BizNews

^{March 6, 2024}

Your weekly round up of BizNews from throughout Greater Victoria!

Destination Greater Victoria CEO Paul Nursey, left, stands with The Land Conservancy of BC Executive Director Dianna Stenburg, Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith and Chamber CEO Bruce Williams at Abkhazi Garden to officially launch Flower Count.

Flower Count 2024 starts today!

Let the counting begin! The 49th annual Greater Victoria Flower Count is officially underway, with billions of bulbs expected to be counted before March 13.

“Flower Count is a fun tradition that is unique to our region,” Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. “It has evolved over the years, but it continues to be an opportunity to share the joy of springtime in Greater Victoria with other Canadians.”

Part of the fun is the competition between Greater Victoria municipalities. Last year, more than 33 billion blooms were counted across Greater Victoria, with the Town of Sidney earning the title of 2023’s “Bloomingest” community.

A separate contest engages Grade 4 and 5 students with the winning class awarded a trip via L.A. Limousines to The Butchart Gardens.

Go to flowercount.ca to submit your count for your community, and use #FlowerCount in your garden and floral posts on Instagram to receive one entry to win a $500 gift card from Pedego Victoria.

Destination Greater Victoria: Member since 1988

L.A. Limousines: Member since 2013

Pedego Victoria: Member since 2022

Market looks ready for 'missing middle housing'

More homes for sale, and more sales of critical "middle-income" homes means good news for our region as we work to overcome a critical shortage of housing.

"We saw glimmers of a start to the spring market over the course of February," Victoria Real Estate Board Chair Laurie Lidstone said in a media release.

In February, 470 homes sold — up almost 38% from January. And while the real estate market typically warms up with the weather, there are indicators that 2024 will be an all around better year for the region's real estate sector.

VREB said there were 2,364 active listings for sale at the end of February, compared to 1,809 active listings for sale in the same month last year.

"We noted an increase in townhome sales this past month," Lidstone said. "Townhomes are an important segment of missing middle housing, one that is undersupplied in Greater Victoria. Hopefully the 50% increase in townhome sales compared to last year will encourage more development of this type of housing to meet our missing middle housing needs."

The February benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core was $1,247,400, up from $1,244,000 in January. The benchmark value for a condominium in the Victoria Core was $557,000 in February, down from $559,000 in January.

Victoria Real Estate Board: Member since 1969

Federal Budget 2024 set to be unveiled on April 16

Canadians will find out next month whether the federal government is paying attention to the growing calls from business to improve our country's productivity, competitiveness and standard of living.

Federal Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced today that Budget 2024 will be presented in the House of Commons on April 16.

The Canadian Chamber submitted a list of recommendations during budget deliberations that came from business leaders across the country. Many of these are echoed by members of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

"We need economic growth to be driven by the private sector, and some of the changes that can be done on a federal level are simple — and cost effective — changes to red tape," Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. "We know innovation is driven by business and it's time for government to focus on policies that encourage investment in the infrastructure needed to build a sustainable and resilient economy."

Among the recommendations are to:

Build Trade-Enhancing Infrastructure
Ease the Burden of Doing Business
Facilitate the Transition to Net-Zero
Enable an Innovative Economy
Attract and Retain Talent
Lead in Life Sciences.

Chamber submission to Federal Budget

Bank of Canada not ready to lower interest rate yet

The Bank of Canada did as expected this morning and held steady on its overnight interest rate.

"Economic growth has remained weak, and inflation has eased further as higher interest rates restrain demand and relieve price pressures," Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said at the morning media conference. "But with inflation still close to 3% and underlying inflationary pressures persisting, the assessment of Governing Council is that we need to give higher rates more time to do their work.

With that in mind, Governing Council decided to maintain the policy interest rate at 5%. We are also continuing our policy of quantitative tightening."

The Bank cited its reasons for holding its rate as slow economic growth around the world, including in the United States, the increasing cost of oil, and inflation remaining higher than the target range of 2%.

"Governing Council wants to see further and sustained easing in core inflation and continues to focus on the balance between demand and supply in the economy, inflation expectations, wage growth, and corporate pricing behaviour," the Bank's statement said.

The Bank's next scheduled interest rate announcement is April 10.

Pragmatic fixes made to vandalism rebate program

A provincial program to help businesses repair and prevent vandalism has been streamlined after consultation with business. The Securing Small Business Rebate Program started as a good idea but onerous rules prevented many businesses from accessing the $10.5 million in funding.

Updates to the application process are being made to:

Remove the requirement to provide an insurance claim when applying for funding for repairs. Applicants will only need to provide the name of their insurance carrier and policy number
Permit self-installation of eligible prevention measures
Remove the requirement to demonstrate vandalism in the community
Allow applications to be accepted until the program ends in 2025.

The funding is intended to help offset some of the costs businesses are facing due to vandalism by offering $2,000 to help fix damage, and $1,000 for preventative measures to deter vandals.

Apply to Securing Small Business Rebate

Chamber welcomes new face to Membership Team

We're so happy to welcome our new Chamber team member, John Borges!

John is joining The Chamber to support our membership and administration team. He has a background in customer service, data analysis, and web development, as well as a Bachelor's degree in business administration.

John is originally from Brazil, where he worked in the public sector and as a wedding photographer. In his free time, John keeps busy with a baby daughter, playing soccer and collecting Pokemon cards.

We welcome John to our team and wish him a happy journey with The Chamber!

Chamber Chats with CEO Bruce Williams

Regional spotlight shines brightest on City of Victoria

CEO Bruce Williams talks with subject matter experts

City of Victoria:

Member since 1863

Chamber Chats

Greater Victoria is comprised of nine First Nations and 13 municipal governments with the City of Victoria garnering the most attention. In this Chamber Chat, CEO Bruce Williams speaks with Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto about safety in the streets, taxes and people who don’t like bike lanes.

Special thanks to our series sponsor: Island Savings

Meet with their local experts for solutions as unique as your business.

Chamber Events

Member News @VictoriaChamber

Click the image to read and share the Member News story on Instagram

HAVN Saunas adds cafe and lounge to their wellness experience.

HAVN Saunas:

Member since 2022

Chamber members featured in UVic’s list of Celebrated Alumni for 2024.

University of Victoria:

Member since 1976

The Zone @ 91.3 holding concert to celebrate career of DJ Dylan Willows.

The Zone 91.3 | The Q 100.3:

Member since 1987

WorkLink Employment Society hosting Sooke Job Fair.

WorkLink Employment Society: Member since 2005

Share your good news so we can share with other members!

Hire right in 2024 with The Chamber's job board

Make sure potential employees know about the opportunities that you offer when they work with you. If you have any questions or need help uploading your job, email us at [email protected].