Report warns of looming problems for the West

A new socio-economic report on Western Canada argues that current good times in the oil and gas sector and a high level of wealth are masking a weak track record in innovation and the environment. The Conference Board of Canada (CBoC) report says that unless the four Western provinces increase their levels of value added goods and services and invest more in R&D, they will fall behind the rest of Canada and the industrialized world. It concludes that the challenge for decision makers is to duplicate the high level of innovation found in the oil and gas industry in other sectors of the economy. Entitled Insight on Western Canada: A Socio-economic Report, the report bases its conclusions on analysis of 21 indicators broken into six categories. Western Canada ranks on top in only one category (health), middle of the pack in three others (education and skills, economy and society) and dead last in the areas of innovation and the environment. Innovation was gauged by several factors including R&D as a percentage of GDP, the number of degrees in science and engineering, venture capital as a percentage of GDP and household Internet use. FMI: CBoC - 1-800-663-7305 or (613) 526-3280....