• Reduce permit and approval times by at least 50%.
• Establish clear service standards and reliable decision timelines.
• Give applicants a single City contact to guide their files.
• Allow businesses to track applications online.
• Simplify unnecessary requirements without compromising safety, accessibility or public consultation.
• Make City Hall a partner in responsible investment.

• Regularly consult businesses and industry organizations to identify and remove barriers.
• Maintain clean, safe and welcoming commercial areas.
• Provide reliable access for customers, workers and deliveries.
• Keep municipal costs and regulations reasonable and predictable.
• Improve City Hall’s response times for business-related concerns.
• Give qualified local businesses a fair opportunity to compete for municipal contracts.

• Recognize downtown as Victoria’s economic, cultural and civic centre.
• Increase visible public-safety teams and coordinated street-level services.
• Improve street cleaning, lighting and rapid response to disorder.
• Support storefront occupancy and renewed private investment.
• Connect vulnerable people with housing, health care, mental-health services, treatment and recovery.
• Coordinate action among the City, Province, police, service providers, businesses and property owners.
• Make downtown a place where residents, employees and visitors feel comfortable returning.

• Actively compete for new employers, entrepreneurs and private investment.
• Establish a professional business development function at City Hall.
• Build on Victoria’s strengths in:
  • Technology and innovation.
  • Ocean and marine industries.
  • Clean energy.
  • Health care and life sciences.
  • Professional services.
  • Tourism and hospitality.
  • Education.
  • Creative and knowledge-based industries.
• Set measurable targets for investment, employment and business growth.
• Help prospective employers identify suitable locations and understand approval requirements.
• Promote Victoria as a competitive place to start, locate and expand a business.

• Create a dedicated funding management function to identify programs and coordinate applications.
• Pursue Victoria’s fair share of provincial and federal funding.
• Prepare strong, evidence-based business cases for priority projects.
• Target funding for housing, infrastructure, transportation, public safety and climate resilience.
• Seek additional support for health-related initiatives and responses to homelessness.
• Track applications, funding received and measurable results.
• Reduce the burden placed on Victoria property taxpayers.

• Increase housing choices for workers, families, renters and essential-service employees.
• Support rental housing, family-sized homes and attainable ownership opportunities.
• Accelerate suitable housing projects through faster, more predictable approvals.
• Recognize that employers cannot grow if workers cannot afford to live nearby.
• Improve walking, cycling and public-transit options.
• Accommodate regional commuters, commercial deliveries, accessibility needs and practical short-term parking.
• Give residents realistic transportation choices rather than relying on a single approach.

Create a public economic dashboard that tracks:

• New business openings and business closures.
• Commercial vacancy rates.
• Permit and approval times.
• Employment and household-income growth.
• Private investment attracted.
• Downtown pedestrian activity.
• Storefront occupancy.
• Senior-government funding secured.
• Housing starts and completions.