Goal 1: Improving our competitive position in the national and international economy.

This goal focuses on enhancing British Columbia's business climate by developing strategies to improve the province's relative competitiveness in key areas of the economy.

Core Business 1: Improving British Columbia's investment climate and competitiveness

Objective 1.1: Improve British Columbia's economic performance and diversification

Strategies:

1. British Columbia's share of venture capital — increase British Columbia's national share of venture capital holdings from five per cent to 10 per cent by 2006.

2. Tax credit leverage — lever up to $152 million of private capital for investment in a diversity of businesses, including technology, tourism and value-added sectors by 2006.

3. Deregulation — reduce the regulatory burden within the Ministry by at least one-third by 2004/05 to improve British Columbia's competitiveness.

Venture Capital: Despite poor market conditions, venture capital holdings in British Columbia held up well against renewed competition from other provinces with $1.2 billion, or 5.4 per cent of national holdings. These same conditions also impacted the amount of venture capital raised, which at $136 million was $1 million less than targeted. However, recent amendments to the Small Business Venture Capital Act enabled small businesses greater access to capital which resulted in a significant upswing in venture capital company registrations.

In addition, three new Venture Capital Corporations raising capital under prospectus offerings were launched in 2003/04, to bring the total to four funds registered.

Deregulation: As of March 31, 2004, the Ministry had achieved a net reduction in its regulatory baseline count of 31 per cent. This is slightly behind the target of 32 per cent resulting from a delay in implementing the Motor Dealer Act. It is expected the Ministry will meet its target in 2004.

Objective 1.2: Improve British Columbia's competitiveness as a place to live, invest and do business

Core Business 1: Improving British Columbia's investment climate and competitiveness

Strategies:

1. Reduce the regulatory burden across government — reduce the regulatory burden by one-third within three years.

2. Tax competitiveness — analyze, evaluate and prioritize options for improving British Columbia's tax competitiveness.

3. Economic Competitiveness Indicators — complete analysis and develop strategy, options, performance measures and targets to improve British Columbia's competitiveness and investment growth.

4. Complete SWOT and trend analysis — complete SWOT analysis and trend analysis for all key sectors.

Deregulation: As of March 31, 2004 the government had achieved a 29 per cent reduction in the regulatory burden, exceeding the target by seven per cent, or 27,400 regulations.

Tax Proposals: The Ministry undertakes analysis and evaluation of British Columbia's tax competitiveness. The primary focus is on the tax competitiveness of specific sectors that are within the Ministry's mandate. Based on that analysis, the Ministry develops options for increasing the competitiveness of British Columbia's tax climate and works with the Ministry of Finance to examine whether those options can be implemented.

Competitiveness Indicators: The target, which was met, was to collect data for 15 key competitiveness indicators for seven jurisdictions: these included labour costs, education/skills, work stoppages, general corporate income tax rates, small business income tax rates, personal income tax rates, provincial/state debt levels, non-income based taxes, research and development expenditures, venture capital availability, energy costs, facilities costs, transportation costs, overall costs by sector, and various "quality of life" indicators.

Analyses: Analyses was completed for 17 sectors, including the Film and Destination Resorts sectors, the latter two being sectors that the Ministry has specific responsibility for. A provincial-level analyses was also completed, as were analyses for seven regions covering virtually all of the province.