Is BC Sliding Backwards?
Guest: Chris Gardner, President of Independent Contractors and Business Association
Well, 2024 was quite a year. Painful conflicts around the world, natural disasters of various kinds, and here in Canada, an economy that lags in so many ways – growth per capita, productivity, business investment. In today's Journal, we take a look at what has been holding us back.
Chris Gardner is CEO/President of the 4500-member ICBA (Independent Contractors and Business Association) based in British Columbia and is an expert on labour and construction issues affecting our progress. He gets frustrated with some of our public policies that impede the ability to build what our community needs, whether it is affordable housing or the supportive infrastructure that must go along with it.
In fact, the ICBA has brought lawsuits against both the provincial and federal governments, trying to bring attention to policies that they believe have negative consequences for our economy.
I remember last spring when Prime Minister Trudeau, after another round of announcing dozens of housing initiatives, declared that with these initiatives, we hope to build 400,000 homes annually – that’s almost double our current rate of about 250,000 homes.
I thought: What? How? It’s a nice idea but where will we find the labour we need to double our building output? Where will we find the money it takes to build affordable or rental properties that often depend on government support? And how do we improve the zoning and permitting process at the municipal level to make this happen?
Chris Gardner joins me to look at some specific policies that will have to change if BC, and Canada, are going to move forward as an economic and fair country, full of hope for our children and grandchildren.
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