Kelowna Construction

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Repthe250

Reducing the number of immigrants or TFW’s doesn’t make a population decline. It would slow it, but not decrease it. Unless we’re deporting.

We removed 22,000 people from the country in 2025, but that's not the main reason for the population of the country (and BC) falling. In Q1 2026 81,380 non-permanent residents arrived in Canada. (That's students and TFWs). But 199,259 left the country as their visas expired. So that's a net loss of 117,879 temporary residents in just one quarter. In 2024 there were 3.1 million non-permanent residents in the country, and by April 2026 that was 2.56 million, and falling.

Originally Posted by Repthe250

The fact that Kelowna doesn’t have any jobs, or any big industry other than wine could be solved by making the region more accessible to outside markets. One bridge that funnels all truck traffic thru an urban centre with a 50km hr speed limit doesn’t help. Adding a second bridge with a bypass connecting the industrial parks north of town to the Westside of Okanagan Lake certainly would. Like I said there is no intermodal connection to the Okanagan. Everything is trucked in and out. If the region wants to grow and prosper and add jobs, this needs to be addressed. Highway 97 and the bridge is already at max capacity, and my MIL just got denied a job in west Kelowna (she lives in Rutland and on EI, which runs out next month) because she lives on the other side of the bridge and every day there is an issue. This region can’t function this way much longer.

But like I said, I’m just beating a dead horse here. We, who live in Kelowna, know this already.

There's a technical recession. The Province is running a record deficit. Kelowna needs road infrastructure. Burnaby needs a new hospital. UBC needs a SkyTrain.

Under the current NDP government Capital Spending was $10.38bn in 2024/25. The last BC LIberal government in 2016/17 spent $3.7bn - which would be $4.7bn accounting for inflation from then to 2025. So the current government are spending more than double the last BC Liberal government, on capital expenditure.

That included $3bn spent by BC Transportation Financing Authority in 2024/25, funding roads, bridges and transit capital expenditure. The last Liberal budget in 2016/17 spent $861m on their projects. Adjusted for inflation, that would have been $1.1bn in 2025 dollars. So the province is currently spending almost three times more on roads, bridges and transit than the BC Liberals did.

They're also spending three times more on capital expenditure for BC Transit, and two and a half times as much on new health facilities and on social housing, and twice as much on new schools and seismic upgrades to old ones.

[RHINO]

There's a technical recession -

Brought to you by the CBC not people actually feeling the current economy.

Yes the NDP are spending more money then ever before, and showing their Socialist / communist style for all to see. When was the last time an Emergency Room in the lower main land closed?
We are living under the darkest time to be a Canadian / British Columbian that I can remember. Far worse then the 90's

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by RHINO

There's a technical recession -

Brought to you by the CBC not people actually feeling the current economy.

Yes the NDP are spending more money then ever before, and showing their Socialist / communist style for all to see. When was the last time an Emergency Room in the lower main land closed?
We are living under the darkest time to be a Canadian / British Columbian that I can remember. Far worse then the 90's

[RHINO]

Elbows up lol

[Repthe250]

Originally Posted by Changing City

We removed 22,000 people from the country in 2025, but that's not the main reason for the population of the country (and BC) falling. In Q1 2026 81,380 non-permanent residents arrived in Canada. (That's students and TFWs). But 199,259 left the country as their visas expired. So that's a net loss of 117,879 temporary residents in just one quarter. In 2024 there were 3.1 million non-permanent residents in the country, and by April 2026 that was 2.56 million, and falling.



There's a technical recession. The Province is running a record deficit. Kelowna needs road infrastructure. Burnaby needs a new hospital. UBC needs a SkyTrain.

Under the current NDP government Capital Spending was $10.38bn in 2024/25. The last BC LIberal government in 2016/17 spent $3.7bn - which would be $4.7bn accounting for inflation from then to 2025. So the current government are spending more than double the last BC Liberal government, on capital expenditure.

That included $3bn spent by BC Transportation Financing Authority in 2024/25, funding roads, bridges and transit capital expenditure. The last Liberal budget in 2016/17 spent $861m on their projects. Adjusted for inflation, that would have been $1.1bn in 2025 dollars. So the province is currently spending almost three times more on roads, bridges and transit than the BC Liberals did.

They're also spending three times more on capital expenditure for BC Transit, and two and a half times as much on new health facilities and on social housing, and twice as much on new schools and seismic upgrades to old ones.

How have the NDP invested more in our roads than the liberals? The liberals were non stop in infrastructure upgrades. Port Mann, Pitt River, Golden Ears, Bennet bridges, sea to sky, highway 17 and highway 97 upgrades, 2 new Sky Train lines… just to name a few. Sorry but I don’t believe the NDP have invested more. If they have, it’s accomplished very, very little. Especially in the interior.

As for the recession - we just entered this technical recession. That is no excuse for 10 years of inactivity in the Okanagan.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Repthe250

How have the NDP invested more in our roads than the liberals? The liberals were non stop in infrastructure upgrades. Port Mann, Pitt River, Golden Ears, Bennet bridges, sea to sky, highway 17 and highway 97 upgrades, 2 new Sky Train lines… just to name a few. Sorry but I don’t believe the NDP have invested more. If they have, it’s accomplished very, very little. Especially in the interior.

The Liberals didn't spend money in most cases - they put the projects on credit by using P3s to accumulate provincial financial commitments to make repayments over decades, while offloading the provincial part of the debt to the private sector, (and in some cases relying on tolls to cover part of their repayments).

The Port Mann wasn’t paid for – they created a debt account, partly paid off by tolls, and somewhat more by the province every year to make up the difference. The NDP added the outstanding $3.6bn still owed on the bridge to the province’s taxpayer-supported debt, as part of the promise to remove the tolls and to pay off the P3 early.

The Pitt River Bridge and Mary Hill Interchange, opened in 2009, and cost $207m to build. The Federal government paid $90m of that.

The Golden Ears Bridge also opened in 2009, and was a TransLink project, not built by the provincial government. It cost $808m, (although budgeted at $600m) and was required by the provincial government to be a P3. TransLink were paying it off over 35 years, but in 2017 the new NDP government cancelled the tolls (which, like the Port Mann, didn’t get close to covering the annual debt payments), and the $1.05bn of outstanding debt is being refunded annually to TransLink by the provincial government until 2041.

The William R Bennett Bridge opened in 2008, and was another P3. The original 2003 budget was $100m, but it cost $144m, and the provincial government will pay it back over 30 years to Protrans WRB Bridge, (which was a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin, who built it). Similarly the Liberals didn’t pay their share of the Canada Line – they offloaded it under a 31-year operations and maintenance contract to Protrans BC.

The NDP build and pay for all their projects with government debt, with nothing outstanding as off-the-books debt (that the P3s represented).

[LFC]

Saw this one on Reddit. UBCO tower slowly starting to make a presence on the left side.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by LFC

Saw this one on Reddit. UBCO tower slowly starting to make a presence on the left side.

Wild to see someone other than me post one of my photos on here

[giallo]

I was driving over the bridge today and could see UBCO just peeking above the trees. It's going to make a huge mark on the skyline.

[giallo]

UBCO update

[Metro-One]

Great update! Thanks!

[KelownaResident]

Love the updates giallo, thank you!

[Calgarian]

Looking good, and starting to move quicker it seems!

[JayMi]

I'm still optimistic we see 2 or 3 other towers begin construction this fall. Some are just waiting for the 25% DCC reduction to kick in.

[2009]

Bertram BC housing project has been officially cancelled by the province.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by 2009

Bertram BC housing project has been officially cancelled by the province.

Which is absolute bullshit and once again shows the province giving the Okanagan the finger.

Yes, rents have temporarily softened (prices are still way too high, its only been a relative drop), and there is no future I can see where such a project wont still be needed in five years time or less.

[2009]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Which is absolute bullshit and once again shows the province giving the Okanagan the finger.

Yes, rents have temporarily softened (prices are still way too high, its only been a relative drop), and there is no future I can see where such a project wont still be needed in five years time or less.

I know, it's outrageous. The province demolished housing to let it sit vacant for 8 years, spent millions on planning and cancels it at the last minute. It along with the lack of movement on any provincial infrastructure projects in the Okanagan show a complete disregard for the region. I don't know how interior residents could vote BC NDP in good faith.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by 2009

I know, it's outrageous. The province demolished housing to let it sit vacant for 8 years, spent millions on planning and cancels it at the last minute. It along with the lack of movement on any provincial infrastructure projects in the Okanagan show a complete disregard for the region. I don't know how interior residents could vote BC NDP in good faith.

Not just no movement, but complete cancellation. Remember the Peachland bypass? Cancelled.

And those two interchanges in West Kelowna have been "in planning" for over a decade now.

[2009]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Not just no movement, but complete cancellation. Remember the Peachland bypass? Cancelled.

And those two interchanges in West Kelowna have been "in planning" for over a decade now.

No highway, road or transit improvements despite gridlock. No new transmission line for West Kelowna. No new public housing to add to the list now. Also a 3 yr old rockslide still reducing the 97 to construction zone 2 lanes between Kelowna and Penticton indefinitely with no plans for an alternate route or fix.

[Metro-One]

Are you serious??? That rockslide is still there!?

How pathetic!

One of the tunnel portals and the viaduct leading up to it was completely washed out by a landslide near where I live in Japan.

Both were rebuilt within six months.