Mr. Speaker, I rise to boast.
The Gastown and Yaletown districts in my riding form the hub of an innovative, rapidly growing sector called new media, an industry that bridges culture and technology using emerging, interactive, digital media to entertain, educate and inform.
B.C.'s new media industry includes 700 companies. Three-quarters export globally and predict a 25% growth next year. The industry employs 15,000 workers, 95% of whom have a technical, college or university degree, making B.C. Canada's largest new media hub.
Vancouver is home to the world's number one electronic games software company, Electronic Arts. Together with 150 other companies, including Radical, Sony, Disney and Vivendi, they make B.C. the North American hub for video game development.
Futurist Richard Florida postulates that today's highly educated, mobile, IT workers carry their intellectual property with them. They choose where they live, though their workplace is global. Because of its lotus land image, multicultural lifestyle and superior quality of life, they are choosing B.C.