The Surrey Board of Trade has released their economic wish list for the upcoming 2024 BC Election.
“The party platforms must deal with the many economic issues facing businesses,” said Anita Huberman, President & CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. “Businesses are generally quite nervous right now. We need to uplift and power up the entrepreneurial spirit.”
The Surrey Board of Trade will be hosting two BC Election events for the private sector and service organizations. This wish list will be utilized to ensure that the candidates are laser focused on the needs of the business community.
October 2 – Surrey All Candidates Dialogue – 5:30pm to 8:30pm – Sheraton Hotel
Meet all of the candidates in each of the Surrey ridings for the BC Conservatives, BC Greens, BC NDP, and BC United.
October 10 – BC Leaders Debate – 5:30pm to 7:30pm – Sheraton Hotel
Meet the Party Leaders of the BC Conservatives, BC Greens, BC NDP, and BC United.
1. TAX REFORM
The Surrey Board of Trade has been advocating for a review of the taxation system in BC and Canada for many years. We need to determine what works and what doesn’t. A review of the tax system could find ways to eliminate redundancies, create simplification and generate new revenue opportunities for the government, while saving businesses money and administrative burdens. With simplicity, efficiency, and certainty comes international competitiveness and productivity.
The Surrey Board of Trade calls for the creation of harmonized business reporting and taxation systems with federal authorities, focusing on the Speculation Tax and Underused Housing Tax. Simplified and harmonized tax systems reduce administrative burdens and enhance compliance. The Surrey Board of Trade will engage with federal and provincial tax authorities to align reporting requirements, advocate for streamlined tax processes and reduced duplication, and educate businesses on new harmonized tax policies and their implications.
2. HEALTHCARE
Governments can continue to unlock potential in primary care, digital and telehealth sectors to make these services efficient and accessible to all in Surrey, especially in Surrey’s new hospital. Surrey needs more healthcare infrastructure. While we wait for this hospital to be built, exponential population growth continues. Services in Surrey are severely insufficient. Residents can’t be treated within the city’s borders for the three leading causes of death – heart attack, stroke, and trauma, in addition to necessary specialty pediatric services. Patients requiring treatment must travel over a bridge to other hospitals to receive care. Healthcare is part of city building and economic infrastructure. There is still time to add these services into the second hospital. As it stands, there is no emergency plan that addresses how residents living south of the Fraser will access life-saving services in the event of a natural disaster.
3. EDUCATION
Reskilling and up-skilling must continue to be a priority. Governments need to continue to rethink and implement new learning and education systems. Best practices include adopting hybrid learning models, building skills-based learning modules, funding continuous learning courses, and creating virtual resource centres. Governments and employers can also foster an effective re-skilling ecosystem that includes micro-credentialing for lifelong learning.
Thousands of K-12 students in Surrey will be learning in portables yet again for the 2024-2025 school season and the foreseeable future. Surrey has the largest school district in BC. Classrooms have been growing as a result of Surrey’s rapidly growing population and demographics of young families. A new funding formula needs to address growth, not just in Surrey, but in all districts in BC. To keep pace with the expected growth in Surrey, there is a need for approximately one new elementary school every year and one new secondary school every two to three years for the foreseeable future. The removal of education in portables needs to be a priority in Surrey. Quality education benefits students, contributes to healthy communities, and enables economic growth for our future workforce.
There needs to be a real recognition of private post-secondary educational institutions and public post-secondary educational institutions as being drivers of economic development. The Surrey Board of Trade calls for transparency and the timely release of the Post-Secondary Formula Review and International Student Framework, providing clarity and guidelines for post-secondary institutions and international students. Private learning institutions must be engaged in the delivery of labour market driven occupational skills training to meet the growing demand for highly skilled workforce in Surrey and BC, enhancing community, educational institutions and employer partnerships.
4. INTERNATIONAL TRADE & SUPPLY CHAINS
Companies need to make their supply chains more resilient — for example, by reducing the number of unique parts, building in redundancy across suppliers, near-shoring, and regionalizing supply chains. In addition global wars, labour unrest, natural disasters require unique pathways to ensure that the economy is not compromised.
5. TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS
Strategies are needed to move people and goods within Surrey. The cities of Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby can fit in the geographic area of Surrey. That is a huge landmass and yet our traffic congestion continues to grow. The new Surrey Langley SkyTrain is only a regional solution. Buses only go so far. What are some other transportation technology innovations that can be implemented to move those within our city? What are the opportunities for investment in sustainable infrastructure and the expansion of passenger rail services in the Cascadia Region such as high-speed rail?
6. PUBLIC SAFETY
The Surrey Board of Trade understands that there will be a public safety infrastructure change in November 2024. Wrap around infrastructure support is needed to help the new public safety infrastructure. What commitments are there for those that need individualized mental health support, those that are drug addicted (Opioid crisis) and other supports for Surrey? Will there be priority put on judicial reform and accountability so that dangerous offenders are not released into Surrey?
7. CLEAN ENERGY
Our current energy strategy needs a revamp to ensure that all businesses have access to affordable and accessible energy. We need bold steps to achieve the energy transition, including the buildout of the hydrogen economy.
8. FIFA 2026
FIFA 2026 has far reaching regional economic benefits. A strategy to ensure that the BC Government is focused on more than Vancouver is essential. Strategies to collaborate on tourism transportation, workforce challenges, and contributions to the efficient operation of our international border is what we want to hear.
9. HOUSING
Developers and those industries associated with housing agree that BC has a complex housing ecosystem. Any change can have significant monetary consequences. A Permanent Housing Roundtable composed of policy experts selected from across the housing continuum of market, non-market and Indigenous housing needs to be a priority.
10. TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY STIMULUS ACTIVITIES
Some best practices could include expanding green energy and energy efficiency; accelerating government digitization and offering companies incentives to adopt new technologies; and shaping the workforce of the future to increase resilience in the face of rising automation.
11. GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
Deliver contactless government. The COVID-19 pandemic made digital transformation a priority— digital channels have become more important, and citizens and customers increasingly prefer them. Examples of best practices include automating daily data collection from key operators to closely monitor and support decision making about critical food items at risk, as well as the use of “express digitization”— rapid development of automated online platforms.
12. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Manage government balance sheets with an investor mindset. Many countries have applied traditional debt issuance, revenue optimization, and expenditure control to address the immediate challenge, all of which can be further optimized. Over the medium term—one to three years—governments could monetize the assets on their balance sheets, a strategy that represents a largely untapped and potentially greater opportunity to raise additional revenue and reduce deficits.
13. PREPARE FOR THE NEXT CRISIS NOW
Institutionalize best-practice crisis response to prepare for the next crisis. The COVID-19 crisis pushed many countries to identify and start creating the elements of an effective local outbreak response. Several governments established crisis nerve centres, enabling coordination of multiple work streams across existing crisis-response structures in government and society for greater response. Establish a plan-ahead crisis unit (for example for an earthquake or flood) —a cross-functional team freed from day-to-day crisis management that looks ahead and considers simulations of various scenarios.
14. DATA & ANALYTICS TO HELP ALL BUSINESSES AND REDUCE CITIZEN INEQUALITIES
Make faster, better decisions using data and analytics. Assemble cross-functional teams to develop analytics solutions for faster responses to changing situations and emerging risks and issues. Best practices might include applying advanced use cases in data and analytics, such as nowcasting—forecasting the near future, present, and even the recent past using frequently measured indicators—to inform policy and decision making.
15. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES – A SMARTER WAY TO WORK
Cultivate smarter, more productive ways for public servants to work. Automation could strengthen public-service productivity and move significant numbers of public servants from back-office jobs into more valuable and meaningful citizen-facing roles.
16. PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS ARE ESSENTIAL
Partnering with the private sector and multinational institutions to design and implement well-structured stimulus measures can help the government prepare workforces for a technology-focused future and improve the long-term competitiveness and resilience of key industries.
17. GREATER ARTS AND CULTURE INVESTMENT
The Surrey Board of Trade advocates for collaboration with the Federal Government to position art infrastructure as a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) opportunity. Enhancing cultural infrastructure will attract international investments, boost the local economy, and promote Surrey as a cultural hub. SBOT proposes a joint funding program with federal agencies, identifying and promoting key cultural projects suitable for FDI, and organizing international cultural investment forums.
18. NUCLEAR PRODUCTION
The Surrey Board of Trade supports legislation to allow the extraction of uranium resources, aiming to develop nuclear energy as a sustainable and reliable energy source, contributing to energy security and economic growth. To achieve this, Surrey Board of Trade plans to engage with provincial and federal policymakers to revise resource extraction laws, promote public awareness of the benefits and safety of nuclear energy, and develop partnerships with industry stakeholders to explore uranium deposits.
19. WORKSAFEBC SURPLUS REMITTANCE
The Surrey Board of Trade proposes a policy to remit any surpluses over a set amount of 15% back to employers. This initiative will alleviate financial burdens and promote reinvestment in workplace safety. SBOT will advocate for legislative changes to mandate surplus remittance, work with WorkSafe BC to establish transparent surplus calculation and distribution mechanisms and communicate the benefits to the business community to gain support.
20. VEHICLE BATTERY PRODUCTION/DISPOSAL SITES/REPAIR FACILITIES
The Surrey Board of Trade aims to develop infrastructure for the production, disposal, and repair of vehicle batteries, supporting the electric vehicle industry to reduce carbon emissions and create new economic opportunities. SBOT will lobby for grants and incentives for establishing battery production and recycling plants, collaborate with industry leaders to identify optimal locations and technologies, and promote training programs for specialized workforce development.
21. CANNABIS EXCISE TAX REMITTANCE
The Surrey Board of Trade advocates for the remittance of cannabis excise tax to municipalities to lower business license costs. This will stimulate local cannabis industry growth and provide economic benefits for municipalities. SBOT plans to engage with the Provincial Government to discuss tax remittance policies, and work with municipalities to streamline the business licensing process.
22. LONG-TERM INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING
The Surrey Board of Trade calls for collaboration between provincial, federal and regional governments for long-term infrastructure planning, essential for sustainable growth and economic development.
23. STRENGTHENING THE SOCIAL SERVICE SECTOR
Enhancing support for social services to improve community well-being is a key priority, ensuring that government funds long-term programming and allows for government funding to be used for operational enhancements in local non-profits. A robust social service sector is crucial for addressing societal challenges and supporting vulnerable populations.
24. USING BC CARBON TAX REVENUES TO FUND TRANSIT
The Surrey Board of Trade proposes allocating BC Carbon Tax revenues to transit development and expansion. Improving transit infrastructure can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support sustainable urban development. SBOT calls for a dedicated fund for transit projects financed by carbon tax revenues, identify priority transit projects in collaboration with regional transit authorities, and promote the environmental and economic benefits of enhanced transit systems.
25. BALANCED BUDGET
The Surrey Board of Trade emphasizes the importance of ensuring the provincial budget is balanced while supporting key economic initiatives. Fiscal responsibility is crucial for long-term economic stability and investor confidence. SBOT will advocate for prudent fiscal policies that balance economic growth with budgetary constraints, monitor government spending, provide recommendations for efficiency improvements, and promote transparency and accountability in budget planning and implementation.
26. CASCADIA ECONOMIC STRATEGY
Surrey is a border city to the USA. Within the Metro Vancouver region, we must leverage the opportunities to address global challenges and promote mutual prosperity. We need to advance cooperation and innovation across borders.
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