Tech Summit becomes the backdrop for political tussle

The province’s revitalized innovation sector is becoming a battleground in the coming election, as evidenced at the opening of the B.C. Tech Summit on Tuesday.

In a keynote address, Premier Christy Clark unveiled initiatives aimed at boosting the tech sector, including a $10-million program to fund five research chairs at B.C. universities and an expansion of tax credits for virtual reality and augmented reality products.

The goal, Clark said, is to step up development of homegrown talent and open doors to educated foreign developers.

“When others are turning inward, we are going to turn outward,” Clark said, while also announcing plans to open trade offices in Seattle and Silicon Valley to scope talent and sell B.C. tech products. “When others are withdrawing from free trade, we are going to reach out around the world and find new connections for business and for people. … We are going to invite people into our country and welcome them here.”

The announcement came a day after NDP Leader John Horgan unveiled his party’s plans for the tech sector. He criticized the Liberal government’s IT contracts and projects, which went largely to multinational companies not required to reinvest directly in B.C. Horgan said those projects were $350 million over budget.

“These monster contracts with big corporations have been riddled with waste and broken promises,” Horgan said in a statement. “Government IT projects should be building B.C. companies and creating B.C. jobs, not sent away to multinational corporations that fail to deliver what they promise.”

The B.C. tech industry employs around 102,000, making up almost five per cent of the province’s workforce. Total wages amounted to $8.4 billion.

NDP MLA George Heyman, the party’s spokesman on technology, said his party would focus on education, promising an additional $100 million over three years for post-secondary training and co-op placement over what the Liberals proposed in last month’s budget.

Heyman added that many tech firms say the lack of affordability in the Lower Mainland has made it difficult to retain both local and foreign talent — something that the Liberals have failed to address.

“(The Liberals) have barely talked about tech until the last 18 months, after their LNG plan bore no fruit,” he said. “We’re supposed to believe they’ve changed their stripes now?”