The BC NDP’s new Go West agenda, formally called the Look West Economic Growth Plan, bills itself as the most ambitious economic strategy in a generation. It purports to be a 10-year sprint for “nation-building” projects, a magnet for $200 billion in private investment, swifter permits and a pipeline—not of oil, of course, but of skilled workers to fill the gaps.

On paper, it suggests a province ready to grow up economically, and not a moment too soon. Public finances are a shambles. Investment eludes us. As critical industries, mining is mired, energy is enervated, forestry is forlorn. Affordability is something we recall, ever faintly.

Premier David Eby calls Look West part of his new “relentless and remorseless” approach, words used by critics at times to describe the NDP’s attack on the economy through its tax-and-spend obsession. Beneath the glossy charts and rhetoric, the plan carries cracks that could turn into fault lines. Look West feels more like Look Alive or Look Busy, with a bit of the distracting feel about it of Look! Squirrel!

The problem is how development actually works in a province bound by geography, litigation and a fragile relationship with Indigenous nations. The plan boldly assumes reality will adjust to the press release.

Start with the obvious: Look West is built on old bones, a rerun pretending to be a premiere, yesterday’s plans in tomorrow’s packaging.........

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