A new project targeting international head offices to British Columbia is expected to increase investment in key sectors and create hundreds of new, high-paying jobs for British Columbians.

HQ Vancouver is a three-year, $6.6-million collaborative project between the Province of British Columbia, the federal government, through Western Economic Diversification (WD), and the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC).

The Government of B.C. is contributing $2.1 million in funding and $1.3 million worth of in-kind contributions. The federal government through WD is providing $1.95 million in funding, and  BCBC is providing $234,000 in funding plus $1 million worth of in-kind contributions.

This fulfils a significant B.C. government commitment to attract major Asian and international firms to invest in British Columbia and locate their North American presence in our province. It has three key goals:

• Attract five international head offices to B.C. by 2020 - two by 2017 and commitments from another three by 2018.
• Attract investment totaling $100 million.
• Create 500 new jobs in the province.

Head offices generate a number of direct economic benefits, including the creation of local, well-paying jobs, increased contribution to the tax base, and growth of indirect businesses services.

Head offices also generate industry clusters that attract other businesses within the supply chain to that area.  This creates additional employment and economic benefits, and increases the size, skill and productivity of the local labour force.

Learn more: http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=932789&tp=1