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The Vancouver Island/Coast region has become a magnet for migrants and innovative businesses alike.
Of all Vancouver Island municipalities, perhaps none are feeling the pressures of growth more than Langford is. The once sleepy suburb to the west of Victoria today is welcoming new residents, businesses, schools and health facilities. Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, the city’s population jumped 31.8 percent. But until recently Langford had no public space where people could gather, enjoy a stroll, sample food al fresco or listen to live music and feel part of the community.
For years residents and business owners had expressed concern about a derelict, 500-metre section of decommissioned rail line near the centre of the city. The owner, the Island Corridor Foundation, approached the City of Langford about revitalizing the property and in 2021 signed a 30-year lease whereby the municipality would develop an indoor/ outdoor cultural district funded by the Union of B.C. Municipalities Gas Tax Fund, the Island Coastal Economic Trust and local donors.
Today, The Langford Station, as the development is known, is animated by artists, retailers, murals, sculptures, interactive lighting installations and food trucks 12 months a year. It hosts special events and live music from time to time. There’s an off-leash dog park and below-market space available for art studios and retail business incubation that are eagerly sought after. And of course residents have flocked to the area as a place to meet and bring visitors. After so much growth, Langford now has a place to let its hair down.
This year the BCEDA honoured the City of Langford with its Community Project Award for The Langford Station, recognizing economic development initiatives that benefit the community and region. But it’s just one of a host of new developments taking shape in the Vancouver Island/Coast region.
With its seemingly endless stretches of scenic seashore and the mildest climate in Canada, Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast has long been a magnet for migrants seeking a congenial lifestyle. The advent of remote work has enabled former residents of high-cost Canadian cities to decamp to the Island in ever greater numbers without changing careers. The population is rapidly approaching one million and construction—in large part dedicated to building new homes—is a major employer, providing 8.8 percent of jobs.
This growth adds a layer on top of an already diversified and stable economy focused on public administration (Victoria is British Columbia’s capital city), tourism, higher education and research, the forest industry, fishing, farming, manufacturing and advanced technology. New-economy employers can find a skilled and experienced workforce here: 13,685 people work in advanced manufacturing as it is; 9,132 in information and communication technology; 3,206 in life sciences; 974 in cleantech; 492 in digital media and entertainment; and 465 in aerospace.
Aircraft manufacturer De Havilland Canada is expanding production of DHC-515 firefighting planes at its facility in North Saanich to meet a surge in new orders from Europe, which has seen a series of bad wildfire seasons. The company has doubled its local payroll to 300 over the past year and honed those employees’ skills with an in-house training academy.
Nearby, the Tsawout First Nation has embarked on a series of economic development initiatives aimed at benefiting members with jobs and training. In 2021, it granted a licence to Cascadia Seaweed to grow kelp and other edible marine plants in the Tsawout territorial waters off James Island. This year it acquired a whale-watching tour company in Sidney and formed a construction joint venture with Surrey-based Industra Construction Corp.
Further up-Island, New Times Energy Discovery Park in Campbell River signed a memorandum of understanding this year with hydrogen company Quantum Technology to build a green hydrogen plant in the community to produce low-carbon fuel for ferries, buses and trucks. Hydrogen is increasingly seen as a way for companies and public-sector entities to meet their net-zero commitments with respect to transportation.
Also in Campbell River, Poseidon Ocean Systems this year received $28 million in venture capital financing to expand production of its patented sustainable sea cages and life support systems for fish farms that have been deployed in the United Kingdom, Chile, New Zealand and Australia as well as B.C.
In 2019, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority began compiling a list of local Indigenous businesses as a way to promote socially responsible procurement and serve the cause of economic reconciliation. Three years later more organizations that had been working towards the same goals—the City of Victoria, South Island Prosperity Partnership, Capital Regional District and, in 2023, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce—joined the effort to create the South Island Indigenous Business Directory.
The partners’ original goal of listing 50 suppliers was soon surpassed and the directory now hosts more than 100 companies self-identified as Indigenous owned and operated. The online directory itself—indigenousbusinessdirectoryvi. com—was built by Animikii, a local Indigenous IT firm. The effort won the Economic Reconciliation Award for communities with greater than 20,000 population in 2024 from BCEDA. •
Regions
Vancouver Island: Welcoming Shores
Other Regions
Mainland-Southwest: Ripple Effect
Thompson-Okanagan: Urban Makeover
Kootenay: Hidden Gem
Cariboo: Pioneer Spirit
North Coast-Nechako: Sea Change
Northeast: A New Energy Era
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