Accepting a new job is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

There is the moment of decision, where you know you are taking a leap of faith. French novelist Andre Gide captures the emotion beautifully: “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

For me, the courage to lose sight of the shore, and accept the job of president and CEO of the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC) came just after that moment in the interview where the candidate is asked whether she has any questions. Mine was simple: “Why did you choose to become members of BCBC?” Every single one of the eight interviewers leaned in to tell me they are members of the business council because they care about the well-being and prosperity of the province, its communities, and its people. One board member, newer to the province, put it this way: “When we move to a new place, we are all in.”

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I could feel the shore slipping away. While the members of council represent some of the province’s biggest employers, the commitment to prosperity is a sentiment I know and love from my two decades of advocacy on behalf of Canada’s small business owners, who are deeply connected to the communities they serve.

Prosperity is about hope for a better future. It is built on the foundation of a strong economy with thriving businesses of all sizes. The entrepreneurs among us — from those who take the risk of opening a local restaurant to those who grow small technology companies into large companies with global reach — provide job opportunities for individuals, support charities and local causes, and generate tax revenues that support important public services like healthcare and education.

If you doubt the importance of a strong economy, consider what happens when an economy shrinks. Fear replaces hope as worries about affordability, joblessness, and our children’s future loom larger.

Governments are faced with tough trade-offs as tax revenues decrease. Where would you like to cut?

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It’s far happier to be in a prosperous world where governments can increase funding for healthcare and education, where wages are rising faster than inflation, and where we have additional resources to contribute to charitable causes.

Some factors affecting our individual and collective prosperity are beyond our control. Others are not.

For example, the B.C. government can’t control interest rates or the state of China’s economy. It can, however, make sure that, to borrow some economist speak, the “hosting conditions” for businesses to open, survive, and thrive are more hospitable than hostile.

This is where good public policy, including reasonable taxation and regulation, comes to the prosperity party.

It’s tempting to take the importance of a strong economy for granted. But, as politicians of all stripes have learned the hard way, you take the economy for granted at your peril.

And, I fear, as do many others, there is mounting evidence both in Canada and in B.C. that we have been taking the economy for granted.

Canada is projected to rank dead last among 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in per capita economic growth through 2060.

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If this comes to pass, young Canadians face 40 years of stagnant average real incomes. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is economist-speak for a country’s total yearly income, is already shrinking in per capita terms. Income per person is now $55,170 compared to $56,370 in 2019. This means the economy is generating $1,200 less income per person, or $2,830 less income per household, than it was four years ago.

B.C.’s latest provincial budget projects falling per capita income in 2023 and 2024.

None of this is good but much of it is fixable. B.C. and Canada have a lot going for them, including critical minerals and lower-carbon fuels that the world is hungry for. Encouraging big projects in mining, low-carbon fuels, and life-saving medicines and a renewed focus on creating better overall tax and regulatory conditions can call prosperity back.

All this brings me back to my job interview. When the members of the business council were talking about prosperity, I knew this was the right job for me.

I want to be champion in chief for the importance of a strong economy. We don’t want prosperity to lose sight of the shore, we need her to swim back and make herself comfortable in B.C. and Canada.

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Laura Jones is the new president and CEO of the Business Council of British Columbia. She can be reached @BCBCLaura.

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