As Carney and Eby bail out reckless development industry with billions of dollars of public funds, WorkBC has retired its Cost of Living Calculator.
By Sasha Izard
June 21, 2026
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The news is in, and while the development industry have no doubt been doing a jig, the people are not happy:
Carney and Eby step in with $3.2B home development subsidy – Business in Vancouver
Critics slam government plan to ‘bail out’ sagging condo sector in B.C. | CBC News
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The development lobby’s stranglehold on all levels of government in Canada, could not be clearer, as the public is forced to bail out mega-development’s over investment in condos under the guise of a housing crisis, that have been sitting empty in record numbers, while also forcing vast reductions in developer cost charges for municipalities, meaning that the public will be left on the hook for massive added infrastructure charges for years due to the development industry’s activities.
Usher in the age of corporate feudalism, and fund it flush with taxpayer dollars, now in the billions. This is not new. Canada’s National Housing Strategy has already poured 10s of billions of public dollars, much of it going to subsidize a development industry out of control, rather than into delivering real affordability when it comes to housing.
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What about the cost of living?
WorkBC through its website WorkBC.ca has just retired its “Cost of Living Calculator” after over a decade.
What on earth could have precipitated them doing so? The public couldn’t be in more crucial need of a cost of living calculator.
Oh right, I guess it’s obvious, the situation with cost of living has become so bad, that the government of BC, does not want people to see how dire the situation has become, as 10s of thousands of residents have been fleeing the province for elsewhere in the country.
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The following is a screenshot of WorkBC.ca is Retiring the Cost of Living Calculator Tool | WorkBC (at the time of writing):
Archived version:
WorkBC.ca is Retiring the Cost of Living Calculator Tool | WorkBC
As stated on the website (see above):
“The WorkBC.ca Cost of Living Calculator has helped British Columbians explore estimated living costs across the province since 2015. Now, as part of efforts to modernize online services and to focus on career exploration resources, WorkBC.ca is retiring the Cost of Living Calculator on April 14.”
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See also:
Index of Articles and Other Resources Regarding the BC Empty Condo Bailout – CRD Watch Homepage
Petition Created to Oppose Eby and Carney’s BC Empty Condo Bailout. – CRD Watch Homepage
Jenny Kwan MP, goes after government for bailing out developers and speculators from their self-created empty condo crisis. – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of articles revealing major lobbying influence on B.C. Provincial Housing Bills and Housing Targets. – CRD Watch Homepage
Vancouver real estate heavyweights turn out for Carney at Rennie’s HQ – theBreaker
Who’s who of Vancouver real estate attended Mark Carney fundraiser – theBreaker
Mark Carney’s playbook: Come to Vancouver and make real estate news in the shadow of sports history
The David Eby Confession: Premier Eby talking to the ‘Condo King’ Bob Rennie, finally spilled the beans in front of the camera, on how UDI lobbying played key role in the creation of the Provincial Housing Bills. – CRD Watch Homepage
David Eby Before and After: How David Eby’s former criticisms of the political influence of the so-called ‘Condo King’ of Vancouver Bob Rennie, when Eby was a member of the opposition; turned once in power, to Eby becoming Rennie’s political follower. – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of articles about David Eby meeting with Bob Rennie. – CRD Watch Homepage
“Innovative and Disruptive Thinking”: Impact Canada, a Federal Government Nudge Unit tied to the Prime Minister’s Office, was engaged in a several hundred million dollar program seeking ways to remove barriers to housing supply. – CRD Watch Homepage
Transparency International Knowledge Hub
Index of articles and other documentation of lobbying of the Federal Government. – CRD Watch Homepage (The Federal government keeps the bar so high, that even the most powerful lobby for development and real estate in BC doesn’t have to register its lobbying activity to the Feds).
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. – CRD Watch Homepage
Presentation by Sasha Izard to the Special Committee to Review the Lobbyists Transparency Act – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of articles revealing major lobbying influence on B.C. Provincial Housing Bills and Housing Targets. – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of articles regarding lobby events and other meetings between government and lobbyists. – CRD Watch Homepage
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Appendix: Quote from Transparency International’s “Introduction to undue influence on decision-making”
“There are several ways through which interest groups, such as companies, professional groups or public interests groups, try to influence the decision-making process. Interest group influence, commonly known as lobbying, encompasses “any direct or indirect communication with public officials, political decision-makers or representatives for the purposes of influencing public decision-making carried out by or on behalf of any organised group[1]”..
Interest group influence is not a corrupt or illegitimate activity per se, but when opaque and disproportionate it may lead to undue influence, corruption and even state capture. Undue influence is a more subtle form of corruption as interest groups often make use of legal mechanisms to influence the decision-making process[2]. For instance, they may legally contribute to electoral campaigns; provide research and host receptions but expecting favourable decisions in exchange. Undue influence may also be achieved by promising decision-makers well-paid future jobs in exchange for support[3].
In certain contexts, disproportionate and unregulated influence by interest groups may also lead to state capture, which occurs when corruption is so systemic and infiltrated within the institutions of the state that private interests substitute themselves to the common good as main drivers of policy and regulation.”
Archived version: Transparency International Knowledge Hub
CRD Watch Homepage 
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