Chamber says BC Budget falls short on boosting northern economy

By Ethan Ready

As the Prince George Chamber of Commerce prepares for their Annual General Meeting, the recently released budget by the province of British Columbia has the Chamber and some of its members concerned.

While the budget focuses on aiding families, like with the newly introduced BC Child Opportunity Benefit, the provincial government has been criticized for increasing their spending while refusing to put any energy towards growing the economy with new businesses and jobs.

The local Chamber of Commerce is expecting a lot of red tape down the road for area businesses, as well as those wanting to get into the market.

“One of the indicative numbers from the budget shows that while there will be a small surplus for this year, they’re looking at deficit budgets going forward,” says Prince George Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Corrigall.

Corrigall adds that the reason that they’re looking at surplusses right now is a direct result of new taxes being levied against businesses throughout the province.

“Going forward, we’re going to be looking at deficits through these reinvestments. The challenge to that is, this money is going to be derived from new and evolving taxes” Corrigall says.

A 30 per cent cut towards the resource sector was also announced, impacting the lifeblood of Prince George and the surrounding area.

Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Valemount says, “there is a lot of assumptions being made about the strength of the economy with no plan at all to grow the economy and concentrate on job growth. It’s a spending budget and we’re quite confident that in the end taxpayers will be paying for it.”

Corrigall adds much of their policy resolutions will stem from the provincial budget. He adds, “we’re still looking forward towards Chamber Week this week to hearing from our members regarding some of those issues and what we can do to better support them.”