Tech

Clark’s plan to grow a thriving technology sector also offers clear examples of her ability to plan strategically. Her government saw through a strategy that grew the sector by 16% while she was in office and went from representing 5% of the GDP to 7%. The strategy resulted in tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, SAP, Facebook and Alibaba establishing a major presence in Vancouver. Vancouver is also ranked as the startup ecosystem in Canada. The flow of venture capital into the province grew from $226M to over $420M during her tenure. 

Her strategy targeted capital, research and talent. She established a $100 million government funded venture capital fund, focused new spending at Universities on STEM education, created 20 new research chairs in STEM and made BC the only province in Canada to require that every student be literate in coding by the time they graduate from high school. 

Over a three year period, she also negotiated specific agreements with the Canadian government on immigration, including the landmark agreement to allow Microsoft to fast track foreigners to join their Vancouver office.