UBCM President Cori Ramsay and Vice President Jenna Stoner appeared today before the Select Standing Committee on Private Bills and Private Members’ Bills to stress that Bill M 216 Professional Reliance Act is fundamentally flawed and should not proceed further. UBCM’s statement highlighted the significant risks for public safety and liability posed by the Bill, as well as the deeply flawed process of policy development behind it.
Although the bill is exclusively focused on local government approvals, neither local governments nor UBCM were consulted during its drafting. President Ramsay noted that this lack of ground‑truthing is evident throughout the legislation, which misrepresents the role of local reviews. These reviews are not intended to duplicate the work of registered professionals but instead provide critical checks for completeness and regulatory compliance.
To illustrate the public safety and liability risks, UBCM highlighted examples from the 70+ submissions from local governments, documenting serious errors identified through local review processes, including:
- Post-construction compliance reports submitted for buildings that were not yet built,
- Designs that led to cracked and sloughed shoring walls,
- Completion of large apartment buildings without required fire hydrants,
- A 6-storey residential building without basic accessibility requirements, ramps or lifts for people in wheelchairs or with mobility impairment, and
- A parkade for a 6-storey building proposed without a mechanical ventilation system to remove vehicle exhaust and carbon monoxide.
Closely related to the risks of stripping away critical checks that routinely uncover life safety deficiencies in submissions, Bill M 216 raises red flags about liability risk for local governments, development professionals and homebuyers. As noted by President Ramsay, this could have a potential chilling effect whereby development professionals may choose not to practice in BC or choose to practice without adequate insurance.
UBCM will provide further updates on the status of Bill M 216 as they become available.