PG Biz Left Wanting More From Budget

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 05:39 PM

Initial impressions of the Liberal's 2007 budget from the Prince George Chamber of Commerce...

"We were a little surprised," says President Michael Kerr, "We were expecting a little more for business directly, although we are happy about some of the things, in terms of housing and income tax."

Kerr admits there will be positive spin-offs for business from this budget, but says local businesses were expecting more to directly address some critical issues in our area.

"We would have liked to have seen something on skills and labour. We're in a skills shortage and we haven't seen anything that would address the situation in the immediate."

"The focus on housing was good and the focus on giving a 'hand up' rather than a 'hand out' was good," says Kerr, "However, we're concerned that so much is going into Vancouver and the east side probably to deal with the Olympics, but we have a housing crunch in Prince George, in the north, so we want to make sure that it's a balanced approach."

Kerr says members are hoping for a more detailed breakdown of the budget implications for our region from Prince George-North MLA Pat Bell on Friday when he's scheduled to speak at a chamber luncheon.

"At this point, we're tentative, we did expect it to be a little more aggressive, we were disappointed, in fact, that although it's a balanced budget, capital projects are going to be debt-serviced," adds Kerr.

"The Chamber has always been a proponent that we should be paying the debt down and we feel that that is a step in the wrong direction at this moment, given the fact that we are in good economic times. Should the economy soften, having a larger debt will actually come back to haunt us."

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Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 05:39 PM in News by Michelle Cyr-Whiting

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Comments

Posted by: owl on February 20 2007 8:29 PM

Prince George Chamber of Commerce = Big Biz????

Learn something new every day. I suppose it is all relevant.

;-)

Posted by: owl on February 20 2007 8:39 PM

"we have a housing crunch in Prince George"

??? .... we do? For low cost housing or all housing?

There was a story the other day in the newspapers that $70 million is sitting with the feds earmarked for low cost housing that has gone unused.

We are supposed to be building low cost housing on that Backpacker site. Some did not like the location. So what is happening? Who's in charge?

If the chamber thinks that this is a problem which concerns them, then why do they not see what they can do to influence the powers that be. They are a powerful lobby group with networks into the right places, I would think.

Posted by: owl on February 20 2007 8:47 PM

"We're in a skills shortage and we haven't seen anything that would address the situation in the immediate."

If it is skills shortage, then take on trainees. I understand, however, that it is not a skills shortage as much that it is simply a personpower shortage.

Cabbies looking for cab drivers to operate their vehicles around the clock. All sorts of vehicle driver shortages I believe. Short and long haul truckers, busses, delivery vehicles. Very short training periods required. No one there to even bother to express an interest as I understand it.

We have a structural problem which has to do with demographics more than anything else and we all knew about it for decades, including the chambers of commerce around the country.

As Gordon Campbell says: you're big boys ... figure it out .. come up with a plan .. talk to us about how we can help you once you decide how you are going to do it. Sort of sounds to me like a business approach to things.

Posted by: Chadermando on February 20 2007 11:10 PM

So I guess all these Olympic cost over runs don't really matter that much. If we debt service the capital projects a few hundred million here and there, then you�re not going to see it on this years budget. Times are good, the Olympics are just around the corner, we have money (your future taxes) to spare.

Years later paying interest and capital from previous years we now have a liability and wonder why no one noticed the cost overruns back in 04-05-06-07-08-09.

Shifting up front costs to debt servicing is one way to balance budgets while increasing spending, but one other important fact remains. During the last 6 years the US Federal Reserve has been printing dollars pumping the market we trade with full of liquidity doubling the average debt load in the market feeding unsustainable consumption of resources making for boom times in BC with a big ride up to the top.

All good things come to an end and we are basically told we better have a plan of our own, because they won't be around to worry about the lack of planning, investment, and budgeting for a sustainable economy in the future.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 21 2007 8:57 AM

That pretty well covers it Chadermando...the government claims they are sticking to the 600 million budget figure for the Olympics for now.They don't bother to mention that they know damn well it will be much,much,higher and already is.The Trade and Convention Center expansion is just a start.($800 million up from $400 million?)Start stuffing your cash under your mattress folks,because this liberal government as screwed up B.C.s economy for years to come.And wait for the post-Olympic crash that WILL follow.It never ceases to amaze me just how easy it is to get people in B.C.to swallow slick political bulls**t.