Federal budget could position B.C. as a leader: GVBOT

Cooperation between Victoria and Ottawa is important to deliver on the federal budget’s promises.

That is the message from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBOT) in response to the revealed budget.

Bridgitte Anderson, the president and CEO of the business association, says the budget sends an important signal to international investors that Canada is open for business.

“This budget really sets that in place and really unlocks some of the challenges and the barriers that have been in place for investors,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.

“Whether it’s the productivity super deductions, a number of those incentives, they do lay the groundwork for investors to more easily spend their dollars here.”

She emphasizes that the budget focuses on infrastructure projects that could position B.C as a leader in this “generational investment,” as federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne called it on Tuesday.

“We have to realize that Canada has what the world needs and that means British Columbia has what the world needs, whether it’s energy or food or critical minerals,” Anderson said.
Success, she emphasizes, depends on how well provincial governments and the feds can coordinate the execution of the budget.

“But in order for these projects to be delivered, it’s not just setting the conditions in place for private sector investment. It is also ensuring that the province is aligned with the federal government.”

Anderson says that the budget’s shift away from social spending was needed to boost Canada’s fragile economy.

“Minister of Jobs, Ravi Kahlon, is due to present his industrial strategy coming in the next couple of weeks, and I think that will be a really essential part of this piece of the puzzle to ensure that we understand where the economic vision is from the B.C. government and to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to leverage those dollars from the federal government.”

With files from Raynaldo Suarez.