How is B.C.B次元官网网址檚 economy doing?

This question occupies a great deal of time in our political debate. But since that debate is mostly an exercise in selecting facts and passing blame back and forth, itB次元官网网址檚 difficult to tell.

Former premier Gordon Campbell set out to change that in 2001 with the establishment of the B.C. Progress Board. Independent directors established six B次元官网网址渃ore targets,B次元官网网址� environmental, health and social indicators as well as economic measures, and tracked them annually with comparisons to other provinces.

This created that doesnB次元官网网址檛 exist anywhere else. But it hasnB次元官网网址檛 exactly been flattering, a sign that it has been kept free of political interference.

Premier Christy ClarkB次元官网网址檚 recent decision to replace the Progress Board has sparked another round of political blame-storming. The NDP opposition was accustomed to jumping on the annual rankings and trumpeting the ones that cast the B.C. Liberals in a bad light. Predictably, they portrayed the remake of the board as an effort to sweep embarrassing results under the rug.

Media often focus on the political horse race rather than details of dull old policy. When the boardB次元官网网址檚 annual reports came out, they typically covered the political fight and glossed over the findings.

The key flaw with the Progress Board turned out to be its emphasis on provincial rankings. B.C. ranked first for the entire 10 years in health and environmental conditions, and near the bottom in a complex measure of B次元官网网址渟ocial conditionB次元官网网址� that was often oversimplified as poverty.

In most measures, including economic ones, the rankings barely changed in a decade.

In his final report, board chair Gerry Martin noted that B.C.B次元官网网址檚 improvements in economic output and income were significant, but didnB次元官网网址檛 move them up the rankings because other provinces had similar success. Big recoveries in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland meant that B.C. sometimes slipped in the relative rankings despite major gains.

Martin noted that on crime, B次元官网网址渋nitial performance was so poor that B.C.B次元官网网址檚 best-in-country improvements over several years were needed just to move B.C. to about average.B次元官网网址� (ThereB次元官网网址檚 an example of how independent this board has been.)

Crime is part of the boardB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淪ocial Condition Index,B次元官网网址� along with low-birth-weight babies and long-term unemployment. This has been a favourite of opposition critics, because B.C. started low and slipped lower.

But they wonB次元官网网址檛 tell you the whole story, through the NDP 1990s as well as the B.C. Liberal 2000s:

B次元官网网址淏.C. ranked sixth in the Social Condition Index in 1990, improved to third in 1993, but deteriorated through the rest of the 1990s and into the next decade such that it sank to last place for 2001 and 2002,B次元官网网址� the final report says.

B次元官网网址淚mprovements between 2002 and 2007 saw B.C. reach fifth place in 2006 and 2007, but rank changes on low birth weights and long-term unemployment brought B.C. to seventh in 2008 and ninth in 2009.B次元官网网址�

Does this mean the NDP government of the 1990s did a bad job, or that the B.C. Liberals did better and then screwed up? It could be spun that way, but there are external factors involved.

The B.C. Progress Board didnB次元官网网址檛 just do rankings. Its policy suggestions were implemented in regulatory reform, energy self-sufficiency, creating community courts and UBC Okanagan, and proceeding with the Site C dam.

Martin notes that the successor organization, the Jobs and Investment Board, will carry on the performance monitoring and B次元官网网址渉old governmentB次元官网网址檚 feet to the fire,B次元官网网址� in particular on its ability to attract investment.

ItB次元官网网址檚 time to stop arguing about the level of poverty and find new ways to alleviate it.

Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press and BCLocalnews.com