Bill-44: The Authoritarian Densification of British Columbia

The B.C. NDP has introduced Bill-44, which if passed later this fall will abolish single-family zoning in all municipalities with more than 5,000 residents.

Three to four housing units, in the form of secondary suites, laneway houses, townhomes, triplexes, and house-plexes, will now be permitted on residential single-family lots.

This dramatic densification will be accomplished through a significant seizure of zoning power from local communities. If Bill-44 is passed, communities of more than 5,000 residents will have to rewrite their community housing plans to follow a “policy manual” drawn up by the NDP. Site-by-site public hearings for rezonings will be eliminated.

Rezonings conforming to community housing plans (which will be merely local extensions of the NDP policy manual written in Victoria) will be automatically approved without public hearings. This even extends to mixed-use developments where just 50% of the project is actually devoted to housing.

Local governments will lose the power to tailor zoning to the particular character, culture, economy, history, and environment of their community. The province’s constellation of varied towns will be subject to a single zoning manual written by the provincial government.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie pointed out that replacing public hearings with automatic rezonings will mean the scrapping of traffic studies: “Are we going to assume that traffic will take care of itself?”. He also expressed worry over how municipalities would cope with the increased strain on infrastructure, water supply and public services.

The NDP government is taking this dramatic measure because they want to make housing affordable, but are unwilling to confront the root cause of B.C.’s housing crisis: immigration-driven population growth.

What will abolishing single-family zoning and scrapping public hearings accomplish? According to the NDP government’s figures, 130,000 new housing units will be built…in ten years. From July of 2021 to July of 2022, B.C. had a net international migration rate of 103,674.

As immigration-driven population growth continues, and the cost of housing continues to rise as a result, future B.C. governments will be required to enact ever more drastic measures to build more housing. Upwards, like the skyscrapers of Toronto, or outwards, like the urban sprawl of Calgary – probably both.

But how many people should really live in B.C.? Pre-contact population estimates range from 200,000 to a million. In 1941, the population was 817,861. In 1971, 2.2 million. In 2001, 3.9 million. Today, more than 5 million. Tomorrow? The Canadian immigration taboo prevents British Columbians from discussing the possibility of a limiting principle to provincial population growth.

Many immigrants come to B.C. because they too love our land of quiet neighbourhoods, abundant nature, and rich farmland. Instead of steamrolling community autonomy and mandating development, Premier Eby should work with other Premiers to demand that Ottawa grant Anglo provinces the same authority over immigration given to Quebec in 1991.

Editor’s note: My bi-monthly Counter Current column is originally published in the Islands Marketplace paper (islandsmarketplace.com/issue.pdf). This piece was published on November 16th, 2023.