18 Mar
The Honourable Brenda Bailey – Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, speaks on the SAVE BC RESTAURANTS campaign:
“The first thing I want to say about the restaurant sector and their save B.C. restaurants campaign is: “Well done.” I think it was one of the most inventive campaigns that I’ve seen. The communications were very strong. I congratulate the restaurant sector for really quite a well-designed and engaging campaign.“
“Another request that the restaurant sector put in front of us was they had the experience that they had to go to a number of different ministers and lobby each individually on particular challenges that they were experiencing. They identified that it would be much better for them should they just have one contact. And so that’s something that we have put in place. That contact is Minister Popham. “
“The Solicitor General, the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture and myself will be working together on challenges that the restaurants faced, but it is the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture who is the number one contact. Then the information will share out that way.”
“But I do just want to really highlight that in addition to the many supports we put in place throughout the pandemic and since the number one request, the most important thing — and the restaurant sector really drove this home — was to change the EHT. I’m so grateful that we were able to do that for them.“
The EHT (Employer Health Tax) payroll threshold will be moved from 1/2 million to 1 million which will exempt a lot of small businesses from having to pay this tax. A very positive win for Industry!
