Issue 33 April 2019

News from the Legislature

Employment Standards Act Legislation

First reading of the Employment Standards Amendment Act took place on April 29 in the Legislature. Read the legislation here. Significant changes include raising the minimum working age from 12 to 16, while retaining exemptions for certain types of light work, and changes to the Employment Standards Branch.

The B.C. government held a “Modernizing the Employment Standards Act” consultation from February 28 to March 31, 2019. CHBA BC submitted to this consultation as part of a joint business community group. Read the CHBA BC submission here. To review the report from December 2018 covering proposed changes, click this link.

Labour Relations Code Review

Changes to the Labour Code were announced on April 30 in the Legislature. Click to read the changes. Notably, there are no changes to the secret ballot process for union certification. Changes include shortening the time between application for union certification and employee voting from 10 days to five business days, measures to retain existing collective agreements if a contract is re-tendered to prevent contract “flipping”, and a review of the Labour Relations Code every five years.

Consultations on B.C.’s Labour Relations Code took place in spring and fall 2018. The submissions from the Coalition of BC Businesses can be found here (phase 1) and here (phase 2). Submissions from a joint business community group (including CHBA BC ) can be found here (phase 1) and here (phase 2). Items under review include: union certification, dispute resolution, and arbitration procedures.

Land Owner Transparency Act

First reading of the Land Owner Transparency Act took place on April 2nd. To read the bill, click here. CHBA BC submitted feedback to this consultation back in September (click to read) and will continue to discuss implementation with the Ministry of Finance.

Workers Compensation Act Review

The provincial government announced a review of the workers’ compensation system on April 3, 2019. No dates for the public engagement have been announced, but the review will be completed by September 30, 2019. Click to read the review outline.

Ongoing Consultations

Asbestos Practices

The provincial government consultation on asbestos practices closed on February 15. The working group is now reviewing the information from that consultation with no date published for distribution. CHBA BC will continue to follow up with the Ministry of Labour on this consultation topic and update members as needed.

Meetings and Events

CHBA BC met with Dr. Hedy Fry (MP for Vancouver Centre) and Adam Vaughan (MP for Spadina- Fort York and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development) as part of a market housing roundtable on April 16. It was a positive opportunity to raise CHBA National’s asks from the federal budget: to consider changes to the mortgage stress test, implement the new first time home buyer incentive immediately for maximum impact, and to consider other tools available such as 30-year amortization for first-time home buyers.

A second MP roundtable was held in Surrey on the same day and attended by HAVAN government relations director Mark Sakai. Members of Parliament Randeep Sarai (Surrey Centre), Gordie Hogg (South Surrey-White Rock), Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey-Newton), and John Aldag (Cloverdale-Langley City) participated in this discussion.

Finally, on April 25, CHBA National President and Fraser Valley member Nathan Stone attended a housing roundtable with Mark Strahl (MP for Chilliwack-Hope).

Additional details on the CHBA asks are available in the CHBA National policy brief. To view the document, visit https://www.chba.ca/dayonthehill