News Type: COVID-19

BC Chamber of Commerce COVID-19 Pulse Check survey reveals nearly three quarters of respondents continue to experience decreased sales volumes. VANCOUVER, BC, JANUARY 27, 2021 – A recent survey conducted by the BC Chamber of Commerce revealed that while British Columbia recently began the vaccination campaign in health recovery efforts, businesses are still struggling amid heightened COVID-19 […]

Developed in partnership with UVIC’s Gustavson School of Business, the 6-week program will help SME’s stay viable and adapt to compete in the future  Today, the Building Resilience to Thrive program, powered by the BC Chamber of Commerce network and UVIC’s Gustavson School of Business, launched to businesses across the province. Offered as a COVID-19 recovery certificate, the 6-week program, delivered by award-winning professors Dr. Mark Colgate and Prof. […]

“We appreciate that government sees this as the next step, not the final step, in the road to recovery.” says Dan Baxter, Director of Policy and Government Relations.  Today, the provincial government shared details of its Economic Recovery Plan, Stronger BC. In addition to broad consultation and recommendations, the Stronger BC Plan took into consideration the BC Chamber of […]

The BC Chamber of Commerce completed its recommendations for BC’s Economic Recovery Plan on behalf of it’s 36,000 members, and submitted this report to government on July 21. This submission will help the Province design a plan to support BC’s businesses and our economy as we move out of crisis and toward recovery. Our submission […]

“Plan will require big thinking around small business,” says Aleece Laird, Board Chair.   Today, the BC Chamber of Commerce (BCCC) publicly released its Economic Recovery Submission (submitted to Government July 21st, 2020), made up of 54 policy recommendations focusing on competitiveness, innovation, and inclusivity respectively. The plan is a pan-provincial in scope and aims to guide the Province on stimulating BC’s economy through measures that support small and medium enterprises […]

While British Columbia has entered phase three of its Restart Plan, two-thirds (65%) of businesses surveyed are using some form of government support. Businesses expect a substantial “second wave” of negative impacts should these programs expire too quickly. Only about three-in-ten businesses (28%) on government support expect to return to normal once the programs end. […]

The B.C. government is extending temporary layoffs provisions under COVID-19 to a maximum of 24 weeks after concerns were raised by business groups, notably the BC Chamber of Commerce Network. We issued this news release in partnership with several other BC business associations on June 22 and also advocated to the Premier directly on the importance of extending the layoff provision in […]

Hon. Minister James announced early this week that landlords who are eligible for CERCA but don’t apply will be prevented from evicting tenants for at least the next month. A joint letter to provincial/territorial governments from the BC Chamber of Commerce in late May, and BC Chamber CEO Val Litwin’s recent op-ed in the Vancouver Sun, called for more landlord participation […]

Like you, in the past month we’ve had to pivot quickly. Our full-time job has been to advocate on behalf of the thousands of local businesses like yours that have been impacted (and in many cases devastated by) the current economic downturn. 

Today the BC Government announced its COVID-19 Action Plan, which was directly informed by the BC Chamber’s COVID-19 Business Impact Survey.