Year In Review: Pat Sullivan Reflects On Covid-19 And His Confidence Heading Into 2023
To cap off 2022, Huddle sat down with some of the key figures in Atlantic Canada’s business community – folks representing everyone from tourism operators to energy producers to the startup world.
We asked each to reflect on the challenges, successes, and surprises that most impacted their industries and the lives of Atlantic Canadians this year.
In the latest of several conversations we will bring you before the new year, Huddle reporter Derek Montague chatted with Patrick Sullivan, the president and CEO of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.
His answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Looking back at 2022, What would you say was the most significant challenge the wider Halifax business community faced?
Even though it only lasted for a portion of the year, it was Covid-19; from January right through April or May, the first four months of the year were Covid. Then there was some recovery.
And there are still Covid cases: I don’t want to make light of that but it was an exceptionally difficult time in January, as we had Omicron and there was a lot of concern. Then we got into April and I think I’d mark this summer as a period of recovery.
But, as we started to come out of it, I think what we started to see was all the labour that was missing–and the labour shortages became much more evident. We’re still going through labour shortages in virtually every industry: we have, at this point, almost the lowest unemployment rates in Nova Scotia and Halifax’s history, in particular, at around 5.2 percent.
So there is still a significant shortage of labour.
Q: What do you think were some of the best things that happened in the business community in 2022?
I’m going to come back to Covid. I think the positives were in the cooperation at all levels, whether it was private sector and government or the private sector and the healthcare community. And then I think we saw the most positives coming out of Covid: there was the feeling that we were — I hesitate to use words ‘back to normal’ but we certainly saw increased activity during the summer. I think that gave a lot of businesses hope that people were going to head back out, they were going to spend money, and they were going to travel and they were going to vacation and feel better about getting out in groups.
I think the business community took a lot of heart from that during the summer. And I think that is, to some extent, still continuing. Obviously, there are the worries about interest rates and recession and all those kinds of things, but we’re still in the Christmas shopping period and the Christmas party period, so I think people feel pretty positive right this minute.
Q: What will be some of the biggest challenges in 2023 for the wider business community in Halifax?
I’m actually feeling really good about 2023. I’d like to leave us on a positive note, which is we have higher interest rates–that’s for sure–but we’re still seeing very low unemployment in Halifax. So, as I talk to restaurants and hotels, they’re still seeing people spend money.
We’re going to head into 2023 and for sure people will moderate their spending given interest rates and things but we’re getting a lot of people moving to Halifax and to Nova Scotia.
I think the deputy Minister of Labour, Skills, and Immigration said our new population in Nova Scotia is 1,031,000. I mean, that’s up another 15,000 from a year ago, so we’re seeing significantly increased population and those people need to buy a car and spend money on groceries and buy new clothing.
Q: Going back to some of the challenges facing businesses, it appears like city council is aiming for a four-percent property tax increase. Staff recommends an eight percent increase. How concerned are you about higher tax bills?
I think we’ve been pretty clear in our opinion that an eight percent increase is a non-starter. That’s just unacceptable We’re in a difficult time; council may wish to believe that there was not a significant increase last year but it was over four percent.
I often hear that they’re going to have to cut services; I would like to know the services they’re going to cut, and then maybe we can make a decision on whether they’re worth cutting. Let’s not just say ‘we’re going to cut services’ because maybe some services should be cut.
We’re going to see a significant increase in property tax in Halifax, I suspect, given what they’re suggesting at this point. We saw a significant increase last year and now we’re going to see CPP go up, we’re going to see EI go up, we’re going to see the cost of beer go up almost 6 percent.
There are a lot of costs, and I think sometimes we need our leaders to look and be a little more restrained and be a little bit more methodical. Perhaps we’re unable to afford the Cadillac, to use an old term, and maybe we need to make do with the Chevrolet.