In an attempt to improve its relationship with the business community and lay a foundation to support economic growth, the City of Victoria launched the Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Development and Prosperity.
Mayor Lisa Helps unveiled a 17-member group that includes herself as chairwoman and Coun. Margaret Lucas. The task force is charged with compiling “concrete actions” the city can take to establish Victoria as a partner to small business.
It is made up of a group representing the technology, tourism, hospitality, real estate and green business sectors as well as labour leaders and representatives with economic development and community organization backgrounds, and students.
Members will meet individually with their business networks and as a group five times to develop an action plan.
Helps said unlike previous attempts to bridge the gap between City Hall and the business community, this task force will provide both concrete direction and metrics by which the city can measure progress on problem areas. “We want to know what actions the city can take that it hasn’t in the past,” Helps said. Her dream is to see City Hall become a one-stop shop for business owners either setting up shop or growing their firms in the city.
“We know the City of Victoria needs to do a much better job at supporting our small business community, at making young entrepreneurs who want to start a business in Victoria successful, at supporting burgeoning social enterprise and at unlocking all the capital and wealth that is here and yearning to invest in local start-ups and scale-ups,” she said.
Lucas, driving force behind the task force, said the next three months is about finding new ideas. The task force is to submit a report to council July 16.
Lucas, general manager of the Hotel Rialto, said it may be about taking baby steps at first, as small as getting to know the community better, reaching out and being a part of it.
“It’s as simple as relationship-building, we do not do that,” Lucas said, noting that’s important given the city is made up of hundreds of small businesses not large corporations. Lucas said they will be asking questions like how City Hall can support small business, what that community needs and wants from the city. “There’s a new energy out there and there’s a buzz on the street with new ideas and a new way of thinking and we need to tap into that,” she said.
While there have been other task forces and studies, this one appears to be very different, said task force member John Wilson, CEO of Wilson’s Transportation.
“Here it’s not just let’s talk about it, it’s about moving forward,” Wilson said, noting the short time period for study and outreach drives that point home. “With all the different perspectives everyone brings to the table, it makes a good script for something good to come out of this.
“People want action, not endless talking about it.”
TASK FORCE MEMBERS
• Suzanne Bradbury, owner of Fort Properties
• Nicole Chaland, director of Simon Fraser University’s community economic development program
• James Coccola, community volunteer
• Jill Doucette, owner of Synergy Enterprises
• Dallas Gislason, economic development officer with the Greater Victoria Development Agency
• Dan Gunn, CEO of VIATeC
• Scott Gurney, owner of
17 Black Entertainment
• Darlene Hollstein, general manager of Bay Centre
• Robert Jawl, director of Jawl Properties
• Real estate agent Tony Joe
• Ken Kelly, general manager of Downtown Victoria Business Association
• Peter Kuran, CEO of University of Victoria Properties
• Paul Nursey, CEO of Tourism Victoria
• Liam Scott-Moncrieff, UVic engineering student
• John Wilson, CEO of Wilson’s Transportation..
