A bill that would place greater reliance on professionals during the building approvals process has passed second reading in the B.C. legislature.
The professional reliance act, brought forward as a private member’s bill by Nanaimo-Lantzville MLA George Anderson to speed up development approvals, garnered full support from the B.C. NDP in a vote on Monday, Nov. 17, but the Conservatives, Greens, One B.C. and two out of three independents voted in opposition, resulting in 44 votes against.
The act would change regulations so local governments can accept technical reports by certified professionals at face value, whereas right now many local governments require staff to review engineering reports and architectural designs. Exceptions are made in the new bill if the work is incomplete or in the event of a complaint.
In a social media post following the vote, Anderson called delay “the most expensive material in construction” when building homes.
“This bill is about trusting professionals so that we can build homes faster and this is already happening in cities like Vancouver, Burnaby, Maple Ridge, the Town of Ladysmith and the City of Nanaimo,” Anderson said. “So let’s build quicker, and build to help families in British Columbia. Housing is not a partisan issue and I want to work with people, so I hope that people will be engaged so we can find the best solutions that deliver results for every British Columbian.”
One of the bill’s opponents was MLA Sharon Hartwell, Conservative critic for rural communities and rural development, who argued that having local governments review reports is less a barrier and more of a “safeguard.”
“If the government truly wants to speed up approvals, it should invest in building local capacity, hire more staff, fund training and modernize systems. It should not be taking authority away from the very people trying to make this system work,” Hartwell said during the debate. “We keep hearing about backlogs in permitting across the multiple ministries. The problem is not local government, the problem is the provincial bureaucracy itself.”
Sunita Dhir, MLA for Vancouver-Langara, spoke in support, stating that the public remains protected by a strong framework of standards and oversight.
“Housing affordability is one of the biggest challenges we face as a province. We cannot solve it with a single policy or a single bill, but we can make meaningful progress by improving the systems that slow down housing delivery,” Dhir said. “When we reduce unnecessary duplication, we shorten timelines. When we shorten timelines, we reduce costs. And when we reduce costs, we give people a better chance at finding a home they can afford.”
Following second reading, the bill will be examined in committee of the whole, which includes another vote, and if it is complete without amendments, it will go to another vote at third reading before receiving royal assent.