A turbulent business environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ripple through the province’s corporate community, and one of its leading advocates is no exception.
Fiona Famulak, president and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce, says the organization continues to face financial pressures largely born from the pandemic.
“As a result of COVID, the business environment is quite different these days and we’re finding ourselves that members are far more discerning on where they want to put their money, because if they are financially stretched quite often the first thing to be cut is discretionary expenses such as membership,” she told BIV. “We’ve seen that at this end and certainly the chamber network has seen that.”
The BC Chamber operates independently of a network of 100 local chambers and boards of trade, however it represents those entities—which collectively represent about 36,000 small, medium and large businesses—at the provincial government level.
Famulak was not authorized by the board to speak to specifics of the BC Chamber’s financial position but spoke broadly of the challenges and solutions that lie ahead.
“Another factor in all of this is the cost of doing business in British Columbia,” she added. “It’s an expensive endeavour.”
In 2022, Famulak said the board of the BC Chamber approved a deficit budget on account of dwindling membership dues, event and sponsorship revenue, and administration of government- and private-funded programs.
This year the BC Chamber has “a number of commercial transactions in play,” and Famulak said the hope is to be in a more-sound position by 2025.
Still, Famulak said the organization has had some setbacks in those plans.
The BC Chamber has cut back on some contracted positions, although it has maintained its small staff of four permanent positions, she said.
“We’re also taking cost mitigation actions where appropriate because our focus right now is to get through to the end of December. So that is in play and we’re also beginning to plan for 2025 and what that looks like. So, I’m very confident that the plan that we have in place right now will get us through to the end of 2024 and set us up to succeed for 2025,” she said.
Having felt the financial pinch itself, the BC Chamber is said to be rolling up its sleeves, so to speak, ahead of the coming October 19 provincial election to deliver a suite of policy proposals, added Famulak.
A chief concern is added costs to doing business and a heavy regulatory burden.
“We’ve advocated for this for a long time, for the government of the day to reduce the cost of doing business, to reduce taxes, reduce the address the five days mandatory paid sick leave. We’re the only province that has mandatory paid sick leave,” Famulak said.
“On the regulatory side, we need the government of the day to embrace natural resources and to set them up for success,” she stressed.
