Central Okanagan economy on COVID rebound

The Central Okanagan is showing positive signs of an economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s the finding of the Regional Recovery Task Force that says local businesses are returning to many of their normal activities.

The Task Force, co-chaired by Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO) Chair Gail Given and Kelowna Mayor Colin Basin, is now winding down its work.

It was initiated by the mayors of Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and Peachland, as well as the RDCO Chair and Chief of Westbank First Nation. The consensus early in the pandemic was that a regional approach was required to identify economic recovery needs, support businesses and advocate to higher levels of government for stimulus funding.

“While we realize that it’s not a completely even playing field, we are encouraged by positive signs for a regional economic rebound in many of our industry sectors,” said Given. “According to Statistics Canada as of April 2021, 136 per cent of the jobs lost in the Central Okanagan have now been rehired. That’s an overall gain of 13,100 jobs.”

In the 15 months since its creation, the Task Force has helped local businesses weather the storm and now work toward emerging stronger. The Task Force:

• Connected to the region’s business community through the COEDC hosted Industry Roundtables and State of the Economy sessions with the business community to collect information that helped develop an advocacy strategy, identify gaps in aid programs and guide discussions with Provincial Ministers
• Guided and endorsed the 2021 Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission (COEDC) Priorities Plan which was updated to reflect the ongoing realities of the pandemic and its impact on local businesses
• Endorsed the COEDC Moving Forward to 2025 Economic Development Strategy

Task Force co-chair and Kelowna mayor Colin Basran agrees there is reason to be optimistic.

“B.C. is the only province in Canada that has already seen its economy recover beyond what was lost during the pandemic and the Kelowna area is poised to recover faster than most. The resiliency of our local businesses has been nothing short of inspirational and we look forward to continuing to support local,” Basran said.

To learn more about the Task Force, local economic indicators and the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission visit, investkelowna.com.