Major projects account for boom, but more is needed

The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association sees it clearly. It has just finished its annual Wage and Benefits survey.

“This was the highest of any year. Ninety-six percent of our membership has said they will be as busy or busier than 2021,” explains Mike Davis with the ICBA. “Great outlook in terms of what’s coming down the line. But, with that, lots of challenges.” But private-sector investment is dropping. The total value of investment in BC was just over $4 billion dollars last year and, while it was up in 2019, it dropped again in 2020. Both industrial and commercial development took a dip. Most notably, institutional investment – that’s government dollars – rose in both 2019 and 2020.

The report cites a need to provide better incentives for the private sector.

“Really what we need as we come out of the pandemic, instead of being completely tied to infrastructure spending and those types of major government spending, to see more private company expenditures,” says Naphtali.

An extension of the PST deferral for equipment, which is to come to an end this week, would help. So would eliminating red tape. And it gives Canada a black eye in the investment world.

“The Royal Bank came out and ranked Canada as 64th in terms of the time it takes to process a construction permit,” says Davis. “So if you’re an investor trying to make things happen, it’s slow. And we need to cut through that red tape and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has come out saying Canada’s economy will be the worse performing economy of all developing countries in over the next ten years.”

The Association says there needs to be a plan to return to fiscal balance within the next five to seven years.

by Cheryl Jahn

Major projects account for boom, but more is needed

What's Trending