Local Chamber achieves petition threshold to bring forward Land Trust Tax Policy Petition to the Federal Government.  

KAMLOOPS – The Kamloops & District Chamber of Commerce has received over 500 signatures in support of their Land Trust Tax Policy petition as brought forward by Member of Parliament for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, Frank Caputo. This is the key threshold of signatures needed to empower MP Caputo to bring this forward to the Federal Government. 

In November, the Chamber opened the petition to explore implementing a Community Land Trust tax policy that will tackle the affordable housing crisis in Kamloops and across Canada. This policy looks to empower community land trusts by mimicking a proven model, the ecological gift program, which has unlocked almost $1 billion dollars in private equity for ecological preservation. 

This policy was created by Chamber Director and CEO of O’Leary & Associates, Colin O’Leary, who brought this forward through the Kamloops & District Chamber of Commerce, the BC Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in 2020. As a result of building awareness, many organizations across the country have signed on in support of this important initiative including, the City of Kamloops, the Miskanawah Community Services Association in Calgary, and from members of the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts.   

“The Kamloops & District Chamber of Commerce has been working hard to find new solutions for affordable housing. I congratulate them on achieving enough signatures to have their petition supporting a Community Land Trust Tax Policy meet the 500-signature threshold necessary to warrant a Government response. I look forward to presenting their exciting initiative to Parliament later in February and relaying the Governments response in the months to come,” said MP Caputo. 

Chamber Director Colin O’Leary shares, “This is an extremely exciting milestone in our journey, and we are going to use this excitement to fuel the work we still have work to do. Even though we have reached the Federal Government threshold with our petition, we still need everyone’s help to continue to build awareness and momentum to drive this policy across the finish line in Parliament in February. Affordable housing affects all of us, we need your help to build awareness about this innovative solution. Sign the petition today.”  

Though the petition has surpassed the threshold to move forward to the Federal government, the Chamber will continue to collect signatures until February 28 to strengthen the support for this initiative. Read more and sign on in support of the Chamber’s Land Trust initiative here: https://kamloopschamber.ca/land-trust-policy/  

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