C&C #17: Summerland, and a (Wonky?) Jobs Report

Twelve thousand people were ordered out of Summerland just after midnight Saturday. More than twenty thousand people across the Okanagan woke up somewhere else this morning. The people come first today — and then a July jobs report that says B.C. construction hit an all-time high, in the same month developers were laying people off. Episode 17 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:

☕ SUMMERLAND FIRST. The Bald Range fire went from 50 hectares to 5,000 in a single evening. What's confirmed, what's rumour — downtown Summerland is intact, and the fire barely grew Sunday. A lot of ICBA members build in the Okanagan. A lot of ICBA members are evacuated in the Okanagan. Same people. Right now, we just want everyone safe.

📉 THE JOBS REPORT THAT DOESN'T SMELL RIGHT. StatCan says B.C. added 17,800 jobs in July and construction hit a record. StatCan's own margin of error on that number: plus or minus 12,100. Nearly 60% of the national gain was self-employment. And the payroll survey — the one economists actually trust — shows B.C. and Alberta construction payrolls FLAT. ICBA Chief Economist Jock Finlayson is putting questions straight to Statistics Canada.

👷 ALBERTA: THE MIRROR. Down 7,300 jobs in July — but up 91,000 on the year, the fastest growth in Canada, with construction up almost 11%. Same survey, same twelve months: Alberta up 91,000, B.C. up 2,300. That's not a gap. That's a verdict.

🚧 WHERE THE WORK IS. The Fraser River Tunnel RFPs promised for "early August" — Infrastructure BC's own page shows none issued, and the second qualification window doesn't close until tomorrow. Nine years, zero lanes, budget doubled. Plus: Ottawa's new $100-million freight rebate for Canadian steel, nine days before American tariffs are set to hit our cement, paint and plywood.

📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics