ICBA Coffee & Construction

She'd never set foot in Vancouver. She called into a Vancouver public hearing from Los Angeles anyway. Council asked her one real question. Six seconds of silence. Then a cough.

Episode 12 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show:

☕ THE BIG ONE: A union machine hijacks Vancouver city hall — California callers who'd never been to Vancouver, AI-written scripts, "translators" who didn't speak the language, and a hotel union president defending it all. Real Vancouver families waited until 1 a.m. for their five minutes. Mayor Sim wants a Vancouver Charter fix — will David Eby move on it?

🖥️ The data centre race: New York slaps a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centres, the federal NDP wants Canada to copy it — and Alberta scoops up 92% of everything planned in this country. Vancouver? Come back in 2027.

🏠 CMHC's mid-year forecast: housing starts keep falling, with B.C. and Ontario condos wearing the worst of it. What that means for framing crews, excavators and every builder's 2027

🌉 Charlottetown wrap: tariffs bite August 19, "everything is on the table" — and Carney gets caught in his own spin on the Gordie Howe Bridge deal

📊 Get the ICBA Economics briefing — the most helpful email you'll get all week: https://icba.ca/economics

Read more on today's stories:
Dan Fumano on Vancouver council going off the rails: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/colu...
The California callers and Sim's letter to Eby: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/unite...
New York's data centre moratorium: https://thehub.ca/2026/07/20/new-york...
CMHC's 2026 mid-year Housing Market Outlook: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/media-new...
Carney on the Gordie Howe Bridge deal: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carn...

ICBA Coffee & Construction drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe, hit the bell, and send this one to somebody who builds for a living.

ICBA is Canada's largest construction association — the voice of B.C. and Alberta's open-shop builders: https://icba.ca

#construction #bcpoli #abpoli #Vancouver #BritishColumbia #Alberta #housing #datacentres #ICBA

What is ICBA Coffee & Construction?

The news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta.

ICBA Coffee & Construction is a fast, no-spin briefing for construction and resource business owners — the projects, the politics, and the policy decisions that hit your job site and your bottom line. Hosted by Jordan Bateman of ICBA, Canada's largest construction association, from a free-enterprise point of view.

Inflation, pipelines, megaproject overruns, housing, labour, red tape — we cut through the headlines and tell you what it actually means for your business. Sharp, useful, and under ten minutes.

New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Subscribe, and send it to one person who builds for a living.
Learn more at icba.ca. For the economics behind the headlines, subscribe to ICBA's twice-weekly EconoBot briefing at icba.ca/economics.