News Impacting Business In British Columbia
2022 Federal Budget Impact on BC Real Estate
BRITISH COLUMBIA – Budget 2022 was introduced on April 7 with a significant focus on the supply and affordability of housing in Canada. BCREA was encouraged to hear Canada’s Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland accurately diagnose the root cause of the country’s housing affordability problem. “Canada does not have enough homes,” Freeland said. “We need more of them, fast.”
New spending towards housing totalled $10.1 billion, which – apart from climate change and Indigenous reconciliation – was the largest area of new spending in the budget and demonstrates that the government is beginning to seriously prioritize tackling Canada’s housing crisis.
Below is an overview of new commitments in the budget that may impact BC’s real estate sector.
Read full story here.
Cruise Returns to Victoria After Two-Year Pause
VICTORIA – Holland America Koningsdam arrived at the Victoria Cruise Terminal at the Breakwater District, becoming the first ship to call to a Canadian port since October 2019.
Industry partners and stakeholders gathered at the port of Victoria to celebrate the return of cruise to the region, welcoming the ship alongside community members that gathered on the Ogden Point Breakwater and between Pier A and Pier B.
The deep-water port last saw a cruise ship visit in October 2019; as of April 9, 905 days had passed since the return of a cruise ship to Canada. The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority was planning for a robust season before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Ports in the country were closed to cruise ships at that time.
Read full story here.
$24.8M For Indigenous Tourism in Budget 2022
BRITISH COLUMBIA – The federal government of Canada announced a commitment of $24.8M over two years to Indigenous Tourism in Budget 2022. This funding will support the creation of a new Indigenous Tourism Fund and provide $4.8M to support ITAC’s operations, which continue to help the Indigenous tourism industry rebuild and recover from the pandemic.
Indigenous tourism in Canada continues to face its most challenging times, but ITAC remains committed to preserving the legacies created by its partners prior to the pandemic and ensuring the industry’s long-term sustainability.
Read full story here.
Expansion of $10 a Day ChildCareBC
BRITISH COLUMBIA -Thousands of families are seeing dramatic savings on the cost of child care with 84 more $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites available throughout the province.
“We believe child care should be a core service that families can count on when they need it, at a price they can afford,” said Katrina Chen, Minister of State for Child Care. “We’ve heard from families that receiving $10 a Day child care is life changing. That’s why, as part of our ChildCareBC plan, we’ve committed to making low-cost child care a reality for families.”
Under Budget 2021, the Province committed to expanding the number of $10 a Day spaces in B.C. by converting 3,750 licensed child care spaces into low-cost spaces for families.
Read full story here.
Budget Missed Opportunity To Help Small Businesses
OTTAWA – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is disappointed that the federal budget doesn’t include measures to help small businesses’ post-pandemic recovery. Small businesses continue to struggle after an extremely difficult two years and now face a host of higher costs and a mountain of COVID-related debt.
Pandemic Recovery
“The federal budget ends all COVID support programs, including the Canada Recovery Hiring Program, which was meant to help small firms rebuild their workforce in the post-COVID recovery phase. The budget was a missed opportunity to help small firms now facing massive cost increases on virtually every line of their own budgets, including payroll and carbon taxes. It also doesn’t help the two thirds of businesses (67%) that were forced to take on COVID-related debt, at an average of $158,000 per business,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB president. “CFIB will continue to advocate for a small business hiring incentive and 50% forgiveness of Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans.”
Read full story here.
