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A Taxing Issue
Armed with facts and figures from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, BC Assessment Authority and each of the 13 municipalities, The Chamber will ask businesses across BC to join in the campaign for fair property taxation at the BC Chamber Annual General Meeting & Conference, which starts tomorrow and runs to Saturday at the Victoria Conference Centre.
"Business owners pay substantially more than homeowners for
the same municipal administration and services," said Catherine Holt, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber, referring to The Chamber's newly-released research comparing Class 1/Residential and Class 6/Business properties estimated 2017 tax bills. "Local businesses have to pass the cost on to their clients and customers - so we all pay these higher rates in the end."
Reforming property tax policy is just one of the nine policy resolutions that The Chamber will present to the provincial business community at the BC Chamber Conference.
"Our members benefit from having BC's network of chambers of commerce and boards of trade united on the provincial issues that affect us all," adds Catherine. "We will discuss what we need of our next provincial government, from better mental health and addictions services to modernized regional district legislation. It will be a lively session."
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Housing Prices - Old News!
Thanks to NAI Commercial owner Bev
Highton's
personal archives, we can take a peek into the past to see where we were on housing affordability - in 1967.
The cover of this Nov 4, 1967 edition of Star Weekly asks, "Why can't these people buy a house?"
Although we might admire the retro fashion and find the language dated, it is useful to be reminded we are not the first to be faced with escalating prices and a lack of housing stock. Read the article here.
The proposed solutions in the article may still (or again) be viable and worthy of consideration. With housing prices now at $805,100 for a single-family home in the Victoria-core (
April 2017, VREB), take a trip down memory lane, when home buyers were panic-sticken at prices of $20K.
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MEMBER SNAPSHOT:
Regan McGrath
How are you involved with The Chamber? I'm a former Prodigy Group Chair and Chamber Board Director and a proud member.
What sets your business apart from other businesses? We take happiness seriously. It sets the foundation for our HR policies. We even have a Happiness Index. What is new with your business? The Metrics Bookkeeper Collective - a training academy and referral platform for bookkeepers. How is your business environmentally sustainable? We are paperless and we help other companies become paperless with modern technology. What was your first job? Soccer Coach. What's something people don't know about you? I'm crushing the office push-up competition. If you had a superpower what would it be? To speak every language.
| Metrics Chartered Professional Accounting: member since 2016 |
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The Chamber's New Co-op Student!
The Chamber is excited to welcome Brendan Miller
as our new Events Assistant. He will be working on getting donations for the 35th Annual Dinner Auction Gala and assisting on other events throughout the summer.
Brendan is a recent graduate of the
Bachelor of Business Administration program at Camosun College and is using his experience in digital marketing and event management to help make the 35th Annual Dinner Auction a success. At Camosun, Brendan was a member of the Chargers Basketball team where he developed his leadership and communication skills. Brendan has a competitive side, but thinks that it pushes him to strive relentlessly for the very best results in his personal, academic, and corporate life.
Help Brendan meet his goals by making your
donation to the auction. Introduce yourself to Brendan at the next Chamber event (at well over 6' he stands out from the crowd), send him an
email or give him a call at 250-360-3471.
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Win tickets to YYJ Eats by taking The  Chamber's Membership Matters Survey!
Experience an exciting variety of bite-sized gourmet food, local wine, craft beers and specialty cocktails created and presented by some of Victoria's most popular
restaurants, breweries and wineries.
Tue, June 13 | 5-7 pm
St. Ann's Academy National Historic Site
835 Humboldt St.
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Members Around Town
The
City of Victoria has welcomed Quinn
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Quinn Anglin |
Anglin as
the new Business Ambassador for its Business Hub. Quinn will help businesses navigate the City's business processes, connect them with relevant agencies in the community, and direct them to other business resources. Quinn joined the City of Victoria in September of 2015 working in the Development Services & Planning Department and brings more than 10 years of communications, sales and business management experience in the small business and tourism industry.
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City of Victoria: member since 1962
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Last week BC Ferries welcomed the Salish Orca, the first of three new Salish Class vessels that are dual-fuel and capable of operating on either natural gas or ultra -low sulphur marine diesel. The Salish Orca will operate on the Comox-Powell River route.
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BC Ferries: member since 1983
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The top three businesses in the University of Victoria's 2017 Gustavson Brand Trust Index are membership-based. As a member-based organization, The Chamber understands the mutual benefits that come from fostering relationships with members. The Gustavson Brand Trust Index
evaluates responses from 6,590
Canadian consumers' opinions about 294 corporate and product brands across 26 categories.
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University of Victoria: member since 1976
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Is Your Business Over 100 Years Old?
The Chamber is looking to identify Greater
Victoria businesses that are over 100 years old in anticipation of Canada's sesquicentennial celebrations. Please send us an email letting us know if you, or a business you know, qualify.
The big celebration will be
Spirit of 150 Victoria, presented by
Coast Capital Savings, which will include 11 days of 100+ free performances on two stages from June 21 to July 1, 2017 at Victoria's Inner Harbour. From the start, The Chamber has been involved in planning this
sesquicentennial celebration with the Greater Victoria Spirit Committee and
Atomique Productions.
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Coast Capital Savings: member since 1980
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Atomique Productions: member since 2013
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Welcome to Our Newest Member!
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Member to Member Deals
Want your company's special offer to appear here? Send us an email!
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