Effective April 1, postings for provincial government jobs will open up to qualified people wherever they live in B.C.
Flexible work strategies — including work-from-home models and remote- location hirings being embraced by the B.C. public service — could have a catastrophic effect on Greater Victoria’s small businesses and overall economy, say concerned business groups.
In a letter to Shannon Salter, head of the B.C. public service and deputy minister to Premier David Eby, six groups headed by the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce said new hiring policies to fill public-service ranks will harm local businesses that have long been established to cater to government workers.
Effective April 1, postings for provincial government jobs will open up to qualified people wherever they live in B.C., an initiative that in the future may see small government offices set up in more rural communities.
The 36,000-member-strong B.C. public service lost about 3,000 employees last year. Filling vacancies and expanding the talent pool is an “urgent issue,” Salter has told the Times Colonist.
But the business groups said the new strategy will come at a cost to Greater Victoria.
“We urge you to consider the potentially catastrophic domino effect that changing the nature of public sector work could have on the economy of our provincial capital,” the business groups said in the letter. “The proposal by the B.C. public service to disrupt its hiring practices will further reduce the number of workers in downtown Victoria and in our region as a whole.
“This decision has been made without consideration to the economic ecosystem that Greater Victoria has supported for decades,” the letter added. “These workplace practices were needed during the pandemic, but employers, including the federal government, are returning to the higher productivity and long-term benefits of having employees back in a well-designed workspace experience provided by downtown offices.”
The groups are urging the province to consider the implications the proposal would have on the stability of the provincial capital, where many businesses are still feeling the pinch of government employees working from home, and not eating in restaurants or supporting local shops.
“Many family-supporting businesses have been built on providing service to government workers,” the letter said.
The chamber said helping employers find and retain workers continues to be its top priority for most of its members and the community partners who co-signed the letter, including the Downtown Victoria Business Association, Destination Greater Victoria, Hotels Association of Greater Victoria and the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
“It’s a complex problem that affects many layers of our economy,” said the business groups. “Affordable housing and child-care as well as a sound regional transportation strategy are key to making regional economies such as Greater Victoria’s more resilient and sustainable. Your government is beginning to make real progress on finding solutions.”
But the new hiring practices have the potential to disrupt the public sector, which the chamber considers a cornerstone of the local economy that helps Greater Victoria support a world-class tourism and hospitality industry and a vibrant city centre.
Salter said earlier this month that embracing flexible work is essential to fill job vacancies and attract and retain a diverse workforce, noting that half of the public service is already working remotely.
The public service hiring strategy includes opening all job postings to anyone in the province and putting the onus on government ministries to explain why if they can’t accommodate flexible work arrangements.
— with files from Cindy E. Harnett
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VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.
Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”
The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.
Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.
“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”
Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.
Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.
Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.
B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.
The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.
“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”
Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.
Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.
The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.
Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.
Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.
But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.
He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.
Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.
Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government has introduced a bill that would kick-start the province’s offshore wind industry without federal approval.
Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says amendments within a new omnibus bill introduced today will help ensure Nova Scotia meets its goal of launching a first call for offshore wind bids next year.
The province wants to offer project licences by 2030 to develop a total of five gigawatts of power from offshore wind.
Rushton says normally the province would wait for the federal government to adopt legislation establishing a wind industry off Canada’s East Coast, but that process has been “progressing slowly.”
Federal legislation that would enable the development of offshore wind farms in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador has passed through the first and second reading in the Senate, and is currently under consideration in committee.
Rushton says the Nova Scotia bill mirrors the federal legislation and would prevent the province’s offshore wind industry from being held up in Ottawa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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