On October 1, every engineering bill in British Columbia gets seven per cent more expensive. Every architect's invoice. Every accountant's. Even the legislature's own finance committee says don't do it. In a first for the show, Jordan Bateman sits down with a guest from outside ICBA: Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna-Mission and the Conservative critic for Economic Development — a small-business owner who's read a payroll from both sides of the desk.
Episode 21 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:
☕ THE OCTOBER 1 TAX: Budget 2026 expands the 7% PST to engineering, architecture, accounting and geoscience services — a tax on the paperwork before a shovel ever hits the ground. Dew has called it a bad tax since spring; now the finance committee has recommended repeal. Can it be stopped in time?
🖥️ The data centre boom is one province over. Alberta is running town halls for tens of billions in proposals while B.C. — with cheap, clean hydro — is barely in the conversation. The AI critic on what a yes would take.
📉 The fall file: B.C. added 2,300 jobs in the past year. Alberta added 91,000. What the critic hammers when the House comes back — and what employers watching should do about it.
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