BOMA Calgary been off to a quick start in 2021 representing Calgary and Southern Alberta’s Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Industry as key decision makers look for input into their policy decisions for the upcoming year. BOMA Calgary, along with our industry partners have been at the table with officials from all three levels of government discussing the ways in which the commercial real estate industry can support economic recovery and growth. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to:
Federal
BOMA Calgary & Edmonton and our industry partners at NAIOP co-authored a letter to the federal government highlighting challenges with the current structure of the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS), while outlining suggestions to help increase program participations. This was followed by a meeting with The Honourable Jim Carr, Special Representative to the Prairies, where industry leaders reiterated the challenges with program uptake, and offered thought leadership on potential improvements. We remain engaged with the Federal government on the topic and look forward to working on solutions that provide much needed support to struggling businesses.
We are also working with Special Representative Carr as part of the federal pre-budget consultations process with representatives from the commercial real estate industry who are based in Alberta and operate in Canada’s Prairie Region. These consultations will directly inform the decisions made by The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the upcoming federal budget.
Provincial
Industry leaders from BOMA Calgary and our partner associations are having ongoing conversations with The Honourable Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation as well as Invest Alberta to highlight the role of the industry in attracting investments to the province, while identifying areas for further collaborations. Commercial real estate professionals have an exceptionally valuable perspective on what businesses are looking for, and we are excited to be able to share these insights with key decision makers in the provincial government.
We are also hosting Minister Schweitzer as a Keynote Speaker on March 10, 2021. Check out the event page here to register for this exciting event!
For more information on these initiatives, please contact jay.islam@boma.ca.