2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise

Year-at-a-Glance Highlights

The Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise made significant progress in fiscal 2002/03 towards the Government's goal of creating a strong and vibrant provincial economy, while operating within a challenging economic environment. Despite the on-going softwood lumber dispute with the United States, and poor economic performance by the United States, our largest trading partner, British Columbia's economy grew 1.8 per cent in 2002, up from a 0.2 per cent decline in the previous year. During 2002/03, the Ministry has continued to work towards removing barriers to investment, and creating the right conditions for economic growth, opportunity and prosperity. The Ministry's achievements in 2002/03 include:

• OneStop Business Service: made the award-winning OneStop Business Services available online in 101 locations throughout British Columbia
• Film Tax Credits: established or expanded New Media, Animation and Special Effects, and Regional tax credits.
• Deregulation: exceeded Ministry and Government deregulation targets for 2002/03, and continued within the Ministry to reduce the regulatory burden by rescinding obsolete, onerous and unnecessary regulations.
• Genome BC: spearheaded the provincial government contribution of $27.5 million to Genome BC for world-class research initiatives.
• Corporate Call Centres: announced two major new investments to British Columbia in the form of corporate contact centers with the potential to create over 1,400 new jobs. New and existing call centres created approximately 1,600 new jobs in 2002/03.
• Venture Capital: undertook a major overhaul of the Small Business Venture Capital Act providing greater access to capital for British Columbia small businesses.
• Labour-Sponsored Investment Funds: passed legislative amendments enabling competition in the labour-sponsored fund sector. Altura Growth Fund was introduced as the second labour-sponsored fund operating in British Columbia.
• Tax Credits: completed the process to enable Budget 2003 provisions for $5 million in tax credits for the New Media sector and $4 million in tax credits for labour-sponsored funds.
• Trade Shows: showcased British Columbia's technology and production capacity at international trade shows and investment forums including the Offshore Technology Conference, Bio-Partnering North America, CommunicAsia, Seatrade, Online Learning, Invest Northwest, New Earth and the Hong Kong IT Infrastructure Show.
• Inbound Missions: hosted over 100 inbound trade and investment missions from key markets around the world, including the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, the European Union and India introducing offshore investors and buyers to British Columbia companies.
• Trade Missions: organized Leading Edge Premier and Minister's business missions to India, Japan, Taiwan and California to heighten international awareness of trade and investment opportunities in British Columbia's resource, technology and service sectors.
• Marketing Alliances: established export marketing alliances in several sectors, including offshore services supply, yacht building expertise, green building capacity and e-learning technologies and services