CPABC in Focus November/December 2014 | Page 16

The cleantech industry is expanding in BC, creating challenging and high-paying jobs in the service sector. These producers are also achieving a worldwide reputation for innovation and leadership, and further contributing to BC’s exports of goods and services.  leantech companies develop products, services, or processes that enable industrial users to C 11 harness renewable materials and energy sources, reduce the use of natural resources, and minimize or eliminate emissions or waste.  eloitte Canada and Sustainable Technology Development Canada, Cleantech, Positioned for D 12 Growth – Western Canada Cleantech Report, 2009. Pulp and Paper Canada, Kruger’s Biomass to Syngas Venture Pays Off, May/June 2010. 13 BDO PROVIDES CREDIBILITY WHERE IT COUNTS Business Valuations Litigation Support Spencer Cotton, CPA, CA, CBV Partner [email protected] 600 – 925 West Georgia Street Vancouver BC 604 688 5421 www.bdo.ca 16  CPABC in Focus • Nov/Dec 2014 Fraud Investigations Rosanne Walters, CPA, CA, CBV, CFE Senior Manager [email protected] Volodymyr Kyrylyuk/iStock/Thinkstock impact, reduce costs, and boost performance.11 Cleantech’s biggest customers are conventional companies in oil and gas; energy and oil sands production; mining and related services; renewable energy; and utilities.12 Resource companies have also partnered in many cleantech initiatives, and have implemented the technology in a variety of ways. For example: •  n New Westminster, Kruger Products (a tissue manufacturer) replaced its natural gas I boiler with biomass gasification to produce process steam, with the goal of attaining lower emissions and costs and reducing its carbon footprint. This technology was developed by Nexterra Systems Corp. of BC.13 •  ancouver-based MineSense™ Technologies has developed an ore recovery process that V enhances the sustainability and longevity of mining operations. •  uWave Research of Burnaby has developed NuGenesis™, a high-tech method for drying N goods that enables farms or food processing plants to minimize food waste. This reduces the energy and transportation costs associated with transporting food to drying facilities. Conclusions Due to more complicated corporate structures, the increase in electronic communications, and changing trade patterns, the relationship between the resource sector and the rest of the economy has strengthened and become more sophisticated. The untold billions of dollars in capital that have flowed into BC’s resource sector over the past century have generated jobs, income, and business revenues not only in resource-focused towns but throughout the provincial economy, with the Lower Mainland being a major beneficiary. There is no denying that some resource industries experience cyclical booms and busts by virtue of their dependency on world commodity prices. Nevertheless, these industries have generally sustained many BC communities for several generations, through good times and bad. And they continue to seek ways to reduce their vulnerability to world markets. Moreover, resource operators have become far more attuned and responsive to social and environmental issues—one reason that the cleantech industry has gained traction so quickly in BC. In a world where most people are employed in the service sector and where high technology is regarded as the beacon of the future, it is easy to lose sight of what really makes our economy tick. The resource sector is the foundational stone on which the BC economy was built, and it’s as important today as ever. Marlyn Chisholm is the principal of Chisholm Consulting and the lead economist on the BC Check-Up reports.