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The Victoria Economy Thread


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#801 Mike K.

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Posted 19 April 2020 - 09:13 AM

South Island Prosperity Project has launched an economic prosperity undertaking with the heads of several large businesses on a panel (Thrifty Foods, Jawl Properties, etc).

In addition we have: Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith, Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, entrepreneur Rasool Rayani, CRD Board Chair Colin Plant, Esquimalt-Metchosin MLA Mitzi Dean, Colwood Coun. Doug Kobayashi, Saanich Coun. Zac de Vries and Esquimalt Coun. Ken Armour.

Sidney’s mayor won on being the antithesis to Steve Price, who was pro-business and pro-development.

Helps is there because she’s the mayor of Victoria.

Colin Plant I guess because he’s the CRD chair, but wouldn’t another board member be more apropos, someone with business experience?

Mitzi Dean I guess for provincial representation.

Not sure what Kobayashi’s business-related past is.

Zac de Vries, who’s quite young and I don’t think has ever operated a business but I could be wrong.

And I’m not sure about Ken Armour.

Why isn’t Geoff Young on this panel instead of Helps? He’s qualified to be among the elected officials.

And where’s Stew Young, one of the most successful entrepreneurs on Vancouver Island?

Seems odd to have only one representative from the West Shore (a Colwood councillor) and four from the core (1x Victoria, 2x Saanich, 1x Esquimalt).

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#802 spanky123

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Posted 19 April 2020 - 09:53 AM

^ I am not sure what SIPP did for it's $1M a year budget before the pandemic. Putting together a committee sounds like a typical response to one's value being questioned even more critically. 



#803 Mike K.

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Posted 19 April 2020 - 10:14 AM

There’s really only one thing the governments in our region need to do: back off on policies that end up impacting businesses in a myriad of ways, positive and negative, and just cut taxes.

That’s all you gotta do. Anyone else will eventually lead to more expenses, more bureaucracy and more hoops for business to jump through.

Just the fact that we have five municipal layers of government at this table leaves us eight short. That’s how fragmented and dysfunctional this region is, from a legislative and governance perspective.

Now on top of this 5 of 13 layers at the table, we have a 14th layer, the CRD, and the 15th, the province.

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#804 Mike K.

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Posted 11 May 2020 - 09:59 PM

Sooke has joined SIPP. Not sure why Kevin Murdoch is quoted at the end, though.
 

District of Sooke joins 10 other municipalities as newest member of South Island Prosperity Partnership

 

Victoria, B.C. – South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP) is pleased to announce the District of Sooke has joined the organization.

 

The District Sooke is the eleventh municipality in the South Island to join the ranks of the regional economic development alliance, which now includes more than 65 public and private sector members.

 

“We’re excited to have the District of Sooke as the newest member of SIPP. Now more than ever, collaboration among municipalities is essential as we all work toward economic recovery following the pandemic. Having Sooke as a partner on our regional initiatives makes us even stronger,” said Emilie de Rosenroll, SIPP CEO. “We look forward to working closely on the Rising Economy Taskforce and continuing to unite the region behind projects that benefit all municipalities.”

 

“As we move toward our post-COVID economy, the District of Sooke understands and supports the strategy of regional economic development collaboration. Joining SIPP and participating in the Rising Economy Taskforce will be a key element driving our sustainable and diverse economic recovery and resilience,” said Mayor Maja Tait, District of Sooke.

 

“Oak Bay is happy to see Sooke join SIPP. As a fast-growing and dynamic community, Sooke will be a great voice at the table, working with businesses to enable the economic growth needed in our region,” said Mayor Kevin Murdoch, District of Oak Bay.


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#805 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 21 May 2020 - 04:32 PM

according to this report we need more foreigners in victoria.  and less indigenous people would be better. 

 

or at least that's the way i'm reading it.

 

 

The homeless population in Greater Victoria is almost double compared to peer cities which could be a reflection of higher costs of shelter and other factors like mild weather, the report says.

 

Greater Victoria is also less diverse than its peer cities across Canada. The percentage of foreign-born individuals in the region is 18 per cent where as the percentage is 19 per cent in Canadian peer cities and 20 per cent in international peer cities. The report says Greater Victoria does have more than 17,000 Indigenous peoples of which 9,000 are First Nations, representing four per cent of the region’s population compared to three per cent for Canadian peer regions and two per cent for international peers.

 

 

https://www.vicnews....eater-victoria/

 

and we need to ship out half our homeless if we are going to keep up with our peers.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 May 2020 - 04:33 PM.


#806 Nparker

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Posted 21 May 2020 - 05:24 PM

...we need to ship out half our homeless if we are going to keep up with our peers.

On the surface this sounds like a quasi-xenophobic proposal, if one accepts that "our" homeless are actually "ours" - that is, they are relatively long term residents of the CoV who have recently found themselves in dire straits. I might be more alarmed at the idea of shipping half of them out, if many had probably not arrived in the city of gardens over the past 3 months. I am not sure it's especially cruel to suggest these new arrivals go back from whence they came.



#807 JohnN

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 04:25 AM

"shipping out" the homeless now in the Victoria region may mean shipping out some jobs and economic development, given that there is probably a huge part of the charities economic sector working to manage the homeless population, as well as low income residents.

For example, a 2018 UVic study, "Civil Society Impact" (44-page pdf) found that economic and social impact of civil society including over $4 billion in local economic activity in one year alone.

I think one reason that the Victoria mayor and council have successfully balanced their vocation for spending and managing for new shelters for homeless - as well as keeping Victoria taxes from exploding - is that they've been good at hunting-and-gathering of provincial and federal dollars for these homeless sheltering projects.

 

Social entrepreneurship to have Other People's Money (ie, fed, prov) spending in Victoria seems to be a perennial objective that works politically at the local level - just a matter of out-running the charity sector of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal who are also looking for OPMs to boost their local charitable sector.


Edited by JohnN, 22 May 2020 - 04:29 AM.

:)

#808 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 04:28 AM

but we’ve paid for it with very high policing costs and lost opportunities. we’ve lost hotel tax and likely lots of potential property tax with the hotels that have been converted.

a full comfort inn used to bring in at least $500 per day in destination marketing tax.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 May 2020 - 04:29 AM.


#809 JohnN

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 04:55 AM

Good points. Maybe an independent economic cost-benefit study could be useful.

However, filling Victoria hotels, and the tourism sector in general seems to be a seasonal business but getting OPMs for these new "homeless hotels" (HHs) might be an all-season "business" opportunity. If the motels/hotels were unloaded by willing sellers who wanted to get out of the business, having these HHs as a growth industry might be something.

No doubt about the major disruption for the hotel employees who can't make the switch to becoming social workers or security guard. 

 

Might be part of a long-term trend that started with the rapid public sector employment growth with the first NDP govt in BC in 1972 and continuing to present day with this charities sector growth - quasi non--governmental but wholly dependent on public financial support, mostly government, some foundations, etc. Environmentalists have also tapped into social sector spending as well. 

but we’ve paid for it with very high policing costs and lost opportunities. we’ve lost hotel tax and likely lots of potential property tax with the hotels that have been converted.

a full comfort inn used to bring in at least $500 per day in destination marketing tax.


:)

#810 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 05:00 AM

Record drop in retail sales

Retail sales fell for the first time in five months, plunging a record 10 per cent to $47.1 billion in March from February as COVID-19 shutdowns spread. Statistics Canada is providing a preliminary estimate that sales in April fell 15.6 per cent. The agency says Vancouver-area retail sales fell five per cent. 



#811 Nparker

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 07:12 AM

 

If the motels/hotels were unloaded by willing sellers who wanted to get out of the business, having these HHs as a growth industry might be something.

Yes, something terrible. 


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#812 Mike K.

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 07:16 AM

And those Civil Society economic figures date back to 2016.

 

We are no doubt closer to $5 billion now. I've said it before, that tech and tourism are not our #1 industries.


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#813 JohnN

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 08:02 AM

Yes, something terrible. 

Capitalism (whether private or  public+private) as "creative destruction" (economist Schumpter's re-interpretation of Marx) doesn't mean just destruction of specific firms but may extend to destruction of larger entities, such as cities ("Rust-belt", Detroit, etc) or of neighbourhoods (Burnside-Gorge comes to mind).

Its part of a business cycle and Victoria has been through them before (early 20thC, post-WWII, 1970s shift to suburbia). 


:)

#814 Mike K.

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 08:05 AM

If you think capitalism leads to destruction of cities, you should see what the Soviet-era did to entire countries  :farmer:


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#815 JohnN

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 08:07 AM

And those Civil Society economic figures date back to 2016.

 

We are no doubt closer to $5 billion now. I've said it before, that tech and tourism are not our #1 industries.

And as Victoria's #1 "industry", the charity sector has been re-shaping the Victoria cityscape for several years now. 


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#816 Nparker

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 08:08 AM

 

Its part of a business cycle and Victoria has been through them before (early 20thC, post-WWII, 1970s shift to suburbia).

I am not denying the short-term economic benefit of a shift from tourism to social uses of hotels, I am merely suggesting that from a sociological standpoint and from my own perspective as a resident of the CoV this shift isn't terribly positive.



#817 JohnN

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 08:25 AM

Indeed, if I were a resident of Victoria, I would probably feel the same way. What may be a benefit for some businesses, some advocates/activists and some demographic groups may not be a benefit to others. Personally, I'm no fan of chaos and disruption, but its useful to try to track the geography (being a retired geographer) of the destruction of one era and the construction of a new era of landscape and society. Not at all pleasant to see how difficult it is for many people who have invested their lives in their homes, neighbourhood and businesses only to see it all degraded. 

I am not denying the short-term economic benefit of a shift from tourism to social uses of hotels, I am merely suggesting that from a sociological standpoint and from my own perspective as a resident of the CoV this shift isn't terribly positive.


:)

#818 JohnN

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 08:41 AM

but we’ve paid for it with very high policing costs and lost opportunities. we’ve lost hotel tax and likely lots of potential property tax with the hotels that have been converted.

a full comfort inn used to bring in at least $500 per day in destination marketing tax.

 

If you think capitalism leads to destruction of cities, you should see what the Soviet-era did to entire countries  :farmer:

Indeed, trying to thwart smaller-scale destruction, by introducing too much of "command-and-control" can lead to larger scale destruction/degradation. Now, most countries are a mix of government and private economics - whether its in Communist Party led countries such as China and Vietnam, or in Canada. 


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#819 JohnN

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Posted 23 May 2020 - 04:23 AM

Indeed - 4 year old figures so even without Coronavirus, the scale of the "charity economy" probably was growing significantly, what with continuing pressure to address tent cities, opioid overdoses, First Nations, etc, etc.

Now along comes the virus and probably the sector will have been (and will continue) to expand again - but with added burden of huge financial losses with the "lock-downed" productive economy.

And more political rationale for building a command-and-control economy, including incredibly expensive new social programs that will have to be funded at same time as the rebuilding private economy will need inflationary price increases to handle the new "Covid economy". 

So many advocates looking at this crisis as an opportunity to change the economy to what they want and away from what they don't want, whether its "disaster capitalism", disaster-socialism, disaster-environmentalism, or disaster-whatever turns your crank.

And those Civil Society economic figures date back to 2016.

 

We are no doubt closer to $5 billion now. I've said it before, that tech and tourism are not our #1 industries.


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#820 Casual Kev

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Posted 23 May 2020 - 03:58 PM

Social housing does have the potential to have a business case, so to speak. Problem is that issues like poverty, addiction and homelessness are multi-faceted issues that transcend the boundaries of any given municipality. A jurisdiction like the CoV will fail every time if it keeps trying to solve on its own problems infinitely beyond the fiscal capacity of its taxpayers. Whether we have enough social housing or not, we're already a destination for those facing housing insecurity because their odds are better in a bigger city with a mild climate. To signal to the country that we'll give free housing to anyone who camps at a CoV park is simply inviting other jurisdictions to let us bear the burden, rather than having an incentive to work collaboratively to house the vulnerable. 


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