BC finance minister discusses record deficit, short-term rentals and more in Kelowna visit

BC Finance Minister Brenda Bailey was in Kelowna on Thursday and spoke at a Kelowna Chamber of Commerce event, touching on numerous aspects of the provincial government's financial state.

"Well, we're in challenging times financially, and so, it's really important that we focus on a couple of things," Bailey told reporters after the event.

"One is to make sure that the government is moving in the direction of deficit reduction and living within our envelope and we're doing that over a number of different budgets. And two, we need to make sure that we're really focused on economic development and that's happening in a number of different ways, including diversifying our trade.

An example Bailey gave of the government looking to diversify trade is Premier Eby's current trip to Asia, stating that the trip is creating opportunities for businesses to enhance trade routes to Asia.

Following her address at the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce event, Bailey took questions from the crowd, with a common theme being short-term rental legislation.

Before stricter legislation surrounding short-term rentals was enacted, Kelowna featured more than 2,000 licensed and unlicensed short-term rentals. That number has since plunged and some view it as being harmful to tourism in the area, but Bailey stood by the legislation.

“What we know about short-term rentals is that when short-term rentals first came in, they crowded out housing that would be available for rentals and we've made the decision to really support bringing that housing back into the market for people and this isn't just helpful for people, it's helpful for businesses,” said Bailey.

“I hear very often from businesses that aren't able to find workers because their workers can't find housing. So since we've made the changes to short-term rentals…It's brought the rental rate down five to seven per cent, which makes it easier for people to find a place they can afford to live. Our priority is to ensure that people have a home.”

BC's finance minister spoke to reporters following a Kelowna Chamber of Commerce event on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/4u80Sv9Rsd

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Another concern among attendees was the Province’s credit having recently been downgraded by two agencies, S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Ratings.

Bailey highlighted that credit downgrades are being seen in various parts of the world and that BC continues to be competitive.

“What we're finding is that we have seen credit downgrades in a number of different markets in the world, including British Columbia and we know that the credit agencies have highlighted that we have work to do to get back to balance. That is the work that we are doing now,” explained Bailey.

“We also saw the US government treasury experience a downgrade. So the trade war has really set a different context in which economic development is happening. We do know that BC continues to be competitive when we offer our sovereign bonds and we remain very devoted to ensuring that we're getting back (on) a path to balance over sequential budgets.”

Bailey added that while the Province is working to balance the budget, it is important for the government to protect core services for residents of BC.