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Digital platforms allowing people to book short-term rental accommodation have been one of the disruptive innovations that will define the past decade.
As with many technological changes, there are pros and cons, including a loss of long-term rental housing for locals and unfair competition for traditional accommodation providers. The Chamber advocates for Fair Rules for new and established businesses and supports new initiatives to level the playing field. One proposal is to require companies promoting short-term rentals to share information with local governments. This would help municipalities track and ensure all businesses providing accommodation are licensed.
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The provincial government has launched a new BC Bid portal, making it easier for businesses to participate in procurement opportunities offered by hundreds of public sector organizations.
The single-point of access is used by school districts, municipalities, health authorities, Crown corporations and other government agencies to post contracts for goods and services across industries. A class action settlement against certain credit card surcharges means businesses that accepted credit card payments between March 23, 2001 and Sept. 2, 2021 could be entitled to rebates of up to $5,000.
The class action opposed certain rules regarding fees paid by merchants and collected by banks for Visa and MasterCard transactions. The deadline for eligible businesses to submit a claim in order to participate in the settlement is Sept. 30. The minimum wage in BC increased June 1 from $15.20 to $15.65 per hour. The increase is based on the average annual inflation rate of 2.1% in 2021.
"According to the province, the increase helps workers but if governments really want to tackle affordability concerns they need to address the fundamental reasons affecting the cost of living," Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. " We need more housing, which requires a concerted effort to allow builders to build — less red tape and more help attracting workers and getting materials to our region." The Chamber continues to advocate for real solutions that add to Greater Victoria's workforce housing and reduce costs of other major expenses, such as child care and transportation. "Raising minimum wage can hurt the economy by making it harder for some of our major employers to get high school and college students into the workforce," Williams said. "We'll keep working with our partner organizations to make sure employers have a say on any future increases to minimum wage — especially with atypical factors affecting inflation right now. Government needs to understand that increasing the cost of doing business affects affordability for everyone." Greater Victoria's business community is showing its resilience as a new report shows commerce continues to strengthen and grow.
“Despite headwinds facing the global economy, our region has roared back and we’re in a good position to really take flight as we welcome our traditional tourism season,” Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. “These indicators make it clear that people can’t wait to get back to our vibrant downtown and enjoy all the amazing experiences our businesses provide.” The report shows that there were 314,730 more pedestrian trips to downtown Victoria in the first three months of 2022 than the same period last year. The City of Victoria issued 7,623 business licences in the first quarter of 2022, up from 7,187 in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic. For 17 years, the Victoria Foundation has conducted the Vital Signs Citizen Survey to measure social indicators that help us better understand the health of our region. This year's survey went live on May 5 and is open until July 4. This year's focus is "What does community mean to you?" Data collected from the survey reflects how a community is integrating economic, social and environmental elements and helps policy makers understand where improvements are needed. Greater Victoria's business community has a well-deserved reputation for its compassion and generosity.
The Chamber is hearing from members who want to help people fleeing the ongoing war in Ukraine. "We're connecting with our national chamber network and have reached out to the federal minister of immigration," Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. "We want refugees arriving in Canada to know that Greater Victoria is a welcoming community." Canada has approved more than 91,000 of the 204,000 applications it has received through the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel process. Less than 2,000 will likely be re-located to Vancouver Island. However, those that do will need housing and, in many cases, jobs to help them integrate into our community. The Chamber is working with our community partners to identify potential opportunities for billets or temporary housing. Employers in Greater Victoria can help by posting any job openings to a special federal job bank for Ukrainian refugees. "We know many of our members have opportunities for skilled workers and we will do everything we can to try and provide stability for Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homeland through no fault of their own," Williams said. Affordable and accessible child care is vital to the economy because it creates opportunities for working parents to contribute to the labour force. As such, The Chamber has long called for child care to be considered an investment that attracts families to our region and helps organizations find and keep workers. The provincial government now offers a wage enhancement for Early Childhood Educators and is working with the federal government to reduce the costs that families pay for care.
However, it will take more than funding for new spaces to address the lack of access to child care in Greater Victoria. Our region needs qualified workers for the many positions currently going unfilled. “Finding an early childhood educator seems like trying to find a unicorn these days,” said Mira Laurence, executive director of the Oaklands Community Association which runs the Oaklands Little Acorn Centre. “There are no people,” Laurence said, in an interview with CHEK News. “The four-dollar top-up doesn’t even seem to be working.” "We're having discussions with post-secondary institutions as well as with government about how we can get more Early Child Care workers," Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. "We need to create pathways that lead from school to jobs, or ease immigration for qualified foreign workers. And when we find staff, we need to keep them by making sure they feel valued." It should be no surprise that a regional police force was one of the common themes of a long-awaited report from the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act.
The report, released last week, noted that the City of Victoria and Township of Esquimalt are the only municipalities in BC that share a local police department. The report also stated that when the provincial government ordered the merger of the Esquimalt and Victoria police forces, the understanding at the time was that "this would be the first step towards regional integration of policing in the Capital Region, but this has not happened." The Chamber supports a regional police force in order to ensure limited resources are used as efficiently as possible to create Safe Communities for everyone in Greater Victoria. Open House tonight in Esquimalt Esquimalt hosted an Open House from 5:30-7:30 pm on May 4 in the gallery at Esquimalt Town Square to hear from residents about the Township's police model. “We want a dialogue with our community before making any large decisions about policing,” Esquimalt Mayor Barbara Desjardins said in a news release. “By joining the conversation about policing in Esquimalt, you will help us make crucial decisions that impact community safety, crime prevention and the use of your tax dollars.”  Innovation led by business is key to tackling climate change and The Chamber is committed to working with all levels of government to help them understand how the private sector is providing real solutions to meet public demand. The City of Victoria has designated staff to work on ensuring food service businesses are using the most sustainable materials available.
City staff have developed a Draft PDF of a Sustainable Takeout Guide that they hope will help businesses. Staff have also asked The Chamber for feedback on the city’s plan. The Chamber worked closely with the city on plastic bags regulations holding a roundtable of city staff and business owners to identify what was already working, what could be efficiently implemented and the tools needed to do so. As a result, the regulation was welcomed by most businesses and served as a model for municipalities across the region. As municipal councils across the region finalize tax rates for business properties, The Chamber wants to hear from any members facing unfair increases.
“Businesses need to plan for expenses, and they expect to be treated fairly. After all, the long-term health of our communities is directly related to the health of our small businesses,” Chamber CEO Bruce Williams told the Times Colonist. “The Chamber is reaching out to our members to see how (tax increases) affect them individually, and we’ll take that information forward to candidates in the fall municipal election.” The Chamber recognizes that municipalities must juggle a number of variables when setting rates. Ultimately, each municipality determines how much money they need to deliver services to their citizens and then set rates to raise the revenue to cover most of those costs. Whether an individual property experiences an increase in their tax bill typically depends on whether the property had a higher-than-average increase in value. However, municipalities also need to be fair when allocating costs to commercial properties. “The business community understands that taxes are a tool used by local governments to provide services, but we’re always watchful of councils who try to shift costs to business and industry and away from residents for political reasons,” Williams said, noting that now is not the time for municipalities to be increasing costs for any taxpayers. “Many businesses are still facing challenges, so any tax increase will weigh on them at a time when we need our economy to take flight.” Employers have a little more clarity about the new requirement for five days of paid sick leave. On Monday, BC's Labour Minister Harry Bains said the requirement is for every "calendar year" of employment, regardless of an employee's start date.
As well, the government amended language relating to collective agreements so that no employees are excluded. The Chamber continues to collect feedback from the business community about the introduction of paid-sick days in BC. Let us know your experiences to help inform our advocacy efforts by emailing communications@victoriachamber.ca. Finding and keeping workers starts with connections. On Monday, The Chamber teamed up with the University of Victoria and the UVic Students’ Society to connect thousands of students with more than 60 employers in Greater Victoria. About two-thirds of all students at UVic typically work while undertaking their studies. This has traditionally been a key addition to Greater Victoria’s labour force, especially as the region has one of the highest employment rates in the country. Monday's Hiring Day event attracted 63 employers, ranging from financial institutions to tourism and hospitality businesses. "We are proud to have a long-standing partnership with The Chamber — students can make a real impact in workplaces across the region, and they are key to supporting the economic recovery in this community. This type of hiring event helps facilitate these important connections,” said Andrea Giles, Executive Director of UVic’s Co-operative Education Program and Career Services.  Members Big Wheel Burger, Coastal Community Credit Union and Wilson's Group at Hiring Day The long-delayed Citizens' Assembly looking into merging the District of Saanich and the City of Victoria is going ahead.
“We have all agreed to each contribute $250,000, for a total of $750,000, toward the cost of a citizens’ assembly and to explore the possible outcomes, costs, benefits and disadvantages of amalgamation so that residents have a more complete understanding of what amalgamation may involve," said a statement issued by the three parties. However, citing challenges with gathering in person during the pandemic, the process has been bumped back until after the Oct. 15 civic elections. "We recognize there are strong opinions regarding amalgamation, and we want to ensure people have an opportunity to provide input in an open forum and a subsequent decision is well-informed and evidence-based, the statement said." One of BC's often overlooked economic sectors is getting a closer look. The province has contracted a Labour Market Study of the non-profit sector, which includes about 29,000 organizations employing 86,000 people and generating $6.7 billion in economic activity.
In the early months of the pandemic, the Victoria Foundation was part of a group of organizations that worked together to report on how non-profits were faring. They found that organizations focused on helping arts and culture and sports and recreation had reduced revenue, while those in the health and social services sectors were in high demand. The 20-month study is being conducted by Vantage Point at a cost of $290,000.  In the early days of the pandemic, BC Housing made a number of purchases of hotels and other properties to house people experiencing homelessness. The deals cost taxpayers a total of $221 million, raising questions from people concerned about the expense.
Those questions were answered this week by the Office of Auditor General of BC, which released its audit of the purchases. "BC Housing met all relevant approvals and policy requirements for the purchases of nine properties in Vancouver and Victoria in 2020 and 2021," the report concludes. "BC Housing obtained market value appraisals for all nine properties as required by internal policies and procedures. The total of the purchases ($202.4 million) was 8.5% below the total appraised market values ($220 million) for the nine properties." Within Victoria, properties purchased by BC Housing include the former Comfort Inn at 3020 Blanshard St., Paul's Motor Inn at 1900 Douglas St., Capital City Centre at 1961 Douglas St. and a housing project at 225 Russell St. Housing affordability for many Greater Victoria employees has become even more strained in recent months as the cost of renting increased by 3.1% and the vacancy rate dropped to about 1%.
With more people choosing to move to our region, the demand for new housing is putting intense pressure on our ability to add to the supply. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Rental Market Survey Data Tables for Greater Victoria shows that a total of eight private apartments were added in the City of Victoria between October 2020 and October 2021. A further 643 were added in all other Greater Victoria municipalities during the same time. Meanwhile, the region's population increased by 29,467 between the 2021 and 2016 censuses. The provincial government recently announced plans for a "cooling-off period" for home buyers, allowing them to opt out of purchases for a limited time after agreeing to buy. BC Finance Minister Selina Robinson said the goal is to reduce pressure on buyers so they can make sound decisions.
However, the Victoria Real Estate Board says there are better solutions than the government proposal, which doesn't address the root of the problem — a lack of housing supply. The BC Real Estate Association says the province needs to add another 25,000 homes for sale before supply will be in balance with current demand. The cost of housing is a serious concern for affordability in our region. There simply are not enough homes for the number of people who want to live, work and put down roots. It's a challenge facing most of BC, which is why The Chamber supports news that the provincial government is looking at helping municipalities fast-track more homes.
“The bottom line is that municipalities are not approving enough housing for our population growth,” Eby said in a CHEK News story. “I think it’s quite possible that we’re going to need to be more prescriptive. One thing is clear is that the status quo is not acceptable.” The Chamber looks forward to hearing more about initiatives to make housing supply a priority for all governments, including solutions for increasing labour supply and securing supply chains. The provincial government has passed legislation bringing in the controversial Skilled Trades BC Act. The hope for the plan is that it will address critical labour shortages, but there are some serious concerns being voiced by industry.
The current plan is focused on skilled trades certification that "will require people to register as an apprentice or be a certified journeyperson to work in one of the 10 initial mechanical, electrical and automotive trades." Good intentions are admirable but there are structural issues that likely need to be addressed if the program is to succeed. We need more investment in trades training so there are spaces available for people who want to learn skilled trades. And the business community needs to be included in the conversation so that innovations being used by industry are part of the strategy. We all share the goal of building up our skilled workforce and don't need inefficient bureaucracy to impede progress from being made. February marks Black History Month and a chance to learn more about the stories, struggles and accomplishments of Black Canadians. Here's a look at some events happening around Greater Victoria.
As a positive step toward being the region's most diverse and influential business association, The Chamber launched a new committee this year. Initially known as the Committee for the Advancement of Diversity and Inclusion, one of its first decisions was to change the committee name to the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Advancement (IDEA) Committee.
The committee's mission is to foster diversity and inclusion and break through biases to achieve equity, which will only strengthen our business and community connections.
February marks Black History Month and The Chamber strongly encourages everyone to learn more about the stories, struggles and accomplishments of Black Canadians.
There have been Black communities in BC since 1858. In that year, Nancy and Charles Alexander were one of the first Black families in Greater Victoria. The Alexanders settled on the corner of what is now Douglas and Fisgard streets before relocating to the District of Saanich, where they farmed for 33 years and raised 10 children. Charles built the first school house in the area and served as a school trustee. The Chamber is committed to taking action to advance the process of reconciliation, as well as investment in the growth of Greater Victoria's economy.
On Monday, City of Victoria council made an unprecedented recommendation to provide a $200,000 annual grant for the next five years to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. This year, funds will come from the city's 2021 surplus. In subsequent years, the grant will come out of revenue created by new builds on city land. The recommendation needs to be approved at a regular council meeting before it is formally added to the budget. "I think this is supportable in the fact that I think the work that will be done will benefit the city overall, so not only the nations, but the city,” Victoria Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe says in the Times Colonist. A survey of Greater Victoria businesses will gather data to help better understand challenges facing the region's economy in 2022. The survey, launched by the South Island Prosperity Partnership, is open until Feb. 11 and takes less than 10 minutes to fill out. Questions range from what your experiences have been with supply-chain disruptions to various affordability concerns, including housing supply.
The results of the survey will be used by industry and business associations, including The Chamber, to help our advocacy efforts with government. |
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