Powell River Regional District directors have voted to provide immigrating business owners a letter of support but one director suggests there should be some vetting before signing.
At the Thursday, July 23 board meeting, a late agenda item under new business was added the agenda, recommending that the board provide a letter of support for the application submitted by Aiguo Fu and Yujing Gong to the Business Entrepreneur Immigration Program for the purpose of gaining entry into Canada to purchase and operate Desolation Sound Resort.
Patrick Brabazon, board chair and Electoral Area A director, in whose electoral area the resort is situated, brought the matter to the board.
City director CaroleAnn Leishman asked if the people making application were a couple. Brabazon said they were the mother and father of the woman that is managing the resort. Leishman asked Brabazon if he had met them and he indicated he had not yet.
Colin Palmer, Electoral Area C director, asked if anyone on the board knows these people.
“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” he said. “This is a private enterprise being sold to another private person for entry into Canada and we don’t even know the people.”
Brabazon said the immigration application was part of the federal and provincial government entrepreneurship program. The senior levels of government request letters of support from local government, according to Brabazon, who added that the Powell River Chamber of Commerce had already submitted a letter.
Director Sandy McCormick from Texada Island asked about the possibility of having the applicants attend a committee meeting so board members could get to know them.
“We don’t know these people and I don’t know that the Desolation Sound Resort is all about,” she said. “I’d like to know more about it. Is it the role of the regional district to be involved in immigration issues?”
Russell Brewer, city director, said he did not know if the regional district needed to entertain a delegation from the applicants but indicated that Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa has signed a number of these letters and has made an effort to meet the applicants.
“In practice he gets some idea of what they are about and chooses whether or not to provide a letter of support.”
Brabazon said the regional district would not get a delegation from these two applicants because they are in China.
He said the terms of the program are a 44-page document, available online, which stipulates eligibility. He encouraged directors to read it if they want more information.
“We don’t make the decision,” Brabazon said. “The provincial government makes the decision whether they will nominate the applicant to the federal government to let them in under the entrepreneurship program.”
Brabazon said the investors were bringing money into the community and that is they way this particular program functions. He said these applications are routine.
“We will not make the decision whether they come in. They either meet the terms of the program or not. All we are saying, if we approve this, we like the idea that someone is coming in and spending more than $1 million in our regional district and taking over a viable business from the current owners that want to retire.”
Director Merrick Anderson from Lasqueti Island said a similar situation occurred on the island earlier this year. A store had been for sale for a long time and some Chinese investors wished to purchase it. Anderson was asked to write a letter of support and did. He said they were buyers with money and he supported the application.
Palmer said he does not care where the applicants are from. He does appreciate that they want to purchase the Desolation Sound Resort.
“I just don’t know these people and someone’s asking me to vote,” he said. “If you know them and want to write on behalf of Electoral Area A, be my guest.”
Brabazon said it behooves the board to welcome investors.
“We are not talking about the mafia coming in to run some dubious casino,” he said. “This is one of the major resorts in our area.”
McCormick said she agrees in principal that folks have come forward to buy the resort but she does not know anything about these people.
“It’s an awkward thing to be put into a position where we are asked to support an application, which, in principal, is easy to support because of the investment and the continued operation of the resort.”
Leishman said several properties in Powell River have been purchased under the immigration program and for the most part, they are families that are coming to live here.
“I’m pretty confident that if it’s the mother and father of the daughter that’s going to run it, it’s not a shady organization that is just trying to get into Canada,” Leishman said. “It sounds like she’s trying to get her parents over here and I support that.”
The board voted in favour of the recommendation to provide the letter of support, with Palmer opposed.
.jpg;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)