Kelowna Chamber to Advocate for Rental Regulations & Credit Union Taxation

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce will be representing the views of local businesses at the BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting and Conference, May 22-24 in Richmond.

“We’ll be attending this event to make sure our local businesses’ views are heard and understood at the provincial level, and that our local needs help drive the BC Chamber’s policy and advocacy agenda,” said Curtis Darmohray, President of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.

The BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting and Conference is held in a different B.C. community each year. The event is the largest annual business policy-building forum in the province.

Every year, member Chambers of the BC Chamber develop and submit policies for the consideration of their peers. This year, 45 policies have been forward and will be voted on at the AGM policy sessions. Each policy must receive two-thirds of votes to pass. If the policy passes, it will become official BC Chamber policy, and the BC Chamber will advocate it to appropriate tiers of government.

“We will take stands on the proposed policies, based on what our community needs,” said Darmohray. “We are proud to be going to the BC Chamber AGM, to enable our community to actively shape business advocacy in B.C.”

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is calling for phasing out of provincial control of rent increases, maintaining rental regulations to ensure fair treatment of tenants, streamlined dispute resolution mechanisms and facilitation of programs to manage cases of serious hardship from rental increases.

“This continues to be a widely debated topic. We feel the current limits on allowable rent increases (inflation +2%) creates a disincentive for the production of new rental housing.” said Tom Dyas Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Director and Policy Committee Chair. “We are also advocating for the creation of the Business Vote to allow business a greater say in municipal elections.”

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has also authored a policy calling for a competitive tax environment for credit unions. Recent changes to the small business tax benefit has serious impacts on the ability of credit unions to compete equitably in financial markets.

Valley Chambers continue to call on the province to resume the feasibility process relating to the establishment of a national park in the South Okanagan.

“The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is proud to take these policies forward to our peers from across the province,” said Tom Dyas, Policy Committee Chair “Our Chamber is committed to creating a more business-friendly Central Okanagan and a more business-friendly B.C. We think this policy will help achieve that and we hope it will get the needed votes from our peer Chambers.”


For further details, please contact:

Caroline Grover
CEO
Kelowna Chamber of Commerce
T - 250 469-7356
C - 250 470-3407
E - caroline@kelownachamber.org