A few facts not likely to make it into the mayor’s next newsletter

Those informative little bits of paper we receive from time to time from Mayor Herb Pond most likely will not be trumpeting the latest findings from the BC Progress Board.

In a study that will surely raise the ire of northerners and perhaps raise a few questions for our politicians, it would seem that living here isn’t particularly good for our health.

The BC Progress Report study; Building on our Progress: Striving for Excellence highlights a number of factors in Northern living that may give us pause to consider living the rural lifestyle.

Northerners face the prospect of a getting by on less money, having a shorter lifespan and face a greater possibility of dying of cancer or heart disease. We have also seen a thirty per cent increase in crime in Prince Rupert, the third highest jump in the province.

Needless to say with this report, ours is not a case of Location, Location, Location.

The Daily gave the story front page exposure in its Thursday edition.

LIFE IN B. C.’s NORTH MAY HARM YOUR HEALTH, REPORT
Progress Report claims people in North lag behind much of B. C.
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Pages one and three

Living in rural B. C. – and the North in particular – generally means having less money, living a shorter life and an increased likelihood of dying from cancer of heart disease, according to a report by the B. C. Progress Board.

The Study, Building on Our Progress: Striving for Excellence, benchmarks British Columbia’s performance regionally – urban versus rural – and inter- regionally.

“Regional B. C. has generally lagged behind the province’s urban areas since we began our benchmarking in 2001,” said David Black, B.C. Progress Board Chair. “Though absolute levels lag, employment growth, housing starts and net new business formation continue to improve at a faster rate in Regional B. C. than the Vancouver (area).

The Vancouver area out performed Regional B. C. in eight out of 10 indicators measuring, economy, innovation and education. These include; employment rate, tax filers’ employment income, housing starts, non- residential building permits, secondary school graduates, university completion, scientists and engineers employed, and net new business formation. Regional B. C. performed better than Vancouver on manufacturing shipments – the North Coast ranked third - and retail sales.

In terms of local numbers, seven of eight regions saw an increase in their real per capita income between 1995 and 2004, the exception being the North Coast which declined 8.9 per cent. Increases ranged from 2.4 per cent and 16.2 per cent in other parts of the province. During the last fifteen years the North Coast was also the only part of the province not to grow in population. Although the first half of that time period saw an increase of more than 5.5 per cent, between 1997 and 2005- when the pulp mill closed- the area lost nearly 5,000 people. The area is forecasted to grow 14 per cent during the next 25 years.

On measures of environment, health and society, Vancouver outperforms Regional B. C. on five of eight measures, including air quality, cancer mortality, life expectancy at birth, employment insurance recipients, and income assistance. Regional B. C. performs better on two indicators – low birth weight newborns and the incidence of low income.

On a health positive, Northern health had the lowest percentage of low birth weight babies in the province, while the highest was in the Fraser Valley.

However, those who live in the area served by Northern Health were more likely to die from cancer than people in the rest of the province and while the highest cancer mortality rate was in the Fraser Health region last year, during the last decade people were still more likely to die from heart disease in the North than anywhere else in B. C.

Prince George’s air quality remains by far the worst in B. C.

While it is often thought that cities are more dangerous the report found no significant difference in personal and property crime rates between Vancouver and Regional B. C.

In addition, Smithers has seen a 63.1 per cent increase in crime in the last ten years, the biggest increase in the province, and Prince Rupert nearly a 30 percent increase, the third most in B. C.

The B. C. Progress Board is an independent Panel of 18 business and academic leaders which benchmark B. C’s economic, innovation, education, environment, health and social conditions. The board also advises on ways to improve provincial performance.

The full report can be found at www.bcprogressboard.com.