The Business of Construction
High interest rates and skyrocketing raw material costs due to global inflation have put many builders under pressure, causing some to choose to delay payments to trades in response. Finding a balance between ensuring trades are paid promptly and builders aren’t tipped over into bankruptcy so that nobody gets paid and homes don’t get built is challenging, but critically important work. If we are elected to form government for the next term, we commit to putting in place legislated payment requirements to protect trades, and to working with industry as a whole to minimize impacts on already stressed builders. Trades shouldn’t be forced to lend to financially strained builders, and insolvent builders won’t solve that problem. We’ll get this challenging problem fixed together.
– British Columbia New Democratic Party
Coming Soon
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Coming Soon
– Green Party of British Columbia
The construction industry is a major sector for the growth and strength of our province. As we set records for the net number of new people moving to B.C. to start a new life, 180,000 last year alone, we have to build more, faster, and more efficiently. First, we’re building while the other parties are promising to cut. Billions of dollars in new public hospitals, roads, transit projects, schools and affordable homes means jobs for trades and firms in a global economic downturn. If these projects are cut by an incoming government – as they’ve promised to do – the jobs with them will also go, leaving a glut of trades workers looking for work and competing by reducing wages. And that also ignores the impact on the public of overcrowded classrooms, antique hospitals, and backed up traffic. Because we have the highest economic growth of large provinces, the second highest private sector job creation of any province in Canada in the last twelve months, and the second lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any province, we can afford to build for the future – and now is the time to do it. We can’t rely on our grandparents infrastructure to be enough to support us. We’re using these public projects to support industry in developing new, more efficient and environmentally and economically friendly technologies like mass timber, modular school and home construction, and climate control systems for hotter summers. At the same time, we’re also using these projects to train workers in apprenticeships for the future. It’s a true partnership – one that we value and can build on.
– British Columbia New Democratic Party
Coming Soon
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Coming Soon
– Green Party of British Columbia
Yes. As a part of their larger Transformation Program, BC Housing has a financial management and oversight review underway to assess, streamline and improve processes to be more accountable and responsive to the changing needs of tenants, construction partners, and communities. This includes a commitment to develop a system to govern and manage contract activity from contract creation through completion to strengthen BC Housing’s management of contracts. We will ensure BC Housing’s Transformation Program includes reform of its Supplementary General Conditions to ensure fairness and balance.
– British Columbia New Democratic Party
Coming Soon
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Coming Soon
– Green Party of British Columbia