The Chamber previously announced that Frank Bourree will receive the Governors’ Award of Distinction, and that John Espley has been named The Chamber’s 2021 Member of the Year.

The Chamber’s 2021 Greater Victoria Business Awards will be broadcast at 6 pm, May 15, on CHEK TV.

February 15 - 19, 2021 is Chamber Week. This is an opportunity for Members to celebrate community and build relationships in Greater Victoria.

Join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #ChamberWeekVicBC and by tagging @VictoriaChamber / @ChamberVictoria.

Special thank you to our Chamber Week sponsor: Rogers Media - Jack 103.1 & Ocean 98.5

The Township of Esquimalt has joined the group of BC municipalities that have banned single-use plastics. On Monday, the province approved Esquimalt's bylaw along with bylaws from Surrey, Nanaimo and Rossland.

The City of Victoria and District of Saanich have already had their proposed bans approved by the province, which has jurisdiction over environmental matters. The Chamber was instrumental in helping Victoria and Saanich work with businesses to ensure their bylaws complimented practices in place due to consumer demand. We also worked with Esquimalt and other municipalities in the region to make sure regulations were seamless across borders.

Recognizing the challenges of continuing to offer opportunities for post-secondary education during a pandemic, the provincial government will allow schools to run deficits for the next two years. Post-secondary institutions are required to get government approval before incurring an annual deficit. A temporary change to the rule allows the schools to use available surplus to maintain operations. The University of Victoria and Camosun College are among schools pre-approved for deficits.

Having a trained workforce will be key to economic recovery, and The Chamber supports this initiative to help post-secondary schools continue with their missions.

A strong public sector and consistently low cases of COVID-19 helped Vancouver Island place six communities in the Top 10 Most Resilient Cities in BC, according to BC Business Magazine.

The City of Langford ranks No. 1 overall for its continued growth during the pandemic, with high volumes of residential home sales, housing starts and one of the youngest populations in the province. The move to employees working from home was another factor in Langford's favour, giving communities outside urban cores more points than in previous polls. Cities that rely heavily on tourism were typically farther down the list this year.

A program offering $5,000 grants has reopened applications to help Canadian businesses cover the costs of personal protective equipment, office space adjustments or e-commerce development.

The Canada United Small Business Relief Fund was initially announced in October, but money is still available. The program is administered by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce though businesses from any province can apply.

Businesses that have already applied for the funds can email cusbrf@occ.ca to determine the status of their application.

Tomorrow, when The Chamber hosts BC's Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, Ravi Kahlon, one of the topics will be how can more organizations access the province's Business Recovery Grants? Uptake has been slow on the program, which offers grants up to $30,000 for any business in operation for 18 months that have experienced a 30% loss of revenue since May. Tourism operators are eligible for up to $45,000 in non-repayable funds under the same criteria.

According to reports, as of this month, only $12 million of $300 million allotted for the program has been delivered to businesses.

See below for more information on how to sign up for tomorrow's Business Restart Series with Minister Kahlon.

Three of the most important issues facing our membership and region will be addressed over three weeks as The Chamber hosts these high-profile provincial ministers. Book your ticket today.

Thank you to TD Bank Group for sponsoring the following events:

Starting Feb. 15, more financial institutions are able to accept applications for the federal governments Highly Affected Sectors loan program. The funding provides low-interest loans between $25,000 to $1 million to cover operational cash flow needs. The money is guaranteed by the government through the BDC, and is intended to help tourism and hospitality businesses — sectors hit the hardest by the pandemic.

The nature of pandemics is that they cross borders and create challenges for jurisdictions around the world. So, while The Chamber fully supports the made-in-BC approach of our Provincial Health Officer, we also believe we can benefit from looking at solutions tried elsewhere.

On Feb. 2, The Chamber co-signed an op-ed that ran in the National Post that called on Canada to embrace rapid testing along with contact tracing.

"This strategy involves:

Frequent testing with antigen tests can be scaled up quickly, in order to detect contagiousness and help cut the chains of infection. Indeed, some countries have tested their entire populations in days using this approach, while others are launching campaigns to test millions daily. In contrast, Canada currently administers barely 70,000 daily PCR tests, which deliver results in days, rather than minutes."

Our Chamber Champions are: Big Wheel Burger, CHEK, CIBC, Kinetic Construction Ltd., Knappett Projects Inc., MNP, RBC, Seaspan, TELUS Business and the University of Victoria.

Learn more about how these organizations are championing the work of The Chamber.

With the snow starting to melt and the sun starting to shine across Greater Victoria, flowers are starting to bloom! Be sure to participate in the 46th Annual Greater Victoria Flower Count taking place Mar. 3 – 10.

The foundation of any great business is creating a strong, reliable staff. Finding and fostering talent is fundamental to sustainable growth, and The Chamber is here to help support this endeavor.

This Chamber Week, we want to ensure that great employers are getting connected with talented individuals across Greater Victoria. If you currently have an opportunity to hire a new staff member, now is the perfect time to use The Chamber’s job board.

From now until Feb. 19, Use the code CHAMBERWEEK2021 at checkout to receive 20% off your next job post!

Learn more about how to post on the job board here. ​If you have any questions about posting, please email members@victoriachamber.ca

Meat Manager – The Root Cellar Village Green Grocer

Receiving Supervisor – Canadian Tire Hillside