ICBA Coffee & Construction

Not that long ago, British Columbia was an economic leader in Canada. No more. Too much debt and bloat, not enough investment and revenue. In less than a decade, B.C. has gone from leader to laggard. Episode 16 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. A special edition: a full sit-down with ICBA Chief Economist Jock Finlayson on From Leader to Laggard, the report he co-authored with consulting economist Ken Peacock. In this episode: ☕ "THIS IS NOT A CYCLICAL DOWNTURN." Jock's own line — the province is in the grip of a structural slowdown. What's the difference, and why is the second one so much harder to climb out of? From 2022 to 2024 the government side of B.C.'s economy grew 6.6% a year. The private sector grew 1%. 👷 THE 223,000 JOBS THAT DON'T EXIST. If B.C.'s private sector had kept growing the way it did before the pandemic, we'd have roughly 223,000 more private-sector jobs today. Since 2019, the province has added about 1.3 government jobs for every one private-sector job — more than double the national pace. 💸 SOMEBODY PAYS. The public-sector wage bill has gone from $26.7 billion to $53.2 billion in seven years. Taxpayer-supported debt is on track to TRIPLE in six. Jock and Ken went looking for another province that ran up debt like this — any province, any time — and couldn't find one in half a century. 🇺🇸 DON'T BLAME TRUMP. Everybody in Victoria wants this to be somebody else's fault. The report is blunt: blaming the tariffs is tempting, but B.C. was already on a weaker footing well before the trade fights started in 2025. 📊 Read From Leader to Laggard — free — and subscribe to the ICBA EconoBot briefing: https://icba.ca/economics

A million barrels a day, Bruderheim to the coast. Ottawa started the thirty-day clock on it Saturday of the long weekend — buried in the Canada Gazette, with no release and no tweet. If you believe a project is in the national interest, say so in daylight. Episode 15 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ THE BIG ONE: Ottawa moves to designate the West Coast oil pipeline a project in the national interest under the Building Canada Act. One million barrels a day from Bruderheim, Alberta to a deepwater port at Roberts Bank in Delta. Trans Mountain and Pembina are the partners. Comments close September 18; the target for designation is October 1. Plus a point-by-point answer to the "breakneck speed" crowd — because thirty-four days from public pitch to a legally required notice, on top of a six-week comment window, is not breakneck. It's the statutory process, followed to the letter. 🇺🇸 THE RISK NOBODY NAMES: Canada is the fourth-largest oil producer on earth, and we sell almost all of it to one customer — a customer scheduled to drop a 50% tariff on twenty billion dollars of our goods in two weeks. So explain the calculation where access to the entire Pacific market is the risky option and staying hostage to Washington is the safe one. 🛢️ WE ASKED. HE ANSWERED: Last show we asked whether cabinet solidarity means anything in David Eby's government, after a minister went public against her own cabinet's approval of the $2-billion Tilbury LNG expansion. Turns out the Premier already answered — he says his government is a "big tent," and that on her statement, "we worked together." He helped write it. Eleven hundred construction jobs a year, $260 million in tax revenue, a Musqueam equity stake — approved by his cabinet, then undercut by his cabinet, with his editing help. 🚧 A BILLION DOLLARS FOR PIPE IN THE GROUND: Canada and Alberta sign roughly $938 million for water and wastewater infrastructure to enable new housing. Not a tender — a funding agreement. But servicing is the most binding constraint in this business, and every builder listening has had a project die on a servicing letter. Mains, lift stations, treatment upgrades, reservoirs. Watch your council agendas. 🎙️ THIS FRIDAY — a special edition. ICBA Chief Economist Jock Finlayson, one-on-one, on From Leader to Laggard: the debt, the missing private-sector jobs, and why he says blaming Trump for B.C.'s problems is the easy answer and the wrong one. 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics

Nearly $318 billion of work. 1,030 projects. That's Alberta's Major Projects registry — this morning. The question isn't whether the work is there. It's who's going to build it. Episode 14 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. A special edition: our FIRST-EVER guest, ICBA Alberta President Mike Martens. ☕ THE BIG PICTURE: $317.9 BILLION across 1,030 projects on the province's own registry — petrochemical, oil and gas, data centres, schools, Calgary office conversions, a fire hall in Lacombe. Is it a boom, or a pipeline that looks like a boom until you check the start dates? 🖥️ TWO WAVES, ONE REGION: Meta's $13-billion data centre in Sturgeon County (3,000 workers at peak) and Dow's Path2Zero restart in Fort Saskatchewan ($10.1 billion, 4,500–5,500 at peak) — same trades, same corner of the province, overlapping windows 🛢️ OIL AND GAS: Alberta, Ottawa and five oilsands producers sign the Pathways carbon capture memorandum. Is the confidence actually back — or is this still paper and not steel? 🏙️ CALGARY'S CASE STUDY: 21 downtown office conversions, 2.68 million square feet of empty office becoming roughly 2,700 homes — while provincial housing starts cool from 55,800 to 46,000 🔧 WHO BUILDS IT: The building trades unions are about 12% of Alberta's construction workforce. Open shop is everybody else. So why does federal trades money keep landing in the same 12%? 🏗️ ICBA Meet the Generals & Owners — Edmonton, Tuesday, September 29, Edmonton Convention Centre. Western Canada's best day of business development. Register: https://events.icba.ca/edmonton

Interfor started as a coastal logging outfit in British Columbia in 1963. Sixty-three years later, its head office is packing up for Peachtree City, Georgia. Eighty-four per cent of its lumber sales are American now. Episode 13 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ THE BIG ONE: Interfor moves corporate functions from Burnaby to Georgia. The mills went south years ago — now the head office follows. And the numbers behind it: 15,000 B.C. forest sector jobs gone since 2022, 21 mills closed since 2023, and a harvest running 32 million cubic metres against the province's own 45-million target. That's a 13-MILLION-cubic-metre hole. Every year. 🛢️ CABINET NIMBYISM: The Eby cabinet approved FortisBC's $2-billion Tilbury LNG expansion in Delta — 1,100 construction jobs a year, $260 million in tax revenue, a Musqueam equity stake, cleaner marine fuel at the Port of Vancouver. Then a sitting cabinet minister went public against her own government's decision. What should have happened next? She should have resigned. 🎯 WHY LNG IS THE NEW TARGET: The campaign against Canadian energy has moved off pipelines and onto LNG — and the tactics have moved too. Off the regulators, onto the banks, the pension funds and the insurers. Plus the part that complicates the story: Cedar LNG is majority-owned by the Haisla Nation, Ksi Lisims is being developed with the Nisga'a. 🚧 WHERE THE WORK IS: RFPs for the first two Fraser River Tunnel work packages hit the market in early August. Nine years, zero lanes, and a price that's gone from $4.15 billion to $8.5 billion — but the work is real and the paperwork drops next week. Go get it. 🎙️ THIS FRIDAY — a special edition. Our first-ever guest: ICBA Alberta President Mike Martens on the $318 billion sitting in Alberta's project registry, the data centre wave, Dow's Path2Zero restart, and who on earth is going to build it all. 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics Read more on today's stories: Interfor shifting corporate functions to Georgia: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canadian-lumber-company-interfor-migrate-120021442.html B.C.'s forest sector and the harvest gap: https://www.biv.com/news/bc-forest-sector-faces-another-tough-year-in-2026-11793817 Canfor closing the Northwood pulp mill in Prince George: https://todayinbc.com/2026/07/15/canfor-closing-prince-george-northwood-pulp-mill-300-jobs-affected/ Jordan Bateman on cabinet nimbyism and Tilbury: https://icba.ca/bc-blog/icba.ca-op/ed-cabinet-nimbyism-yet-another-ndp-hurdle-to-b.c.-prosperity The Province's Tilbury decision: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2026ECS0043-000870 Why activists are targeting LNG: https://energynow.ca/2026/07/the-new-target-why-anti-oil-and-gas-activists-are-making-canadian-lng-not-pipelines-their-next-major-target/ Fraser River Tunnel procurement and federal funding: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2026TT0066-000796 ICBA Coffee & Construction drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe, hit the bell, and send this one to somebody who builds for a living. ICBA is Canada's largest construction association — the voice of B.C. and Alberta's open-shop builders: https://icba.ca #construction #bcpoli #BritishColumbia #forestry #LNG #Delta #PrinceGeorge #housing #ICBA

She'd never set foot in Vancouver. She called into a Vancouver public hearing from Los Angeles anyway. Council asked her one real question. Six seconds of silence. Then a cough. Episode 12 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ THE BIG ONE: A union machine hijacks Vancouver city hall — California callers who'd never been to Vancouver, AI-written scripts, "translators" who didn't speak the language, and a hotel union president defending it all. Real Vancouver families waited until 1 a.m. for their five minutes. Mayor Sim wants a Vancouver Charter fix — will David Eby move on it? 🖥️ The data centre race: New York slaps a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centres, the federal NDP wants Canada to copy it — and Alberta scoops up 92% of everything planned in this country. Vancouver? Come back in 2027. 🏠 CMHC's mid-year forecast: housing starts keep falling, with B.C. and Ontario condos wearing the worst of it. What that means for framing crews, excavators and every builder's 2027 🌉 Charlottetown wrap: tariffs bite August 19, "everything is on the table" — and Carney gets caught in his own spin on the Gordie Howe Bridge deal 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics Read more on today's stories: Dan Fumano on Vancouver council going off the rails: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/colu... The California callers and Sim's letter to Eby: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/unite... New York's data centre moratorium: https://thehub.ca/2026/07/20/new-york... CMHC's 2026 mid-year Housing Market Outlook: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/media-new... Carney on the Gordie Howe Bridge deal: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carn... ICBA Coffee & Construction drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe, hit the bell, and send this one to somebody who builds for a living. ICBA is Canada's largest construction association — the voice of B.C. and Alberta's open-shop builders: https://icba.ca #construction #bcpoli #abpoli #Vancouver #BritishColumbia #Alberta #housing #datacentres #ICBA

Steel pipe, made in Canada, stacked in a yard in Prince George. This week, they started putting it in the ground. A pipeline actually getting built. Imagine that. Episode 11 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ THE BIG ONE: Enbridge kicks off the $4-billion Sunrise Expansion near Prince George — 140 km of new pipe, 2,500 workers, Canadian steel, a Lheidli T'enneh partnership at the table — and even an NDP minister showed up. Have they finally got religion on oil and gas? ⛏️ B.C. is permitting mines again: Mount Polley's tailings raise approved — a decade of industry leading on safety, and a world desperate for copper 📉 From Leader to Laggard: Jock and Ken put the numbers on the table — 223,000 missing private-sector jobs, a public payroll that's doubled, and debt on track to TRIPLE in six years 🦺 WorkSafeBC comes for the shotcrete crews — same risk should mean same rule, whether it's a truck or a hose 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics

Every premier in Canada is flying to Charlottetown. The Prime Minister joins them Thursday. What they decide about trade lands on your job site. Episode 10 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ THE BIG ONE: Trade week — all 13 premiers meet in Charlottetown, then sit down with Prime Minister Carney Thursday. USMCA, steel and lumber tariffs, interprovincial trade — and whether David Eby shows up with something to build 🏙️ Western Canada's TALLEST tower lands on Vancouver council's desk: Holborn's plan for 1,546 homes, a 920-room hotel and two rebuilt downtown blocks 🗳️ B.C. politics gets a fourth party — Mike Bernier takes over CentreBC, and we do the vote-split math out loud 🚧 Where the work is: DCN's July pre-bid list, plus a forecast for B.C.'s highest-ever nonresidential construction spending this year 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics

Every new home comes with a stack of hidden fees. Nobody shows you the receipt. Ottawa might finally make them. Episode 9 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ THE BIG ONE: Bill C-287, the Housing Cost Transparency Act — ICBA backs MP Brad Redekopp's push to make the building code system show its work: real dollar costs, published before they land in your mortgage ⚡ Shovels go in this month on the North Coast Transmission Line — and Ksi Lisims LNG keeps stacking milestones on the road to a $20-billion final investment decision 🚆 Where the work is: all eight Surrey Langley SkyTrain stations are under construction, and crews are welding rail 🏥 Kamloops gets a win — the new acute treatment area opens at Royal Inland Hospital's emergency department 🏗️ Bird Construction lands roughly $1 BILLION in new work in one announcement — nuclear, mining, energy and seven new Alberta schools 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics

Interest rates: frozen. Terminal 2: finally has a builder. And Beedie's moving dirt in Surrey. Episode 8 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show: ☕ The Bank of Canada holds its key rate at 2.25% — what the freeze means for your operating line and equipment loans 🏗️ THE BIG ONE: The Port of Vancouver picks TerraMarine — Aecon, FlatironDragados, Van Oord and Carlson — to build the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 landmass and wharf. A decade of paperwork, and now the biggest port build in the country is real 🛢️ Pipeline week: Smith and Ford unveil the 3,300-km Northern Shield route from Hardisty to Sarnia — and Thursday, Calgary hears the next steps on the West Coast oil pipeline, with Mark Carney reportedly in the room 🚧 Beedie breaks ground on 60 acres and a million square feet of industrial space in Surrey 📉 A sentence we never thought we'd say: B.C.'s population is shrinking. ICBA Chief Economist Jock Finlayson and Ken Peacock on what that means for everyone who builds 📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics Read more on today's stories: Terminal 2 contractor: https://canada.constructconnect.com/joc/news/infrastructure/2026/07/contractor-awarded-landmass-wharf-contract-for-roberts-bank-terminal-2-project Northern Shield pipeline route: https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/projects/2026/07/premiers-smith-ford-unveil-proposed-west-east-oil-pipeline-route Beedie in Surrey: https://storeys.com/beedie-south-campbell-heights-groundbreaking/ Jock & Ken's op-ed: https://icba.ca/economics-blog/op/ed-population-decline-exposes-b.c.s-growth-problem-1 ICBA Coffee & Construction drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe, hit the bell, and send this one to somebody who builds for a living. ICBA is Canada's largest construction association — the voice of B.C. and Alberta's open-shop builders: https://icba.ca #construction #bcpoli #abpoli #BritishColumbia #Alberta #pipelines #PortOfVancouver #Surrey #ICBA Displaying coffee-and-construction-ep8-youtube-description.txt.

WorkSafeBC is holding its base rate at 1.55% for 2027 and calling it "rate stability." But the real cost of the system is 1.88% — and the gap is being covered by draining your surplus. Jordan Bateman breaks down the numbers WorkSafe doesn't want you to see, plus a break in the U.S. softwood lumber tariff and B.C.'s latest promise to speed up permits.

Alberta just landed a $13-billion Meta data centre — and built a power plant beside it so regular families don't get stuck with the bill. That's the model B.C. should copy. Jordan Bateman breaks down the smart way to power the AI boom, plus a fresh youth-jobs plan, and a new certification clock for crane operators. The news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta. New every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The Massey Tunnel price tag just DOUBLED — $4.15 billion to $8.5 billion — and Ottawa's cutting a cheque to help cover the NDP's mistake. Episode 5 of ICBA Coffee & Construction breaks down what it means for the people who build British Columbia and Alberta. On today's show: ▶ Massey Tunnel: the $8.5 billion "we told you so" — how a funded, under-budget bridge became nine years, zero lanes, and double the price ▶ The West Coast Oil Pipeline: a million barrels a day, $35–44 billion, 140,000 jobs at peak — real, but only on paper ▶ The $20 billion Canada-B.C. deal: four LNG projects, the Red Chris mine expansion, and a $10-billion Roberts Bank port upgrade ▶ WorkSafeBC: claims costs up 22% in two years — why your premiums are about to become the story Subscribe to ICBA Economics — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics ICBA Coffee & Construction drops every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Subscribe, and send this to one person who builds for a living. ICBA is the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association — Canada's largest construction association. Learn more: https://icba.ca #construction #bcpoli #abpoli

Three deadlines hit on Canada Day — and two of them land on every builder in BC and Alberta. Jordan Bateman breaks down the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta. In this episode: Alberta's million-barrel-a-day pipeline proposal is due July 1 at the federal Major Projects Office. Smith and Carney say they want to "get to yes" — the holdup runs through David Eby's BC. The CUSMA trade review opens the same day. ICBA Chief Economist Jock Finlayson's Mid-Year Update warns Canada is in — or on the cusp of — recession. The condo bailout: Pierre Poilievre asks the Commons ethics committee to investigate Ottawa and Victoria's plan to buy 2,200 unsold BC condos. 📩 Subscribe to ICBA Economics — the most helpful email you'll get all week: icba.ca/economics 🎧 New episodes Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. Next up: Wednesday, July 8. 👍 If it was useful, subscribe and send it to one person who builds for a living. Read more at icba.ca/bc-blog #ICBA #Construction #BCpoli #ABpoli #Pipeline #Housing #CdnEcon

ritish Columbia just hit a record pile of unsold condos. The government's big idea? Buy them — with your money. Welcome to the condo bailout. Episode 3 of ICBA Coffee & Construction: the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta. The condo buyback, a premier racing home from China for a federal deal, and the construction-jobs number nobody wants to see. I'm Jordan Bateman, VP of Communications & Advocacy at ICBA. New episodes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. **Chapters** 00:00 — Cold open 00:25 — The condo bailout 03:30 — Eby cuts his China trip short for a deal with Ottawa 06:00 — The construction-jobs number nobody wants to see 07:45 — Kicker: oil drops, a break on your costs **Stories & sources** • The condo buyback — critics, numbers, and the market context — https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-bc-partnership-condo-conversion-metro-vancouver-supply-criticism • Eby cuts China trip short for a B.C.–Ottawa major-projects MOU — https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/bc-close-to-mou-with-ottawa-that-may-include-massey-tunnel-replacement-funding/ • Ottawa nearing a major-projects deal with B.C. — https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-nearing-major-projects-deal-with-bc-as-alberta-closes-in-on/ • ICBA Economics — Construction Cools as Job Vacancies Crater — https://icba.ca/economics-blog/icba-econobot-construction-cools-as-job-vacancies-crater 📩 Subscribe to ICBA Economics — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics ▶️ Subscribe on YouTube and your favourite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode. If this was useful, send it to one person who builds for a living. #ICBA #construction #BCpoli #housing #affordability #resourceeconomy

B.C. approved a big new mine last week — then took a bow for the very law that froze everybody else's mine. That's where we start. Episode 2 of ICBA Coffee & Construction: the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta. A mine, a data-centre gold rush, and a pipeline deadline — and one question running underneath all of it: which governments actually let you build? Hosted by Jordan Bateman, VP of Communications & Advocacy at ICBA. New episodes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. **Chapters** 00:00 — Cold open 00:25 — Red Chris mine gets the green light (and the DRIPA spin to ignore) 03:15 — The data-centre gold rush — and who can actually power it 05:40 — Pipeline! Alberta's July 1 deadline 07:20 — The number that ties it together: B.C. 1.1% vs Alberta 2.3% 08:40 — Kicker: Alberta puts a price tag on leaving 📩 Subscribe to ICBA Economics — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics ▶️ Subscribe on YouTube and your favourite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode. If this was useful, send it to one person who builds for a living. #ICBA #construction #BCpoli #ABpoli #LNG #mining #resourceeconomy

Inflation's back, Alberta's pipeline clock is ticking, and B.C. just blew up another megaproject contract. Welcome to Episode 1. ICBA Coffee & Construction is the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta — fast, sharp, and straight up. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with Jordan Bateman. On this episode: – Inflation hits 3.2% — gas up 33%, groceries up again — and what it means on a job site – Alberta's nine-day countdown to a million-barrel pipeline proposal, and why David Eby's "same coast, different liquid" position doesn't add up – A $5-billion gold-and-copper mine stalled because the NDP fumbled its duty to consult – The Massey tunnel contract blowup — and how a funded 2024 bridge became a $9-billion-and-climbing hole in the ground Chapters (adjust to your cut): 0:00 Cold open: inflation's back 0:30 Inflation hits 3.2% 2:00 Alberta's pipeline countdown vs. Eby's veto 4:30 KSM mine stalled — sloppy consultation, $5B price 6:30 Massey tunnel: what did we get for it? 📩 Want the economics behind the headlines? Subscribe to ICBA's twice-weekly EconoBot briefing — the most useful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics 🔨 Learn more about ICBA, Canada's largest construction association: https://icba.ca 🎧 Listen on your favourite podcast app: search for Coffee and Construction. If this was useful, subscribe and send it to one person who builds for a living. Follow ICBA: X @icbabc | LinkedIn: ICBA | Facebook: theICBA #bcpoli #abpoli #construction #pipelines #inflation #ICBA #resourceeconomy #BCndp