Corporate welfare: How the Federal Government of Canada provided one lobby for development and real estate (the Urban Development Institute), hundreds of thousands of dollars in emergency response aid, during the pandemic.
Time Magazine cover
Nov 9, 1998
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By Sasha Izard
Oct 12, 2025
It is thanksgiving weekend, and we should all pause for a moment to think how thankful the real estate and development industry must be to the Federal government for bailing their lobby out during the pandemic with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, because you know how much they desperately needed it.
This wild spree of government taxpayer spending, which probably involved many millions of dollars in total going to lobbying organizations, got overshadowed by the We Charity scandal during that time period.
The Urban Development Institute (UDI) is a registered lobbying organization on the BC Lobbyists Registry, that provides political influence to its paying member companies; which combined, represent billions of dollars in corporate interests in real estate and development.
During the pandemic, while the public were expected to limit their public presence as much as possible including at local government meetings, and the healthcare system was driven to the brink, the UDI was pushing for mass waivings of public hearings in BC, something that the Province put forward into legislation.
Many small businesses were driven under during this time, never to return, as real estate prices and rents reached all time highs. While all this was taking place, and while civic engagement was at an all time low, the UDI in British Columbia applied and quietly received emergency response aid from the Federal government that amounted to over $600,000 dollars combined, because the lobby for development and real estate is clearly an essential service, if ever there was one. The media which had a captive audience glued to the television set each night, did not make so much as a mouse squeak about this.
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Here is the breakdown of this massive transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to a single lobby for development and real estate in BC during the pandemic:
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $808.58 | 2022-03-31 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $16,776.47 | 2021-12-02 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $3,841.15 | 2021-11-17 |
| Government of Canada (CEWS) | $158,337.06 | 2021-11-17 |
| Government of Canada (CEWS) | $42,588.41 | 2021-09-21 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $10,990.44 | 2021-08-23 |
| Government of Canada (CEWS) | $22,520.17 | 2021-08-23 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $3,362.10 | 2021-07-30 |
| Government of Canada (CEWS) | $19,436.16 | 2021-07-23 |
| Government of Canada (CEWS) | $21,264.86 | 2021-07-16 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $3,390.56 | 2021-06-25 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $3,574.39 | 2021-06-11 |
| Government of Canada (CERS) | $3,503.82 | 2021-05-31 |
| Government of Canada (CEWS) | $295,022.40 | 2021-04-26 |
Combined total of CERS and CEWs payments from the Government of Canada to the UDI in British Columbia during the pandemic: $605,416.57
| Government of Canada (Temporary Wage Subsidy) | $22,000.00 | 2020-04-03 to 2020-05-15 |
Combined total of CERS and CEWs payments from the Government of Canada to the UDI, as well as the Temporary Wage subsidy: $627,416.57
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References:
Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy – Canada.ca
Frequently asked questions: Canada emergency wage subsidy (CEWS) – Canada.ca
Government Funding Received Report – Lobbyists Registry – Office of the Registrar or Lobbying of BC
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See also:
Index of articles and other documentation of lobbying of the Federal Government. – CRD Watch Homepage
CRD Watch Homepage 
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