Business in Vancouver

NEWS BIV Featured inside: A closer look at B.C.’s budget 2022 february 28–March 6, 2022

1

No major tax hikes to add more hurdles to doing business in B.C., but no initiatives in 2022 budget to address competitiveness for industrial and commercial sectors | Page 4

Big benefits from tiny-homes plan Micro-homes on wheels: an innovative neighbourhood densification plan, according to analysts | Page 11

BIV

Pandemic pumps up law business in B.C. Coronavirus disruption has increased business in a wide range of niche practices for law firms | Page 3

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR B.C.

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February 28 - March 6, 2022 | Issue 1687 | $4.00

Unicorns in B.C.: Billions upon billions Spate of US$1 billion valuations signals tech sector has reached ‘critical mass’ TECHNOLOGY |

BY TYLER ORTON TORTON@BIV.COM

T

he term “unicorn” has become a bit of a misnomer within B.C.’s tech landscape over the past year, according to David Raffa.

“It’s supposed to be a rare sight,” said the president of Valeo Corporate Finance Ltd., whose Vancouver-based firm provides services for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings.

“And now it’s becoming a common sight here, which is great.” continued on page 6

6–8 | Unicorn Q&A

Insights, analysis and advice from leaders of B.C. unicorns

8 | The lucky 13

Which B.C. companies have become unicorns and when

Signs of the boom times in B.C.’s tech sector as 13 companies gain market cap status of more than US$1 billion since the onset of the pandemic |

Rob Kruyt; Vershinin/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Transportation

Human resources

Ride-hailing still navigating COVID curveballs as labour shortages, regulatory policy relegate smaller players to slow lane | Page 3

Why government needs to rebalance job-protected statutory leave legislation before the rising tide of costs sinks more B.C. businesses | Page 13

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BIV

february 28–March 6, 2022

COMMENT

B.C. needs to pump up its port potential

I

t remains in the top 50, and it is making headway against its peers, but Vancouver still has a lot of work to do if it hopes to become a member of the global maritime cities’ top tier.

Five years ago, it was ranked for the first time in the Menon Economics list of the world’s top 50 maritime cities.

Menon’s Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) rankings are based on the insights of experts in such key maritime industry metrics as maritime finance and law, technology, logistics and competitiveness.

Vancouver ranked 24th in the 2017 LMC. This year it has moved up to 17th, just behind Paris, France; Houston, Texas; and Seoul, South Korea; but ahead of Sydney, Australia; Seattle, Washington; and Los Angeles, California, which, along with its sister port in Long Beach, constitutes the largest container cargo-handling hub in North America and the ninth largest in the world.

Vancouver continues to score well in such areas as political stability, transparency and marine transport and logistics cargo handling.

But it still lags well behind other major shipping centres in the local availability of the legal, finance, insurance, brokering, chartering and professional support services that are critical to success in the complex business of international shipping and cargo handling.

And when it comes to the ease of doing business, it remains far behind key competitors like Los Angeles, which is ranked fourth overall in that category, while Vancouver is ranked 20th. Singapore, which ranks No. 1 overall in the LMC rankings, is also ranked No. 1 in the ease of doing business category.

Meanwhile, Seattle and Los Angeles both score No. 1 ratings in the survey’s entrepreneurship category; Vancouver ranks sixth.

The detailed Menon study of what distinguishes global maritime centres from regional port towns provides encouraging news for Vancouver and the rest of B.C.’s Asia Pacific Gateway and all the businesses connected with it.

But it also shines a light on the areas where the province and that gateway need to improve to realize the huge transpacific trade potential they both have.

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february 28–March 6, 2022

BIV

3

COVID-19 sparks business bonanza for B.C. law firms courts |

Pandemic disruption has created opportunities in numerous niche practices for lawyers

By Glen Korstrom gkorstrom@biv.com

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has been a boon for Vancouver law firms, as government’s attempts to slow the disease’s spread created a wave of change in most people’s lives.

Lawyers were needed in many cases to execute and formalize effects from these changes and to litigate disputes.

While the legal profession took a hit in spring 2020, when business in many sectors ground to a halt, demand for lawyers came roaring back later that year and continued through 2021, managing partners at multiple large downtown Vancouver law firms told BIV.

“T he pressu re i s i ndu st r y wide,” said Harper Grey LLP ma nag i ng pa r tner Jonathan Meadows.

“There has been more legal work being done, and finding more lawyers is probably something we may have to do – just because there is a lot of work.”

When pandemic-related health orders closed businesses or reduced capacity, executives laid off staff, and government support programs provided funding to those affected.

“We’re living in a world where you’ve had governments put a lot of money into the economy to try to stimulate it, and they have kept the cost of borrowing money relatively cheap,” explained Smith Legal Search managing partner

Warren Smith.

Those low interest rates have led to more corporate acquisitions.

Central banks around the world have suggested that they will soon hike interest rates – something that has motivated executives to complete acquisitions or real estate purchases before borrowing costs rise.

“The reasons for each of the legal practice areas to see a lift may not necessarily be the same, but I think they’re all interlinked,” Smith said. “If you get right down to it, it is COVID-19 that created a chain of events in society that is having a ripple [in a range of legal subsectors].”

Corporate shutdowns led to firings, and some of those actions turned into wrongful dismissal lawsuits. Employers also had questions for lawyers about how to implement vaccine mandates for employees. Each of these scenarios created work for employment lawyers.

Smith added that stress from working at home or having redu c e d work hou rs s t ra i ne d some family relationships to the breaking point, resulting in a bump in demand for divorce and child-custody legal work.

Increased demand for legal work led to worldwide competition for lawyers and prompted some U.S. firms to offer large retention bonuses, Smith said.

News of that reverberated within the profession, and similar bonuses were subsequently offered in Toronto and then in Vancouver,

Smith Legal Search managing partner Warren Smith: “When you boil it down, New York turned on a vacuum cleaner, and Abbotsford ended up with the problem” | Rob Kruyt

confirmed Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP managing partner William Westeringh.

Smith estimated that Vancouver lawyers saw a 30 per cent bump in pay, including one-time bonuses, year over year in 2021.

Even that was not enough to keep some of them from going to the U.S., where newly called lawyers could make US$210,000.

He compared first-year legal associates to wine vintages in that there is finite supply. Once they leave the province, there is no way to mint more of them.

Law firms have to wait until the next year’s class graduates.

Westeringh and Meadows did not quantify how much of a pay bump their lawyers received, but they said that the compensation increases were higher than average even before the retention

bonuses were added.

“Raises were across the board,” said Westeringh. “It touches associates for sure, but also all legal staff. Partly the bonuses were offset just by how busy people were, as associates were also probably working, on average, more last year than most years.”

Some Va ncouver fi rms responded to losing young associates to U.S. competition by offering associate positions to more articling students than usual.

Westeringh said Fasken normally offers associate positions to about 80 per cent of its articling students, so the bump in the percentage of those offers has not resulted in a huge number of new hires.

“We absolutely are trying to hire qualified people from smaller

firms and mid-sized firms from the Fraser Valley,” said Westeringh, who oversees more than 155 lawyers at the province’s largest law firm. “We’re growing both in Vancouver and in Surrey [offices].”

The trend of firms in larger North American cities hiring lawyers from smaller centres has been widespread, Smith said.

“When you boil it down, New York turned on a vacuum cleaner, and Abbotsford ended up with the problem,” he said.

The number of new lawyers in B.C. has been increasing, but then so has the population.

Statistics from the Canadian Bar Association’s B.C. branch show that at the end of 2021, B.C. had 13,485 practising lawyers.

That is up 3.3 per cent from the 13,049 practising lawyers in 2020.

It is yet to be seen how long lawyers will endure the increased workload, whether law firms will be able to recruit more lawyers and whether they will need more real estate to accommodate larger workforces.

The consensus in the sector seems to be that lawyers will continue to enjoy flexible work schedules that include more time working from home.

Westeringh doubts that his firm will seek additional real estate in the near future.

“There will likely be a better, more efficient utilization of space that we have, rather than expanded space,” he said. •

Ride-hailing still navigating COVID curveballs in B.C. TRANSPORTATION |

Labour shortages, regulatory policy adding to roadblocks faced by smaller players

BY TYLER ORTON

labour markets continue to put a squeeze on smaller providers.

TORTON@BIV.COM

D

ylan Green was rid i ng high off all the free media coverage his Tofino company drummed up two years ago when it became the first in B.C. to land a ride-hailing licence from regulators.

“Then, sure enough, we had about a month under our belt before COV ID h it,” sa id the founder and president of Green Coast Ventures Inc., which offers ride-hailing services under the W histle banner in resort communities like Tofino and Whistler.

While Uber Technologies Inc. (N YSE:UBER) and Lyf t Inc. ( N YSE:LY F T ) have focused

Whistle offers ride-hailing services in resort communities such as Tofino and Whistler, where giants like Uber and Lyft have remained out of the picture | Submitted their attention on Metro Vanc o uve r, W h i s t l e a n d ot h e r B .C . r i d e-h a i l i n g s e r v i c e s have been filling in the gaps in

smaller markets rather than competing against the giants.

But these local firms say regulatory policy coupled with tight

“Getting drivers is a big challenge,” Green said, referring to the Passenger Transportation Board requiring all ride-hailing drivers to have Class 4 commercial licences rather than the standard-issue Class 5 licences.

After operating a bus service in Tofino for about 15 years, Green said he understood the challenges traditional transportation companies faced meeting peak demand in small communities that would see bursts of tourists flood in during weekends or at certain times of the year.

Hiring locals to meet that demand was part of the appeal of launching a ride-hailing company in a smaller market left

untouched by Uber or Lyft, but two years in, it’s still a slog recruiting local drivers with Class 4 licences, Green said.

“It has made it difficult for us to meet all of the public expectation of what they were hoping to get with ride-share,” he said.

Unlike Uber or Lyft, Whistle depends on a mix of employees who drive branded vehicles as well as gig workers who drive their own cars. About 20 drivers are based in Whistler; five are in Tofino.

“It really was a grind until this last summer,” Green said, adding that the loosening of travel and other restrictions have ushered in the return of tourists. continued on page 5

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BIV

february 28–March 6, 2022

NEWS

B.C. budget ignores competitiveness: business groups ECONOMY |

BC NDP’s 2022 budget contained no major tax hikes – or cuts

By Nelson Bennett

$1 billion $25 million

nbennett@biv.com

D

e s p i t e s o m e t a rge t e d spending and tax incentives in support of sectors like clean energy and life sciences, a number of business associations lamented last week’s provincial budget as yet another missed opportunity to address the high cost of doing business in B.C. “The budget provides significant resources to support inclusive and clean growth as outlined in the government’s economic plan of last week,” Fiona Famulak, president of the BC Chamber of Commerce, said last week in response to the budget. “Such investments are important investments. However, [the] budget does not take any significant strides to enhance the competitiveness of B.C. businesses.”

“Today’s B.C. budget did not commit to a review of B.C.’s tax system, which is long overdue,” said Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman.

Last week’s budget provided $25 million in support for B.C.’s tourism sector, which is still struggling to recover from two years of pandemic-related travel restrictions and mandates.

It also provides some targeted funding or policy support for life sciences and clean energy, and funding for more skills and trades training – something many sectors will welcome.

The budget provides $1 billion in new funding for CleanBC, including $310 million for decarbonizing industry. Life sciences is getting a boost in the form of $195 million in funding to research groups like GenomeBC and the Michael Smith Health Research BC. “Since its inception in 2000, GenomeBC has generated over $1.2 bi l l ion of i nve s t ments in more than 450 B.C.-based

Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman: “Today’s B.C. budget did not commit to a review of B.C.’s tax system, which is long overdue” | BIV files

research and innovation projects, brought more than $900 million in funding to B.C. researchers and created over 32,000 jobs in the province,” budget 2022 notes.

In the clean-energy sector, Finance Minister Selina Robinson, in her budget address last week, singled out Hydra Energy – a B.C. company focused on supplying hydrogen to heavy-duty trucks to blend in diesel engines – as one beneficiary of the exemption of hydrogen fuel from the Motor Fuel Tax. “This will benefit companies like B.C.-based Hydra Energy, as it works to transition heavy-duty vehicles to hydrogen power,” Robinson said.

Stewart Muir, executive director of Resource Works, said he applauded those kinds of policy supports, but echoed concerns of groups like the Mining Association of BC (MABC), the BC Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBOT) that the budget does not address fundamental obstacles to doing business in B.C. Those obstacles include a comparatively high corporate tax rate, a carbon tax that provides

12% 8%

B.C.’s corporate tax rate

We have the highest fuel taxes in Western Canada. We have a seven-per-cent sales tax, and Alberta has no sales tax. You stack those things up [and] there’s a very powerful incentive to locate a new business or move an existing business to Alberta

Alberta’s corporate tax rate

Stewart Muir

New funding for CleanBC provided in BC NDP’s 2022 budget Support for B.C.’s tourism sector allocated in BC NDP’s 2022 budget

no protection for energy-intensive trade exposed industries such as mining and the new employer health tax, which shifted more than $2 billion in costs for health care from B.C. residents, who previously paid the MSP health care premium, to employers.

“B.C.’s corporate tax rate is 12%,” Muir said. “Our next-door neighbour in Alberta is 8%. That is an incentive for businesses to go and enjoy lower corporate taxes in Alberta. Also, in Alberta, they have no payroll tax … like we do in B.C. Nor does Saskatchewan have that.

“We have the highest fuel taxes in Western Canada. We have a seven-per-cent sales tax, and Alberta has no sales tax. You stack those things up [and] there’s a very powerful incentive to locate a new business or move an existing business to Alberta.”

One of the few tax hikes in the budget is one that comes every year – a $5 per tonne bump to the carbon tax. On April 1, the carbon tax will rise to $50 per tonne. B.C.’s mining sector is particularly disadvantaged by the tax, because it competes with so many mining jurisdictions that have no carbon pricing.

“B.C. has among the highest

[] Executive director, Resource Works

carbon taxes in the world,” the MABC said in response to the budget. “Yet B.C. is the only jurisdiction in the world that does not provide meaningful carbon pricing protection for its mining sector.”

As for B.C.’s natural resources sector overall, the budget forecasts a boost to B.C.’s economic growth from the nascent liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in 2025 and 2026, when B.C.’s first major LNG project – LNG Canada – is expected to begin exporting.

But it forecasts a significant decline in revenue from B.C.’s forestry sector, and some of the revenue losses will be self-inflicted. Budget 2022 projects forestry revenue to fall from $1.8 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal year to $887 million in 2023-24.

That $1 billion decline is largely attributed to the expectation of lower lumber prices and stumpage rates. But the removal of a significant amount of timber from the annual allowable cut through moratoria placed on oldgrowth stands is also expected to reduce forestry revenue.

The budget provides $185 million over three years to help forestry workers and communities cope with the many job losses

expected as a result of the province’s old-growth deferrals.

“That’s cold comfort that they found ways to make people redundant from their jobs and cu sh ion t hei r ex it f rom t he workforce,” Muir said. “That’s not a building mentality – that’s something else.”

The budget provides funding for a new secretariat that will oversee the harmonization of B.C. laws with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) and $44 million for the creation of a Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship, which will assume some of the land-use planning responsibilities of other ministries, like Agriculture, and Forests, Lands and Resource Operations.

A central role for the new ministry appears to be Indigenous reconciliation, as it pertains to land and resource use. Muir fears the creation of a new ministry may add additional layers of bureaucracy for resource industries.

“It sounds like it’s going in the direction of making things more complicated for people who are operating on the land or in the water in British Columbia,” Muir said.

One area the province is investing in that will benefit a number of sectors is skills and trades training. Almost all sectors of the economy are experiencing a skilled-worker shortage.

The budget allocates $21 million to the Industry Training Authority – a bump that the BC Building Trades welcomed as long overdue. The funding will provide the ITA with additional apprenticeship advisers and more resources for “upskilling” initiatives.

“This funding is an important step in providing trainers the tools they need to assist the province’s thousands of apprentices,” said BC Building Trades executive director Brynn Bourke. •

briefs Sports

FIFA Women’s World Cup contract revealed after freedom of information fight After almost seven years, the contract that shows how B.C. taxpayers subsidized one of the world’s richest, most controversial sports organizations is finally revealed.

An adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled in July 2021 that the BC Pavilion Corp.

(PavCo) must release its agreement with Canadian Soccer Association Inc. (CSA) for hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 at BC Place stadium. The CSA

dropped its court challenge earlier this month and disclosed the contract to this reporter.

The agreement called for total payments between $1.725 million and $1.975 million to PavCo. The maximum amount in the contract was just under the $2 million earmarked by BC Liberal tourism and sport minister Ida Chong in April 2012.

Chong did not specifically say at the time how FIFA would spend taxpayers’ money.

The agreement gave the FIFA event exclusive use of the stadium from May 31, 2015, through July 7, 2015, two days after the United States beat Japan in the final.

The CSA had control of the stadium – even lounges and every private suite, save for the BC Place Suite and one other.

There were clauses to remove all advertising, so that FIFA could display its own sponsors’ logos and messages and a ban on the stadium hosting any other event during

the period.

The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, which features exhibits on B.C.’s soccer history, was prohibited from opening on match days.

The stadium kept food and beverage revenue, but FIFA decided the menu. CSA agreed to pay a $50,000 deposit upon execution of the contract and the balance seven days after the conclusion of the exclusive use period.

– Bob Mackin

NEWS

february 28–March 6, 2022

BIV

5

briefs energy

economy

B.C. expanding availability of rapid antigen tests

Province maintains high post-budget credit score

British Columbians will soon be able to get their hands on free COVID-19 rapid tests from pharmacies.

On Feb. 23, the Ministry of Health announced that people over 70 years of age would be able to get free rapid antigen test kits from B.C. pharmacies as soon as Feb. 25. Each kit contains five tests, and people will be able to get a kit every 28 days.

“Once distribution has started and

A global credit rating agency released a scorecard Feb. 23, in response to last week’s budget, that maintains the province’s AA (high) credit score.

DBRS Morningstar flags B.C.’s rising debt level, but acknowledges the province’s comparatively strong economic performance and budgetary “prudence” in the form of billions of dollars in contingencies and conservative forecasts for future GDP growth.

Ride-hailing still Continued from page 3

W histle also had to change software providers after the company previously responsible for its online booking platform dropped support for ride-hailing to focus on car-share and scooter-sharing services.

“There’s also more of these niche-use cases like providing only airport shuttle services, although having more local flavours helps quite a bit,” said Kristoffer Vik Hansen, CEO of Spare Labs Inc., whose Vancouver-based company now supports Whistle’s online booking.

Spare Labs closed an $18 million Series A funding round last November as demand for its technology – software that makes it easier for cities and transit agencies to manage transportation networks – has surged during the pandemic.

“Some of t hese prov iders, they’ve seen a lot of success where, Uber and Lyft are global players, right, so people are looking for more local services,” Vik Hansen said.

Uber and Lyft are available only in the regulator’s Lower Mainland region. And last December, the Passenger Transportation Board declined Uber’s application to expand beyond its current boundaries due to what the regulator said was a decline in demand for such services during the pandemic.

That leaves large swaths of the province without access to ride-hailing.

But breaking into those markets remains difficult owing to the same policy and labour issues Green cited, according to Jamil Chaudhry, director of operations at Richmond-based ReRyde Technologies Inc. His company offers ride-hailing services in Ontario and Manitoba but gave up temporarily on breaking into B.C. “We couldn’t find the team we needed,” Chaudhry said, adding that pandemic-era programs

supply grows, a broadening to younger ages is expected to happen quickly and will be communicated via our government COVID-19 website,” the ministry said in its presentation.

“Individuals will present their BC Services Card at the pharmacy and be given their test kit free of charge.”

Since Dec. 13, the province has distributed 14.8 million rapid tests.

– Castanet

But the other communities who [don’t] have those resources – people are just not going to go out there for a second part-time or casual job to get a Class 4 licence

[]

Budget 2022 forecasts a deficit of $5.5 billion in 2022–23 and a $483 million shortfall for 2021–22. DBRS Morningstar equates that to a shortfall of $9.4 billion – 2.6% of GDP. DBRS notes that the B.C. government has suspended balanced budget legislation, but also notes the government is budgeting conservatively and building in significant contingencies, including underestimating growth projections.

Jenkins Marzban Logan LLP welcomes six new lawyers to the partnership.

Jamil Chaudhry director of operations, ReRyde Technologies

such as the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) may have dissuaded potential drivers from coming on board.

ReRyde plans to relaunch its B.C. recr u it ment ca mpa ig n this year as it tries to break into markets like Campbell River, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Penticton, Prince George, Vernon and Victoria.

Meanwhile, a November 2021 RBC Economics report found onethird of Canadian businesses are grappling with labour shortages amid 870,000 job vacancies. Employment in “high-contact” service sector roles remains 278,000 below pre-pandemic levels as of October.

“The labour squeeze will push wages higher – but other benefits, like flexible work arrangements, will also be critical as firms seek to retain or hire employees,” the report stated.

While B.C.’s hourly minimum wage stands at $15.20, Metro Vancouver Uber drivers’ average net earnings amounted to $24.38 per session hour between July 2020 and June 2021, according to a September 2021 report released

by Uber and conducted by consulting firm Accenture.

Chaudhry said Metro Vancouver might have a chance to recruit more Class 4 drivers because of the region’s density.

“But the other communities who [don’t] have those resources – people are just not going to go out there for a second parttime or casual job to get a Class 4 licence,” he said. •

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BIV

february 28–March 6, 2022

NEWS

Analysis from the CEOs Q&A |

A

mid the unprecedented surge of unicorns emerging from B.C. the past year-plus, BIV has reached out to the leaders behind these highgrowth companies to determine what’s behind this wave of activity and where the tech sector goes from here. The following responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

What do you believe is behind the recent surge of unicorns emerging from B.C.?

Judi Hess, CEO, CopperLeaf Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:CPLF)

Forty-plus years of hard work developing the tech sector in our province, which includes the increased availability of talent and capital.

Ryan Wong, CEO, Visier Inc.

If you look at the organizations in B.C. that hit unicorn status recently, the overwhelming majority of them are mature organizations that have been around for close to 10 years. Visier itself is approaching 12 years, and we saw other unicorns like Clio

Unicorns in Continued from page 1

Thirteen unicorns, typically defined as privately held tech companies valued at US$1 billion or more, have emerged from B.C. since AbCellera Biologics Inc.’s (Nasdaq:ABCL) blockbuster initial public offering in late December 2020.

What’s followed is a seemingly non-stop string of announcements from West Coast tech startups revealing that they, too, have reached valuations of US$1 billion or more.

In one case, Dapper Labs Inc. saw its valuation go to a reported US$7.6 billion from US$2.6 billion in just four months after back-to-back financing rounds.

Experts contend this unparalleled emergence of unicorns is a sign B.C.’s tech sector has finally reached critical mass.

The rise “The world has tonnes of private capital looking to be invested and with hot IPO and growth-oriented, technology public companies getting outsized valuations, naturally, private and growth equity started focusing on emerging tech companies with high growth,” said

B.C. business leaders offer insights on what’s

[Themis Solutions Inc.] mature, and they’ve been around since 2007. Further, B.C. software companies traditionally have been undervalued compared to their peers in the U.S. So last year’s rush of unicorns is less of an anomaly and more of an inevitability. There just so happened to be a large number of companies just waiting to break through, and last year was the time.

Laurie Schultz, chairwoman, Riskalyze Inc. (former Galvanize CEO)

I view B.C.’s cascade of recent unicorns as an output of many hard years of work, especially in the last 10 years, to raise the profile of the sector and to address the talent supply challenge. This coincides with the elimination of global boundaries and bricks and mortar environments accelerating our access to international supply and demand.

Steve Munford, CEO, Trulioo Information Services Inc.

Michael Gilbert, CEO, SemiosBio Technologies Inc.

Judi Hess, CEO, CopperLeaf Technologies Inc.

Jack Newton, CEO, Clio

strength of the talent in B.C., capital from south of the border recognizing this, and the macro trend that technology will underpin everything we do and is a great place to invest.

B.C. has been scaling and diversifying for many years, particularly in Vancouver.

What we are experiencing now is the culmination of many years of tech growing and developing in B.C., with a more supportive and dynamic ecosystem for entrepreneurs to thrive and attract investment.

This momentum is continuing to attract more talent and capital to B.C. and encourage governments to scale their support for education, training and investment. The recent surge of unicorns emerging in B.C. is a trend that has the potential to continue and will definitely be transformative for the economy.

People are playing a longterm game here now, which you didn’t see before

before you can fully realize on that [acquisition]. It’s not immediate. First of all, it takes at least six months or so to buy it, then it takes a year to two to fully integrate it, and then you begin to see the benefits. So people are playing a long-term game here now, which you didn’t see before.”

Stephen Sidwell, CEO, Nexii Building Solutions Inc.

The growing experience and

The technology sector across

Brent Holliday, CEO of Vancouver-based Garibaldi Capital Advisors Ltd., which provides M&A and capital-raising advisory services to tech companies.

“The exuberance in private tech company valuations was partly driven by the exuberance in the public markets, but also by the size of the investment rounds.”

While unicorn status has been reached after an exit (Diligent Corp.’s acquisition of Vancouver software firm Galvanize) or by a public offering (AbCellera), most of the time those massive valuations come after a significant financing round.

For example, Trulioo Information Services Inc. hit a US$1.75 billion valuation after raising a record US$394 million last spring.

Access to cheap capital brought on by record-low interest rates amid the pandemic was one of the initial driving factors behind the recent surge of B.C. unicorns – and Canada’s more progressive immigration policies during the Donald Trump presidency made it easier to build Vancouver’s talent pool ahead of time, according to Raffa.

A January PwC report found 869 companies across the globe hit US$1 billion valuations from

2016-21 compared with the 14 that emerged as unicorns from 2005-10.

“Whereas in the 1990s, nearly all venture capital was being poured into high-tech, internet and telecommunications companies, today’s record-high funds are being invested in fintech (now the largest destination for preIPO capital), industrial tech, mobility tech, health tech, digital commerce and entertainment and media,” the report stated.

“Tech is now influencing so many verticals that the investments and business processes in those verticals are evolving and beginning to blur industry lines.”

Mindset change Over the past year a tapestry of technologies ranging from D-Wave Systems Inc.’s quantum computers to digital tools for the legal industry developed by Clio (Themis Solutions Inc.) has been catching the eyes of global investors. Biotech, blockchain, agricultural technology (agtech) and innovations within construction have also been hallmarks of B.C.’s newly minted unicorns.

“They’re all over the map. So it’s critical mass, but not in a [single tech sub-]sector,” Raffa

[] David Raffa President, Valeo

said, noting the diversity of these companies is a sign of the local industry’s strength.

“If you do look at one thing that’s common amongst all these companies now is they’ve all accessed foreign, late-stage venture capital, private equity, mass debt – all of the types of capital that later-stage companies raise to really grow,” he said.

And instead of B.C. tech’s tendency to build and build, only to be acquired by a larger company that can scale further, these new unicorns have now become the acquirers.

I n t h e c a s e o f S e m i o sB i o Technologies Inc., t he Bu rnaby-based agtech firm went on a spring-summer 2021 acquisition spree and scooped up three smaller competitors.

“That’s a mindset change,” Raffa said. “It’s going to be years

Sustainability Holliday, who has taken to calling Canadian unicorns “narwhals,” said B.C. will need fast-growing private tech companies and investors to remain flush with cash “for the narwhal party to continue.”

“The only part that is missing is exuberant public company valuations,” he said. “That will weigh on the pace of billion-dollar valuations in 2022.”

Despite the prospect of central banks raising interest rates from their record lows, Raffa does not see momentum letting up significantly.

“The people who are out there deploying capital want to make money and … they can’t afford to sit on it because they need to generate a certain level of returns in order for their business to succeed,” he said.

While inflation and rate hikes

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heading B.C.’s unicorn boom driving the surge in US$1 billion-plus company valuations in the province for sustainable, cost-efficient and disaster-resilient building products that can scale rapidly.

Nexii delivers on all of these elements, and that’s why we’ve gone from startup to 400 staff in just three years.

Greg Smith, CEO, Thinkific Labs Inc. (TSX:THNC)

The market we’re in is growing rapidly. The creator economy is accelerating with a strong and growing interest in entrepreneurship and creating businesses around your passion, skills or knowledge.

Laurie Schultz, chairwoman, Riskalyze Inc.

What’s driving growth at your own company?

Wong

The pandemic forced organizations to realize that their single most important asset is their people. Companies had to rethink how to monitor productivity, engagement, remote work, health and safety,

might have a slight chilling effect, Raffa does not see B.C.’s tech sector retu r n i ng to its pre-pandemic level of activity.

“I’m optimistic that this is just going to continue,” he said.

Copperleaf’s journey Founded as a consulting company in 2000, Copperleaf Technologies Inc. (TSX:CPLF) hit unicorn status after going public in October 2021, raising more than $160 million.

T he c omp a ny i s now b e s t known for developing software that helps clients who manage critical infrastructure – such as electricity generation or natural gas distribution – to make investment decisions.

But when CEO Judi Hess joined in 2009, it employed just a couple of dozen people, was facing a squeeze on revenue and was dealing with a lawsuit brought on by its founder.

“So when I joined, the first thing I really needed to do with the team was to basically raise money and actually capitalize the company,” she recalled. “As you would imagine, if you’re replacing the CEO, it wasn’t because everything was going swimmingly.”

Hess helped Copperleaf raise

Greg Smith, CEO, Thinkific Labs Inc.

mental health and burnout, and many more questions that all directly relate to people data. This monumental shift has absolutely led to more organizations coming to Visier to better understand their people.

Sidwell

While Vancouver and B.C.

$8.2 million in 2010 and eventually expanded it to a team of 250 employees ahead of last year’s IPO. “We decided that we really wanted to raise money to really have the opportunity to build the company out even more, go after more sectors … grow geographically,” she said, adding that her team determined an IPO was the best route to accomplish that.

“We’ve proven that out being one of the best-performing tech IPOs in 2021 and also actually the only female-led tech IPO in 2021, as well, so I’m hoping more women will join me in the next little while.”

Semios’ journey Sem ios specia l izes i n usi ng sen sors a nd d at a to en s u re healthy crops for farmers by monitoring for pests and harmful weather. It has three million of its Internet of Things sensors deployed across the globe, reporting back every 10 minutes.

A chemist by trade, founding CEO Michael Gilbert launched the agtech company in 2010 to develop a mechanism for more effectively deploying pheromones on farms to ward off pests.

“And now I essentially run a company of 300 people, most

Ryan Wong, CEO, Visier Inc.

building codes are aggressively advancing sustainable building practices, the construction industry is lagging far behind other industries on innovation and improving building materials and methods to reduce climate impacts. As the urgency for climate action continues to grow there is huge demand

of whom are engineers, because engineering was required to solve what initially was a biological problem,” he said.

Semios hit unicorn status last September after raising $100 million in private equity – the second time it’s raised that exact figure from investors since 2020.

“I was lucky to have a really good network of mentors, some of them became early investors who also came on board and kind of helped me navigate this entrepreneurship journey, which has been absolutely fantastic and so rewarding,” Gilbert said.

“We’ll be doing a lot more over the next few years in terms of bringing more the tools and datasets together, whether it’s through partnerships or acquisitions. And then we’re also looking at international growth.”

Among the three companies it acquired last year are those with footprints in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. “And we’re growing organically in Europe, so we’re now in Spain, France, Germany and Italy,” Gilbert said.

Meanwhile, the CEO said demand for technology that closely monitors and collects data on land is ramping up as more companies becoming increasingly

Alan Baratz, CEO, D-Wave Quantum Inc.

The growth of our company is being driven by our ability to translate the complex science of quantum computing into tangible real-world value for customers. D-Wave is the only quantum computing company demonstrating the commercial value of quantum computing to a blue-chip customer base, including industry leaders like Volkswagen, Toyota’s R&D Labs and

concerned about sustainability.

“It has to do with the quality of our water and the quality of our foods and the quality of the air,” he said. “There’s lots of aspects there that are going to come to the forefront, given how fast populations are growing and how much we’re urbanizing.

We do a lot in terms of helping fa rm i ng operations become more sustainable and helping protect precious resources like water, groundwater, air, and I think you’re going to see a lot of investors.”

Clio’s journey Just prior to the pandemic, Clio landed what it described as the largest growth-stage financing transaction in Canadian history at that time: US$250 million.

After yet another major raise in April 2021, this time attracting US$110 million, the Burnaby-based f i rm k now n for developing software that helps lawyers reduce administrative tasks reached a US$1.6 billion valuation.

Co-fou nder a nd CEO Jack Newton said the pandemic has served as an accelerant for the digital transformation of the legal industry.

“Lawyers were, by and large,

Lockheed Martin. This success is directly related to ongoing advancements in our quantum systems, quantum access via the cloud and the creation of quantum hybrid applications, which allow companies to have the best of both worlds (access to classical computation and quantum computers) to solve bigger problems.

Hess

Our culture, people and dedication to product innovation are the keys to our success and growth – as well as our passion to deliver exceptional value and extraordinary experiences to our customers.

Carl Hansen, CEO, AbCellera Biologics Inc. (Nasdaq:ABCL)

AbCellera’s growth over 2020 and 2021 occurred while actively responding to the global pandemic, and we are proud to have brought forward two COVID-19 antibody therapies.

How has the pressure to continued on page 8

savvy enough to realize that even if they’d been punting on this idea of adopting technology in their law firm pre-pandemic, what became really clear was that this was a matter of survival,” he said.

“And if they didn’t make this leap quickly, and with conviction in the early days of COVID-19, they knew they would really struggle.”

About 1,000 workers are expected to be on Clio’s payroll by spring 2022. And following last year’s big capital injection, Clio acquired tech firms Calendar Rules and Lawyaw.

Newton expects more acquisitions to come.

In the meantime, the CEO feels confident his tech can help significantly reduce the costs of services for consumers and open the door to more inclusive access to the legal system.

“This mission is so exciting to us, to let technology serve as a much more efficient way to bridge consumer demand with lawyers that can help those consumers solve their legal problems, and in a way that lawyers can do more efficiently, more profitably, with a much, much better work-life blend than what they’ve been able to achieve historically.” •

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Which 13 B.C. unicorns have emerged since the pandemic and when December 2020 AbCellera Biologics Inc. (Nasdaq:ABCL) What it does: Biotech specializing in human antibody research Status achieved: Initial public offering February 2021 Galvanize What it does: Governance, risk management and compliance software Status achieved: Acquisition by New York-based Diligent Corp.

March 2021 GeoComply Solutions Inc. What it does: Geo-fencing software for gaming, entertainment industries Status achieved: Funding round Dapper Labs Inc. What it does: Non-fungible token (NFT) market place Status achieved: Two 2021 funding rounds April 2021 Thinkific Inc. (TSX:THNC) What it does: Online course-creation platform Status achieved: Initial public offering Clio (Themis Solutions Inc.) What it does: Platform for reducing administrative tasks for lawyers

Insights from Continued from page 7

perform increased since reaching unicorn status?

Munford

Reaching a large valuation, or unicorn status, is simply one step along the way to building a market-leading company but is ultimately an arbitrary marker in a company’s journey. The unicorn label itself has not added any pressure, but the funding has enabled us to accelerate our goal to become the world’s leading end-to-end identity platform.

Wong

Luckily for us, we have very patient investors, and we have been meeting our plan.

Raising US$125 million has certainly given us plenty of new opportunities for growth and expansion, but it does also naturally place additional expectations from our investors on the growth of our business.

It also shone a spotlight on our organization as the leader in our space, so we have to continue to innovate and show value to our current, and future customers, to remain at the front of the

NEWS

Status achieved: Funding round June 2021 Trulioo Information Services Inc. What it does: Online identity verification Status achieved: Funding round Visier Inc. What it does: Workforce analytics Status achieved: Funding round August 2021 Blockstream Services Canada Inc. What it does: Crypto currency services Status achieved: Funding round September 2021 Nexii Building Solutions Inc. What it does: Low-carbon building material Status achieved: Funding round SemiosBio Technologies Inc. What it does: Land, pest monitoring for farms Status achieved: Funding round October 2021 Copperleaf Technologies Inc. (TSX:CPLF) What it does: Asset management software Status achieved: Public offering February 2022 D-Wave Quantum Inc. What it does: Quantum computing systems Status achieved: Public offering via special purpose acquisition company

pack.

Hess

There’s a larger spotlight on us now because of our status, but we have always set the bar high and continue to focus on long-term value creation for our clients.

Baratz

If pressure was ever an issue and if we’d ever listened to the naysayers, we wouldn’t have built a quantum computer. With our ongoing growth, we are energized by the opportunity to bring quantum computing to more industries, and more customers. We continue to focus on practical solutions, and we’ve seen that approach resonate with a variety of industries, such as life sciences, manufacturing, logistics and financial services. Other industries, such as energy and telecommunications, are also beginning to engage with quantum computing.

Schultz

I’ve since “semi-retired,” meaning I’ve joined five boards.

And while the pressure is one step removed from that of the CEO, the opportunity is one of

leveraging the experience gained at Galvanize to incubate unicorns in the businesses I am involved in.

Michael Gilbert, CEO, SemiosBio Technologies Inc.

Bigger cheques and high valuations come with loftier expectations of performance, return on investment and exits and increased drive to achieve and maintain leadership in a category.

What can B.C. do to meet demand for tech talent as the sector continues to grow?

Schultz

We are consciously incompetent around the supply of new talent out of schools. I think we are doing a good job of building relationships with schools, and this has started to shift for the better. Where we could do more is with executive-level talent, especially with the generation recently bred by all of the recent unicorns. We should be more conscious of “buying local” there, recruiting local talent to executive, CEO and board roles versus U.S. transplants. These people know how to do the job, and they know how to do it … from here.

Baratz

B.C. has been doing a good job of partnering with industry and academia to identify gaps and fill those with academic programs. There are programs to connect industry to domestic talent through the Digital Supercluster and Quantum Algorithm Institute, and programs to build a diverse workforce of the future such as UBC’s Geering Up and the Athena Pathways project. Moreover, the provincial support programs for immigration remains critical for talent recruitment.

Sidwell

We need to encourage international talent to come to B.C. from other parts of the world. Some barriers to getting this done continue to be housing supply and affordability. High salaries and stock options are no longer as effective to attract young talent. Especially when we are competing for the same talent with businesses headquartered in states and provinces like New York and Ontario.

Smith

Looking for talent from underrepresented pools of candidates. For example, women in tech. At Thinkific, nearly half our team identifies as female.

There is a lot of talent and opportunity among newcomers to Canada. We have many team members who’ve come from

around the world. We’re lucky to have them and better off for it.

We’ve also started hiring abroad, which of course opens up the talent pool significantly.

Wong

Hiring tech talent in B.C. has always been a struggle, and one of the reasons we’ve taken a dedicated approach to fostering new talent through our long-standing co-op program.

Now with remote work readily available, and major offices from competitors like Amazon. com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN)], competition for talent has become even more demanding.

Our local talent supply is limited, and B.C. should relax immigration rules to encourage new arrival of talents from other countries.

Munford

First we need to treat technology and programming as a core foundation of education from a very early age. Secondly, we need to ensure that our children and youth are aware of careers in tech and what the options are. Finally, the provincial government recently announced their commitment to investing in the skills and training people need now and in the future.

Having the capacity at postsecondary institutions is critical.

Hess

Continue to expand our local educational institutions to remain world class, focus on immigration to attract the best and brightest and embrace a work-from-anywhere culture.

What needs to happen to ensure anchor companies remain headquartered in B.C.?

Jack Newton, CEO, Clio (Themis Solutions Inc.)

Historically, venture-backed tech companies would move headquarters to say, Silicon Valley, and so went our executive talent stream. That’s changed.

Clio’s executive team spans provincial and national borders.

Some have risen from within the company, others join us from some of the biggest tech companies in the world. Long term, we have the opportunity to develop and promote the next generation of tech leaders right here in B.C. Munford

The reality is that all unicorns will not remain independent and some will be acquired. This is not unique to B.C. But it’s a numbers game, and I am confident that among the companies hitting scale and unicorn status, a number will remain independent and remain proudly B.C. headquartered.

Wong

We have a history of having a good startup environment, but having homegrown, large-scale tech organizations is something relatively new for us. We’re looking long term at our ability to continue to hire skilled and experienced talents as we grow up to – and past – 1,000 employees. In our industry, mitigating competition often comes from the promise of share ownership, so having support in the means of favourable employee stock options and tax incentives can help to promote innovation.

Sidwell

We need to ensure that there is continued access to talent, more affordable housing options, and continuing improvement in access to both private and public investment. Affordable business practices have always been an incentive for anchor companies to remain headquartered in B.C., particularly in the growing technology sector. Increasing interest rates and red tape should be avoided as much as possible for as long as possible.

Hess

We need to continue to grow the talent pool, support leadership, and invest in innovation.

Supporting the scaling of local tech start ups to become the next anchor companies is also critical Smith

Keeping the mountains and the ocean for a start. It’s hard to argue with those and Vancouver as an amazing place to live and work. But joking aside, I think companies tend to stay where they build strong roots.

Continued programs that support early startups are an ideal way to maximize the pool of potential anchor companies in the future Schultz

At the end of the day, CEOs and boards have to do what is right for their customers, employees and shareholders. At Galvanize, our sale to Diligent offered our customers (risk professionals) a direct seat at the boardroom table (via Diligent software) and thus was a marriage made in heaven.

Possibly, our path to keeping a headquarters in Vancouver could have been swayed by having more relationships with Canadian-based private equity and by having more local M&A opportunities. The good news is – in Galvanize’s case, at least – we’ve now incubated 500 employees (250 local) with the experiential means to participate in the next unicorn in B.C. •

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briefs transportation

Port of Prince Rupert, DP World to consider building second container terminal The Port of Prince Rupert – which is undergoing an expansion of its existing container terminal to make it the second-largest in Canada – is looking at building another such facility that would more than double the port’s overall container capacity.

The Prince Rupert Port Authority and operator DP World Canada Inc. said Feb. 24 that the two groups have signed a two-year agreement “to assess the feasibility of an innovative new container terminal project

in Prince Rupert.”

The new container terminal, which would be separate from the existing Fairview Terminal operated by DP World, could add as much as two million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of annual capacity to Prince Rupert. Officials said such a move would greatly boost Canada’s trade capacity within the Asia-Pacific region as the country’s top port – the Port of Vancouver – faces increasing challenges with

congestion.

DP World Canada CEO and general manager Maksim Mihic said in a statement that the move shows that his company is committed and confident that Prince Rupert can support a second container terminal facility.

“Our vision for this proposed project will ensure the Canadian trade and supply chain landscapes are future-proofed,” Mihic said in the statement. “The feasibility

studies will employ a pragmatic approach, exploring the use of advanced technologies and ideas to position the new terminal as an industry leader within Canada and the world.”

Earlier this month, officials said the first stage of Fairview Terminal’s latest 2B expansion – which would eventually push the facility’s capacity to 1.8 million TEUs when the project is completed in 2024 – is on schedule for completion this summer.

environment

health

The planet is facing a ‘global wildfire crisis,’ warns UN

COVID-19 hospitalizations drop in ninth straight update

Dozens of leading scientists around the world are warning of a “global wildfire crisis” over the coming decades as a warming planet increases the chance of more devastating infernos.

In a landmark rapid response report published last week through the United Nations Environment Programme, more than 50 experts from six continents warned, “the heating of the planet is turning landscapes into tinderboxes,

COVID-19 hospitalizations in B.C. Feb. 23 fell in the ninth consecutive data update from government, to 653 – the lowest count since Jan. 14.

Of those, 108 people were in intensive care units (ICUs), which is the same number as the previous day and a count that had not been lower since Jan. 17.

Health officials had predicted that the province’s number of COVID-19 hospitalizations had peaked weeks ago, and

K biv.com

while more extreme weather means stronger, hotter, drier winds to fan the flames.” By the end of the century, the chance of a repeat of the huge Arctic fires that consumed Siberia in 2020 or Australia’s “Black Summer” of 2019-20 will climb on any given year by between 31 per cent and 57 per cent, the report found. The report comes after B.C. suffered yet another devastating wildfire season.

that was part of the reason that they loosened restrictions last week to allow restaurants to operate at full capacity and for nightclubs to reopen and have dancing.

Hospitalizations reached a peak of 1,048 on Jan. 31, with ICU counts reaching their peak on Feb. 8. Hospitalization and ICU patient counts were far below current totals before mid-January when the province changed the way it counts those patients

Go online to read these stories in full, along with much more business news updated daily at biv.com.

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10 BIV

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realestate

powered by

Tiny houses could help ease B.C.’s housing squeeze housing |

Micro-homes on wheels offer innovative way to densify neighbourhoods, expert says

By Chuck Chiang

The point is, in order to achieve affordability, the land needs to be better utilized. On the same lot, you need to do more than just build one building

cchiang@biv.com

C

ould living in a tiny mobile home that is so customized and intricate that the final product more closely resembles a high-end custom house be a solution to the Lower Mainland’s lack of affordable housing stock?

The trend of tiny houses built on wheels and offering between 200 and 400 square feet of dwelling space has been increasingly popular in other North American jurisdictions like California, Washington and Hawaii.

These markets, while different from Metro Vancouver, share the B.C. market’s high prices, lack of affordability and limited housing stock.

One such builder, Oregon-based Tiny Mountain Houses, started its modular factory-constructed housing business in 2014. But according to company principal Lou Pereyra, most orders he receives today are higher-end custom homes on wheels that customers can park to add permanent housing capacity to their properties.

“Generally, the highest demand is in high-rent districts,” Pereyra said. “It could be in bigger cities where upwards of $3,000 a month gets you almost nothing, and we see a lot of migration towards something different.

Hawaii is a big market for us, Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area … where some people just stick it in their backyards where the local codes permit tiny houses.”

[] Avi Friedman Professor, McGill University

Lou Pereyra (left) with Nick Pereyra of Tiny Mountain Houses, showing one of the company’s custom home-on-wheels products | Tiny Mountain Houses

The key, he said, is that the product’s effectiveness is tied to land availability. Accordingly, Pereyra noted, most sales have gone to rural or suburban communities – although he added that some urban markets have been receptive to tiny homes, too.

He said there have been inquiries from Canadian customers – although most of his sales still originate from the U.S. A veteran Canadian affordable housing researcher said the tiny homes are likely to run into challenges in major urban cities in Canada due to local zoning laws and vehicle regulations, but added that the concept shows an innovative way for Canadians to resolve the country’s worsening

housing affordability crisis.

Avi Friedman, professor of architecture at McGill University in Montreal and an expert on housing affordability and sustainability in Canada, said the idea of tiny houses isn’t fundamentally different from the idea of laneway houses. Both seek to expand the residential capacity of a finite parcel of land – something that is crucial to dealing with the housing issue in B.C., Friedman said.

However, the challenge in adding home-on-wheels capacity to residential properties in urban areas such as Vancouver will lie in persuading urban municipal governments and neighbours to accept the added density as

well as the additional stresses on local infrastructure. Friedman said that most urban governments like those in Vancouver and nearby cities will not likely support the home-on-wheels option.

“Don’t misunderstand me; I like this solution,” he said. “I don’t think everyone should be living in McMansions. Young people can live comfortably in a tiny home, and some products are very innovative.

“Unfortunately, to convince big cities to allow this is difficult. It may not be impossible – someone may have to challenge zoning in court – but you will not get a permit to place [tiny houses] onto your property.”

The biggest barrier, as it often is in situations like this, is money.

While city planners will also cite concerns about the ability of a

home-on-wheels to fit into the character of a neighbourhood, the primary obstacle is tax revenue – or the lack thereof.

“Cities make money on taxes,” Friedman said. “And they don’t want these type of structures because there’s no [property tax] revenue in them. You need to connect these structures to sewers, power and water, and the need to access these things makes such a product in an established urban environment quite a challenge.”

Vancouver’s city bylaw currently prohibits the use of tents, tent-trailers, vans and RVs for residential uses. Mobile homes are allowed only in mobile home parks, according to the municipality, and putting a mobile home on one’s property is also outlawed within Vancouver city limits.

However, peripheral and rural areas have their own local zoning laws and may allow an owner to park a tiny house on property for residential use, Friedman said.

That is why, he noted, that these products – before any changes in urban zoning bylaws – may be best suited for suburbs with more relaxed bylaws or rural areas with housing-stock issues. Places like the Okanagan, for example, may benefit fairly quickly from such an idea.

Friedman also noted that other B.C. municipalities have shown a willingness to try new ways to boost housing capacity. continued on page 11

Kelowna multi-family rentals hit record $500,000 per door RESIDENTIAL |

Rental complex and new strata rental development raise price bar in Okanagan city

By Frank O’Brien fobrien@glaciermedia.ca

A

new multi-family rental project in Kelowna that is not even built yet has sold for the equivalent of $363,500 per door to Toronto-based Centurion Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust.

T he sa me rea l estate tea m also brokered the recent sale of a new strata-titled apartment and townhouse rental complex in Kelowna at $500,000 per suite, a new record price for rental units

in the Okanagan’s largest city.

The 238-unit Knox Mountain rental complex in downtown Kelowna is under construction. Its first phase is expected to complete in 2023.

The $86.5 million purchase price represents the largest single apartment building transaction ever in the interior of B.C., according to Peter Gibson of Cushman & Wakefield, who co-brokered the deal with Steve Laursen of Royal LePage Kelowna.

T he strata development,

This new 238-unit-rental project sold for $83 million to Centurion REIT even before construction was completed | Cushman & Wakefield

P rox i m a Urba n Homes, is a col lection of 59 apa rtments and townhomes in Kelowna’s downtown. It was completed in 2021. Located two blocks from Okanagan Lake, it sold for $29.5 million to Toronto’s Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust LP. Both properties are residential rentals and attracted multiple offers, according to the listing agents.

“Proxima was built out to be condo spec originally,” Laursen said. “It’s a stratified building

and is located right in downtown Kelowna in Kelowna’s newest residential and retail district.”

Both developments were built and sold by Kerkhoff Develop-Build, which has a head office in Chilliwack and another office in Kelowna.

Kerkhoff, a family-owned company in business since the early 1970s, built one of Kelowna’s first downtown highrises. It is building the One Water development in Kelowna with two towers of 36 and 29 storeys and a total of 426 strata units. •

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Hudson’s Bay downtown site eyed for office tower Commercial |

Ambitious redevelopment plan for prime Granville Street location could start in 2024

By Frank O’Brien

This project represents the next chapter in HBC’s retail history and its continued commitment to Vancouver.

We intend to honour the heritage of our flagship building, as well as that of historic Granville Street, while expressing our confidence in the future of Vancouver’s downtown

fobrien@glaciermedia.ca

H

udson’s Bay Co. (TSX:HBC) has partnered with Toronto-based RioCan Real Estate Trust (TSX: REI.UN) in a bid to transform the iconic Hudson’s Bay building in downtown Vancouver into a mixeduse development that includes one million square feet of office space.

Streetworks Development, the real estate development arm of HBC Properties and Investments, is leading the revitalization of the Bay Building as well as a variety of HBC’s other real estate assets across North America.

The century-old HBC outlet in Vancouver is in the heart of the city’s downtown at 674 Granville Street at the corner of West Georgia Street.

“T h is project represents the next chapter in HBC’s retail history and its continued commitment to Vancouver,” said Streetworks COO Richard Hamori. “We intend to honour the heritage of our flagship

Tiny houses Continued from page 10

Langford, in the Greater Victoria region, has for example allowed apartments to be built over two-car garages – something that can achieve densification goals similar to that of tiny houses. (Friedman is scheduled to speak at a March 5 online event about planning the future of Langford’s downtown.) “ T he p oi nt i s, i n ord er to achieve affordability, the land needs to be better utilized,” Friedman said. “On the same lot, you need to do more than

[] Richard Hamori COO, Streetworks

Iconic Hudson’s Bay store in downtown Vancouver: rezoning sought for one million-square-foot office tower and “next level” shopping centre | Artist’s rendering from Streetworks Development

building, as well as that of historic Granville Street, while expre ssi n g ou r con f id enc e i n t h e f u t u r e o f Va n c o u v e r ’s downtown.”

T he proposed makeover

includes reconfiguring the existing retail space into about 350,000 square feet of “next level” shopping and will allow other retailers to lease space in the complex, according to Doug

just build one building.”

Pereyra said he is confident that there is a market for the home s t h at T i ny Mou nta i n builds.

He also agrees that the biggest challenge is zoning bylaws in each municipality, but noted he has seen municipalities in jurisdictions like California beginning to relax their attitudes about new concepts when dealing with the housing crisis.

“The issue is the building department in these cities, more often than not.”

Pereyra added that some customers want a tiny house so

badly that they simply make the purchase and unilaterally place them on their property – without checking for any violations of municipal laws.

“People are looking for something not temporary, something they can live in for a long time,” Pereyra said.

“I think their key concern is taxation. But people want places to live that are also affordable; this fits their needs. We have rural buyers, but we also have buyers with established properties who are buying to house their kids or relatives. The demand is widespread.” •

Adams, Streetworks’ senior vice-president of development.

A new 12-storey tower will be built above the existing sixfloor store, providing one million square feet of new office space.

With large floorplates of up to 61,000 square feet, the aim is to attract large tech sector tenants, Adams added.

A rooftop garden and internal multi-level atriums are also planned for use by tenants in the new building.

The reconfiguration includes improved access from the building to the Granville SkyTrain station, the Vancouver-City Centre Canada Line station, local bus routes, a new underground indoor bike hub able to store up to 1,500 bicycles and new public pedestrian walkways that will provide covered access linking the Bay complex and downtown shopping areas.

The developers are expected to apply for Vancouver rezoning in the next week, a spokesman said February 23.

Processing the rezoning application could take up to a year or more and will include public engagement. Once approved, an application will be submitted for a development permit and subsequent building permit. Construction could then potentially start as early as 2024. •

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12 BIV

february 28–March 6, 2022

finance

H

ome prices continued to spiral higher in January as overzealous buyers and a low supply environment drove further gains.

The average Multiple Listing Service price in B.C. shot up to a record $1.049 million, up three per cent from December and a mammoth 23 per cent year over year.

While average values are influenced by composition and regional shifts, quality-adjusted benchmark values showed similar patterns. The Lower Mainland benchmark rose 2.9 per cent from December, Vancouver Island came in at 2.6 per cent with a slightly smaller gain in Victoria, Chilliwack increased 4.5 per cent and the Thompson-Okanagan was close to two per cent. Detached price growth continues to dominate.

With the average value up more than 40 per cent since the pandemic began and still rising, there is reasonable concern of excess froth. Demand is indeed robust, and households are enamoured with owning, driving acceleration of home sales by a gain of six per cent in January to 10,201 units, marking an eight-month high due to workfrom-home, demand for space,

15

$1,200,000

10

1,000,000

5

800,000

0

600,000

-5

400,000

-10

200,000

-15 2015

2017

2019

0

2021

Month-over-month per cent change (L)

Dollars

Per cent

Prices for all classes of home in the province have surged during the pandemic

Average price (R) SourceS: CREA, Central 1. Latest: January 2022

Home values higher in many B.C. regions

Lower Mainland homes remain the province’s priciest 1,293.7

$1,400 1,200 1,000

965.2

930.8

857

762.6

705.6

800

528.6

507.8

600 400

598.9 424.2

722.3 503.7

200 Lower Mainland

Victoria

Vancouver Island

Chilliwack

February 2020

January 2022

Kamloops and District

Okanagan

SourceS: CREA, Central 1. Latest: January 2022

Omicron hits b.c. retail Province’s retail sales slip but remain elevated Spending in B.C. is above pre-pandemic levels 20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25

$8,500 8,000 7,500 7,000 6,500

Millions

Bryan Yu

B.C. housing price growth accelerates in January

Benchmark price by MLS area (000s)

Data Points

urban outflow and of course low mortgage rates. However, the recent surge may reflect some irrational behaviour as end-use buyers and investors chase past price appreciation while racing against the clock to execute lower pre-approved mortgage rates.

Lack of supply has only reinforced upward price momentum. Buyers are competing for scant listings in the market, driving seller’s market conditions in nearly all areas of the province. That said, we continue to see this as demand-driven scarcity of inventory as new listings are generally in line with pre-pandemic levels.

While the pricing frenzy will likely continue for a few more months, we see the market cooling thereafter. Buyers are grappling with massive affordability challenges given price increases and the full effect of higher interest rates will soon curtail both end-user and speculative demand to help cool market conditions.

Retail spending closed off 2021 on a lower note in December but ahead of expectations. Sales at B.C. stores fell 1.4 per cent from November to a seasonally adjusted $8.12 billion. Yearover-year sales came in at 3.3 per cent. As with other provinces, spread of the Omicron variant likely hurt consumer confidence and spending, while rotation of office workers back to remote conditions and additional restrictions likely affected ancillary spending.•

B.C. housing market stays hot

Per cent

Frenzied B.C. housing market sets new records

6,000 5,500 2020 Retail sales (R)

Bryan Yu is chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union.

5,000

2021 Month-over-month change (L)

SourceS: Statistics Canada, Central 1. Latest: December 2021

INSIDERTRADING The following is a list of stock trades made by corporate executives, directors and other company insiders of B.C.’s public companies filed in the week ended February 23, 2022.

The information comes from a compilation of required reports filed with the BC Securities Commission obtained from DisclosureNet.com.

Insider William James Garner, 10% owner Company: Tryp Therapeutics Inc. (TSX:TRYP) Shares owned: 18,420,000 Trade date: February 22 Trade total: $1,000,000 Trade: Acquisition of 5,000,000 shares at a price of $0.20 per share Insider Robert MacKay Buchan, director

Company: Andean Precious Metals Corp. (TSX:APM) Shares owned: 1,873,334 Trade date: February 17 Trade total: $895,000 Trade: Acquisition of 500,000 shares at a price of $1.79 per share Insider Todd Olson Anthony, officer Company: First Majestic Silver Corp.

(TSX:FR) Shares owned: 65,000 Trade date: February 17 Trade total: $535,500 Trade: Sale of 35,000 shares at a price of $15.30 per share Insider Karen Liu, officer Company: First Majestic Silver Corp.

(TSX:FR)

Shares owned: 20,000 Trade date: February 17 Trade total: $461,400 Trade: Sale of 30,000 shares at a price of $15.30 to $15.50 per share Insider Marc Lustig, 10% Owner Company: Briacell Therapeutics Corp. (TSX:BCT) Shares owned: 1,640,000 Trade date: February 17 Trade total: US$432,850 Trade: Sale of 55,000 shares at a price of US$7.87 per share Insider Gerald Miller, director Company: West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (TSX:WFG) Shares owned: 6,142 Trade date: February 18 Trade total: $248,000

Trade: Sale of 2,000 shares at a price of $124.00 per share Insider Keith Neumeyer, director Company: First Majestic Silver Corp.

(TSX:FR) Shares owned: 4,043,067 Trade date: February 17 Trade total: $193,750 Trade: Sale of 12,500 shares at a price of $15.50 per share Insider Charles Edgar Fipke, director Company: Cantex Mine Development Corp. (TSX:CD) Shares owned: 19,477,036 Trade date: February 17, 18, 22 Trade total: $191,000 Trade: Sale of 598,000 shares at prices from $0.30 to $0.34 per share

Insider Mani Alkhafaji, officer Company: First Majestic Silver Corp.

(TSX:FR) Shares owned: 25,097 Trade date: February 17 Trade total: $116,100 Trade: Sale of 7,500 shares at a price of $15.48 per share Insider Blair Lawrence Naughty, 10% owner Company: York Harbour Metals Inc. (TSX:PXA) Shares owned: 5,485,500 Trade date: February 17, 22 Trade total: $62,700 Trade: Acquisition of 70,000 shares at a price of $0.87 to $0.93 per share •

INSIGHTS

february 28–March 6, 2022

BIV 13

Businesses bearing significant costs of statutory leave legislation

Podium J. Geoffrey Howard

T

he recent introduction of five days of mandatory paid sick leave in B.C. marks the high water mark of a tidal wave of legislation increasing B.C. employers’ obligations to provide job-protected statutory leaves.

While popular with employees, these expanded obligations effectively force an employer to incur significant costs and lost productivity to accommodate events in employees’ personal lives. Statutory leave rights need to strike a fair balance between the needs of employees and employers. Where the leave is paid, the issue is whether the cost should be borne by the employer or shared by all workers and employers through a government-paid benefit, as is the case for maternity and parental leave benefits.

In a series of amendments to the Employment Standards Act (ESA) over the past few years, the government has:

1. Multiplied the number of grounds on which employees can take statutory leaves: the ESA now lists 14 separate grounds of leave, each with its own set of rules.

2. Substantially increased the length of time employees can be off work on statutory leaves: birth mothers can now take up to 18 months off work, up from 12 months. Employees caring for critically ill family members can take up to 36 weeks to care for minors. Those who lose a child can take up to two years.

3. Required some leaves to be employer-paid: employers must now provide five paid days annually for sickness and five for absences due to sexual or domestic violence.

There is no question that employees need to have the legal right to take job-protected leave in some situations, such as having children, bereavement and sickness. However, the proliferation and extension of statutory leaves overlooks the reality that statutory leaves, particularly the longer ones, have significant impacts on employers and co-workers, including: A. Because the employer is required to reinstate the employee returning from leave, employers are faced with hard choices: manage around an absence or hire a replacement. The former

solution necessarily imposes significant additional workload on co-workers and managers.

Finding a replacement is also often difficult if not impossible, as well as costly. Few employees are interested in short-term leave replacement contracts, particularly in the current labour market. For many roles, it is not practical to train a replacement to the point they become productive during a leave.

B. Employees on leave must continue to receive benefit coverages, a cost incurred with no work provided in return.

C. Under the current ESA, vacation time off and, in some cases, vacation pay must continue to accrue to employees who are off work on statutory leaves. This does not make sense.

D. Most statutory leaves are available to all types of employees, with little or no service requirement. Does it make sense that a part-time employee working two days a week gets the same number of paid sick days as a full-time employee?

E. Employees taking longer leaves must transition their work to others then need time to reintegrate to full productivity on their return. This results in reduced productivity of the leave-taker at either end of the leave.

F. Mandating paid leaves effectively imposes significant new costs on employers. Under the new sick leave amendments, most employers expect all employees to take all five days. This is a major wage cost increase to the approximately 60 per cent of employers who did not offer paid sick leave prior to the amendments. Forcing employers to pay for leave time is a departure from the previous approach under which compensation to employees on leave was “socialized” by being paid through the employment insurance (EI) system financed by employers and employees collectively.

These impacts will continue to motivate employers to either move their labour force elsewhere or convert employees to contractors, who have no right to statutory leaves. To avoid this, it is time for a rebalancing of leave rights. Some changes that would help strike a fairer balance include: •Reducing the number of leaves to the most common ones and limiting them to situations beyond the control of the employee; •Reducing the duration of leaves with a guarantee of reinstatement to more reasonable durations, with 12 months as a maximum. This

could be supplemented by a “first right of return” to a job opening for employees taking more than 12 months rather than an iron-clad right of reinstatement; •Shifting benefit costs on longer leaves (e.g. exceeding 12 months) to the employee; •Amending the ESA to clarify that no vacation rights accrue on leaves exceeding a few weeks; •Pro-rating leave rights for part-time employees where appropriate (e.g. sick leave) and making longer leaves conditional on a minimum period of prior employment; and •Requiring the EI or WorkSafe system to provide all compensation for employees on leaves, with the cost shared amongst all employers and employees. This could include introducing higher levels of benefits for some leaves such as sick leave.

Together these reforms would help rebalance the current leave regime to better accommodate the needs of employers while still protecting employees’ rights to reasonable amounts of time off work. • J. Geoffrey Howard (ghoward@ howardlaw.ca) is a senior employment lawyer and principal of Howard Employment Law.

Covert recordings: cause for termination or evidence of harassment?

Podium Pam Costanzo

S

martphones and voice recording apps make recording conversations easy.

Employees may be tempted to create a record of a performance review or salary negotiation, but surreptitiously recording conversations at work breaches trust and privacy.

According to a recent court case, it may also constitute cause for termination.

In Shalagin vs. Mercer Celgar, 2022 BCSC 112, the court considered the case of an employee who was terminated without cause after a disagreement over his bonus. He filed a human rights complaint and a wrongful dismissal action. In the course of litigation, he revealed that he

had been recording conversations at work for several years, including training sessions, safety meetings, and “at least 30” meetings with supervisors and human resources. He said he made the recordings for two purposes: to help him learn English and because the meetings were “related to his rights.”

When Mercer Celgar learned about the recordings, it asserted that was just cause to terminate his employment.

The court agreed with the employee that it is legal to record a conversation as long as one party consents. The question was therefore whether doing so “fundamentally ruptured the relationship, such that the mutual trust between the parties is broken.” The employee admitted he had kept the recordings a secret because he knew his colleagues would be uncomfortable. The court accepted that the recordings were not malicious, but also accepted his co-workers felt “violated.” In the absence of any real justification for the recordings, the employee’s

conduct justified terminating his employment for cause.

As is typical, this case rests on a particular set of facts, and employers should examine the circumstances before imposing discipline or terminating employees who record workplace interactions. It was significant in the Shalagin case that there was no justification for the recordings. The result may be different if an employee is recording conversations because of real concerns about bullying or harassment as those recordings may be evidence.

Disciplining an employee in those circumstances could be retaliatory.

In New Westminster vs. IBEW, 2021 Can LII 7391, two employees had a conversation in a change room at work. A third employee overheard their conversation, became concerned and recorded it on his cellphone.

One of the employees appeared to be making threats. Neither employee consented to having their conversation recorded.

The recording was provided to

the employer; unfortunately, it was poor quality and difficult to hear. In its investigation, the employer relied on witness statements rather than the recording. The employee making threats was terminated from his employment. The union grieved his termination.

At the hearing, the union argued it was discriminatory not to also discipline the employee who recorded the conversation without permission. The arbitrator decided it was “inappropriate” to record colleagues in a workplace, but also found the employee acted as a whistleblower. He said the employee “could not be faulted” for bringing forward safety concerns and that if he had been disciplined for making the recording, WorkSafeBC could have viewed it as retaliatory.

Employers should consider whether recordings are being made for a purpose related to safety. If so they could be accepted as evidence by WorkSafeBC or workplace investigators. For example, in City

of Calgary and CUPE Local 37, 2018 CanLII 53482, an employee recorded incidents of sexual harassment on her cellphone.

When she offered to play them for the human resources employee investigating the allegations, he refused to listen to them and said she would have to email them to him.

He submitted a report stating the allegations were unsubstantiated without hearing the recordings. The arbitrator expressed concern that the investigator “simply ignored firsthand evidence of conversations” in a “she said/he said situation” and said, “any potentially corroborating evidence should have been pursued.”

There was no suggestion that the employee had been wrong to record the conversations; rather, she won a large award in damages. • Pamela Costanzo is an associate at Roper Greyell, practising in all areas of workplace law with a focus on workplace investigations and labour arbitrations.

14 BIV

february 28–March 6, 2022

INSIGHTS

Athletes’ dark days provide path to enlightened business leadership

Podium Kirk LaPointe

I

recall the shock two years ago of an email alert from the organizers a few days following the annual Jewish Community Centre (JCC) Sports Dinner. Someone in the teeming Hyatt Regency Hotel ballroom a few nights earlier had tested positive for COVID-19.

It was a thunderbolt. Among the several hundred in that room, surely there were many fearing the worst: that this nascent virus would spread to them with unknown heft. But few if any could yet anticipate a more substantial development: that a large number of the firms many of the attendees managed and owned would in a few days shutter, splinter and segue into what we can see two years later as a semi-permanent shift in how business is conducted and work is performed.

The marquee attraction that night was New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, an extraordinarily enduring

superstar (now a broadcaster) who gave no hint of apprehension to be in a packed house with hundreds who wanted to shake his hand, get an armaround photo with him – even bid high dough to play catch with him in the room.

In the same way that, for many in that room, the 2020 dinner coincided with the start of an unprecedented social and economic chapter, it was fitting that last Wednesday’s dinner served as another, more hopeful starting line. Hundreds of vaccinated, liberated, maskless businesspeople were back in the thick of things, the two dinners serving as bookends of a city’s pandemic dynamics.

The resumption of the significant in-person fundraiser for the venerable centre struck a decisively different chord.

Consciously or not, organizers brought forward a program in which the event’s traditional swagger was replaced by a speech and discussion – and an Indigenous land acknowledgment – that signalled the evolution of discourse within the business of sport and the wider society.

The local element of the program is the Jack Diamond award for contribution to community, and this year the recipient was the remarkable Corey Hirsch, the former Vancouver Canucks

goaltender (now a broadcaster, too) who has taken on a personal responsibility to use his station in life to advance the importance of attention to mental health.

Hirsch took the stage to a standing ovation and silenced the room with his story of struggling with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behaviour, of dark contemplation, of dressing-room rejection in an era of relative ignorance in the sports fraternity and of some optimism that change is under way and support is emerging as never before.

His tale reflects what most businesses have come to recognize in the pandemic as a critical and widespread challenge for their workforces, in part because elite athletes – Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Love and Robin Lehner, among them – have shared and spoken out in an effort to destigmatize. Many entertainers have done so, too, but business and political leadership has lagged in sharing their stories to make it safer for the workplace to do so. Perhaps Hirsch’s candor persuaded a few to do so Wednesday.

His speech set the table, too, for the marquee attraction of the dinner: Alex Rodriguez, inarguably one of baseball’s

all-time greats, but with a self-inflicted wound that cost him a year’s suspension late in his playing days for using performance-enhancing drugs, a move that might cost him a place in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Rodriguez was in much of his career in sport what many of those in business would recognize as the dog-eat-dog cohort, riveted in winning at all costs.

But his onstage discussion with sports journalist James Cybulski was anything but that strut.

It was vulnerable, confessional, accepting of consequence and in many ways the ideal message for what are now his peers in business.

The frustration of conducting business in the coronavirus era has furnished humility and an understanding of larger forces at work in our world to make us reconsider practices and redefine principles. But Rodriguez had these tasks under a public microscope in the declining years of his playing career in the world’s largest city, New York, for the world’s best-known team, the Yankees.

It could have gone so sideways.

Those who know him have spoken and written on how he used that time valuably for reflection on his choices, to not only apologize and atone but develop new muscles as a

father, a partner, a friend – and, as we have seen, to advance with more personal grounding his flourishing business portfolio of enterprises, including NBA and WNBA franchises in Minnesota.

His frank narrative of redemption and reclamation was pitch-perfect for a week in which British Columbia reopened in larger measure. The arenas can be filled, the restaurants can repopulate, and the restrictions can lift and lift until before long they will be barely noticeable.

What we can hope will be noticeable, as more and more return to the workplace and many redefine that focus of their identities, are new attitudes and acceptances to recognize that even our icons can carry difficult backstories, that their pedestals can be more precarious and illusory than we realize, and that it is a healthy ambition for us to discuss our discomforts and choices.

Hirsch and Rodriguez, if the audience was listening and learning, gave hundreds of local influencers the opportunity to take in powerful lessons handy to their leading in the time ahead. • Kirk LaPointe is publisher and editorin-chief of BIV and vice-president, editorial, of Glacier Media.

Popularity of monarchy and Royal Family sinking fast in Canada

Podium Mario Canseco

A

review of the way Canadians feel about the monarchy has become an annual tradition at Research Co. and Glacier Media. We usually tackle this task in the last days of February, asking questions about Canada’s Constitution, individual members of the Royal Family and the future.

It is fair to say that a lot has happened over the past 12 months. We had a highly publicized interview featuring Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with Oprah Winfrey, the appointment of Mary Simon as Canada’s 30th governor general, the extraordinary allegations levelled against Prince Andrew that

have now been settled without a trial in the United States, and, more recently, the announcement from Queen Elizabeth II that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will assume the title of Queen Consort once Prince Charles ascends the throne.

When we compare the results of this year to previous iterations, some fluctuations are particularly remarkable.

For starters, the favourability rating of all the members of the Royal Family is lower now than last year. Queen Elizabeth II is regarded positively by 64 per cent of Canadians, down six points since 2021.

If you assumed that the Oprah interview would help raise the likability of the two participants in Canada, the numbers tell a different story. Positive perceptions of Prince Harry fell to 50 per cent in 2022 from 64 per cent in 2021. Duchess Meghan also saw a double-digit decline, to 44 per cent from 54 per cent.

The usually popular Prince William also experienced a

drop (58 per cent, down nine points) and is now outranked by his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (60 per cent, down four points). Only 35 per cent of Canadians (down six points) hold favourable views of Prince Charles, and even fewer (27 per cent, down three points) feel the same way about Duchess Camilla.

The situation for Prince Charles is particularly calamitous, as every year fewer Canadians look at him as “monarch material.” When Canadians are asked their wishes for succession, 34 per cent say they would rather have Prince William as King after Queen Elizabeth II, while 17 per cent prefer Prince Charles. Another 34 per cent believe there should be no monarch after the current one – the highest level since 2010.

In seven different surveys conducted since 2007, the idea of Prince Charles as King has never been endorsed by more than one in four Canadians.

This year’s total of 17 per cent is the lowest recorded on this

question and down five points since last year.

A significant preoccupation for Prince Charles is the lack of support from what, to borrow a political term, would be considered his base. Canadians who would like to see the monarchy continue believe that Prince William is better suited for the role (50 per cent) than Prince Charles (36 per cent).

Practically half of Canadians (49 per cent, up four points) now say that their preference when thinking about Canada’s Constitution is to have an elected head of state, while just 21 per cent (down three points) favour keeping the monarchy in place.

Quebec is home to the lowest proportion of Canadians who would like to see the country remain a monarchy (14 per cent). The numbers are only marginally better in Atlantic Canada (17 per cent) and British Columbia (20 per cent) and slightly higher in Ontario (23 per cent), Alberta (29 per cent) and Saskatchewan and

Manitoba (31 per cent).

In spite of the severe drop in favourability for all members of the Royal Family and the desire of almost half of Canadians to abandon the monarchy, there is currently little expectation that a substantial constitutional change will occur. We continue to see practically half of Canadians (48 per cent, down one point) who believe Canada will still be a monarchy two decades from now.

Canadians are becoming more enthused with the possibility of having an elected head of state.

Still, there is no variation in the belief that someone will spearhead a process that would allow Canadians to vote for this position in the next two decades. • Mario Canseco is president of Research Co. Results are based on an online study conducted from February 20 to February 22 among 1,000 adults in Canada.

The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Courts

february 28–March 6, 2022

BIV 15

trouble WHO’S GETTING SUED These corporate claims were filed with the BC Supreme Court registry in Vancouver. Information is derived from notices of civil claim. Civil claims have not been tested or proven in court.

Defendants South Creek Landing Investments Inc. and Port Capital Developments Inc. and Portfolio Asset Group LP and Macario Teodoro Reyes Plaintiff 554171 B.C. Ltd. Claim $2,504,837 for debt.

Defendants GSV Futures Inc. and Chuang Liu Plaintiff Bei Ding Claim $643,695 for breach of contract for defendants’ failure to bring plaintiff’s bitcoin mining machines online.

Defendant N.C. Trading Co. Ltd. Plaintiff 0828329 B.C. Ltd. Claim $634,300 for construction work.

Defendants Pedre Contractors Ltd. and Greater Vancouver Water District Plaintiff Mainland Construction ULC dba Winvan Paving and dba Mainland Sand & Gravel Claim $462,832 for labour and materials; a builder’s lien.

Defendant Southernstar Enterprises Inc. Plaintiff Wastech Services Inc. Claim $379,412 for waste disposal services.

Defendants Twisted Knot Contracting Ltd. and Troy Ernest Michaud Plaintiff Accord Small Business Finance Corp.

Claim $309,398 for debt.

Defendants KMB Developments Ltd. and Gurpreet Singh Gill and Kanwalpreet Singh Sekhon and Jagtar Singh Sidhu Plaintiffs Progressive Home Warranty Ltd. and Echelon Insurance Claim $257,148 for breach of home warranty.

Defendants 1154641 B.C. Ltd. and New Intelligence Development Ltd. and Xin Yuan He Plaintiff 1110910 B.C. Ltd. Claim $250,859 for debt.

Defendant Texo Forming Inc. Plaintiff Alumasafway Inc. dba Aluma Systems Claim $141,828 for forming and shoring equipment.

Defendants PR Pomeroy Restoration & Construction (B.C.) Inc. and Dean G. Pomeroy Plaintiff Total Façade Solutions Inc. Claim $130,986 for curtainwall and skylight installation work.

Defendants Site Specific Building Corp. and David Patrick Macentee and Kristin Michelle Houghton

Women in Leadership

Plaintiffs Lasnier Construction Inc. dba Wallace Underpinning Claim $83,330 for underpinning work; a builder’s lien.

Defendants David Kenneth England and Carla Lewis and Carla Lewis Law Corp.

Plaintiff Carey Linde and Carey Linde Personal Law Corp.

Claim $80,000 for legal services.

Defendants Weststone (Innovation) LP and Weststone (Innovation) GP Ltd. and Weststone Three King George Developments Ltd. and Weststone One King George Developments Ltd. and Weststone Two King George Developments Ltd. Plaintiffs Jaspal Singh Atwal and Sarabjit Kaur Atwal Claim $59,767 for debt.

Defendant Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp.

Plaintiff Miller Thomson LLP Claim $55,250 for legal services.

Defendants Reid Developments Ltd. and Eric Quay Hopkins and Kandace Dawn Hopkins Plaintiff Laurent Bros. Woodwork Ltd. Claim $52,433 for finishing carpentry work; a builder’s lien.

Defendants Ryan Michael Ross Deakin and 114 West Windsor Joint Venture Ltd. Plaintiffs Reza Falsafi and Maryam Modares

Claim Declaratory relief for a constructive trust over property.

Defendants 1282043 B.C. Ltd. and Betty Dusange-Hayer Plaintiff Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia as administrator of the estate of Ali Bouaziz Claim Damages for breach of contract for failure to complete a real estate sale and forfeit a $500,000 deposit.

Defendants Yao Hua Tseng and Hsueh Feng Wang and CTBC Bank Corp (Canada) Plaintiff Ching Hua Tseng Claim Damages for conversion for unauthorized transfers of funds from plaintiff’s bank account.

Defendants Tiger Bay Development Corp. and Tiger Bay Village Corp. and Cun Fu Cheng Plaintiff SS Unimix Capital (Canada) Inc. Claim Declaratory relief for a constructive trust over property for defendants’ unauthorized use of plaintiff’s investment funds.

Defendant Taisheng International Investment Services Inc. Plaintiff City of Terrace Claim Specific performance of a real estate contract.

Defendant Pascal Biosciences Inc. Plaintiff Rob Gietl Claim Damages for breach of contract arising from defendant’s wrongful termination of plaintiff as the company’s CEO.

|

Defendants Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and BMW Canada Inc. and Openroad Auto (Langley) Ltd. dba BMW Langley and ABC Cos. Plaintiffs Martin Shaer and Jane Parker-Shaer and Reliable Mobile Hearing Testing Ltd. Claim Damages arising from a fire caused by a defective battery in a vehicle leased by the defendants.

Defendants Iron Energy Fitness Centre Ltd. and National Storage & Warehousing Inc. and Brian Mark and Kirsten Mark and Cole Dasilva and Morgan De Le Ronde and Brett Godin and Amy Webster and Brian Ralph Plaintiffs Interior Health Authority and Christopher Russell in his capacity as a designated health officer under the Public Health Act Claim Injunctive relief to restrain defendant from operating a gym in violation of COVID-19 public health orders.

Defendants O’Durnin Developments Inc. dba O’Durnin Custom Homes and Wolf Plumbing Ltd. and Zlatko Vukelic Plaintiff Todd Acheson Claim Damages arising from a flood.

Defendants Your Dollar Store With More Inc. and Pro Wings Aviation Ltd. dba Your Dollar Store With More $186 Plaintiff Chelsea Streeter Claim Damages arising from a fire caused by defendants’ defective “Butt Bucket” ashtray product. •

K biv.com

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