{"id":9797,"date":"2020-09-15T09:30:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T13:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=9797"},"modified":"2020-11-18T15:24:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T20:24:39","slug":"covid-is-impacting-campbell-river-on-three-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/covid-is-impacting-campbell-river-on-three-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 is impacting Campbell River on three levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

Campbell River<\/a>\u00a0is the central hub for rural communities like\u00a0Cortes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Quadra Island<\/a>. It is the seat of\u00a0our local government<\/a>. Though many island residents have shopped locally since the advent of\u00a0COVID<\/a>, others take advantage of the lower prices in Campbell River\u2019s stores. Visits to more distant destinations usually start with ferry trips and a drive through Campbell River. So the well being of this northern metropolis is important to all of us. The city\u2019s\u00a0General Manager of community development,\u00a0Ron Bowles<\/a>, described how COVID is impacting\u00a0Campbell River<\/a> on three levels.<\/p>\n

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\"courtesy<\/a>

Photo courtesy city of Campbell River website<\/p><\/div>\n

The City, Businesses and Residents<\/h2>\n

\u201cThere is how it has affected our residents, how its affected our businesses and how it has affected the city itself,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Campbell River was in a good financial position coming into the year and that was the catalyst for you calling me today \u2013 our press release on the annual report. We entered this COVID crisis with good financial systems in place. The city has done well and reacted well. Council had to make some tough decisions, but we are getting through it and we\u2019ll come out the other side financially in a fairly good position, albeit changed.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Many businesses shut down. Lots haven\u2019t even opened yet. So it has been hard on businesses. At the same time, it\u2019s a resilient community \u2013 as you know, you\u2019re the same on Cortes Island \u2013 you adapt and change and move forward. Many of Campbell River\u2019s businesses have figured it out. You are probably seeing that as well.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cResidents \u2013 yes, it has been tough. We\u2019ve all seen the financial incentive programs from the federal and provincial governments. That has helped people get by, personally. The statistics are telling us that these programs have worked, but that doesn\u2019t mean that they worked for everyone. Yes, there are many individuals that are impacted.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Bowles added, \u201cIn the city of Campbell River, that further reinforced the reason for me to have a really good eye on the services we offer, as well as the cost of our taxes.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Page<\/a>

Page from Campbell River\u2019s 2019 Annual Report<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Construction sector<\/h2>\n

One business sector that has not been impacted is construction.<\/p>\n

Campbell River has\u00a0one of the lowest rental vacancy rates<\/a>\u00a0in the province.<\/p>\n

Three hundred rental units have been built to help address this problem. (More than 600 suites have been built across the city.)<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a developing standpoint and tackling the housing shortage in Campbell River, especially the rental shortage, the business community and city of Campbell River really hasn\u2019t skipped too much of a beat,\u201d said Bowles.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c \u2026 COVID \u2013 we probably stopped for a week to regroup in the development department, to figure out how we could do inspections and keep contractors safe and keep our employees safe \u2026 Same thing on the development side. How can we meet with developers when most of our relations are built face to face.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have applications coming in and going out in a steady fashion. [We are] probably busier now than in past years.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Screenshot<\/a>

Screenshot from Campbell River\u2019s 2019 Annual Repor<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Recreation<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had other implications, for example our recreation services. They were by and large shut down for a time. Then we had to regroup and go online and now we\u2019re slowly starting to bring more and more programming online \u2013 but of course face to face now means six feet apart,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n

Financial Reporting Award<\/h2>\n

For the second year in a row, the\u00a0city of Campbell River\u2019s Annual Report just received a financial reporting award<\/a>\u00a0from the Government Finance Officers Association. This is the second year in a row they have achieved this, which shows that Campbell River is becoming a model for financial reporting.<\/p>\n

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\"<\/a>

the city of Campbell\u2019s 2018 Annual Report just received a financial reporting award from the Government Finance Officers Association. They also won in 2017.. If they win again next year, that will make three in a row.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales Campbell River\u00a0is the central hub for rural communities like\u00a0Cortes\u00a0and\u00a0Quadra Island. It is the seat of\u00a0our local government. Though many island residents have shopped locally since the advent of\u00a0COVID, others take advantage of the lower prices in Campbell River\u2019s stores. Visits to more distant destinations usually start with ferry trips and a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":9822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217,218],"tags":[579,368],"radio":[],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9797"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=9797"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=9797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}