and processes to address labour shortages and increase productivity to help with workforce challenges.

New fiscal tools for First Nations

B.C. is providing $1.2 million to the B.C. Assembly of First Nations to launch the new Centre of Excellence in First Nations Economic Development, helping advance the role of First Nations in B.C.’s inclusive economy and to work toward true and lasting reconciliation.

Construction workers on a sunny day raising a wall structure together.

Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program

B.C. is working with local governments, First Nations and not-for-profit organizations investing $66 million through the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program to support projects that help diversify local economies to support good, stable jobs for people for years to come.

A worker wearing a hard hat, mask, and hi-vis vest kneels to work on a large pneumatic machine.

B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund

Our whole province benefits when local workers and families can build good lives in the rural communities they call home. B.C. is investing as much as $90 million through the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund to support high-value industrial and manufacturing projects to drive clean and inclusive growth in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.

Barges on water with shipping containers and cranes on a sunny day.

Helping move more B.C. goods to market

Supporting B.C.’s goods movement sector to adapt to changing markets and meet CleanBC targets.

A production line for sealing snack bags.

Helping businesses access global markets

Promoting trade, increasing opportunities to export B.C. products and services, and making B.C. more resilient to market volatility.

Measuring our progress

An overview of metrics that will measure B.C.’s economic progress.