With no clear winner in the recent British Columbia provincial election, construction stakeholders are holding steady while pushing forward with their own action items.
Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA) president Jeannine Martin said the association will continue to advocate for issues of importance to the industry and despite the current uncertain state of affairs there will likely be progress.
“There’s going to be a new cabinet forming, a shuffling of people in roles and we think it’s an opportunity to realign and give construction the profile and attention deserving of a $27 billion industry,” she said.
British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA) president Chris Atchison said the situation is in flux, but his organization is still looking forward to working with both the party forming government and the opposition caucuses to advance the industry’s priorities and that of its workforce.
“We’re looking forward to working with those (in government) we’re familiar with and to introducing ourselves to those who are new to the legislature,” he said. “Our work will remain the same, we’ll remain steadfast that the strategic direction we have delivering prompt payment legislation, adjudication and lien reform, fair, open and transparent procurement practices and making sure we’ve got a healthy, robust and forward-thinking construction industry will be paramount for us.”
Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA) regional director Dan Baxter said the razor-thin nature of the election shouldn’t affect the key issues affecting his members.
“Obviously there’s still a number of votes to be counted and any number of scenarios could play out but that doesn’t change much for the PCA,” he said.
“Our number one issue is regressive, restrictive project labour agreements that shut out workers and doesn’t get infrastructure built at the level it needs to be. We’ll keep working on that regardless of the election result.”
Martin also pointed to the current deadlock as unhelpful to the industry’s push for prompt payment legislation.
“We’re getting a little analysis paralysis on this issue and it’s very hard to argue where payment certainty is a bad thing,” she said.
The 2024 election currently mirrors the situation in 2017, when the BC Liberals were ousted from power after a similarly close result that ultimately led to the BC NDP and Green Party forming an alliance to defeat the Liberals through a non-confidence motion and ultimately a decision by the province’s lieutenant governor.
“It’s profoundly discouraging that after four years we’re back to 2017. There’s a division and angst there, a desire for change, and we’ll probably be back to another election sooner rather than later,” Baxter said.
Independent Contractors and Businesses Association president Chris Gardner expressed doubt the final result of the election would differ significantly from the overall shape of the electorate on election night (Oct. 19), adding the real question is what current Premier David Eby is willing to sacrifice by allying with the Green party to form a majority.
“We have several projects that have come to completion and we don’t have another $100 billion of projects behind those,” he said. “The Greens have been very clear they want no new pipelines, no LNG projects, a shrinking forest industry and no new mines.
“To stay, premier Eby has to give them something, and we’re concerned the deal struck will be expensive for B.C. The reality is we cannot tax our way to affordability or a stronger economy,” Gardner said.
He added while the narrative around a close election is that another is on the way in the next 12 to 18 months, “I actually don’t believe it.”
“The federal Liberal-NDP deal lasted three years as did the provincial deal between the NDP and the Greens,” Gardner said. “Power sharing tends to last longer than people think because as politicians that has power and they want to hang onto it as long as they can.”
The Journal of Commerce reached out the BC Building Trades but they declined to comment for this story.
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