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
The Conservative Party of BC acknowledges British Columbia is an outlier when it comes to Prompt Payment Legislation and we will look very closely at this.
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Yes. Ensuring that people get paid, and that they can pay their subcontractors, is crucial to the functioning of the industry. It is unfair that this exists in other areas but not this field. The BC Greens would commit to enacting this legislation within our first term of government.
– 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
The BC Conservatives understand the value of the construction industry in our province. Not
only does it provide good-paying jobs for British Columbians and inject millions of dollars into
our economy, it also builds the public infrastructure, roads, and housing we so desperately
need.
To reduce regulatory burdens on the industry we are committed to working closely with
stakeholders to determine which regulations are hindering the construction industry from
moving forward. We will create a working group to come up with recommendations on how a
BC Conservative government can remove barriers that are a hindrance to the construction
industry.
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
The BC Greens are a party of innovation, of listening to experts and trying things differently. We would work with the Construction Association, listen to your concerns, and bring people together to make sure the sector is working for all – that bids are fair and easy. We would enact prompt payment legislation and commit to having ‘Contract A’ for all public sector construction projects. We need to create the conditions for innovation in construction – to make sure our buildings are energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and able to adjust to the changing climate. We would position BC as a global leader in prefabricated home technologies by investing in innovation and developing comprehensive design guidelines to improve housing quality and affordability.
– 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
We are committed to working with the construction industry on removing conditions, regulations and legislation that are a hindrance to contractors. We will examine BC Housing’s supplementary conditions as part of our construction industry working group.
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
The BC Greens plan to overhaul BC Housing to ensure accountability, transparency, and the successful build out of non-market housing. We see a need for government to work as a partner to industry, and are concerned about the challenges that numerous organizations are having with BC Housing.
– Green Party of British Columbia