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Eby and Vancouver ‘Condo King’ Bob Rennie offered oversupply as solution to the ‘housing crisis’ in 2021 dialogue, facilitated by the UDI development/real estate lobby.

Now the Eby government is forcing the public to pay the price through the 2026 Empty Condo Bailout Plan.

June 29, 2026
By Sasha Izard

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In 2021, David Eby – when he was Attorney General/Minister of Housing, had an extensive interview with Bob Rennie facilitated by the Urban Development Institute (UDI), BC’s most influential lobby for development and real estate interests.

You can watch the full video of that interview at the following link:

CRD (Capital Regional District) Watch | Video of 2021 UDI Interview between Bob Rennie and David Eby. | Facebook

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During the interview, Eby and Vancouver ‘Condo King’ Bob Rennie offered oversupply as solution to the ‘housing crisis’.

In the following clip from Eby’s 2021 UDI interview with Rennie, Eby said:

“I think we’ve both said it a bunch of times, and I’ll say it again, know that the way out of this, and you’ve said it in your opening remarks, is to the extent possible an oversupply of housing to bring prices down. And that’s not an easy answer about how we get there, but that’s the main focus of the government right now.”

Rennie replied: “It’s the one method we haven’t tried is oversupply.”

Eby smiled in response.

Video clip on Facebook
[Clip from the 46:40-47:07 time point in the full interview.]

There you have it folks, all the people who have been saying that if we don’t bail out the empty condos our economy will crash, can thank David Eby, for setting exactly this this type of scenario up to take place, where either they bail out the developers’ oversupply of condos with public funds, or threaten to take the whole economy down with them.

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Back during this interview in 2021, rather than seeing the dangers of such approach, which was clearly reckless, Eby saw the housing situation as both a crisis and an opportunity.

This mirrors the crisis capitalism observed and written about by Naomi Klein in her book: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which documented a concept which had also been observed under Eby’s BC Liberal predecessors, whereby crisis is created or utilized to force change according to the corporate agenda, rather than for public interest.

For a time capsule of this phenomenon in the BC government, the following is from a 2010 article by Michael Vonn:

“Last week, journalist Sean Holman posted a link on his Web site to the B.C. Public Service Executive Role Profile. This document is part of the job description for senior civil servants and it is as transparent a government document as you are ever likely to see. It comes right out and says that the government considers it part of the job of senior bureaucrats to fabricate crises in order to advance policy. How’s that for laying it on the line?”

Micheal Vonn: B.C. government job posting exposes crisis of democracy | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and events

As Eby said in the 2021 UDI interview with Rennie:

“Government, can’t do this all on our own. And we need that private sector construction as well, and that is both the crisis and the opportunity that faces us, in my opinion.”

Video Clip on Facebook
[Clip from the 46:40-47:07 time point in the full interview.]

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Conclusion:

British Columbia, the place where its government was convinced by the developers to force municipalities to build an oversupply of housing units, and then bails out the developers due to an oversupply of housing units, while simultaneously still forcing municipalities to build an oversupply of housing units.

It’s a bad Alice in Wonderland dream, where nothing makes sense and everything contradicts. That is, until the numerous inherent contradictions and the corresponding math don’t add up, and everything comes crashing down – with the public left to foot the massive bill for the fiasco.

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See also:

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

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

Index of articles about David Eby meeting with Bob Rennie. – CRD Watch Homepage

Index of Articles and Other Resources Regarding the BC Empty Condo Bailout – 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

The Shock Doctrine – Wikipedia