Opinion: What the BC Conservative win means for home builders, promise by promise

David Babakaiff is co-founder of VanPlex, which describes itself as a Vancouver multiplex development company. A longer version of this article first appeared on the VanPlex blog. The views are his own.

"We will welcome capital back to our province," Lorne Doerkson told supporters on election night, CBC News reported, after CBC projected a BC Conservative majority. If you own a house lot and plan to build several homes on it, the rules you build under today are still the law. What the new government has promised is lower construction charges, faster approvals, a rewrite of the step code, and more say for cities over where density goes. The last of those could change how many homes a city must allow on your lot.

What happened on October 24

CBC News projected a Conservative majority, the party's first since 1928. A majority takes 47 of the 93 seats. At 1:49 a.m. on October 25, Elections BC's count had the Conservatives leading in 64 districts, with 48.05 per cent of the vote. Elections BC has set the final count for November 6.

David Eby called the election two years early. CBC reported that he resigned as premier and as BC NDP leader in his concession speech, and projected that he keeps his seat in Vancouver-Point Grey. Doerkson has been the MLA for Cariboo-Chilcotin since 2020 and became the party's interim leader on September 21, after Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned (CBC).

In the same speech, CBC reported, Doerkson said Vancouver will host a business summit next year that will be the "envy of the world," promised to cut red tape "like never before," and repeated his pledge of a $1,000 tax cut and no new taxes.

The promises that touch construction

All of these come from the party's platform, "Lorne Doerkson's Plan for a Stronger BC", with the page number.

None of the housing items carries a dollar figure. The platform does not say which charges count as "unnecessary," so we do not know yet whether development cost charges or amenity cost charges on a multiplex go down, or by how much.

The provincial multiplex rules stay law for now

The small-scale multi-unit housing law of 2023 makes most cities allow at least 3 homes on lots of 280 square metres or less, at least 4 on larger lots, and 6 on lots over 281 square metres within 400 metres of a frequent bus stop. It covers lots inside an urban containment boundary, or in a municipality of more than 5,000 people (Province of BC policy manual, pages 8 and 9). Those rules stay in force until the legislature passes a new law.

The platform names no change to this law. It does say density should be "a decision of local government and local residents." Doerkson said it more plainly at a news conference during the campaign: "Ultimately, it's not Victoria's place to tell Terrace where they should put housing" (CBC News, October 16).

My read, as someone who builds these: if Victoria hands the density decision back to cities, the cities that fought the provincial law hardest could cut back what they allow. Vancouver is a different case. Council made multiplexes legal under its own bylaw at a public hearing on September 14, 2023, and the vote was unanimous (City of Vancouver; CBC News). That bylaw stays unless Council changes it.

The step code and gas

The BC Energy Step Code is the Province's set of energy rules for new buildings, on what the Province calls its "path to net-zero energy ready new buildings by 2032." The platform says the code "has nothing to do with safety and quality construction" and promises to overhaul it (page 6). Together with the end of municipal bans on gas connections (page 22), it is, in my view, the platform's most direct promise to cut what it costs to build.

Two cautions. Nothing changes until a new regulation is written, and the platform gives no date. And a lower energy standard can lower the cost to build while it raises the heating bill your buyers or tenants pay. Run both numbers before you redesign a project around it.

What stays the same

The speculation and vacancy tax rates for 2026 are already set: 1 per cent for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and 3 per cent for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners (Province of BC). The Conservative platform does not mention this tax. The NDP had campaigned on an unsold condo tax and a one-point rise in the vacancy tax (CBC News). The Conservative platform includes neither.

Your zoning, your permit and the city fees on your file are the same today as before the vote.

What I would do this week

If you have a project in permitting, keep going. Nothing in force has changed, and a pause costs you carrying interest every month.

If you are deciding whether to buy a lot, check what the city allows on it today, under its own bylaw. A city bylaw stays in place even if the provincial minimum is later relaxed.

Every district's count is on Elections BC's results page, and every candidate is listed by district on this site.