摘要：These are challenging times for British Columbia (BC). During 2003 the province was buffeted by the worst Forest fires season for many decades, mad cow disease, floods, the SARS virus, the dampening effect on BC's exports ofan unprecedented 20 % jump in the Canadian dollar relative to the US cUlTency, and punitive tariffs on softwood lumber in US markets (Finlayson 2003). Nonetheless, BC's relative economic growth pulled ahead of the national average, the first tin1e this had happened in ten years (see the 2002-03 ran.king of labour force growth in Table 1). lndeed, much of the 1990s was in stark contrast and characterized by the pro vince's poor performance, especially in the area of business investment and non-energy exports. With a regional GDP (gross national product) of approximately $100 billion, BC is the third largest provincial economy in Canada. In 2000, its population stood at roughly 4.1 million, an increase of24.0 % over the 1990 level, realizing an average annual growth rate of2.6 % during the decade (Wood 200 j). Even sa, BC has suffered From a long-term structural decline that began in the 1980s and continued through the following decade. Moreover, in the late-1990s BC lost tens ofthousands ofresidents per year ta other provinces. At the end ofthe last decade under a New Democrat Party (NDP) goverrunent (1992 ta 200 1), it
