Is British Columbia Primarily a Staples Political Economy - Assignment Example

British Columbia British Columbia, a province in Canada, has a long history of dependence on staples. However, thispaper gives an account of how this province has developed from this dependence. The new political economy is driven largely by the service sector with the electoral politics aligning to these new developments as portrayed in the general elections in the province. Is British Columbia primarily a staples political economy? No, British Columbia is no longer primarily a staples political economy. A staples economy bases on the staples thesis which sets out an economic growth model that is export led, showing the way the endowment of a region with natural resources results in autonomous dependence on and demands for exports with their effects extended to technological changes and the economy at large (Inwood, O’Reilly and Johns 13). For generations, British Columbia was well known for its forestry resources. In fact, Carty attributed 50 cents in every dollar in the then British Columbia to forestry with saw mills, shingle mills, pulp and paper among other similar industries employed people in their thousands to cut, haul and produce various wood products (56). The politics in the province revolved around natural resources exploitation. Indeed, other than the densely populated southern Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland of B.C., the other regions of the province still depend on traditional staples like forest, fish and fur products, but fast moving to embracing an economy driven by the service industry. The modern British Columbia as a whole is no longer predominantly a staples economy. According to Inwood, O’Reilly and Johns, the poor economic conditions that marred the province in the 1990s and extending to early 2000s saw the economy move from a frontier staples (381). Instead, television and film production, tourism and aquaculture among other industries have taken dominance in the provincial political landscape of British Columbia. Even though the staples resource industries like fishing, farming, forestry and mining still play a significant role in the economy of the province, they have paved way to the service industry and other kinds of businesses. Similarly, the Prairies driven by wheat economy has also diversified, now producing numerous agricultural products such as cattle and canola seed, with production having been consolidated into enormous empires of agribusinesses. The east coast has seen the vanishing of the Atlantic cod fisheries because of overfishing. The west coast has suffered poor management thus the dwindling of the salmon stocks at the Pacific. The staples of hydroelectricity, natural gas and crude oil in the energy sector have undergone immense transformation due to new technologies, environmental regulation, land use conflicts, scarce supply and a decline in the hydrocarbons conventional reserves. Mining has also shifted reliance to non-traditional, sophisticated products like diamonds (Carty 26). Therefore, the British Columbia economy in no longer exclusively tied to its historical staples industries. Instead, the province has embraced the service industry as the main driver of its political economy. There are various factors that have contributed to this shift from the staples economy in British Columbia. Socio-economic changes in the province have stirred up a large scale expansion of the public sector and establishment of mini-welfare state. Secondly, in-house production by a majority of the firms has been contracted out to other organizations. Lastly, the growth in the employment in the service sector could also be attributed to commercialization of household tasks like cleaning, daycare, food preparation and haircuts (Carty 28). These three activities – socio-economic changes, contracting production and employment growth - have greatly contributed to the growth of employment in the service sector in British Columbia, hence the shift from principal reliance on the staples industries. To what extent has a new political economy developed in British Columbia? The new political economy in British Columbia has developed immensely from the staples political economy. Borrowing from the steps given by Howlett, Pilon and Summerville through which a staples political economy evolves, British Columbia has developed through the four given stages (58). The Canadian province has developed from the initial phase which involved rapid expansion as the political economy developed through plentiful supply of natural resources. This saw the economy mature as these low-cost, easily accessible resources increased competition limits and propagated expansion of the economy. This ushered in disequilibrium where the private sector and the state responded to slowed growth by forcing expansion through weaker regulations or subsidies. Though this created some growth for B.C., it did not last long. Finally, B.C. made a transition into new forms of resource activities with aquaculture activities intensifying so as to offset the decline in wild fishery. Therefore, the new political economy in British Columbia has experienced extensive development which limited the reliance of the province on the staples. Therefore, the post-staples political economy of British Columbia experiences pressure on resources and associated staple sectors. This leads to significant exhaustion of the resource endowment that was originally relied on, consequently increasing pressure on industries to access even the protected or costly supplies. Thus, the province experiences both increased capital and advanced technological intensiveness with regards to its resource extraction processes. This has seen employment in the staples sectors decrease as development grows from a purely extraction-based one to one with more refining and secondary processing. As such, it would be appreciated that the political economy has boosted value addition on the staples in British Columbia. In as much as the economy could still be considered as being dependent on natural resources, it is more diversified and diffused than it was previously. It is this diversification, resource depletion and diffusion that has seen British Columbia transition into an economy which puts forth much pressure on critical resources. As noted by Inwood, O’Reilly and Johns, this has led to an increase in the share of the metropolitan population, especially distributed in southern Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland of BC, with a decrease in the population of resource-dependent communities (381). Rather than facing the political problems emanating from the past political economy, politicians in the British Columbia tackle issues attributed to the emergent political economy anchored in the service sector. The New Democratic Party, NDC, which is the traditional labor party of the province, has adopted itself with the new service sectors which largely depend on government spending. The Liberal Party, just like the previous Social Credit government, has aligned with large corporations and the traditional middle class businessmen and professionals. These ones prefer deregulation, privatization and deficit and tax reduction. British Columbia province also experiences elections with marginal support and loose adherence to each of the coalitions. Explain the impact of BC’s political economy on BC’s electoral politics. The new political economy in British Columbia has greatly influenced the electoral politics of the province. Moving from reliance on staples to embracing the service industry in the economy of the province has empowered the citizens to a great extent to shape the political institutions, given their power to undertake reforms in fundamental political institutions. As noted by Wellstead, the 1991 general election saw the political force, Social Credit, come to an end with the New Democratic Party, NDP forming the government (9). Democracy had become widespread in the province with the Liberal Party forming the legislature’s official opposition. British Columbia has experienced immense shift in its politics for the past 25 years. The province can no longer be considered as a resource driven economy with class struggle fading away as the decline of relative union power continues to be witnessed. There has been an emergence of new issues that have shaped the electoral politics. There have emerged interest groups focusing on environmental issues, growth in the service industry, globalization and technological advancement. Advancement in communication has seen regionalism reduce with institutionalism restraining the freedom of action for populists (Wellstead 15). The wining of Ms. Christy Clark, the premier, through the promise of creating jobs and curbing spending gives a clear indication of the main concern of British Columbia new political economy. The citizens no longer look for leaders to boost the production of their natural resources but those who seek to foster the service industry and avail more opportunities therein. That is why including support for natural gas pipelines with terminals in British Columbia that would increase the available jobs and boost tax returns played a critical role in Ms. Clark’s win in the general elections as observed by Annis. Her opponent, Adrian Dix of NDP lost partly due to the opposition to the pipeline project to Vancouver and expansion of shipments by tankers from the port which would boost employment among other reasons. With a long history with promotion of pillage of the forest, minerals, water resources and fishing in the province, BC Liberal Party losing in the latest general election evidences the shift from staples to the service industry by the people of BC. Thus, together with its partners drawn from the liberal and conservative parties, the party has shifted its attention to the promotion of production industry and export of fossil fuels. However, the citizens of British Columbia have borne the grant of politics, the Liberals having effected spending cuts. According to Annis, this caused British Columbia to suffer from deteriorated education standards, social services and health care. The general lifestyle of people suffered because of the pay cuts that were implemented, in addition to the poor working conditions, especially for those who had their jobs privatized or made temporary. Works Cited Annis, Roger. “British Columbia Election Frustrates Labor, Environmental and Indigenous Activists.” Globalresearch.ca. Global Research. 24 May 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. Carty, R. K. Ed. Politics, Policy, and Government in British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: UBC P, 2011. Print. Howlett, M., D. Pilon and T. Summerville. British Columbia Politics and Government. Toronto, ON: Emond Montogomery P, 2010. Print. Inwood, G. J., P. O’Reilly and C. Johns. Intergovernmental Policy Capacity in Canada: Inside the Worlds of Finance, Environment, Trade, and Health. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2011. Print. Wellstead, A. “The (Post) Staples Economy and the (Post) Staples State in Historical Perspective.” Canadian Political Science Review 1.1 (2007): 8 – 25. Read More