- Business in Vancouver

As the nation's workplace model shifted from remote to in-person, more Canadians are leaving their pandemic pets at home and returning to the office. Compared to pre-pandemic times, employees' attitudes towards a low-stress and enjoyable work environment has changed.  A recent survey […]

BC Hydro already sees a 2022 increase in electricity demand as British Columbians try to remain cool as the mercury climbs. It expects that trend to continue as climate change impacts the province. That demand has led to a change from B.C. being a winter high-user of power to being a summer one, […]

The City of Prince George is suing the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada, claiming the insurance company wrongfully denied business interruption coverage for devastating revenue losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a notice of civil claim filed on June 15 in BC Supreme […]

The majority of Canadians and Americans are planning to travel over the summer months, according to a new survey.  While summer travel dropped significantly in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the poll finds that 60 per cent of American and 61 per cent of Canadian respondents plan to travel […]

If you've struggled to get a passport over the past few weeks, you are far from alone.  Scores of Metro Vancouverites have taken to social media to express frustration and outrage following long waits at passport offices across the regions. Many of them have shared horror stories about their […]

One of the first things to strike the viewer in this July 1933 photograph is the crisp sign “AH MEW CO. Wholesale fruits & vegetables.” It is in contrast to the ironically faded “Bapco Pure Paint” two doors down. The freshness was likely owing to the recent move of the […]

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has dismissed a petition aimed at finding Premier John Horgan and Lt. Gov. Janet Austin broke the law by scheduling an election a year early in 2020. Democracy Watch and IntegrityBC founder Wayne Crookes did not contest the result of the snap election, but their lawsuit […]

A former New York Times reporter who was living on Vancouver’s South West Marine Drive has been charged with harassing a former Law Society of BC president and his mother-in-law. Joshua Kron, a recent Vancouver Film School attendee, was ordered June 22 to stay away from the home owned […]

The Canadian government has launched a three-year-long round of discussions with each of the country’s provinces and territories. The goal: nothing short of planning a new economy driven by renewable energy.   Dubbed the Regional Energy and Resource Tables, the round-table meetings […]

TransLink is turning its attention real estate development as it attempts to make up for lost revenue in the pandemic. The regional transit authority announced Thursday it was launching a real estate development program that would see it build both commercial and residential projects near transit […]

Workers backing Metro Vancouver’s concrete industry are ending their five-week strike after landing a deal with employers. "Some desperately-needed pours will no doubt begin this weekend and our members will have peace of mind that their jobs are secure for the future," Mike Mayo, the […]

The chief financial executive at the B.C. Legislative Assembly is gone. Sources say that Hilary Woodward was escorted from the Parliament Buildings on the morning of June 22 after a sudden meeting with Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd and replaced on a temporary basis by Randall Smith, the retired former […]

Almost all metrics tracking the COVID-19 pandemic fell in B.C. in the past week, according to new provincial government data.  The 273 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 is the fewest since March 26, when there were 260 such people and the province provided daily updates. Of those in […]

Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.   Timothy Renshaw, managing editor: Time for some uplifting news to consider in the bright light of summer as the heat dome social media hysteria machinery starts revving up. If you […]

Officials waited too long to warn the public about the June 2021 heat dome, said the meteorologist who set-up B.C.’s extreme heat warning system after the deadly 2009 heat wave. David Jones, formerly Environment Canada’s coastal warning preparedness meteorologist at the Pacific Storm […]

B.C. government-provided data shows virtual physician visits jumped almost 2,000% at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Figures provided to Glacier Media by B.C.’s Ministry of Health shows virtual physician visits in the province have been steadily increasing since 2014, with 29,268 visits […]

Just over a month after it was announced, the province is putting a stop to the $789-million project to replace the Royal B.C. Museum with a new building, Premier John Horgan said Wednesday. The decision comes after fierce backlash from critics, who argued the money would be better spent on […]

Add one more tech company to the ever-growing list of foreign firms expanding in Vancouver. Indian multinational HCL Technologies Ltd. revealed Thursday it’s taking over another 9,000 square feet at its existing office on 580 Granville St. A company representative told BIV in an […]

The former Oakridge transit centre site has changed hands in advance of proceeding through the city approvals process. Grosvenor announced its purchase of the property June 22 from MOMC Canada, which acquired the site from TransLink in 2016 in partnership with Intergulf Development Group. MOMC […]

Cargo congestion clouds are lifting along the West Coast, but don’t expect clear skies anytime soon. That’s one of the takeaways from two recent analyses of transpacific freight movement, and it’s an outlook that provides glimmers of optimism for West Coast North American port […]

More than three years have passed since the provincial government chose to establish the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia, also known as the Cullen Commission. A lot has changed since May 2019, when it seemed that the final report would be released just a few days […]

Licensed professionals in B.C.'s government public service have voted 92% in favour of a strike after reaching a bargaining impasse, the Professional Employees Association (PEA) said June 22. The PEA represents more than 1,200 licensed professionals such as agrologists, engineers, foresters, […]

A man facing seven charges stemming from a crime spree in Richmond will go on trial in late November.  In B.C. Supreme Court on June 22, Justice Ronald Skolrood set a 10-day trial for Taymour Aghtai between Nov. 28-Dec. 9.  Aghtai, born in 1994, is charged with sexual assault, sexual […]

Big tech companies aren’t giving Vancouver’s downtown office towers much breathing room. The city’s downtown office vacancy rate hit 7.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year – up slightly from 7.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, according to a report […]

The following is not news. It’s not fake news, because it is accurate. It’s just not news, per se, in that it’s just not surprising. It’s just not anything any business leader didn’t know or wouldn’t tell you. Local businesses are anxious, many are wounded […]

Canada’s minister in charge of fisheries and oceans has temporarily renewed dozens of fish farm licences in B.C., while strengthening reporting requirements to contain pathogens harmful to wild fish. The long-awaited decision, released Wednesday afternoon, is part of move to close all open […]

As spring turned to summer in 2021, “weather Twitter” was abuzz. Social-media-savvy meteorologists throughout the Pacific Northwest were awestruck with forecasts for the first full weekend of summer. “Several of the global models are predicting an extraordinarily unusual heat […]

A tennis tournament that will likely feature a number of the highest-ranked players from around the world will be hosted by Vancouver in 2023, officials said today. Organizers of the Laver Cup said the tournament next year will be held in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena Sept. 22-24. The tournament, […]

A veteran B.C. lawyer with an otherwise “exemplary” record has been suspended for two months for not conducting due diligence on a Vancouver real estate transaction. A Law Society of BC hearing panel suspended George Frederick Turner Gregory after determining Gregory failed to […]

Booking a vacation? Along with the price and quality of airfare, hotels and attractions, something to consider is the amount of preparation needed in advance. Most destinations, with the exception of Taiwan, have dropped mandatory quarantining on arrival. Rules differ for those who are […]

The Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia issued its long-anticipated final report last week. The report has some big hits and some big misses.  What the report missed First, what the report missed.  Generally, there is little in the report on financial crime […]

More than one-third (35 per cent) of Metro Vancouver businesses say they’re worse off now than they were in 2019, just before the pandemic brought on a wave of economic wallops that hit everything from supply chains to labour. The quarterly survey results, released Wednesday by the Greater […]

B.C.’s inflation rate is a “puzzler” no more. After trailing the national average for months, consumer prices on the West Coast have overtaken the national average, according to data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada. B.C.’s annual inflation rate now stands […]

High in the rolling foothills southwest of Merritt, B.C., Julia Smith saddles her horse a couple of hours after first light.  By 8 a.m., she rides off her 8.5-hectare, off-grid ranch to meet a half dozen neighbours on horseback and round up cattle. It's a rhythm that has played out […]

A group of truckers operating Port of Vancouver’s drayage fleet is threatening job action in a bid to stop a program mandating the retiring of older trucks due to higher pollution levels. The United Truckers Association, a group that says it represents 800 to 1,000 individual owner-operators […]

Tuesday, June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day 2022 in Canada. But what does that mean, exactly? “It’s a special occasion to learn more about the rich and diverse cultures, voices, experiences and histories of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples,” the Government of […]

B.C.’s ever-constricting labour market is showing few signs of easing anytime soon. For each vacant job on the West Coast, the province had just 0.9 unemployed workers available to tap in the first quarter of 2022, according to data released Wednesday from Statistics Canada.  Only […]

The fire-destroyed 4812 Belmont Dr. mansion hidden by hedges was not on Vancouver’s heritage list, but it was historic.  The 1920-built, three-storey structure with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms was home for 20 years to Liberal politician Gerry McGeer, whose mayoral legacy includes […]

Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Ltd. is investing heavily in British Columbia as it aims to strengthen its supply chains. Of approximately $100 million that the company is investing across Canada, $42 million is set to be injected into two sites in Richmond, the company's CEO, Todd Parsons, told BIV. […]

Nicola Wealth Real Estate (NWRE) and PC Urban Properties have acquired 3.4 acres of industrial land at 2660 Barnet Highway in Coquitlam for well over its assessment. Valued at $17.6 million by BC Assessment, it sold for $24 million in a deal brokered by Avison Young, Vancouver commercial agents […]

B.C. is sticking with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public servants and health-care workers, even though the federal government has suspended its two-shot requirement for federally regulated workers and travellers. B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said he continues to support both last […]

About 175 new family practice resident graduates are being offered lucrative contracts, loan forgiveness, and $25,000 signing bonuses if they sign on by September to work as family doctors in B.C. “I think people want action and this is action,” B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said in […]

A Vancouver professor has shared a disturbing message they received from a local Airbnb host following a recent stay.  University of British Columbia Assistant Professor Dr. Alex Moore left a four-star review following her stay at an Airbnb accommodation in Vancouver's "Main Street […]

Air Canada is set to launch non-stop flights four times per week between Vancouver and Bangkok between Dec. 1 and April 17. The flights are thought to be the first non-stop commercial flights ever operated between those two cities.  "I do not believe we've had one," […]

If there was a face of B.C.’s public inquiry into money laundering, it had to be Paul King Jin.  The 54-year-old didn’t make it onto China’s national boxing team for the Seoul 1988 Olympics, but immigrated to Quebec the following year, moved to Toronto and eventually owned a […]

Westbank First Nation Chief Christopher Derickson has abruptly resigned, citing the toll of last year’s revelations regarding the First Nation’s real estate dealings. In a press release issued June 17, Derickson said he has submitted a resignation letter and would step down as chief […]

Facing the spectre of a rapidly filling Hartland Landfill, Victoria, B.C., councillors have unanimously passed a bylaw designed to divert more construction material from the dump by rewarding those who salvage wood rather than scrapping it. According to a staff report, as much as 37 per cent of […]

The latest numbers from the Insurance Bureau of Canada point to the growing fallout from last November’s catastrophic flooding and mudslides. A total of $675 million in insurable losses have been attributed to the disaster, IBC reported June 15. This makes it the ninth most expensive weather […]

Canadian National Railway Co. said it has implemented a contingency plan that will allow CN Rail to continue to operate despite 750 signal and communications workers walking off the job over the weekend. The strike began after the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or IBEW, failed to […]

The Vancouver west side home that was destroyed by a massive fire late Friday had a city permit issued for salvage and abatement – but specifically not for demolition, according to municipal records. The City of Vancouver database for permits showed that the house at 4812 Belmont Avenue in […]