CRD Watch Homepage

UDI (registered lobbying organization) Newsletter from March 2023 Advertised “connecting with the University of Victoria Real Estate Club for your next public hearing”


By Sasha Izard
Nov 16, 2024


In previous articles (see bibliography below), I exposed the UVic Real Estate Club’s relation to the Urban Development Institute (UDI), a registered lobbying organization on the BC Lobbyists Registry, that offers political influence/representation to its paying corporate member companies involved in development and real estate.

I also exposed that at present, the UVicRec’s 8 member Board of Directors is overwhelmingly dominated by both current (4) and former (2) UDI Directors. Not only are 6 out of 8 UVicREC Directors, a combination of current and previous UDI Directors, but the UVic Real Estate Club’s top financial sponsor is the UDI, followed by its member companies.

The latest find in this saga is from a Freedom of Information request that I made to UVic that was deemed a refusal by the OIPC. That is right. UVic broke the law, in not granting the FOI request, but was ultimately forced to do so by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

The FOI response contained something in the ballpark of around 2500 pages in total, which consisted of pages regarding UVics communications with and about the UDI, covering numerous departments, including the President’s Office. Vast amounts of the pages, if they weren’t heavily redacted, were completely blanked out, and many did not even appear at all, except in an index referring to “collapsed” pages.

This article will only refer to a brief snippet from the FOI response, because this snippet is very revealing. You will be able to see it in the screenshots of the UVIC FOI response at the end of this article.

I first witnessed the UVIC Real Estate Club students speaking under the organization’s banner at public hearings at the District of Saanich in early 2023, in favour of the projects of a UDI member company Abstract Developments. The Chair of the UDI at the time, just so happened to be a top level employee of that company, and the address of the company’s office on Cook St. was provided on the UDI’s registration on the BC Lobbyists Registry.

I also witnessed the UVic Real Estate Club speak as a block at a public hearing at the City of Victoria, in favour of the proposed development at the Bayview Roundhouse property that could involve well over a billion dollars of luxury condos at over 30 storeys. The development company for the project Focus Equities is a UDI member, and the UDI Capital Region’s Executive Director, who is also simultaneously a UVic Real Estate Club Board Director, previously worked for the developer.

The UVicRec students also spoke in favour at a public hearing of UDI member company Starlight’s Harris Green mega-project.

—————————————————————————————————

As revealed by the FOI, a UDI Newsletter from March 2023 listed a number of development projects, including those that recently have had, and would soon have public hearings. Below this was written “UVic Real Estate Club Project Support”.

Directly after this was advertised in almost fine-print, “If you are interested in connecting with the University of Victoria Real Estate Club for your next public hearing please contact” followed by the name of a student, followed by the UVic Real Estate Club logo of towering buildings.

This was followed by a section “Policy and Advocacy Update”. Advocacy is one of the three pillars of the UVIC Real Estate Club, and “advocacy” which can often appear synonymously with lobbying, appears in the UDI’s annual reports.

Four municipalities were included in the list, the City of Victoria, the City of Colwood, the District of Sooke, and the Township of Esquimalt, all of which themselves are paying members of the UDI, and 3 out of 4 of these have unrecorded backroom meetings between District staff and UDI liaison committees. In another section of the FOI response (showing the UDI’s June 2023 newsletter), Saanich was also included in the list. Saanich withdrew its UDI membership in 2023, but retained its staff meetings with a UDI liaison committee. What followed the municipalities mentioned in the list, were lists of various UDI “advocacy initiatives” for those municipalities, that are familiar from the UDI’s annual reports.

The policy and advocacy section concludes: “If you are working in a municipality listed here and would like to be involved in our advocacy work, please contact” followed by the name of the Executive Director of the UDI Capital Region, who is registered on the BC Lobbyists Registry as an In-house lobbyist of the UDI. The Executive Director is as mentioned previously on the UVic Real Estate Club board of directors.

Bibliography:

Index of documentation covering the UVic Real Estate Club and development industry influence over it. – CRD Watch Homepage

Registered Organization on the BC Lobbyists Registry: Urban Development Institute (UDI) Board Directors Officiate Over ‘University of Victoria’ (“UVic”) “Student Group” – CRD Watch Homepage

Urban Development Institute / Anne McMullin, President & CEO – 12-Month Lobbying Summary – Lobbyists Registry – Office of the Registrar or Lobbying of BC
(Accessed: Nov 16, 2024)

Is the UVic Real Estate Club Acting as a Lobby for the Development and Real Estate Industries in Greater Victoria? – Sasha Izard

LETTER: UVic club has close ties to Urban Development Institute – Saanich News

LETTER: Club’s pro-development stance weakens UVic’s reputation – Saanich News

LETTER: Local governments should distance themselves from lobbyists – Saanich News

The Urban Development Institute (UDI) Caught Misleading the Public Again – CRD Watch Homepage

UVICRealEstate.com
(Accessed: Nov 16, 2024)


Partners — UVic Real Estate (The list of sponsors of the UVIC Real Estate Club)
(Accessed: Nov 16, 2024)

UDI.org
(Accessed: Nov 16, 2024)


Leadership | UDI – Urban Development Institute (Click on Capital Region in the blue bar under Leadership to see the Directors of the UDI Capital Region)

(Accessed: Nov 16, 2024)

Archived copy of the UDI Capital Region website, which was taken down and replaced with UDI.org in late 2023: UDI Capital Region – Your voice in the local development industry

Board of Directors – UDI Capital Region Archived copy of the UDI Capital Region Board of Directors (late 2023)