Chamber Week looks at barriers to business

Orv Nickel

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BC Chamber Week kicks off on Monday (Feb. 18-22) with a new message aimed at curbing barriers to competition for business.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce recently unveiled its Top 10 Barriers to Competitiveness for 2013, listing a slew of ways businesses can close the gap with international competitors.

Among the Top 10 are skill shortages, barriers to world markets for Canadian energy products, inadequate workforce productivity, inadequate public infrastructure planning, tax complexity, poor innovation performance, deficient strategies for trade success in new markets, internal barriers to trade, uncompetetive travel and tourism strategies, and a lack of access to capital.

Inadequate public infrastructure planning is something that has personally affected Delta, as Chamber Vice Chair Orv Nickel can attest.

The road congestion around Highways 99 and 17 is something the Chamber is hoping will soon be alleviated.

“There’s a responsibility to keep those traffic lights off of the main fareways so vehicles can go smoothly through, you don’t get stop and go and the pollution issue,” said Nickel.

Infrastructure in Delta was one of the key issues brought to the table by Chamber members at Delta-Richmond East MP Kerry Lynn-Findlay’s pre-budget consultation meeting in late January.

Many businesses in Tilbury Industrial Park have complained in the past that gridlock issues is harming their productivity and competitiveness in the international marketplace.

Another Delta issue relevant to the Top 10 list is the aging population and the effect it will have on skilled workers.

The Chamber has called for more jobs training and skilled workers to fill the void that will be left by retiring workers over the next decade.

Eliminating the “red tape” and ensuring Delta is placed competitively from a tax perspective is another focus.

“Government has to provide some incentives to start off, and then as they grow and become more successful the tax dollars flow back to government,” said Nickel.

Be sure to read more about the Delta Chamber of Commerce and all businesses in South Delta with our new 2013 Business Guide in this issue of the South Delta Leader.