Desmond Tutu famously asked, “How do you eat an elephant?” His answer: “One bite at a time.” That philosophy certainly holds true in policy advocacy – especially with a provincial government in Victoria that has run out of money, is struggling to find direction, and is missing the mark on the important issues that everyday British Columbians, entrepreneurs, and contractors care about
Add in a new Prime Minister in Ottawa, who is still grappling with the punishing economic policy legacy of his predecessor, the ongoing threat of tariffs hanging over our economy, and the rising cost of everything, and it’s no wonder that people are feeling a heightened sense of uncertainty as they look to 2026.
But still, ICBA is making progress – one bite at a time.
- The Federal Budget. While imperfect, it is an improvement on what we’ve seen over the past 10 years. For an overview from ICBA’s Chief Economist Jock Finlayson, check out his interview on CHEK TV’s Carole Taylor’s Journal.
- Fixing Ottawa’s “greenwashing” law. ICBA and our allies at the Alberta Enterprise Group took the federal government to court over Bill C-59, Justin Trudeau’s so-called greenwashing law, which made it nearly impossible for a business to advertise the good work they were doing on the environment unless they could link their claims to some undefined “international standard”. The federal budget legislation will remove most of the most egregious threats to free speech and protect companies from eco-activists launching frivolous complaints – a significant win.
- Dismantling pieces of CleanBC. The provincial government has paused B.C.’s electric vehicle mandate, a core piece of their expensive CleanBC plan. Earlier this year, ICBA released a report showing CleanBC would carve $109.7 billion out of the B.C. economy between now and 2030 – a self-inflicted blow to our economy, 2.5 times more damaging than a full-blown tariff war with the USA.
What else are we working on?
HOUSING – We remain gravely concerned about how significantly homebuilding has slowed, and we continue to press government to lower costs, cut permit times, and do whatever it can to accelerate new builds:
- ICBA President & CEO Chris Gardner was recently on SMB Report with Kirk Lapointe, talking about job losses in the residential sector.
- Jock and fellow economist Ken Peacock have a piece in Business in Vancouver on why significantly more supply is still needed to make housing affordable over the long term.
Next up: Fighting yet another round of Metro Vancouver DCC hikes. Stay tuned.
STEEL – For months, we have been pressing the federal government to exempt B.C. and Alberta from its self-imposed steel tariffs. Last week, the issue got attention again in the Vancouver Sun and on CKNW Radio’s Mornings with Simi (Starts at 11:43). Still, there is little recognition from Ottawa about the harm this policy is inflicting on builders, homebuyers, and taxpayers on western Canada.
OPEN AND FAIR PROCUREMENT – ICBA led a group of 18 business, labour, construction, resource development and Indigenous organizations in a letter to Prime Minister Carney, pushing back on the Building Trades’ demands that major projects only be built by BTU workers. Such a policy would cut out 70 per cent of Canadian construction professionals and needlessly raise costs for taxpayers.
INDIGENOUS ISSUES – ICBA was the first major business group to oppose the provincial government’s plan to revamp the Heritage Conservation Act, and the opposition to the NDP’s agenda has not ceased since. Just this week, Northern Beat, Rebel News, and the Globe and Mail cited ICBA’s objections. We also joined seven resource groups in a letter asking for the NDP to pause or reverse many of its policy decisions that have jeopardized private property rights and tenures in B.C. We’re putting several things in place for 2026 on these files – preserving and protecting private property rights will be a significant focus for ICBA in the coming year.
ICBA continues our work on these and other advocacy files on behalf of our members – if there’s a public policy or red tape issue your company is facing at City Hall, in Victoria, or in Ottawa that you could use some help with, reach out to jordan@icba.ca.
