Key Issue: Finance & Taxation

On October 17, 2018, recreational cannabis became legal in Canada, with the primary objectives of eliminating a significant illicit market, keeping cannabis out of the hands of youth and protecting public health and public safety. Recreational cannabis would now be produced, distributed, and sold through an entirely transparent and licensed business model and Canadians would […]

Canadians rely on regional and local airports to support, sustain and generate economic growth for their communities. These airports not only generate economic growth for communities through job creation, contribution to GDP, or taxation; regional airports also aid in recruitment and retention of staff in rural areas, enable major projects requiring fly in/fly out work, […]

Canadian families and businesses rely on municipal and provincial transportation networks, police services, recreation facilities, clean water, sanitation, a vast array of local and provincial services, and far beyond. Municipalities manage nearly 60 percent and provinces 38 percent of the public infrastructure that drives our economy and quality of life.[1] In recent years, all orders […]

The Chamber has long expressed concern regarding local governments charging non-residential property owners some multiple over residential taxpayers, a practice that is not based on any concrete rationale, e.g. aligned with consumption of municipal tax-supported services. This practice affects businesses’ ability to compete with other jurisdictions and remain viable, impacts that will only worsen as […]

Recent news coverage has highlighted the issue of strata corporations struggling to get insurance for their buildings.  However, similar challenges can exist for businesses who need commercial insurance before they can open their doors. 2020 is slated to be a “hard market” in the insurance sector, where premiums rise and the capacity for securing insurance […]

Employees need to have confidence in their pension security to be productive and dedicated to employers over the course of their employment in Canada.  In 2018, federal and provincial governments implemented important changes to the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) to provide, when fully mature by 2063, retired workers a modest 33 percent of average worked […]

Under the Provincial Sales Tax Act, charitable giving of in-kind donations is discouraged by onerous tax implications on the donor. A business providing an in-kind donation is subject to the 7% PST on the value of the donation, which is inequitable relative to the treatment of cash donations. Background The Provincial Sales Tax (PST) Act […]

With insurance rates for condos and townhouses climbing 50 to 300 percent —and in one case nearly 800 percent—condo and townhouse owners in BC are worried they will not be able to continue to own their dwellings. This rate increase could impact up to 10,000 associations in the province, according to the Condominium Homeowners Association […]

Over the past few years, the provincial government has increased existing taxes, or added new taxes, with little or no notification with the business community or the general public. This is causing serious harm to business competitiveness, as well as reducing economic growth and productivity due to less dollars going back into the economy as […]

In 2018, the BC Budget introduced the speculation tax as one of several measures aimed at addressing the housing affordability crisis in BC. Two years later the tax[1] has been fully introduced but is only applicable to a select number of communities, marking a departure from previous tax policies which traditionally treated all British Columbians […]