ICBA Advocacy Update | June 30, 2026
Key Points
- Mid-Year Economic Update: Jock Finlayson’s new forecast says choppy waters ahead, with B.C. GDP growth crawling to 0.6% with job losses, while Alberta roars to 2.5% on record energy production.
- Eby’s Condo “Bailout”: A plan to spend public money buying 2,200+ unsold B.C. condos – something no developer, builder or housing advocate asked for. Chris Gardner lays out why Eby owns this mess, full stop.
- Massey Tunnel Delayed Again: The NDP killed a $3B bridge that would’ve opened in 2024 to chase what industry insiders now say is an $11B-plus tunnel. Four times the price, no shovels in the ground, a decade of delay, and you’re paying for it.
Mid-Year Economics Projections
Where is the economy actually headed in the back half of 2026? ICBA Chief Economist Jock Finlayson has just released our Mid-Year Update – and the short version is choppy waters: B.C. growth is set to slow to just 0.6% this year with net job losses, while Alberta powers ahead at 2.5% on the back of record energy production.
That B.C.-Alberta gap is no accident, as Finlayson lays out in a companion Business in Vancouver op-ed: Alberta tops the country on GDP per person (nearly $75,000), weekly earnings, and after-tax income, a reminder of what high-productivity, export-oriented industries can deliver.
The lesson for B.C. policymakers is clear – build a business climate that attracts investment in the sectors that pack the biggest economic punch. Check out the full Mid-Year Update and judge the numbers for yourself.
Eby Authored the Condo “Bailout”
Last week, Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a plan to spend public money buying up more than 2,200 unsold condos in B.C. – and the backlash was immediate, with critics calling it a developer bailout and developers pointing out they never asked for it.
In this op-ed for Northern Beat, ICBA President Chris Gardner was clear: ICBA has not met one builder, contractor, or developer that asked government to buy their unsold units.
Make no mistake about who owns this: Carney himself said the program was “initiated” by the B.C. government, so Eby’s recent complaint that the “plot has been lost” is laughable. This is his plan, his own pattern (BC Housing has been buying up unsold units for months), his announcement, and his mess.
Governments shouldn’t be borrowing money to buy condos, full stop — if policymakers want to help, builders have been offering cheaper solutions for a decade: stop constantly changing building codes, harmonize and simplify them, and cut the development charges piling onto every new home.
Massey Delayed. Again.
A child born when B.C. first started talking about replacing the George Massey Tunnel is now old enough to have finished school and started a career. If the replacement opens in the mid-2030s, they’ll likely be married with kids.
In a new Vancouver Sun op-ed, Chris breaks down how the NDP cancelled a $3-billion bridge that would have opened in 2024, only to chase a tunnel now pegged at $9 billion or more: four times the price, years behind schedule, and still no shovels in the ground. And just this month, the government scrapped its contract with the lead builder, Cross Fraser Partnership, sending an already-delayed project back to square one – yet another restart on a tunnel that still doesn’t have a confirmed builder, a firm price, or a single shovel in the ground.
Tools to Help You Succeed
Coffee & Construction is a fast 7-to-10-minute video and podcast, hosted by our Jordan Bateman, landing three times a week with the news that actually matters to people who build for a living. Pipelines and major projects, housing and permitting policy, B.C. and Alberta politics, the regulatory fights, the dollars on the line — all filtered through a builder’s lens, fast and no fluff. Watch on YouTube or listen on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe free!
ICBA’s EconoBot drops into inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday[CG1] – plus every Bank of Canada decision day – with a sharp morning read on the economic numbers that actually move construction in B.C. and Alberta. Tariffs, housing starts, oil prices, major project decisions, StatsCan releases, all filtered through a builder’s lens. Read the latest issues or subscribe free at icba.ca/economics.
And don’t forget ICBA’s Letter of Support tool, which makes it easy to get our backing for your projects at the municipal level. Upload a few details of your development application and ICBA will send you a customized letter on your behalf, signed by President & CEO Chris Gardner. Review it, approve it, and we’ll submit it directly to the relevant council. Visit icba.ca/icba-supports-your-application to get started.
ICYMI
Some ICBA work you may not have seen:
- Chris Gardner is the new chair of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation board of directors, leading the fight for lower taxes, less waste and more accountability from government.
- ICBA released our Federal Government Policy Priorities for the second half of 2026, and the message is blunt: stop strangling the projects that pay for everything else.
- We made several recommendations on the B.C. Government’s Prompt Paymentrules, including holding public sector owners to account, making adjudication accessible, and setting an interest rate that deters slow payment.
- We joined five other organizations to push back on the NDP Government’s mishandling of the BC Labour Relations Board.
- Jock Finlayson had two recent op-eds in the media – one on concerns over stalled projects in northwest B.C. (Fraser Institute), and one on Canadian trade with China and the U.S. (Financial Post)