This post was originally published the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce's Spring/Summer 2019 edition of Business Matters magazine.

Members of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce heard firsthand from six federal ministers in the first five months of this year.

Weeks before the federal budget, Canada’s Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Chamber CEO Catherine Holt and Chamber members engaged in a conversation about the state of the economy, housing affordability and money laundering.

Minister Morneau was candid about the trials of working with the U.S. under the Trump administration, and how Canada could be impacted by Brexit.

On Feb. 11, The Chamber hosted federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna. After a short speech, McKenna and Holt talked about different approaches to taxing pollution, why we need to speak clearly about the risks of climate change and the opportunities for business to lead through innovation.

While in Greater Victoria, Minister McKenna announced a $1.25 million investment over five years in the University of Victoria’s Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium.

On March 15, The Chamber hosted Jonathan Wilkinson, federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

At the luncheon, which was well-attended by local Chamber members and chambers across the Island, Wilkinson addressed concerns about the future of whales, salmon and ocean-based businesses. The minister spoke about his government’s efforts to protect salmon and orcas by managing threats such as noise, interference, pollution, climate change and lack of food. During the Q&A, the Minister and audience members talked about the need to strike a balance between protecting salmon and whales and ensuring coastal communities have access to needed resources. 

Wilkinson was clear that his ministry’s primary objective is ensuring the survival of the southern resident killer whales, and that a concerted effort is needed. 

The meeting foreshadowed an announcement one month later when Wilkinson’s ministry introduced new regulations that require any Chinook salmon caught before mid-July to be released back into the ocean, with limits on the number of Chinook that can be kept after that date.

On March 26, a group of Greater Victoria business leaders and Chamber board members met with Joyce Murray, President of Canada’s Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government. Murray answered questions about public-sector hiring policies, recognizing foreign certification, the Canada Summer Jobs Program and why government believes prioritizing debt to GDP and signing free-trade deals is the best way to encourage investment.

On April 25, Chamber members with an interest in Canada’s immigration system were able to ask tough questions of federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen.

Minister Hussen was pressed to increase the available pool of foreign workers to help businesses deal with our region’s labour crunch.

WorkBC is predicting 150,000 job vacancies on Vancouver Island in the next 10 years, while the Conference Board of Canada says immigration will account for 100 percent of the country’s population growth by 2034.

Improving Canada’s immigration system is one of The Chamber’s advocacy priorities for 2019.

While Minister Hussen was in Victoria at the invitation of The Chamber, he was able to use the visit to meet privately with community leaders and attend a swearing in ceremony for new Canadians.

On May 13, Chamber members were able to be part of a discussion with Mélanie Joly, federal Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie.

Minister Joly spoke about the future of tourism in Canada, and what that means for Greater Victoria.

Our region is one of the country’s top destinations for tourists, and the industry generates more than $2.3 billion in economic activity and employs more than 23,000 people.

Joly spoke about her work in Ottawa to have tourism seen as a major economic driver for the country.

Six ministers, six opportunities to ensure the concerns of Greater Victoria businesses are heard in Ottawa.

This post was originally published the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce's Spring/Summer 2019 edition of Business Matters magazine.

Canadians head to the polls on Oct. 21 to decide who will lead the country for the next four years.
In Greater Victoria, our goal is to ensure Chamber members are among the best informed voters in Canada. Already this year we have hosted six federal ministers as part of our Business Leaders Series.

On this page, we take a look at local issues for our federal representatives, and what we are advocating the federal government do about them.

The Chamber is also working with our community partners to host a federal candidate listening session on September 11 at the Victoria Conference Centre.

This will be a great opportunity to express our concerns and visions to whoever is elected in Greater Victoria.

Our community partners are the South Island Prosperity Partnership, the City of Victoria, the Downtown Victoria Business Association, Destination Greater Victoria and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.
 
Workforce Housing
We need all levels of government to consider the unique requirements of workforce housing.
Employers in Greater Victoria have too many jobs going unfilled, and the single biggest deterrent for employees in Greater Victoria is the cost of housing.

We want to know what federal candidates will do to ease this crisis.

We are asking the federal government to expand the National Housing Strategy to include more non-market housing through partnerships with local governments and non-profit housing providers.

Tax incentives can encourage private investment in purpose-built rental housing. The federal government can also invest more in co-op housing, improving existing units and funding partnerships that create new housing opportunities for families.

And, by creating incentives to revitalize older multi-unit rental housing, government can prolong the lifespan of buildings, helping keep rent at affordable rates and improving energy efficiency.
 
Labour
A pressing need for workers continues to be a major concern for The Chamber, as well as Destination Greater Victoria. 

With more than 22,000 jobs in tourism and hospitality, the lack of an adequate workforce is particularly worrisome in this sector as positions remain vacant, stifling business.

We are asking the federal government to help increase the supply of available workers by setting relevant immigration targets and making the process more efficient, as well as encouraging domestic mobility programs.

We need many more workers, both foreign and domestic, in every sector.
 
Smart mobility
We would appreciate action from the federal and provincial governments on a commitment to funding for the Smart Mobility strategies planned by the South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP).

This means working with municipalities and First Nations in Greater Victoria to create a civic technology cluster that can test, purchase and deploy new technologies to solve mobility challenges facing our region.

This pilot can be developed and implemented through a single point of contact via SIPP, thus capturing all the elements needed to scale to a large metropolitan area — or scale down to smaller, rural municipalities and remote First Nations.

Transportation
The federal government has committed to international emission reduction targets, and British Columbia has committed to transitioning to electric vehicles for private and commercial use.

For Greater Victoria to lead this transition, commuters need alternatives to vehicles powered by fossil-fuels, and our region needs options that encourage fewer people to drive single-occupancy vehicles to work.

We want the federal government to continue its Public Transit Infrastructure Fund, and provide incentives for the electrification of commercial fleets including ferries, buses, trucks and couriers.   

Government, through the Standards Council of Canada, can also align manufacturers of electric vehicles on a common electric charging technology, and expand the number of electric vehicle charging stations in Greater Victoria and across Vancouver Island.

Child Care
We are asking the federal government to match the investment made by the provincial government to increase access to affordable, quality child care.

For a working family, child care is typically the second highest expense after housing.

Workers are reducing hours and modifying shifts to compensate for the lack of child care, adding to the shortage of labour at a time when we have the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

As well, a shortage of early childhood educators contributes to the lack of licensed spaces.

To overcome this drag on our economy and to ensure children have a safe and stimulating start in life, child care needs the same level of government attention and investment as the other fundamental underpinnings of our economy such as education, transportation and health care.

Reconciliation
The City of Victoria has embarked on a Witness Reconciliation Program with the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. The mission is being undertaken with integrity, an open heart and a willingness to take the time needed to work in diverse ways.

The work of the federal government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was handed over to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, which continues efforts to record the painful history of the residential school system and systemic discrimination against indigenous people. We want the federal government to remain committed to continue the healing process and forge a future of inclusiveness.
 
Climate Change
Greater Victoria is seeing increasing climate chaos through more severe winter storms and hotter, drier summers. The City of Victoria reports 70 per cent of street trees it removes are because of stress and disease due to climate change.

We request that the federal government provide predictable funding to ensure local governments have climate action plans. Working with the province, these plans will be key to helping Canada meet its commitments to the Paris Agreement.

We also want the federal government to match provincial incentives to help people choose zero-emission vehicles and energy efficient heating options for their homes, and to provide incentives for business to reduce emissions and create innovative solutions.

Local governments can play a bigger role in mitigating climate change, if the federal government encourages the provincial government to give cities more authority to develop creative solutions. Potential ideas include offering loans for energy-efficient retrofits and collecting repayment through savings on utility bills, using business licence fees to incentivize reductions in carbon pollution and congestion pricing.