About Northern Development

In December 2003, the Province of British Columbia announced intentions to use $135 million of the proceeds realized from the lease of BC Rail assets to create a new corporation to be located in northern BC that would be dedicated to fostering economic development and job creation in central and northern regions of the Province.

This proposal was called the Northern Development Initiative. In his proposal to the BC Cabinet to create this Initiative, Premier Gordon Campbell stated:

"The purpose of the Northern Development Initiative is to give Northern communities the funding, control and a mechanism to identify and pursue new opportunities for stimulating sustainable economic growth and job creation in their regions."

On October 6, 2004 the BC Minister of Transportation introduced Bill 59, the Northern Development Initiative Trust Act.

On September 21, 2005, the Province of British Columbia introduced Bill 6, the Northern Development Initiative Trust Amendment Act, 2005. Under Bill 6, the Trust received an additional capital infusion of $50 million from the Province.

Established through these acts of legislation, and initially infused with two deposits totalling $185 million, Northern Development is a regionally operated economic development funding corporation for central and northern British Columbia. Northern Development operates independently from government and provides the funding and ability to identify and pursue new opportunities for stimulating economic growth and job creation within the region.