Commentary

Going into 2022, I think collectively we were optimistic that we were beginning to put COVID behind us. Then we started the new year and the Omicron variant hit right after the holidays.

As a founder that started a company in the 2007-08 global financial crisis, I sometimes feel like a grizzled veteran full of war stories and the accompanying scar tissue of difficult lessons learned through those experiences.

In 2021, the provincial economy emerged from the pandemic in decent shape considering that many consumer services and most travel remained partially shuttered and international trade had not fully recovered from earlier COVID-induced disruptions.

Workplace conduct is being more closely scrutinized today than ever before. Societal views regarding what crosses the line into bullying, harassment and discrimination is shifting. Meanwhile, adjudicators are taking note and adjusting accordingly.

There is a growing story that government is incapable of meeting people’s needs, that government is powerless in solving the issues impacting our communities. I don’t accept this.

Winter storms cancel flights and disrupt airport operations. Everyone knows that. Yet, when Metro Vancouver’s forecast delivered on its promise, the one entity required to trigger an adequate crisis response froze.

We close out our regular monthly columns for the year by revisiting the economic role and contributions of the province’s largest export industry: Forestry. The provincial Crown owns 95 per cent of all land in B.C.

Next year, everything will feel more expensive as tax hikes will take a bigger chunk out of your paycheque. Both the Trudeau and Eby governments plan to hike taxes in 2023.

Get ready for a spending spree by the B.C. government. Premier David Eby says it’s his intention to spend the almost $6 billion surplus his government is currently sitting on, rather than let it expire in March and automatically go to debt repayment.