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Greater Victoria, September 11, 2017 – The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, working with Tourism Victoria, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, City of Victoria, and Downtown Victoria Business Association continues to look for support from the provincial government on seven joint priorities. This was presented to area candidates during the election as the Shared Priorities for Provincial Government Action. “Working together with other key stakeholders in the region, we are providing a unified voice on seven key areas and are advocating for provincial support on behalf of our business community in order to continue to build and grow the local economy,” said Catherine Holt, CEO of The Chamber. “Today’s budget update provides for a number of new spending initiatives in key areas including affordable housing, child care, policing and mental health and addictions,” said Holt. “We look forward to seeing details on this new spending and how it will be allocated throughout the Greater Victoria region.” Priorities for the region include: • affordable housing; • improvements to local mental health and addictions services; • $10 a day child care to help working parents and employers; • creation of a regional transportation commission to keep our economy moving; • completion of the Belleville Terminal and assistance in developing Ogden Point and Home Port Victoria to build our tourism sector and, finally, ensure sewage treatment stays on track. Added Holt, “We understand that this budget was a temporary measure to ensure the province has authority to operate for the rest of this fiscal year. However, we are putting the Province on notice that we expect them to address these important priorities in the full budget in February.” In addition to the seven priorities, The Chamber will continue to ask for Provincial leadership to improve local and regional governance to address the dysfunctional situation highlighted in the recently released Capital Integrated Services and Governance Initiative report. The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce is the largest business association in Greater Victoria, with over 1,400 member organizations. It is funded by businesses to support business, and works to strengthen the region’s business community through advocacy, networking events, professional development and other programming to support its members. More info at www.victoriachamber.ca. Media Contact: Christine Lewis eventsmanager@victoriachamber.ca 250 360-3477 / 250-418-1507 (cell) Backgrounder: Shared Priorities for Provincial Government Action: July 2017 – attached