Beware of B.C.’s Infrastructure Projects Act!

We’d like nothing more here at PCA, than to applaud the BC government for passing Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act. Legislation aimed at fast-tracking crucial public and private infrastructure should be something to celebrate, but not when it raises major red flags.

Bill 15, is a broad, vague piece of legislation, that provides the province’s NDP government with sweeping, subjective powers to deem a project provincially significant. To help counter US tariffs, the federal and Ontario governments brought in their own streamlining legislation to fast-track projects. However, the BC version is already uniquely suspect.

First, BC’s Bill 15 has yet to determine what makes a project significant. So far, it could include anything from critical minerals to a new community centre or swimming pool. Excluded from the legislation, despite their clear national and economic significance, are pipelines and LNG facilities. Why shouldn’t Canadians benefit from getting these resource projects built as quickly as possible?

However, a project could be “provincially significant” if it achieves certain labour goals, such as apprenticeships and training. That’s another huge potential red flag. Back in 2018, BC’s NDP government used a similar rationale to reward its buddies. It announced that several major public projects, from the Pattullo Bridge to the Trans-Canada Highway widening, would fall under a labour framework that allowed only Building Trades Union (BTU) workers to build these projects. While the BC government talked about training opportunities, this policy was designed to effectively shut out 85 percent of the province’s construction workers who prefer to affiliate with other unions or none at all.

We’re all familiar with the end result: blatant favouritism that has reduced the pool of available workers, delayed projects and sent construction costs soaring.

BC’s Ministry of Infrastructure has opened a province-wide public engagement process to get feedback on the Infrastructure Projects Act. Municipal governments, First Nations, opposition MLAs and business groups are raising plenty of concerns, and so are we.

The BC government can be sure that we’ll be standing up for our member companies. We’d like to think Bill 15 is about building BC’s economy, and not allowing the province to cherry pick (once again) who gets to build critical public projects.

The Infrastructure Projects Act has been described as a test of the Eby government’s integrity. We couldn’t agree more.

We’ve been down this road before. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be waiting and watching to see if this time will be different.