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Breaking news for Greater Victoria businesses

Published weekly, BizNews offers information to help Greater Victoria’s business community make sense of our shifting economic and political landscape. The Chamber’s flagship newsletter is distributed to more than 5,000 subscribers who are highly engaged and active in our region’s business community. Scroll down to read the latest.

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Throne speech promises to drop gloves on tariffs

February 19, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Government Provincial/by Jim Zeeben

The provincial government is back in Victoria for the first session of the 43rd Parliament of British Columbia. As is tradition, BC’s Lt. Gov. delivered the speech from the throne. The theme of the speech, which reflects the government’s intent for the year ahead, focused on a strong defence against the threat of tariffs being […]

Trying times are nothing new, working together will get us through

February 19, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Chamber Awareness, Global Uncertainty/by Jim Zeeben

I want to take a minute to address all of our Chamber members and let you know we are here for you. These are uncertain times, for sure. But we have faced uncertainty for a while now, and we understand what it takes to thrive in less than perfect conditions. Our fundamentals are strong — […]

Jobless rate down, but unease being felt nationally

February 12, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Business And Economic Strength, Finding And Keeping Workers/by Jim Zeeben

Greater Victoria continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, according to Statistics Canada’s latest numbers. Our region had a rate of 3.6%, with 244,700 people working out of a labour force of 253,800. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 6.6%. Notably, fewer people are switching jobs likely because of the ongoing […]

Fed funding helps GVHA add shore power for ships

February 12, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Government Federal, Hospitality And Tourism Rescue And Recovery, Safe Communities/by Jim Zeeben

Chamber CEO Bruce Williams attended an announcement Tuesday to hear federal Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Anita Anand announce a long-awaited contribution to our region. The feds are providing $35.5-million for infrastructure projects across BC, including $22.5 million to help the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority advance the Shore Power Project under the Government of […]

Region ranked 36th among cities facing tariff impacts

February 12, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Chamber Awareness, Global Uncertainty/by Jim Zeeben

Another day, another market-shaking remark from the economic elephant south of the border. After giving Canada a 30-day reprieve from his initial 25% tariff threat, US President Donald Trump surprised everyone by announcing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. The seemingly random rhetoric has created uncertainty in the business world — a world that […]

Chamber CEO moderating Beacon Services workshop

February 5, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Chamber Awareness, Finding And Keeping Workers/by Jim Zeeben

Chamber CEO Bruce Williams is moderating a full day of discussion, from 9am to 4pm on Feb. 7, about how our region can do more to help employers find and keep workers. Beacon Community Services is putting on the event, which includes a keynote speech by Osoyoos Band Chief Clarence Louie. The band is the […]

Inventory rebounds as real estate market stabilizes

February 5, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Housing/by Jim Zeeben

More homes sold in January than the same month a year ago, as the Victoria Real Estate Board reports 2025 is off to a good start. “Over the course of the month, we saw an uptick in new listings, and it is the first time in 10 years that over 1,000 new listings were added […]

New DND homes a win for Chamber and economy

February 5, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Chamber Awareness, Government Federal, Housing/by Jim Zeeben

Advocacy works. The latest win for The Chamber is news that the federal government is moving to address our 2024 policy resolution “Adding to Canada’s Housing Supply by Strengthening Canada’s Military Through Housing on Military Bases.” In January, the government announced the construction of 668 new residential housing units and the renovation of more than […]

Chief Justice answers Chamber on chronic criminals

February 5, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Chamber Awareness, Safe Communities/by Jim Zeeben

Canada’s Chief Justice Richard Wagner and Justices Andromache Karakatsanis and Nicholas Kasirer were in Victoria this week as part of an effort to bring the Supreme Court “closer to Canadians.” In a world marked by misinformation, the Court needs to do more to help the public understand the work it does and how its decisions […]

Feds announce summit to spark Canadian economy

February 5, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Global Uncertainty, Government Federal/by Jim Zeeben

The federal government announced today that it will hold a Canada-US Economic Summit on Feb. 7. The summit will bring together Canadian leaders in trade, business, public policy and organized labour. Their aim will be to make it easier to build and trade within Canada — the ninth-largest economy in the world — as well […]

Tariff threat on hold, but clock ticks for new plan for Canada

February 5, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Chamber Awareness, Global Uncertainty, Inflation And Rising Costs/by Jim Zeeben

Businesses were quick to respond to the imminent threat of US tariffs, with calls to support local and buy Canadian. Now that the trade war has been “paused,” it’s clear we need to be better prepared in case US President Donald Trump does impose crippling tariffs on Canadian products. Chamber CEO Bruce Williams has been […]

Eby names ‘war-room’ to protect BC against US tariffs

January 29, 2025/in BizNews This Week, Global Uncertainty, Government Provincial/by Jim Zeeben

With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs as early as Saturday, BC Premier David Eby has assembled a cabinet committee to fight back. Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon will chair the committee, which will act as a day-to-day war room. “This threat isn’t going away anytime soon – not while this […]