Last week, the provincial government announced some changes to the speculation tax, those being that it would be restricted to urban areas, with vacation homes in rural areas exempt.
The Gulf Islands, the Juan de Fuca region in Premier John Horgan’s constituency, Parksville and Qualicum Beach are being exempted, but the municipalities of Nanaimo, Lantzville, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission will still be included,
as are Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria and the cities of Kelowna and West Kelowna.
Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok, who has been a vocal opponent of the tax, calling it unfair and un-Canadian, says he is pleased to see some changes to the tax, and was pleased to be a part of putting pressure on the government to change it.
And it was political pressure that caused the government to tweak the tax, he believes.
The CRR riding was never a part of the tax, although Clovechok remains uneasy that he hasn’t seen that in writing yet.
“I haven’t seen it written into legislation that we are exempt, but it’s better than it was last week,” he said.
Still the uncertainty around the tax remains, and Clovechok remains worried, as he tries to get the message out that this area is not affected.
“These guys (the NDP government) are making up tax policy on the fly,” he said. “It’s a moving target and it doesn’t inspire confidence. We are still getting a lot of calls about the uncertainty around this.”
Uncertainty least investors being nervous about putting money into a region, he says.
“There is an enormous amount of uncertainty from people who have invested money in places like Revelstoke and Kimberley,” he said.