Differing manufacturing regions show numerous similarities
So why do I choose to review (second time now) my North Central B.C. Manufacturing Sector trips with our Island readers? B.C. has a robust manufacturing community with numerous regional variations. But there are also many similarities, issues that also apply to the Peninsula and Island Manufacturing Communities.
Distance
I travelled in and amongst Prince George, Vanderhoof, Babine and Quesnel. One looks at Google Maps and doesn’t necessarily appreciate the significant physical distances between cities and the employer. This is a considerable challenge when trying to attract and retain employees. It’s also a challenge for those living in the Westshore and travelling via the Colwood crawl every day and up-Island manufacturing businesses (aqua-culture, food and beverage) situated in our less populated, rural areas.
Variety
The Island manufacturing sector is a diverse community of many manufacturing sub-sector companies, e.g. plastics, chemicals, food and beverage, technology, metal fabrication and wood processing. North Central B.C. primarily consists of the Energy, Forestry and Mining manufacturing sub-sectors. Extensive manufacturing operations are utilized in and amongst these resources extraction activities. And wow are these HUGE operations employing hundreds of people at any given operation.
We live in a massively diverse and economically representative province. However, the Labour Market issues are remarkably similar, whether you're living on Vancouver Island and /or Northern B.C.