The province is looking into lending the international trade business a helping hand following a lobbying effort that involved its former top bureaucrat.
Last week, the government quietly announced it was searching for a consultant to study the “feasibility” of establishing location-specific foreign trade zones in British Columbia.
A foreign trade zone is a location where tariffs are reduced or eliminated and goods can be stored duty- or tax-free.
Such zones already exist near Winnipeg’s James Armstrong Richardson International Airport and at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland.
But there are none in British Columbia – a fact “visiting foreign delegations and numerous port-related companies” have commented on, according to a government procurement document released on February 22. In addition, Gordon Campbell’s former deputy minister Ken Dobell – who is now British Columbia chairman of government relations firm Hill and Knowlton Canada Inc. – has been lobbying the province about foreign trade zones on behalf of GCI Global Container Terminals Inc.
GCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is one of North America’s largest container terminal operators. Those terminals include TSI Vanterm in Vancouver and Deltaport at Robert’s Bank.
In an interview, GCI corporate communications director Lori Jackson confirmed Dobell’s lobbying effort – which also included his Hill and Knowlton colleague Tamara Little. Jackson stated in an email the company isn’t specifically looking at establishing a foreign trade zone in British Columbia. Instead, it’s pushing for a federal foreign trade zone program that could be activated anywhere in Canada.
Indeed, at a federal level, four Hill and Knowlton lobbyists are registered to work on the file for GCI.
But Jackson also confirmed an industry steering committee chaired by GCI has proposed setting up a small agency that would implement and market a foreign trade zone initiative in Metro Vancouver.
She stated that proposal is preliminary and would entail $5 million in funding over five years. According to the government procurement document, that funding would be provided by “federal, provincial and local agencies.”
But it remains to be seen whether the province will go from studying such a feasibility of foreign trade zones to establishing them.
The government concedes those zones could increase B.C.’s “competitiveness in global markets and attractiveness as a gateway for international trade and encourage new economic activity.”
But its study will determine if that probability is an actuality and whether “regional disparities” would be exacerbated if a foreign trade zone were to be created in Vancouver and not within other regions.
A government spokesman stressed Ottawa controls the policy levers to allow for the establishment of location-specific foreign trade zones. Nevertheless, the province “is undertaking work to inform ourselves on the benefits and consequences of the establishment of these zones. No decision has been made and one will not be made in the short term.”
Gambling not gaming
The British Columbia Lottery Corp. (BCLC) and the provincial government have often used the term gaming as an apparent euphemism for gambling. But, when surveying members of the public about their support for such activities, the corporation has decided to stop using that term.
In its latest service plan, BCLC explained that decision was made to “more accurately reflect our gambling business focus.”
But the change “is not anticipate to impact” the future results of such surveys, which are forecasted to show declining support for gaming.