With apologies, that the Monday Morning Briefing didn’t get to your email this morning, we wanted to hold off and share the government announcements that took place earlier today.
With the swearing in of the Government Executive and Cabinet today, we can say that the Provincial Election 2024 is finally over. With judicial recounts complete and the swearing in of all newly elected Members of the Legislation last week, Premier Eby is back to work and has committed that his government will be focusing on kitchen-table issues including affordability, health care, public safety, housing, and the economy.
No doubt, Premier Eby has been sweating it out over deciding on his new cabinet. With a one-vote majority, the BCNDP caucus of 47 MLAs includes 29 returning incumbents and 18 new faces. But he did lose 12 ministers due to retirements and losing campaigns. His other challenge has been in finding a balance between urban and rural representation, particularly in the northern region as out of the entire caucus, only 5 were elected outside of Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
So what happened at Government House today?
The new cabinet stayed the same with 27 Ministers and Ministers of State, yet a number of Ministries were changed up, dissolved, and amalgamated. What does this mean to HAVAN members?
Ravi Kahlon remains in the Housing portfolio but also gets Municipal Affairs as well. You may recall that former Minister Selina Robinson originally held the combined Ministry which was separated when she moved onto another portfolio. What this tells me is that the Premier is pleased with the heavy-handed approach that he has taken to housing and is being entrusted to continue to get local governments onside with legislation, with the added pressure of much needed infrastructure.
Britney Anderson, reporting directly to the Premier’s Office, holds a new position of Minister of State for Local Governments and Rural Communities. Re-elected in the riding of Kootenay-Central, it will be interesting to see how this role plays out.
Adrian Dix moves over from Health to the new Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions. His role includes oversight of the province’s electricity and low-carbon energy projects. This is also the new home of the CleanBC incentive programs.
Mike Farnworth is still House Leader and assumes responsibility of Transportation and Transit, a new Ministry in that Infrastructure has been moved to its own entity. His largest challenge will be the behemoth agency of Translink and its $600 million a year funding gap.
Bowinn Ma has moved up to become the Minister of Infrastructure, now a stand-alone agency, bringing capital planning and procurement together and assuming responsibility for Infrastructure BC.
And lastly, newcomer Randene Neill of the Sunshine Coast takes over Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship.
Look forward to further updates on HAVAN building and enhancing relationships with our new and returning Ministers and their Ministries.
QUICK SURVEY …
BC’s Building and Safety Standards Branch released two technical bulletins extending in-stream protections for both adaptability and seismic requirement changes. The protections are for projects that have already completed ‘significant design work’ prior to March 8, 2024. This has left some ambiguity, giving municipalities some power of interpretation.
HAVAN, in collaboration with CHBA BC, is looking for members who have been impacted by any such issues, where projects having completed significant design work are not being offered the added protections provided by this bulletin. We have a two-question survey and your input will be kept confidential.
QUICK BITES …
- Vancouver’s condo craze began with the Balsam House in Kerrisdale in 1970, and now make up 30 percent of homes across Metro Vancouver, the highest proportion in North America.
- Translink, working in partnership with PCI Development, has its first high-rise tower approved under the public transit authority’s new for-profit real estate development division.
- Dr. Mike Moffat tweets that new CHMC housing starts are collapsing in BC and Ontario, while they are increasing in most other provinces. Rising development charges and increasing red tape at both the provincial and municipal levels is killing homebuilding.
- Long Read: Where dreams go to drown: What is’s like to live in Canada’s impossibly unaffordable city. Five Torontonians reveal the realities of the affordability crisis in their daily lives.
- GREEN SHEETS ON THE GO!
HAVAN member Green Sheet Construction Data tracks the Metro Vancouver construction market. Their online searchable database provides clients with a powerful tool to see past, current, and future construction projects across the Lower Mainland. Visit Green Sheet Hot Tips to view this month’s featured projects.
