CRD Watch Homepage

UVIC Real Estate Club compelled to rename its Board of Directors the “Advisory Board” after it turned out that the board was overwhelmingly dominated by current and past Directors from the same Provincially registered development/real estate lobbying organization. 6 out of 8 of the UVIC club Board members as it turned out, were not students attending UVIC.


By Sasha Izard
Feb 10, 2025

The UVIC Real Estate club website https://uvicrealestate.com/ had quite the makeover this January after it turned out that 4 current and 2 past Board Directors of a registered organization on the BC Lobbyists Registry: the Urban Development Institute (UDI) were officiating over a ‘University of Victoria’ (“UVic”) “Student Group” and that the UDI had been advertising to its members in its Policy and Advocacy Updates Newsletter, contacting the UVIC real estate club for public hearings, many which public hearing had the UVICRec students speak under the club’s banner in support of UDI member companies. The UDI and its member companies remain the the overwhelming main financiers of the UVIC Real Estate Club as evinced by its Partners Page.

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

A freedom of information request revealed that some senior administrators did not want to inform Anita Bhappu the Dean of the Gustavson School of Business about potential conflict of interest concerns involving the UVic Real Estate Club and the UDI. This I informed Anita about, who in turn appointed Mia Maki the associate teaching professor and associate dean of external and outreach at UVic’s Gustavson School of Business to investigate. Maki interviewed the UVIC Real Estate Club students, who as I was informed, assured her that their Board of Directors is merely advisory, something the associate dean of external outreach, apparently accepted at face value. Bhappu herself went silent.

A board of directors as I pointed out however, is not merely advisory by definition. A board of directors directs and leads an organization. It does not merely advise it.

Surely 6 combined present and past Board Directors of the UDI, the most powerful and influential lobbying organization for development and real estate interests in the Province of British Columbia must have have known that, as should the UVIC Gustavson School of Business. As I told them in a letter at the end of 2024, if they did not deal with this, I would be informing a Board of Directors who should know what a Board of Directors actually is, the UVIC Board of Directors itself.

The charade had to end and it had to end fast. In early January of this year, the Board formerly known as the “Board of Directors” had a name change. They were now the “Advisory Board”.

All the same people, just with a different title comprising this ‘new board’, and now in addition, many UVIC students were also being described on the website in the brand new “People” section as “Directors”, whereas until January only 2 were described as such.

The following is an Archive.org Waybackmachine snapshot of the UVIC Real Estate Club Board of Directors page dated to November 21, 2024 Board of Directors — UVic Real Estate

The page for the UVIC Board of Directors disappeared as 2024 turned to 2025.

A new page replaced it: https://uvicrealestate.com/people

Here is an archived version from January of 2025, lest it too be changed or get taken down: People — UVic Real Estate

The title of the now missing “Board of Directors” page:

The title of the new “People” page.

Halfway down the “People page” one might get a sense of Déjà vu:

Notice a pattern? Well not a lot of difference really. And guess what? Just like magic, surprise! It’s all the same people!

2 UVIC students above, and 4 current and 2 past UDI directors.

See any familiar faces? Hint: I can spot 4.

The conjurer by Hieronymous Bosch

There’s only one thing I can’t figure out, because it requires a bit of doublethink:

How can the same “2024-2025 Team” have different titles, one for 2024 and one for 2025? The only way I can figure that out is if the team hasn’t changed at all, they just changed their name from one year to the next.






Bibliography:

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

UVic Real Estate Club Seeking New Hires: Job Descriptions Appear to Describe Lobbying Activities – 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)