With respect to the January 30, 2020 editorial "Horgan scores with industry," we respectfully disagree with some of the core thoughts.
While the governing New Democrats have not installed industry crushing legislation, per se, we have numerous policy and taxation shifts that have increased the burden on small, medium and large businesses and taxpayers.
The Employers Health Tax (EHT), which included concurrent years of the provincial government receiving dual payments, has created impacts across the board, not the least of which is decreased revenue generation for the not-for-profit sector. The Prince George Chamber of Commerce has heard directly from several organizations working with at risk and vulnerable persons that their donation and sponsorship dollars have decreased since the implementation of the EHT. These partners have indicated that this is a direct result of millions of dollars being allocated to EHT remittance.
Community Benefit Agreements (CBA) have driven up the costs of projects which have not yet begun. This, inevitably, leads to massive project overruns on every single CBA based project coming forward. And there will be several, at least, before rulings are made on this industry crushing legislation. For example, initial projections indicate a seven per cent minimum increase to CBA projects. When you’re dealing in millions and billions, seven per cent is nothing to sneeze at.
Removal of tolls on Lower Mainland bridges was yet another stone cast in favour of a political base - not the entirety of a province they are elected to represent. Some taxes in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley have been deferred in favour of Translink becoming responsible for their infrastructure. While the rest of the province has been paying hospital taxes and contributing to the provincial coffers, the commuters in the Lower Mainland have largely skated those fees and have now skated paying their fair, or fare, share. For further context, in October 2019, Vaughn Palmer estimated a loss in toll revenue of $486 million and climbing.
Fighting TMX all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, losing at every turn, was an exercise in futility. Not that the opposition is clean in court battles costing the taxpayers a pretty penny in legal fees, we are talking about industry and the impacts, which bares comparison. The last tally put legal fees fighting TMX at $1 million.
While the economy of B.C. and Prince George continues to shift, industry - specifically the resource development industry - remains a driving force for the province. More can and must be done to secure new projects, work more closely with existing projects and promote our world-class resource development industries here at home and globally.
Todd Corrigall, CEO
Prince George Chamber of Commerce
