The Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce has released the results of a 2017 BC Election poll that ran for the past two weeks beginning April 11.

“We wanted to determine the issues important to our members as we move towards election day,” said chamber executive director David D. Hull. “The chamber is very active in the election locally and provincially through our BC Chamber of Commerce membership. We have one chance every four years to shape the political narrative going forward from the business perspective.”

With 140 responses, out of 504 chamber members, the survey is statistically very valid, Hull said. “We were extremely pleased with the level of engagement by our membership. The platforms of the parties and their vision for the future of the Kootenays and B.C. as a whole are of great interest to our membership.”

Awareness of the election and the intention to vote were essentially at 100%. When asked to identify the most important issues to themselves and their business health care, jobs & employment and education were the top three at 63%, 46% and 40.5% respectively of respondents.

When asked to identify top sectors believed to hold the greatest opportunity for economic growth, tourism topped the list at 78.7%, with mining and clean technology coming in second and third at 64.7% and 58% respectively.

Taxation at the provincial and local level (54%), provincial and local regulation (45.7%) and the price of energy (42%) were identified as the top factors that are hurting B.C. businesses.

Hull was surprised at the response to the question regarding raising the minimum wage to $15 (see lead image).

“With what I hear anecdotally I would have bet the response would have been decidedly no.”

The survey reported back 47% ‘no’ to a $15 minimum wage implementation while 36% said ‘yes’ and 17% were ‘unsure.’

“I think this is an area that needs further exploration and analysis going forward,” said Hull.

The full results of the survey can be found on the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce website.

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