What If It Was Economic Infrastructure All Along?

Article Synopsis

Cities typically treat roads, ports, and power grids as economic infrastructure and schools, hospitals, and housing as social infrastructure. But this separation does not reflect how economies actually work. BC's sustained net population loss since 2023 shows that housing affordability drives workforce drain more than any transportation gap. Nanaimo's port expansion has attracted investor attention, but retaining workers and businesses long-term depends on whether schools, healthcare, and housing are in place first.

A $9 million upgrade at Wellington Secondary School recently added 150 seats across six new classrooms. This by itself reads as a school success story. But consider it from a different angle: a skilled manufacturer weighing a move to Nanaimo has two children who need classroom space. Wellington’s expansion is the deciding factor and they choose Nanaimo. That decision has economic consequences that no highway widening or port expansion caused.

So what does that make Wellington Secondary? A school, certainly. But also something that functions as a competitive economic asset. The problem is that most frameworks cities typically use can’t integrate the economic importance of social infrastructure.

The Binary That Breaks Down

Economic infrastructure, in the conventional sense, refers to the physical systems that enable an economy to function: roads, power grids, sewage networks, ports. Social infrastructure refers to the systems that support community wellbeing: schools, hospitals, housing, community spaces. The distinction shapes how governments prioritize investment, how planners write reports, and how economic development organizations frame their work.

When there’s talk of improving the economy a large portion is left out.

Hospitals keep a workforce healthy enough to show up. Schools produce the skilled trades, healthcare workers, and engineers that employers need. Workforce housing determines whether people can afford to stay once they arrive. These are not parallel systems with separate effects. They are interdependent. Treating infrastructure as a binary system between the economy and society does not reflect how economies actually function. It imposes this artificial separation when there isn’t one, and this aged system is reflected by current trends.

What BC’s Migration Numbers Reveal

The evidence that social infrastructure drives economic outcomes is plain to see. BC has seen net interprovincial migration of around -5,000 to -9,000 people per year since 2023. The Business Council of BC, which has studied the trend closely, notes this is the most sustained negative interprovincial migration the province has seen in 25 years. The people leaving are disproportionately young, educated, and economically mobile, and citing housing affordability as the primary driver.

That is a workforce pipeline draining out of the province, and no investment in ports, highways, or industrial land is changing it.

The bottleneck to this economy is social infrastructure.

Nanaimo is not immune to this dynamic. The Port is expanding. Investment is growing. The question that rarely gets asked in those conversations is where the workers will live, and whether their families will have access to a family doctor or a classroom seat. Those are not secondary concerns to be addressed after the economic infrastructure is in place but rather the preconditions for it.

The Cost of Separation

When infrastructure is evaluated through a framework that separates the economy from society, social infrastructure tends to loose. It competes in a different category, gets measured by different metrics, and rarely wins against a road widening or a utility upgrade when budgets are tight. The returns in social infrastructure are long-term, often non-monetary, and difficult to quantify in a project evaluation spreadsheet.

Wellington Secondary’s expansion does not appear in any economic impact model for Nanaimo’s investment attraction. That does not mean the impact is not there.

What’s Needed

The question posed in the headline has a straightforward answer: yes, schools can and should be evaluated as economic infrastructure. But the more important point is that the measurement system for the economy needs to be overhauled. The economy is composed of people. And people need to be supported for a prosperous economy.

How would Nanaimo be seen by investors if the city had B.C.’s most affordable housing, best healthcare, or strongest school network? The port expansion has piqued the interest of investors but the support for people is that next wave of economic infrastructure.

Cities that do not factor in the economic impacts of social infrastructure will continue making decisions that underinvest in the conditions the economy (and people) need. The port expansion has put Nanaimo on a different trajectory. Whether that trajectory holds depends on infrastructure that is needed now more than ever.

ARTICLE FAQ

What is the difference between social infrastructure and economic infrastructure?

Economic infrastructure refers to physical systems like roads, power grids, and ports that help an economy function. Social infrastructure refers to systems that support community wellbeing, such as schools, hospitals, and housing. The conventional view treats these as separate categories, but this distinction breaks down when you look at how economies actually work. A school that fills classroom seats for a manufacturer's family is functioning as an economic asset, even if no one measures it that way.

Does social infrastructure affect economic growth?

Yes. BC's own migration data shows it clearly. The province has seen a net loss of roughly 5,000 to 9,000 people per year since 2023, driven primarily by housing affordability. The people leaving are disproportionately young, educated, and economically mobile. No investment in ports or highways stops that kind of workforce drain. The constraint on the economy in that case is social infrastructure, not transportation capacity.

Why do cities underinvest in social infrastructure?

The main reason is how infrastructure gets evaluated. When social and economic infrastructure compete for limited budgets, they are judged by different metrics. Roads and utilities generate measurable short-term returns. Schools, healthcare, and housing produce long-term, often non-monetary outcomes that are harder to put in a spreadsheet. This creates a structural bias in how investment decisions get made, regardless of actual economic importance.

Can schools be considered economic development?

Yes. Wellington Secondary School in Nanaimo recently added 150 seats across six new classrooms. If a skilled manufacturer chose Nanaimo over another city because classroom space was available for their children, that school expansion directly influenced an investment attraction outcome. Most economic models would not record that connection, but the impact is real.

What does Nanaimo need beyond port expansion to attract investment?

The port expansion has increased investor interest. But attracting and retaining workers and businesses over the long term depends on whether people can afford to live in Nanaimo, access healthcare, and find classroom seats for their families. Those are preconditions for economic growth, not amenities that come after it. Whether Nanaimo's current investment momentum holds is tied directly to whether those conditions are in place.