A second term for David Eby in British Columbia is “slightly better” than the alternative that seemed under consideration on election night, business leaders said last week.

This happened after Elections BC confirmed that Eby and his party had won a slim majority, barring any surprises in a judicial recount, of course.

Early results suggested the BC NDP was heading toward a minority government supported by a BC Green Party led by Sonia Furstenau, who was described by the former leader of the BC Greens, Andrew Weaver, as an “eco-activist”. Even though she lost her seat, Furstenau announced that she would remain as party leader.

B.C.’s business community can only hope that the election results have reprimanded Eby enough for him to take his concerns about B.C.’s declining prosperity to heart and address some of the problems that hinder economic growth.

In an open letter to the new government, seven business associations, including the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of British Columbia and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, urged the new government to take seriously the British Columbia’s faltering economic health and put its public finances in order. order.

“Overall, British Columbia’s financial and economic trajectory is deeply concerning,” they say. “As you shape the next government and plan your work over the coming legislative sessions, we urge you to think seriously about the state of B.C.’s economy.

Jock Finlayson, chief economist at the Independent Contractors and Business Association (ICBA) – one of five signatories to the letter – said the government needed to tackle its overspending and debt.

“British Columbia has the largest deficit in the country, measured as a share of GDP,” he said. “To my knowledge, this has never happened before. Net debt is skyrocketing. It is expected to reach 29 percent of GDP over the next three years, up from 14.4 percent two years ago. This too is unprecedented in this province.

“I am almost certain that our credit rating will be downgraded again in early 2025. The risk is that this will trigger a series of serial downgrades from the major credit rating companies, which would result in a debt servicing cost significantly higher in the future. »

Finlayson said the province also needs to rethink CleanBC and pointed to economic modeling that suggests B.C.’s climate action policies under the plan could reduce B.C.’s economy by nearly $30 billion. dollars by 2030.

“CleanBC’s emissions targets need to be reviewed and expanded,” he said. “And some of CleanBC’s specific measures also need to be rethought. Hampering our economy with costly taxes and regulations will do nothing to improve the global climate, but it will certainly harm our own prosperity.

He also said the Eby government must “proceed with more caution and deliberation in its land use and reconciliation programs.”

“The aborted overhaul of the land law attempted in early 2024 was a fiasco that sowed uncertainty and triggered conflicts,” he said. “An open and deliberative approach to advancing reconciliation in the context of Crown land and resource management is necessary. »

Karen Ogen, CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance, expressed concerns about the Green Party’s influence over an NDP government and what that could mean for B.C.’s burgeoning LNG industry, an industry which the Greens vigorously oppose.

“I’m concerned because we still have the Ksi Lisims LNG project with the Nisga’a Nation, which we continue to advocate for,” she said.

This project is still undergoing environmental review and will still need government approval.

There are also concerns about a foundational industry that has seen accelerated decline under successive NDP governments.

At last week’s Global Timber Summit, Rob Schuetz, president of Industrial Forestry Services, said 16 sawmills, three pulp mills and four paper mills have been closed in British Columbia since 2020.

He rattled off a long list of NDP government policies that have reduced access to wood and increased costs and bureaucracy: moratoriums on old-growth forests, new forest landscaping plans, ecosystem-based land management, objective 30 percent for parks and conservation areas, and indigenous consent. shared decision-making in land use.

When asked what he thought of the election outcome, one of the panelists, Don McGregor, vice president of sales for Western Forest Products (TSX:WEF), summed up a sentiment that might be shared by the the entire resource sector business community.

“Well, actually, if this persists, the NDP will have the majority and they won’t need the Green Party,” he said. “I would consider it a positive that they don’t have to work with the Greens.

He added: “This current government has not been very friendly to our industry, overall. They’ve given in a lot, I think, to some ideological pressures from the Greens, and so it’s basically the status quo. We’re right where we started, and it’s not the best outcome for the industry.

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