Commentary

Until a visionary B.C. entrepreneur invents a reliable crystal ball, we will continue to enjoy the year-end ritual of reflecting on the past and looking to the year ahead with optimism.

As 2018 draws to a close, we look forward to the fresh start and renewed opportunities inherent in a new year. It’s easy to look back on the outgoing annum with a certain degree of disdain.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens penned the famous line in 1859, but he also foreshadowed 2018.

Sorry. Even with the opportunity to ask Canadians whatever I wanted in the final month of 2018, I chose not to dwell on the appropriateness of the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the 21st century.

Unions in B.C. start off 2019 more unified – and more optimistic – than we have been in a long time.

The year 2018 had its fair share of positive news for B.C.’s business community, from stable economic growth to strong employment numbers to the single largest private-sector investment in Canadian history.

The decisive referendum victory to preserve the first-past-the-post electoral system in British Columbia is, quite naturally, a repudiation of those who sought proportional representation (PR). That goes with the territory of a fight.

As 2018 comes to a close, British Columbians have a lot to be thankful for. We live in the best province in the best country in the world.

In 2018, the penny dropped on Canada’s diminished attractiveness for new business investment.

In an environment of rapid economic and political change, further compounded by activist governments at both the federal and provincial levels, identifying 2018’s most significant stories affecting the provincial economy is challenging.