Image: File image of cranes working on a BC Govt. construction site. / BC Govt. / Flickr

By Bowinn Ma, Minister of Infrastructure

OPINION

YOUR PERSPECTIVE: Delivering on infrastructure projects in your community

May 7, 2025 | 10:00 AM

Whether it’s a school, hospital or highway, British Columbians rely on our province’s public infrastructure every day.

Yet B.C.’s extraordinary population growth in recent years has placed significant pressure on our infrastructure and has underscored the need to build out this infrastructure and to do so more quickly than ever.

While we’ve made record capital investments, we know construction is still too often delayed by lengthy and overlapping approval and permitting processes.

That’s why last year, we created the Ministry of Infrastructure – to address challenges we face and deliver cost-effective, high-quality generational infrastructure for British Columbians.

And last week, we took an important step forward by introducing the Infrastructure Projects Act. This legislation will help meet the need for critical infrastructure by speeding up permitting and approvals so we can get shovels in the ground faster on key projects and provide tools to deliver projects more efficiently.

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One way the new legislation does this is by allowing the province to deliver certain projects on behalf of school districts, health authorities and post-secondary institutions.

For example, rather than each school district purchasing modular classrooms individually the province could buy modular classroom expansions for several school districts at once. Actions like these will save school districts money and get them materials faster – meaning more students will be in high-quality classrooms sooner.

In other cases, we would be able to prioritize permit review for urgent projects. A university could have students living in on-campus housing over a year faster in some cases.

With this new bill, we’ll be able to work more efficiently with communities after a natural disaster or climate emergency. This could mean moving a crucial highway or bridge rebuilding project to the front-of-line for review so construction could start as soon as possible, and supply chains could be re-established to the impacted community sooner.

For example, Grand Forks is a community that has been hit hard by flooding and recovery has often been challenged by numerous overlapping permitting processes. The Mayor of Grand Forks has said that this legislation could be used to help more communities rebuild what they’ve lost in a faster more streamlined way, so municipalities can stay focused on supporting people and not lengthy or overlapping approval processes.

While we work to streamline permitting, including expediting environmental assessments for certain projects, we’re committed to upholding B.C.’s high environmental standards and maintaining our commitments to work with First Nations under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

These new tools will be used thoughtfully, not as a one-size-fits-all solution. They build on our work across government to deliver projects faster and support the most ambitious infrastructure plan in our province’s history.

That plan is part of our work to deliver over 80,000 student seats in hundreds of school projects, over 30 hospital or health facilities in addition to thousands of renovation and maintenance projects across the province. This ensures that we are meeting the needs of growing communities and making sure that people have access to quality infrastructure.

Our goal is to build a stronger B.C. for years to come – and this new legislation means we can get to work faster.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of Fraser Valley Today or Pattison Media.