Unemployment is rising in Kovuli as businesses are forced to make difficult decisions in the current economic climate.
Salt and Brick Restaurant, once a thriving downtown Kelowna restaurant, closed for good last month after the owner cited a tough business climate.
“It didn’t make business sense to stay open anymore,” owner Casey Greebill said Sept. 26, just days before closing.
This is just one example of people losing their jobs in a city where unemployment is soaring.
“It's always alarming to see unemployment rising in small business-dependent communities like Kelowna,” said Ryan Mitton, BC legislative affairs director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The unemployment rate in the Kelowna area rose to 9.3 per cent in October, up 2.2 per cent in just one month, according to Statistics Canada.
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Kelowna's unemployment rate is worse now than it was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the cities surveyed, it is the second largest city in British Columbia after Kamloops.
Construction, tourism and agriculture are reported to be among the hardest hit sectors.
The trade war is having an impact, but so is the government's high cost of doing business, Mitton said.
“While small businesses are trying to compete with Trump's tariffs, they are also facing high taxes here at home,” Mitton said. “And really, that's what elected officials need to focus on if we're going to start to combat some of these unemployment numbers.”
The numbers are very different in other parts of the province, namely Victoria, where the unemployment rate actually fell slightly to 4.2 per cent last month.
“The difference between Victoria and Kelowna is a tale of two cities,” said Gavin Dew, Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission.
Dew blamed the inequality on the NDP government and what he calls bad policies.
“What really worries me is the gap between the growing public sector and the anemic private sector,” Dew said. “We have high employment in Victoria and families feel secure, but here in Kelowna we have rising unemployment and we have families who feel struggling.”
The Department of Labor and Economic Growth said it understands the concerns, but said: “We will take the next steps to create jobs and prosperity in the coming days.
“The plan will focus on delivering major projects, strengthening key sectors and providing people with the skills they need for the future of our economy,” the ministry added.
Many say this kind of government support can't come soon enough.
“One in five small businesses in British Columbia say they will not be able to continue operating for another six months at this rate,” Mitton said. “They will have to start making difficult choices: lay off staff or close the company altogether.”
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