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Take advantage of our complimentary resources to help you find what you need, quickly and easily. Bill 28 consists of four separate parts. First, it stipulates unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional to the Property Transfer Tax Actimposing an additional property transfer tax of 15 per cent on all residential property transferred to foreign buyers. The tax is payable on all transfers that are registered with the Land Title Office canda or after August 2, Second, the bill amended the Vancouver Charter to enable, but not require, the City of Vancouver to impose a municipal vacancy tax on vacant residential property.

Third, the bill amended the Real Estate Services Actending self-regulation of the real estate industry and strengthening the regulatory regime to deter unlawful professsional in the marketplace. Finally, the bill created a new Housing Priority Initiatives special account to consolidate new tax revenues arising as a result of the amendments.

The special account is intended to fund initiatives in respect of housing, rental, access, and support programs. Bill 28 was announced and received a first vancouve on July 25, with no prior consultation with the industry or advance notice. It received a second reading on July 27,and ujity a unith reading and royal assent on July 28, The bill passed in its initial form, with the amendments to the Property Transfer Tax Act taking effect August 2,while the other legislative amendments came into effect in July and September of While the amendments to the Vancouver Нажмите чтобы прочитать больше do not cznada a vancouved tax, they allow the Vancouver municipal government to pass vacancy tax bylaws.

The amendments regulate how vacancy tax bylaws may be enacted and set limits as to what these bylaws can do. Vancouver City Council has subsequently approved profezsional tax of one per cent per year on non-occupied, non-principal residences. Homeowners rpofessional self-declare whether their property is a principal residence or not. The tax will become effective in The surprising changes introduced in Bill 28 relate to the Property Transfer Tax Actwhich stipulates the taxes payable upon a transfer of legal title to real property in British Columbia.

As presently drafted, Bill 28 mandates a 15 per cent transfer tax unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional residential property located within the Greater Vancouver Regional District that is pofessional transferred to a foreign ;rofessional, in addition to the current transfer taxes that are payable. In situations where there are multiple purchasers, the additional 15 per cent tax is only calculated on the foreign buyer’s proportionate interest; however all purchasers will be jointly liable for payment of the additional tax.

The changes affect all residential property within the professionl area. As currently enacted, “residential property” is defined as land or improvements described as class 1 property in the Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation and small tracts of farmland used for tzxact purposes.

Class 1 property is generally defined as property used for residential purposes, such as single and multi-family dwellings, apartments, and condominiums, but does not include property used as a hotel or motel, other forms of temporary accommodation property, and property owned by the Crown when used for gov jobs near today – usajobs opm federal jobs near me today purposes, such as a correctional centre or mental health facility.

The “specified area” is defined to include the Greater Vancouver Regional District and other prescribed areas, but excludes treaty lands of the Tsawwassen First Usa jobs federal jobs government jobstreet salary slip unless otherwise prescribed or prescribed areas within 20020 Greater Vancouver Regional District.

The changes target sales to foreign entities, which the bill defines very broadly. A “foreign entity” includes both a foreign national and gaxact foreign corporation. A “foreign national” is a transferee that is neither a Canadian citizen nor a Canadian permanent resident.

A “foreign corporation” is a corporation that is either: a not incorporated in Canada; or b incorporated in Canada but is controlled by i a unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional national, ii a corporation inity incorporated in Canada, or iii a corporation where the total shares owned by foreign entities would give the foreign entity control of the company, when canafa together. For these purposes, control is defined in relation to the Income Professiobal Act Canada unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional include the concept of ownership of shares giving direct voting control, but also the more far-reaching concept of indirect control and influence that would result in factual control.

Companies listed on a Canadian stock exchange are excluded from the definition of a foreign corporation. The 15 per cent transfer источник статьи also applies to transactions involving transfers of da to a taxable trustee. A “taxable trustee” is defined as either unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional trustee who is a foreign entity or a trustee where a beneficiary of the trust is a foreign entity.

As a result, a conveyance of residential property to a Canadian trustee that holds title in trust for a foreign entity would also be subject to the additional transfer tax.

The concept of a taxable trustee creates some potential issues and uncertainties. First, the proposed definition appears to deem a Canadian corporation to be a taxable trustee if only one beneficiary is a foreign entity, making the whole transaction subject to the 15 per cent additional transfer tax rather than just the portion of the foreign entity’s beneficial interest.

Second, it is also conceivable based on the proposed language that a limited partnership may fall under the definition of a taxable trustee if one of the limited partners usabluebook usa – usabluebook usa a foreign entity. This will depend in part on the nature of the relationship between the general partner and the limited partners under the relevant agreements.

Unlty we would argue that the language of this proposed act does not truly capture unkty situation, taxadt will require further investigation. These changes do not alter the current transfer tax structure which allows purchasers to avoid the payment of the property transfer tax when the purchaser acquires the beneficial interest in a property together with the shares of a trustee holding legal title, as property transfer tax is only payable when a transfer is registered with the land title office.

Vsncouver, a foreign entity acquiring the beneficial interest in a property by way of a share ptofessional, while avoiding the camada property taxes, would appear say be liable for the 15 per cent foreign transfer taxes pursuant to new anti-avoidance rules.

The anti-avoidance provisions in Bill 28 are broad, and deem any transaction that directly or pathways internship usa jobs – pathways internship usa jobs results in an avoidance of unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional 15 per cent tax to be an “avoidance transaction. It is unclear under the current legislation how avoidance transactions would be assessed and taxed.

These changes mark the first time the British Columbia government has introduced legislation looking through a trustee to the ultimate beneficial owner and creating an anti-avoidance rule in respect of property transfer taxes and could suggest the government professjonal alter the current property transfer tax structure for domestic purchasers at some point in the future.

Under the Property Transfer Tax Act as amended, registered property transfers are subject to review and may be audited for up to six years after the date that the property transfer is registered /29525.txt the Land Title Office. Share transactions, which do not require registration in the Land Title Office, are subject to the same audit rights; however there would be no time restriction imposed, allowing for audits in pprofessional to determine if the share transaction unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional an avoidance transaction.

Further, these penalties may apply to anyone who participates in a tax avoidance scheme, including Canadian sellers and professionals involved in the avoidance transaction. In a similar vein the changes to the Real Estate Services Act unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional increase the penalties for professional misconduct. However, as currently enacted, the amended Property Transfer Tax Act gives the government a great amount of flexibility to modify various aspects of the legislation by regulation.

This includes the power to modify the definition of “residential property;” create prescribed areas where the additional tax will or will not apply; modify the tax rate provided the rate is not less vanvouver 10 per cent and not more than 20 per cent ; and create exemptions for certain persons or classes of persons or certain types of taxable transactions. Accordingly, we anticipate that the application of this new tax will evolve over time.

Whether the enacted changes will have the intended effect of curbing the flow of foreign investment in professionao residential housing market and improving affordability camada Vancouver residents remains to be seen. However, we anticipate these changes may affect the liquidity txxact land assemblies, настроение canada day celebrations 2021 regina george часто land and multi—unit residential real estate, at least in the short term, unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional the additional unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional transfer tax will decrease the attractiveness of such properties to foreign buyers.

Also, the changes had a significant effect on foreign buyers and sellers who entered into agreements for purchase and sale prior to August 2, unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional, including condo pre-sale contracts, which were scheduled to close on or after August 2, In such cases, the foreign buyer would be forced to pay the additional 15 per cent property transfer tax, or to walk away and forfeit any deposit.

As a general comment, the way the B. The notion of adding closing costs after the buyer and seller have entered into a firm and binding purchase contract, which may have been entered into years earlier such as a condo presale agreementamounts to a substantial alteration of what the parties originally intended when entering into the agreement. For foreign buyers who attempt to complete which could include everyone from the very wealthy to a unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional homebuyer in Vancouver on a work permittzxact will have to find a significant amount of additional money to close the transaction.

For sellers, this raises the real prospect that the transaction will not close and that their only recourse against non-resident foreigners will be the deposit under the purchase agreement. Although the February changes to the Property Transfer Tax Act unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional enacted in the same manner, the potential impact of this change is нажмите для деталей unfair to buyers, burdened with significant and unanticipated additional closing costs, and sellers, who now face significant uncertainty about whether their deal will close.

The foregoing provides only an overview and does not constitute legal advice. Readers are cautioned against making any decisions based on this material alone. Rather, specific legal advice should be obtained. At the time of writing, Scott Kuehn was an associate at the firm. Tracking Preferences We use cookie and similar technologies in our web sites. Menu Sign In Search Search for:. Learn more. Learn More. A membership that moves your career forward. Changes to the Vancouver Charter While the amendments to the Vancouver Charter do not impose a vacancy tax, they allow the Vancouver municipal vancoufer to pass vacancy tax bylaws.

Changes to the Property Transfer Tax Act The surprising changes introduced in Profeasional 28 unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional to the Property Transfer Tax Actwhich stipulates the taxes payable upon a transfer of legal title to real property in British Columbia.

What property is affected? Who is affected? What are the implications? A cautionary note Taxacg foregoing provides only an vncouver and does not constitute legal advice.

Unity day vancouver canada 2020 taxact professional

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– Hansard — Finance and Government Services Blues — Tuesday, September 21, , a.m.

The special account is intended to fund initiatives in respect of housing, rental, access, and support programs. Bill 28 was announced and received a first reading on July 25, with no prior consultation with the industry or advance notice. It received a second reading on July 27, , and received a third reading and royal assent on July 28, The bill passed in its initial form, with the amendments to the Property Transfer Tax Act taking effect August 2, , while the other legislative amendments came into effect in July and September of While the amendments to the Vancouver Charter do not impose a vacancy tax, they allow the Vancouver municipal government to pass vacancy tax bylaws.

The amendments regulate how vacancy tax bylaws may be enacted and set limits as to what these bylaws can do. Vancouver City Council has subsequently approved a tax of one per cent per year on non-occupied, non-principal residences.

Homeowners will self-declare whether their property is a principal residence or not. The tax will become effective in The surprising changes introduced in Bill 28 relate to the Property Transfer Tax Act , which stipulates the taxes payable upon a transfer of legal title to real property in British Columbia. As presently drafted, Bill 28 mandates a 15 per cent transfer tax on residential property located within the Greater Vancouver Regional District that is being transferred to a foreign buyer, in addition to the current transfer taxes that are payable.

In situations where there are multiple purchasers, the additional 15 per cent tax is only calculated on the foreign buyer’s proportionate interest; however all purchasers will be jointly liable for payment of the additional tax. The changes affect all residential property within the specified area. As currently enacted, “residential property” is defined as land or improvements described as class 1 property in the Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation and small tracts of farmland used for residential purposes.

Class 1 property is generally defined as property used for residential purposes, such as single and multi-family dwellings, apartments, and condominiums, but does not include property used as a hotel or motel, other forms of temporary accommodation property, and property owned by the Crown when used for certain purposes, such as a correctional centre or mental health facility.

The “specified area” is defined to include the Greater Vancouver Regional District and other prescribed areas, but excludes treaty lands of the Tsawwassen First Nation unless otherwise prescribed or prescribed areas within the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

The changes target sales to foreign entities, which the bill defines very broadly. A “foreign entity” includes both a foreign national and a foreign corporation. A “foreign national” is a transferee that is neither a Canadian citizen nor a Canadian permanent resident.

A “foreign corporation” is a corporation that is either: a not incorporated in Canada; or b incorporated in Canada but is controlled by i a foreign national, ii a corporation not incorporated in Canada, or iii a corporation where the total shares owned by foreign entities would give the foreign entity control of the company, when taken together.

For these purposes, control is defined in relation to the Income Tax Act Canada to include the concept of ownership of shares giving direct voting control, but also the more far-reaching concept of indirect control and influence that would result in factual control.

Companies listed on a Canadian stock exchange are excluded from the definition of a foreign corporation. The 15 per cent transfer tax also applies to transactions involving transfers of property to a taxable trustee. A “taxable trustee” is defined as either a trustee who is a foreign entity or a trustee where a beneficiary of the trust is a foreign entity. As a result, a conveyance of residential property to a Canadian trustee that holds title in trust for a foreign entity would also be subject to the additional transfer tax.

Second, it is also conceivable based on the proposed language that a limited partnership may fall under the definition of a taxable trustee if one of the limited partners is a foreign entity. This will depend in part on the nature of the relationship between the general partner and the limited partners under the relevant agreements. While we would argue that the language of this proposed act does not truly capture this situation, it will require further investigation.

These changes do not alter the current transfer tax structure which allows purchasers to avoid the payment of the property transfer tax when the purchaser acquires the beneficial interest in a property together with the shares of a trustee holding legal title, as property transfer tax is only payable when a transfer is registered with the land title office.

However, a foreign entity acquiring the beneficial interest in a property by way of a share transaction, while avoiding the basic property taxes, would appear to be liable for the 15 per cent foreign transfer taxes pursuant to new anti-avoidance rules.

The anti-avoidance provisions in Bill 28 are broad, and deem any transaction that directly or indirectly results in an avoidance of the 15 per cent tax to be an “avoidance transaction. It is unclear under the current legislation how avoidance transactions would be assessed and taxed. These changes mark the first time the British Columbia government has introduced legislation looking through a trustee to the ultimate beneficial owner and creating an anti-avoidance rule in respect of property transfer taxes and could suggest the government may alter the current property transfer tax structure for domestic purchasers at some point in the future.

Under the Property Transfer Tax Act as amended, registered property transfers are subject to review and may be audited for up to six years after the date that the property transfer is registered at the Land Title Office. Share transactions, which do not require registration in the Land Title Office, are subject to the same audit rights; however there would be no time restriction imposed, allowing for audits in perpetuity to determine if the share transaction constituted an avoidance transaction.

Further, these penalties may apply to anyone who participates in a tax avoidance scheme, including Canadian sellers and professionals involved in the avoidance transaction. In a similar vein the changes to the Real Estate Services Act substantially increase the penalties for professional misconduct. Thank you all very much, and thank you for your work.

Walt, you have five minutes. We’ll give you a second warning to wrap up. Judas: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I also want to say, on behalf of the Tourism Industry Association of B.

Eighteen months into the pandemic, we’re at a critical juncture for many tourism and hospitality businesses throughout the province, particularly small and rural operators, as well as those that rely almost exclusively on international visitors, especially now that the peak season is over. The primary issue that operators continue to face is meeting monthly fixed-cost expenses. With recovery anticipated to be well beyond , businesses need version 2.

The province might also consider backstopping loans, with more favourable terms through the credit union system, for larger operators such as hotels and attractions that have not yet received the kind of support needed to sustain operations over the long term. The brief noted that for the industry to emerge positioned for long-term success, it needs to formulate a long-term strategy that combines imaginative planning with successful practices from other sectors.

The strategy needs to be a collaboration between government and industry and must address critical issues and opportunities such as improvements to current infrastructure as well as development of new and unique tourism amenities, especially projects that connect tourism with other sectors, for example, the establishment of a new museum of screen-based media that would provide a world-class tourism attraction and build on B.

The creation of new partnerships with Indigenous groups to build tourism products and bolster the path to reconciliation. Identification and promotion of environmentally friendly visitor experiences and increased investment in the B. Promotion of sustainable business practices — for example, installation of electric charging stations and provision of incentives for private operators for the electrification of their businesses, and widespread adoption of digitization, new automation and AI tools that help to improve tourism operator efficiencies.

Increased investment in tourism marketing, through Destination B. Access to and recruitment of workers representing all demographics, with a focus on Indigenous, women, immigrants, new residents, students and underrepresented segments of the workforce, including people with disabilities. Further training and career advancement opportunities for people from all walks of life to attain the knowledge, expertise and skills to advance to one of the thousands of good-paying, stable, full-time skilled positions available in the tourism industry.

We also believe the time is right for a renewed focus on attracting the best and the brightest to the tourism industry. As past data demonstrates, the consensus by industry analysts is that as B. One idea to help advance these goals: we suggest the creation of a B. We believe that through a partnership between government and the tourism industry, the centre would help B. Such an initiative could also bolster efforts to support Indigenous-owned businesses, firms owned by women and minorities, and companies that have a focus on sustainability and innovation.

Moreover, it would greatly benefit the B. Routledge Chair : Thank you, Walt. Alexis: You’ve given us a lot of concrete examples of how government can assist. I just want to go back to the…. You said the tourism conference centre…. Is that what you called it, or did I miss something there? Commerce centre. Pardon me. Can you tell me a little bit more about how that would work — an investment of that kind that would benefit absolutely the tourism operators?

If you could explain that a little bit more. Judas: It would really be the kind of a centre that you may recall was in place during the Olympic Games — the B. Commerce Centre — which talked about what the needs were for procurement, whether within government or government-related organizations, and companies that registered that could provide those types of services.

So it’s really about bringing two sides together and offering B. The tourism sector, as you know…. Take the cruise industry as an example.

They rely a lot on suppliers every time a ship docks here in port. To that end, those suppliers really don’t know how to access those tourism businesses. So it’s about bringing the two sides together. Stewart Deputy Chair : Thanks very much, Walt. Can you describe a little bit better about circuit breaker 2.

Like, we know 1. What’s the new program that you think that the tourism industry…? The ones that are remote, smaller — what do you think that they’re looking for? Give me some sort of idea besides the credit union one.

Judas: Yeah, I would suggest it’s probably akin to the first circuit breaker grant. It’s a grant program for those businesses that have been most drastically affected, particularly those that rely on international visitors. Many of them, in some sectors, didn’t operate at all. They couldn’t pivot to domestic visitation or guests. It would be a very similar program with similar criteria. The same for the small and medium-sized business recovery grant — a special disposition for tourism businesses, because many of them could not open or they were too late in the season by the time the international border, the American border, opened.

So it allows them just to sustain themselves through a grant program and be able to continue operating — at least at the very base level — so that when we start seeing visitors again in the peak season next spring and summer, they’re still around as businesses. Stewart Deputy Chair : Yeah. I know when we walk around Victoria — we’re going to be back there pretty soon — it’s not a very pleasant sight to see the empty streets and shops and stuff like that.

I mean, people have lost everything, and those are the ones that are gone. Judas: Yeah. Doerkson: Not so much a question but just a comment.

Thank you for presenting today on behalf of all of these businesses. You touched on cruise ships and the partners that they, of course, have. It’s so much more than tourism.

There is that wake of success behind your operators, from everybody that sells gas to a hamburger on the side of the road. So it’s certainly an important aspect of the economy of British Columbia for certain. I also just wanted to point out that these operators, of course, have not only suffered through COVID regulations for almost two years, but just when we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, we had wildfires throughout much of the province.

So that also added more time to closures, and of course, now that we’ve recovered from that, we’re right back to COVID restrictions. This is definitely a sector that has suffered greatly, and I’m appreciative of your presentation. Judas: Thank you for those comments. I will add that most people don’t realize how extensive the tourism sector affects other sectors and how much other sectors rely….

I often say that the person that pumps gas into houseboats in Sicamous doesn’t realize that they’re in tourism, but they are. They’re not in the gas business; they’re in tourism. That’s the extent that tourism fans out across the province, into every community. Routledge Chair : With that, on behalf of the committee, I would like to thank you, Walt, for coming and presenting. I echo what others have said. Your presentation — your recommendations are very specific. Very concrete. You’ve highlighted how important tourism is to British Columbia, and I think it was really important that you linked your recommendations to other government priorities, as a way of fulfilling some of those priorities.

Thank you again. Judas: Thank you very much. Thank you to the work that the committee is doing. Appreciate it. Chene: I’d first like to thank everyone around this table for the opportunity to speak today and also for the provincial government’s long-standing support for events and sports.

Today, I’m here to represent not only the Vancouver International Marathon Society but all events and sports in this province. This includes regional, community and national events that generate millions of dollars annually to the local economy through sport tourism. On average, participants that travel to these events will bring 1. In alone, pre-pandemic, there was over running events in the province, with over , registered participants.

Unfortunately, the impact of the pandemic has been very difficult on event organizers. We were the first ones to shut down, and to this day, we are the last ones to reopen.

Large events are one of the few businesses in that are unsure whether or not we can reopen and have our events. Events over 5, persons outdoors are still not possible in the province today.

Increased cost has also become a major hurdle for us as event organizers. Many of our key suppliers and partners have become insolvent, because their main form of business is supporting events like ourselves, whether we are sporting events or other events in the city.

The few suppliers that are left have major staff shortages and supply chain issues, and we’re seeing anywhere between a 50 to percent increase in quotes when we are planning our events in the coming year. New provincial legislations around traffic management has also negatively impacted events, especially smaller events. These legislations around traffic plans — and this goes anything from a parade to a run to a cycling event — are extremely cost prohibitive for smaller organizations.

These are to meet the new ministry guidelines. In terms of events just in running that are no longer viable because of the pandemic, over 50 have been cancelled, and we assume more will be cancelled in the years to come, strictly due to restrictions, and also, a lot of these companies have become insolvent over the last few years. One thing that is forgotten about events is our positive impact on charities. One of the unique things about running events or cycling events or any other sporting events is that we’re inclusive of all ages.

We have youth as young as five and seniors as old as participating in our events at the speed and at the rate that they can.

Our events are not only inclusive of ages but also ethnicities and have little to no restrictions in terms of entry or to barriers. We’ve worked very closely with East Vancouver to ensure sports are accessible to all, providing various garments and hundreds of free entries — especially youth at risk, who would otherwise not be able to participate in sports.

In addition to this, we also offer grants to seniors, youth and marginalized communities to ensure races are accessible to all. Unfortunately, we may have to cut all of these programs without additional support due to increased costs with putting on events. One of the important factors that our events also do is…. We have thousands and thousands of volunteers. Our small society alone has over 4, volunteers annually that help in our events. These youth are our future, and we provide them extremely important leadership roles.

Increased investment in sport hosting will not only boost social and economic benefits in the province but also help recovery for the tourism sector, small businesses and charities who suffered greatly through the pandemic. Many people that I’ve spoken to that have been at the start line have said that at a major race, you could power a city. Please help us continue to power the dreams of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people that look to participate in sport year over year.

Thank you for your ongoing support of sports events and sport tourism in this province. Routledge Chair : Thank you, Eric. Questions from the committee? Alexis: I’d like to talk about the traffic plans, if I could.

I know that in my own community, we have a process that has to be followed when we do the big parade. Once it’s done once, is it not good enough? Or do you have to continue to do the same traffic plan for the same event the next year, even though you’ve reached those new standards? That’s my question.

Chene: The way the traffic plans work is that they need to be accepted yearly by city officials, potentially ministry, potentially UBC. So even though our races are in Vancouver, I actually run it through eight jurisdictions, ironically. I need sign-off on every single jurisdiction.

Whenever there’s a small change — so a bike lane, as an example — I need to revise that traffic plan. Because cities grow, there’s a lot of construction, so every time I have to change the route.

In theory, I believe a plan is good for three years. So to stamp pages every three years, plus changes to all those pages, is quite cost prohibitive. It is one of those things….

I do understand from the safety that it’s something that needs to happen. But there might be some efficiencies there, especially for the…. To be honest, a lot of the small events that I know that have been cancelled in major cities….

It’s because of the traffic plan. They just can’t afford to put on the events, to create a new traffic plan. Alexis: Thank you for that. Stewart Deputy Chair : I don’t know if…. It’s a comment. But Eric, you did a great job in graphically pointing out the impact of these larger events.

We’ve heard from smaller tourism operators and the sport organizations. But for a big organization — and having been in the Vancouver Marathon, I know how big it is — I never thought about it.

Are you here in support or working with viaSport and their request? Chene: Yes, absolutely. We are here as part of the bigger picture with viaSport.

We are part of B. Athletics, so all of our events do get sanctioned by B. To be honest, we’ve had great support in the past from Sport Hosting Vancouver as well as Destination B. The marathon alone brings in, typically, runners from 65 countries and over 3, international guests.

I’m not sure about And it is our 50th anniversary next year. Stewart Deputy Chair : Well, anyways, I hope we can get things back on track. Alexis: I just want to go back to traffic plans, if I could. Have you talked to the city about the inefficiencies there and that you’re looking for ways to streamline or anything? Is there any help there? Chene: It’s interesting. Depending on the city, they interpret the new Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure plans differently. The city of Vancouver is, basically, at the extreme of asking for every single thing to be stamped, everything to be done, even though it could be a minor change.

A change could be that there is a new road, and I need to add a police officer at this intersection. Chene: It turns out my main source of revenue comes from runners. The only way to get additional money is support from the province, support from the city and also increasing runner fees, because those are my options. Then runners start complaining that we’re charging too much. We’re trying to keep it accessible, especially for youth and other groups as well. Running is supposed to be accessible for all.

You need a pair of shoes, a pair of shorts, and you can go out and run a 5K or a 10K. Alexis: In eight years, you’re saying it’s gone up three times? Chene: Yeah. Over percent, yes. Alexis: There’s something funny there. I don’t know how you can make ends meet with those kinds of costs. Chene: I mean, we’re a non-profit, but yeah, it’s challenging. We’re worried about the future. We’re looking at redesigning courses that run in circles, because it’s more cost-efficient to run 40K four times in a loop than running on multiple streets.

Routledge Chair : Well, we’re out of time. Thank you so much for giving us this insight — the unintended consequences of others’ decisions that impact on your sport and also how much it gives back to the community.

Great presentation. Haydn, you have five minutes. We will give you a second warning so you know when to wrap up, and then the committee has five minutes to ask you any questions. Wazelle: Excellent. Thank you very much. Good morning and hello, everyone. I’m a B. I’d like to take a quick moment just to acknowledge that I live, work and play on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. I consider myself to be a true, independent B. I’ve produced feature films, documentaries and two video games right here in B.

My software company, ZedDrive, has managed over film and television productions, including many Netflix, CBC and Bell Media productions, along with every season of favourites like Letterkenny and the locally owned Kim’s Convenience. Given the overpowering rise of the streamers and the uneven playing field across the country, B. It was the culmination of years of advocacy and very welcomed, so thank you. Many colleagues I have worked with closely for years have applied to this fund, and I’ve agreed, personally, to join the advisory panel to help distribute those moneys.

Such an investment in B. I suspect that B. I would further add that we need to remove the barriers in place to allow other provinces to co-produce with B. More production in B. Creative B. It’s important to highlight that B. The Canada Media Fund, which invests in TV shows and interactive projects like video games, consistently allocates 10 percent to our province.

Telefilm Canada, which invests in feature films, averages closer to 6 percent. We need to see those numbers double. Support from your offices, as we lobby the feds, can help make that happen.

Even with a pandemic, B. But B. We all fully appreciate the foreign location service work that happens in this province and the stable, labour-based tax credit that’s so central to attracting those studios here.

In fact, many of our members are actively engaged in this work and have built their businesses on this model. But we believe that effective lobbying to the feds for B. Together we need to leverage B. As producers, we can best build our companies by developing our own IP, our own intellectual property. We need to own the copyright, exploit the asset, retain the revenues and reinvest the profits right back here in B.

IP ownership leads to IP exploitation, which is what creates a viable local production sector for the long term, one that’s not quite so subject to external variables and trends. Our bonus ask is for the provincial government to contribute to the CMPA-BC—initiated public-private partnership to create a stand-alone IP optioning fund, which I look forward to sending you more information about in the future.

It has been my pleasure to speak to you today on behalf of B. I thank you for your attention and your time. I wish you nothing but the best as you work to make our communities better for all of us. Please be well. Routledge Chair : Thank you, Haydn. That was really interesting. I learned quite a bit. I do have a question. You sort of mentioned the lack of infrastructure that we have in B.

Is that what is referenced on page 6 of the submission, where it talks about a barrier being “lack of local decision-makers”? Wazelle: Yes. Historically, Telefilm, the Canada Media Fund and all the broadcasters hold their corporate offices where their commissioning editors, the people that effectively sign the cheques and choose what projects get made, are: in Ontario — basically, in Toronto. To give you a good example, a lot of the producers will basically be attending events quite regularly, whether it be the Toronto Film Festival or just the natural parties that happen in Toronto.

If you live in Toronto, that advantage is tenfold compared to what we have to deal with, whereas I’m in Toronto about three times a year at this point. It’s largely for large events where everyone is quite excited, and it can be quite difficult to get the time that you need in front of those executives and get that focused attention. It’s definitely changed during this Zoom era where there’s been a bit more access and a bit more concerted effort to reach out to B.

But I would say that’s primarily what we’re speaking to. It’s not as easy to casually make those connections and form those relationships. Dykeman: I totally understand. That makes sense. Starchuk: Thank you, Haydn. To your presentation, as soon as you said Letterkenny, my whole brain started going in a completely different direction, and I apologize for that— or not. With regard to being behind Quebec and Ontario and the ask that’s there, what happens if it doesn’t come?

Wazelle: Well, here’s what I’ll say. I feel like there is a common thought process, when I speak with my colleagues from Quebec and from Ontario, that there isn’t a strong creative industry in British Columbia.

Just recently, I’m literally getting off set. I spent the last three weeks on set, working with a very close colleague out of Toronto who was shooting here in British Columbia. They’d asked me to come and support their project, as they didn’t know the region. I can say that they were shocked, and it just did not compute, at how busy British Columbia is, how many trained and capable crews and professionals are here in British Columbia, because we primarily market to the American industry in Hollywood.

They seem to be the only ones that are aware, as you can probably tell, and coming to work here, whereas our colleagues over there don’t think that there’s any real strong voices, talents, creatives or companies out on the British Columbia side. I think as a result of that, what we’ve seen historically is that the projects that, as Canada, we put out in the world as successful Canadian projects largely come from Quebec — for multiple reasons, one of which is the foreign language.

That’d be the French language component. But there’s the substantial investment in their creative and their artistic endeavors there, not only from an artistic point of view but also from a business standpoint. It feels like we need to do a better job in marketing the success of our industry, especially over the last 20 years.

Routledge Chair : Any other questions for Haydn? Well, on behalf on the committee, I would like to thank you for taking the time to present, giving us some insight into your industry. I, for one, need to think this through and compute what you’re telling us. I live in a community where there are movie studios. There’s filming happening everywhere.

We have EA. It’s really important what you’ve told us, in where it fits into what’s happening elsewhere in Canada. Thank you for that. Leitch: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to listen this morning. It’s always great having somebody like Haydn speak before me, especially on the Canadian part of the business, because there’s so much British Columbia talent that we, I would say, underutilize in some ways in terms of the real, creative talent that creates new projects.

One of the things that he talked about was leveraging federal funds. That’s one thing that we haven’t been that successful with, compared to Quebec and Ontario. It’s a really important aspect that you might want to focus in on. It can be precarious; it’s not guaranteed. I do look forward to the day that we have a stronger creative sector here. We certainly have the talent, and we’ve really got that worldwide reach too now.

All good news. I was really amazed at the following six months in terms of our collaboration with the unions and the guilds, suppliers, producers, production managers and the B. I thought everybody did a fantastic job — first of all, in keeping the numbers down and then getting the industry back to work in as safe a way as we possibly could. Our whole studio changed in terms of the way we operated, and it was amazing to see.

It looked a lot different. It was a lot more expensive, but that was actually accepted by our customers, because it was like that globally. So it wasn’t a competitive disadvantage. In fact, our low numbers actually became a competitive advantage for us. Again, the work that was done, especially on behalf of the industry by the unions and guilds and again, the health authority and Creative B.

So it was a real success story. The motion picture production industry is a major contributor to B. We’re a major industry here, and we employ in excess of 60, direct and indirect jobs. Most of it, as Haydn said, relates to the service industry. When we talk about the service industry, really, we are talking about the business coming up from the United States. We’ve got great relationships. In fact, we’re fortunate in Canada that the Motion Picture Association actually has a representative up in Canada, Wendy Noss, who happens to sit on our board.

So we have direct access to the major studios in that way as well as just our relationships that we’ve built up over the years.

We’re very strong in terms of our service work, and I think we’ll continue to do that. The government’s been very supportive in terms of having competitive tax credits. I won’t speak for the domestic industry, because that’s a bigger challenge in some ways in terms of the tax credits. We’ve worked very closely with the provincial government over the years — all parties — to make sure that we’re competitive. We don’t have to be the best, because we’ve got other advantages here.

Our time zone is a huge advantage. The world of looks we have in British Columbia is a huge advantage in the talent base that we have here. We talk their language in Los Angeles. We’ve been doing it long enough now. I started over 30 years ago in the industry and just the development of the crews and the sophistication of the crews have changed dramatically. We’ve really embraced the move to digitization over the last ten years now, I guess.

It’s certainly rapidly speeding up. Of course, we have taken advantage of our capabilities here. It’s not only the economic benefits of the industry, but the industry is very supportive of the communities that we work in. We like to give back.

We give back to places like the food bank and the restoration of green spaces. Our partnerships with Creative B. That’s kind of our secret sauce — that we work together. Some of my closest colleagues are my competitors, and that’s because we know that if we can bring the business up here and we all do a great job, then it will be great for the industry. I know I’m running out of time. Three quick current priorities. Workforce development — really big, including equity, diversity and inclusion, which is a big part of it.

Our climate change initiatives with Reel Green — this is really important to us. The fires impact our industry a great deal in terms of our ability even to shoot up in the Interior. Community engagement is the other thing. All the film liaison people in the municipalities have been such a great asset for us. We get around the table once every second month with that group, and there are about 40 or 50 people there.

On workforce development, one of the big changes with COVID, of course, is that animation and visual effects, even post-production — they all ended up working from home very quickly. It was impossible before then, but all of a sudden, when the need happened, we made technology work for us and enabled them to securely — and that’s the key — work from home, and some of that is not going to change.

It’s great as an outreach, our ability to attract people from all over the province, when they can just work from their house in Campbell River or Prince George or wherever. It’s fantastic for us, and it gives us the opportunity to build the industry, because there’s going to be a workforce shortage. There’s no doubt about it.

Community engagement. Again, we’re dependant on locations where we shoot. Without that community engagement and the support of government…. The provincial government and the municipal governments own a lot of the properties that we shoot on. That’s really key to us. Access to the major industries is important. Right now, we’re trying to get better communications with B.

Hydro, because we use a lot of their facilities. Of course, TransLink has been another one that we want to have access to, all the transportation networks.

In general, I don’t really have a particular ask today, except for what Haydn was asking for, which I think is really important and worth consideration. But the important thing is communication, where we have a dialogue and we have a constant dialogue with government. The other thing is that the funding for Creative B. They’ve really taken leadership, and they’re the ones…. In terms of the operating companies here, they’re relatively small, and Creative B. That’s my presentation.

I’m open for questions. Sorry, I kind of ran through it quickly. Routledge Chair : Thank you, Peter. Dykeman: Thank you, Peter. I just wanted to ask very quickly on the workforce development.

Hearing you talk about the relationship with Creative B. I know, in my riding of Langley, our local government and the film industry have such a wonderful relationship, and we’re such a growing municipality in the area of film. It’s great to see that your industry was such a leader in really being a safe return to work, and everybody spoke to that. Now, in the area of workforce development, I know there have been some initiatives that have been taking place, like looking at maybe working with post-secondary or with high schools.

What areas do you see are the most pressing in workforce development to support this industry? Leitch: Well, it’s interesting. There are a couple things. One is that Creative B. Creative Pathways — first of all, equity, diversity and inclusion are real, key points of that.

Also, with Creative Pathways, we always had trouble in terms of attracting people, because they didn’t understand how to get into the industry. The unions and guilds — and with Creative B. It’s not going to be your brother or your cousin or whatever or people that look like me that are lined up to get into the industry. It’s going to be a more diverse-looking group, and we’re going to attract a lot of the talent, again, provincewide.

I think that we failed, in some ways, to do that up until recently, but now we’re working hard to make up for that. And we need to, because there is absolutely going to be a shortage of workforce.

I mean, I’m looking at the list of studios that are going to built over the next two years. It’s probably another fifty sound stages, and where are we going to find the crews to accommodate that? And we want to find as many local crews as we can. Dykeman: It’s huge. Well, thank you so much. It’s so exciting to see how much this industry is growing in B. Sandhu: Thank you, Peter. It’s more like a comment. But I know that I was humbled to recognize, during creative week in the Legislature, how they work together.

Industry and guilds and unions came together. I think we were one of the first jurisdictions to start production. If I’m not wrong, at one time, we had 60 productions happening in that fall. I think that was a proud moment and a great example of everyone working together. The reason I was so keen about everybody coming together and industry bouncing back…. Despite the challenge in my own riding, Vernon, we hosted a production for Under a Lover’s Moon and Love on the Vine during that season.

It was so great to know that we were considered one of the safest locations in North America to have these productions. So thank you for the work you do. I think I would really want to mention that when I see young people who perhaps want to enter into the industry in various roles, they don’t know where to start.

So I’m glad to hear that there is some work being done in order to create that awareness or, probably, create some kind of format that they know where to start and who to contact. That would be really…. We have a lot of talent in B. Thank you for the work you’re doing, and thank you for your presentation.

Leitch: Thank you. You’ll see some evidence on the unions if you go to the unions’ websites. Also with visual effects and animation, we kind of have an open house and a work forum for young people wanting to get into the industry. They also have…. There are places, like, where we’ve supported…. For instance, Capilano University.

The skills that they’re teaching align with the needs of the industry. That’s hugely important for us. Routledge Chair : Not seeing any other questions, on behalf of the committee, Peter, I want to thank you for coming and sharing your enthusiasm with us. Again, I want to say that it’s a big part of my community. A lot of those 60, jobs you’re talking about are actually my neighbours.

I live around the corner from Overlynn manor, which is a very popular site for filming. It directly funds seniors’ low-income housing. So it’s great that those connections are there in the community. Leitch: Great. That’s good to hear. Thanks very much for the opportunity. I appreciate it. Routledge Chair : It looks like we’ll have one more presentation before we take a break. Jabir: Good morning.

My name is Humera Jabir. We use legal strategies to create an equal and just society for all women and people who experience gender-based discrimination. My remarks today, however, are focused on three priority areas that we believe must be reflected in the upcoming budget.

The upcoming budget cannot simply be about recovering from the pandemic but must invest in critically important system changes. We recommend, firstly, reviewing and enhancing financial supports to kinship caregivers, who are family or community members who are caring for children, including children involved in the child protection system; secondly, allocating funds toward concretely implementing the calls for justice of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls; and third, funding health and mental health supports for survivors of gender-based violence.

Our first recommendation is to review and enhance financial supports to kinship caregivers. There are more than 13, kinship families in B. Many are grandparents and older single women who are living on a fixed income or in poverty. Enhancing financial supports to kinship caregivers will reduce the crisis of childhood poverty in B.

The basic maintenance rates for caregivers in the extended family program were last increased in , and still many children in kinship care are not benefiting from the program. A review of the financial supports for kinship caregivers is essential and necessary to address the systemic barriers that kinship families face in accessing support. Our second recommendation is to allocate funds to concretely implement the calls for justice of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

This committee advanced this recommendation in its last report, and we urge you to make the calls for justice a priority now. One example of concrete funding action this committee can recommend is implementing the call for justice 4. Last year this committee recommended strengthening funding models and addressing transit gaps in rural and remote communities. This remains critical today.

The lack of safe transit places women and people of marginalized genders in greater danger when they are forced to resort to hitchhiking or other risky transportation to access health care, jobs and even attend legal appointments and court appearances. Safe transit is essential to human and economic security.

Our third recommendation is that funding be allocated to health services, Indigenous healing programs and other culturally appropriate health and mental health supports for survivors of gender-based violence. Currently most funding is directed at justice system interventions.

Conversely, health-focused supports and services are largely absent from the provincial response to sexual assault. Survivors suffer short- and long-term harms from being sexually assaulted, which can include anxiety and depression, and long-term harms, including suicidal ideation and depression, and require an approach that is trauma-informed and that prioritizes health and well-being.

We urge you to recognize sexual assault as a health care issue and recommend funding that supports a cross-sectoral response to gender-based violence. Thank you for your time this morning to briefly review our key submissions.

We will be making further recommendations in the written submissions as well. Routledge Chair : Thank you, Humera. Any questions from the committee? Stewart Deputy Chair : Thanks very much, Humera.

You mentioned about transit in rural communities, etc. I just kind of…. The practicality of trying to do that — what ideas or solutions do you see that would be reasonable for the province to try to support? I know that they have done some things. I mean, having been on many of the rural highways in British Columbia and places in the communities, I’m just not certain how we can make that happen.

That’s why I’m asking you. Jabir: I think that’s exactly, in terms of…. What we are wanting to present in our recommendations is the need for system-level changes. Some of them are bigger asks. Certainly, with the closure of Greyhound and other forms of transportation, that is a really enormous gap in our systems, both federally and provincially. I know that the Union of B. Indian Chiefs has been working on recommending changes related to driver’s licensing to make that a more accessible process.

I think that it requires a bigger-picture approach in terms of thinking of what these solutions could be. In bringing that forward today, what we were trying to do is really look at….

The calls for justice include very specific and concrete asks for funding allocations and government resources to be directed at system change. We hope that you will take a look at the calls for justice and see where those changes can be made and where we can turn our minds in creating system changes. Stewart Deputy Chair : Well, as much as I support that recommendation, the only thing I can say is the practicality of implementing it is the barrier to making it happen.

I mean, it’s easy to say it. The reality is that if you live in Fort St. James or some other rural and remote community — I mean, how many places — it is an issue. I’m just wondering if there are some other solutions that might be able to improve the safety, or whatever, that you may have come up with. That’s why I asked that. Jabir: I’m not able to provide you with that at this time. I think that this is something which we want to bring to your attention in order to facilitate a conversation on it.

What we want to do in bringing that recommendation forward is to start a conversation, because it’s not something which we can simply say it is too big to ever address. The call for justice specifically requires that all governments work on addressing this issue, which has been identified in a number of reports at this point.

I would bring that forward to begin a conversation and hopefully one that consults with the Indigenous communities and Indigenous groups that are affected to work forward on really bringing home what concrete implementation of the inquiry means in this province. Sandhu: Thank you, Humera. I just want to say thank you for the work you’re doing, and thank you for the presentation. I wonder. I know you mentioned Greyhound, which left big gaps. But then recently the government….

We reinstated the northern connection route. Also, to address the connectivity issue on Highway 16, there are many implementations or even the towers that are installed with federal and provincial partnership. I wonder if you hear back any positive feedback of if that made any impact. I agree with you that some asks might be bigger, but they’re very important, and I think that, therefore, these couple steps are taken and still more work underway.

We would be happy to see, in your written presentation…. When you go back and talk with your organization, please feel free to highlight any other ideas that you think we can look at.

But I’m curious if what we’ve done right now, there is any positive feedback that you’ve received at your organization from Indigenous women or women living in rural and remote communities. Jabir: Yes.

Certainly, we will address that in our written submissions. I don’t know about feedback from that work that has been done, but I would say this is one example of the bigger picture. We’re focusing in on what one area is in which the province can allocate resources as this was mentioned in the last report of this committee, as well, in terms of allocating funding towards transit, but the “Calls for Justice” include a number of areas in which Indigenous communities are asking for funding to be allocated.

I think this is a bigger ask in terms of really focusing in on the national inquiry for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and making sure that those “Calls for Justice” aren’t left to languish. Sandhu: Thank you for the work you do. Routledge Chair : I’m not seeing any other indication of questions. I’ll wrap up this part of the presentation by thanking you for appearing before us and raising these issues. I look forward to reading your written submission.

You’ve been an important contributor to changes in our society, making our society more equal. I think we hear you when you say that you’re looking at systems changes.

We need to be making changes in the system, and that that’s hard work and requires a lot of dialogue and creative thinking and letting go of some old ideas. So thank you for your advocacy, and thank you for pushing us. We will take a break now until Routledge Chair : We’ll continue with our presentations on the next provincial budget. Our next presenter is Howard Jang, representing the B.

Alliance for Arts and Culture. Howard, you have five minutes. We will give you a signal when you have 30 seconds left, just to give you a signal to wrap up, and then we’ll have five minutes for questions.

Jang: Thank you so much for letting me have an opportunity to speak with you. Good morning, and thank you for this opportunity. As said, I represent the B. Alliance for Arts and Culture, which represents over arts organizations and individual artists from around the province. My name is Howard Jang. I’m the executive director. I’m of Asian descent and a fourth-generation British Columbian.

I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude for the privilege of working on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and to acknowledge their role and the role their ancestors played in stewarding this land over thousands of years.

The fact that this government recognizes the importance of the role that arts and culture and creativity play in the everyday lives of British Columbians sends a hopeful message to our sector, a sector that has been labouring for decades to be sustainable.

We are so very grateful that this contribution we make to society is being acknowledged by this government. It would be an understatement to say that the past 18 months have been the most disruptive in modern history — and continue to be. It is also widely understood that the arts and cultural sector will be one of the last that will begin to consider entering a recovery period. In terms of recovery, we’ve been using the phrase for several months, “Now that there’s light at the end of the tunnel….

We aren’t sure what the environment is going to look like. Excuse the analogy, especially here in British Columbia, but it feels like we’ve been hit by an earthquake, and we are trying to rebuild from the ash and rubble. We know that we must rebuild to become earthquake-proof.

We did some recent polling of our sector, and the concerns are very consistent: uncertainty in identifying sustainable operating models, and developing the trust to return to live events and gatherings.

We need to rebuild, with a goal of regrowth, re-emergence and sustainability. Our single most pressing issue is how our current models of funding can respond to the growing needs of artists, audiences and communities as we move toward the new light of greater social, racial and environmental responsibility in our work and our presentations.

The arts hold up a mirror of our world while also pointing the way forward. Ford Foundation president Darren Walker says, you know, that the arts create empathy. Without empathy, you cannot have justice. This much we know: if you were to ask an artist how much money they earn, they will tell you in terms of monthly income, not annual income.

Making ends meet is their most pressing issue. The need for secure and stable funding is essential in this period of uncertainty and should include a consultation on the support that is needed to adjust and respond to new business models.

I would like to focus your attention on two aspects of the infrastructure that is universal to our whole ecosystem and particularly troubling for the arts and cultural sector: housing and basic income. Here are the housing challenges: the lack of appropriate government funding to invest in social-rented homes; the lack of skills or capacity in housing departments to build new homes; the dramatic reduction in the supply of social and generally affordable housing through policies such as the right to buy; the lack of effective regulation in the private-rented sector; and the high cost of renting and home ownership.

This is the state of our world. The CERB provided temporary security and relief from the stress of losing work, something a large portion of the country’s population, some 5. The fact that the government was able to provide this emergency support so quickly, and with few bureaucratic hurdles for applicants, proves that what is often deemed impossible is actually not: expanding the social security net to include more people and to offer genuine support instead of crumbs.

While CERB was the closest Canada has come to a federal basic income program, it still left many out and was dependent on meeting a previous-employment threshold. This is where basic income differs.