British Columbia (BC) Premier David Eby has shuffled his cabinet as part of a “strategic shift” to focus on jobs and the province’s economy amid rising tensions with the United States (US), making a few key changes for BC’s technology sector.
After just eight months as BC’s minister of jobs, economic development, and innovation (JEDI), Diana Gibson has been moved to minister of citizens’ services. In Gibson’s stead, Ravi Kahlon has been appointed to the rebranded role of minister of jobs and economic growth.
Kahlon previously served as BC’s minister of jobs, economic recovery, and innovation from 2020 to 2022, overseeing the province’s economic and innovation files as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. He most recently led housing and municipal affairs.
“I have every confidence that the team that we’ve assembled here today will be able to meet that moment.”
David Eby,
BC Premier
Eby has also named Rick Glumac as BC’s minister of state for artificial intelligence (AI) and new technologies. Pre-pandemic, Glumac spent about three years working as the province’s parliamentary secretary for technology. He was previously minister of state for trade.
At the moment, it is unclear which minister will oversee the New Democratic Party’s innovation portfolio in Eby’s third cabinet. BetaKit has reached out to the Government of BC for comment.
According to Eby’s office, these changes and the province’s other appointments “prioritize the specific skills and experience of ministers to meet the current moment.”
Eby has said he tasked this new cabinet with tackling some of the province’s biggest challenges, including building a more resilient economy that is less reliant on the US, seizing investment opportunities, and strengthening public services.
“The world has changed since the election and since the swearing in of our first cabinet,” Eby said during a press conference yesterday. “We’ve seen escalating threats matched with action from the president of the US attacking our economy. The results of that are showing up right across Canada and around the world. And the concern that I have, that many British Columbians have, is that things may get significantly worse.”
Eby argued that BC has “everything we need to be successful here,” from the resources, to the access to global markets, the people, and now, the cabinet. “I have every confidence that the team that we’ve assembled here today will be able to meet that moment,” he said.
The BC premier said Glumac will be responsible for helping the province build up a number of key sectors, including AI, quantum computing, and life sciences.
“Minister Glumac’s job will be to ensure that our new technology sectors are part of the growing economy that we have here in [BC], creating jobs and opportunity, ensuring that businesses are leveraging the opportunities created by AI, but also making sure that workers are supported,” Eby added.
Eby noted the creation of this role comes shortly after new Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed Evan Solomon as Canada’s first minister of AI and digital innovation, and said he expects Glumac “to be in the face of” Solomon and advocate for BC’s industries. Solomon recently unpacked how the Liberal government plans to support domestic AI and quantum in an interview with BetaKit.
Speaking after Eby yesterday, Kahlon said he is excited that the province has made AI part of its portfolio, adding that he sees “huge opportunities” for AI to increase productivity, as well as a need to equip the province’s existing and future workforces to harness its power.
As BC works to raise the profile of its tech sector, the province recently hosted the first of three Web Summit Vancouver tech conferences with funding from BC, Vancouver, and the federal government. Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave thanked provincial Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey, Gibson’s predecessor at JEDI, for her early support in bringing the event to Vancouver.
Local leaders BetaKit spoke with deemed the Collision successor’s scaled-back West Coast debut a success. When asked in a recent interview with BetaKit whether she felt the investment was worthwhile, Gibson said it was worth “every penny.”
Feature image courtesy the Province of British Columbia via Flickr.