BRITISH COLUMBIA MOVERS & SHAKERS DECEMBER 27, 2024

News Influencing Decision Makers in BC

Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia, a Governor of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, has been appointed as the next Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Sharon Giffen, an actuary, will succeed Donald Smith as director of WorkSafeBC’s Workers’ Compensation Board beginning December 31, 2024, and serving until December 31, 2027.

Jennifer Glougie has been reappointed as the chair of the BC Labour Relations Board and the Employment Standards Tribunal by Niki Sharma, the Attorney General, at the conclusion of a merit-based recruitment process.

The B.C. government has announced the appointment of Glen Clark as the new chair of the BC Hydro board of directors. Joining him are three other directors: Merran Smith, president of New Economy Canada; Brynn Bourke, executive director of the BC Building Trades; and Don Kayne, president and CEO of Canfor Corporation, who previously served as CEO of Canfor Pulp Products Inc.

Brodie Rogers has been hired as the new Proposal Manager at Kinetic Construction Ltd.

Madone Pelanbegan, General Manager of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, has been awarded as Hotelier of the Year.

The BC Paralegal Association marks 45 years of service.

Vanessa S. Werden has been appointed the new Chair of the BC Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association.

Metro Vancouver has chosen a joint partnership between AECOM and Jacobs Consultancy Canada to do the preliminary engineering work for the project to improve the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Wildstone Construction of Penticton is building Canada’s largest off-grid solar plant, the Anahim Lake Solar Project. The project will reduce diesel generation by 64 per cent in the rural town of Anahim Lake. 

Nine wind projects with 30-year purchase agreements from BC Hydro will generate over 5,000 GWh/year, enough to power 500,000 additional homes. This increases BC Hydro’s supply by 8% and supports provincial aspirations to make BC a clean-energy leader with affordable electricity. The projects are: Boulder and Elkhart Wind Project, Brewster Wind Project, Highland Valley Wind Project, K2 Wind Project, Mount Mabel Wind Project, Nilhts’I Ecoener Project, Nithi Mountain Wind Project, Stewart Creek Wind Project, and the Taylor Wind Project.

An affiliate of Serruya Private Equity Inc., which has invested in automotive, real estate, and fast-food enterprises, has acquired the majority of The Body Shop‘s business. 

The City of Colwood is hiring doctors on a full-time basis as municipal employees, complete with salaries, perks, and pensions, in an effort to address the medical shortage. Doctors will no longer have to manage their own private practices, allowing them to concentrate on patient care rather than administrative duties. With the goal of helping up to 10,000 people in the area, the program is on schedule to hire seven more staff members in addition to its first doctor.

Kim Haakstad has been appointed as the new president and chief executive officer of COFI.

BC Construction Safety Alliance announced the launch of its new First Aid Assessment App to support construction employers in BC.

The 2025 BCHA Summit, taking place at Vancouver’s The Westin Bayshore on April 22 and 23, is already accepting registrations.

The British Columbia Hotel Association welcomes its new allied members, Centura Tile, Contract Furniture Solutions, Best Buy Business, Vancouver Community College (VCC), Luxinn Supply Corp., ETM Distribution, MSI Surfaces, and VVS Global.

Mews celebrates one year of membership with the BC Hotel Association this month.

Wonowon Elementary School in northeastern BC will be upgraded and expanded with better access for individuals with disabilities thanks to roughly $17 million in funding from the province to largely rebuild the school.

Trade & Invest British Columbia is attending the HANNOVER MESSE, the world’s leading tradeshow for industrial technology, taking place in Germany on March 31st – April 4th, 2025. 

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade welcomes its new members, Element Event Solutions, Tiebreaker AI, Wilder Institute, Galint Gaming Inc., Quality Inn & Suites Downtown, and Terra Dygital.

Employment Lawyer, Michael Schalke, has joined Roper Greyell LLP in Vancouver as its newest Partner. Michael will keep up his practice of workplace law at Roper Greyell, where he has served clients in a wide variety of industries, such as the energy, food service, technology, entertainment, and natural resources sectors.

ULI BC is pleased to announce the appointment of Kim Geeves, MSc, PAg from PGL Environmental Consultants and Christopher Kuno, RPP MCIP from CBRE Canada as the new Co-Chairs of the Young Leaders Group!

Bird Construction, which operates from coast-to-coast-to-coast, serving all of Canada’s major markets, has gained Gold Seal Certification.

Chris Cooper has been named as the next CEO of LNG Canada, a joint venture comprising Shell, PETRONAS, PetroChina International, KOGAS AKKAS B.V., and Mitsubishi Corporation that is building a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Kitimat.

SkyAlyne, a joint venture between KF Aerospace and CAE, has landed 25-year contracts with Bluedrop and CGI. These contracts will focus on providing advanced training, simulation, and IT solutions for the Royal Canadian Air Force‘s aircrew program.

Brett Armstrong has been appointed by Avison Young as the new Managing Director in Vancouver, with effect from December 2. With a focus on business expansion and expanding market share across the city and province, Armstrong will concentrate on carrying out the company’s primary strategic business plan.

Bryan Cox has been appointed as General Manager, External Affairs at PETRONAS Canada.

Catherine Peacock has been appointed as the Vice President of Planning and Procurement at Infrastructure BC.

Jagminder Singh has been appointed as the Director of Financial Planning at DP World, effective November 4, 2024.

Emily Ortis has joined BC Hydro as its new Director, Safety Systems & Assurance.

Crystal Smith has been appointed to the board of directors of Taseko Mines Limited.

Binny Boparai-Gill of Kelowna is named the outstanding female entrepreneur by BC Food & Beverage.

A Kelowna warehouse belonging to BC Tree Fruits has been acquired by the alcohol magnate The Mark Anthony Group—the same one that controls White Claw and Mission Hill—for $18 million.

V2, a new collaborative to link BC entrepreneurs across disciplines, is launched by Scott Langille, co-founder of Atelier. 

The Annual Extension Meeting of the Interior Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) is scheduled for January 15–16, 2025.

Edo Japan (Edo), a franchise that is expanding rapidly throughout Canada, is celebrating its 45th anniversary by opening its 200th location. Since its founding in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta, Edo has been a successful distributor of teppanyaki-style Japanese food to food courts and street-front malls across the country. Today, the company serves more than 11 million meals a year throughout the Prairies, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Tolga Yalkin has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Statutory Officer of the BC Financial Services Authority, with effect from January 13, 2025. Mr. Yalkin, who will take over Blair Morrison’s position at BCFSA, previously led the regulatory agenda at Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

WestJet has revealed nonstop seasonal connectivity to Tampa and Boston as part of its 2025 summer Vancouver schedule. This summer, WestJet will boost its domestic seat capacity by 13 per cent and its Vancouver seat capacity by 12 per cent as part of its goal to promote leisure connectivity from coast to coast.

The highest hotel employee earnings in Canada are reportedly attained by workers in downtown Vancouver. Employees from Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, and Pinnacle Waterfront demonstrated their strong support for the new collective agreement, which will give workers cumulative increases of 34 per cent throughout the contract time, following a ratification vote by UNITE HERE Local 40 members.

The ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. is currently only accessible in Victoria, Metro Vancouver, and Kelowna, but in May 2023, the BC Passenger Transportation Board approved its operation throughout the province. The company is currently hiring drivers in preparation for its expansion outside of BC’s major cities beginning the following year.

The application of a cancer-treating antibody that was initially created by the Vancouver-based biotech company Zymeworks has been authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

CIBC Innovation Banking has provided $20 million USD (27.8 million CAD) in expansion funding to Procurify, a Vancouver-based spend management and procurement software business. According to Procurify, their new AP service enables users to generate bills and make deposit payments while using optical character recognition to extract invoice contents and highlight any accuracy problems. 

Foresight Canada compiles a list of the 50 most investable cleantech ventures in Canada. British Columbia is home to 25 of the 50 companies, underscoring the province’s critical role in fostering innovation in the cleantech and climate tech sectors. See the complete list here.

Niki Sharma has been reappointed as the attorney general and has been appointed as the Deputy Premier of British Columbia. 

Accent Inns Inc. won “Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures for 2024,” which recognizes culture’s impact on growth and performance.

Niki Sharma has been reappointed as the attorney general and has been appointed as the Deputy Premier of British Columbia.

Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside has secured the title of “Canada’s Best Ski Hotel” for the 12th year in a row at the 2024 World Ski Awards.

Aragon Properties Ltd. has launched its inaugural restaurant, Janevca Kitchen and Lounge, in Esquimalt, marking its entry into the hospitality industry.

The B.C. government has issued an operating permit to Osisko Development Corporation for its Cariboo Gold Mine,  billion-dollar gold mine project located in Wells, under the Mines Act, promising to create hundreds of jobs.

Pattison Media‘s 51 radio stations are now on Bell Media’s iHeartRadio Canada. More of Canada’s popular radio stations will join iHeartRadio Canada’s library of music channels, radio stations, podcasts, playlists, and on-demand programming.

Provincial Health Services Authority is offering recruitment incentives of up to $30,000 for nursing positions within BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services.

In recognition of International Day of Persons with Disabilities this coming Tuesday December 3rd, the Rick Hansen Foundation is pleased to host a FREE virtual panel titled ‘The Power of Inclusive Decision Making” featuring five esteemed advocates and allies with varying lived experience as well as expertise in disability inclusion.

Initial estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) indicate that more than $110 million in insured damage was caused by an atmospheric river in October, which caused catastrophic flooding along the southern British Columbia coastline.

Butter Chicken is a national favourite and has taken the top spot as Canada’s most-ordered dish for the second consecutive year according to Skip. 

With orders increasing by 2310 per cent nationwide on Skip throughout 2024, Freeze-Dried Candy dominated all of our social media streams and proved to be a favourite in Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

A BC shopper has made headlines this year by splurging a staggering $504 on a bottle of tequila from Skip’s alcohol delivery service! In the same order, they placed a sushi order totaling $440.

Teresa Donnelly has been elected as the president of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada for the 2024-2025 term.

Foresight‘s 2024 list of the 50 “most investible” cleantech firms includes Vancouver-based Daanaa, Salmon Arm’s 4AG Robotics (formerly known as Techbrew Robotics), and Toronto-based Brickeye.

Big Way Hot Pot has opened at Shops at New West, featuring a self-serve hot pot experience with more than 100 fresh ingredients and a variety of flavorful broths.

The BC Pharmacy Association Board has elected Colleen Hogg (Quadra Island) as Chair and Kylee Power (Nanaimo) as  Vice-Chair for 2025. Their terms begin Jan. 1, 2025.

Parker MacCarthy, a judge on the BC Provincial Court, retired on November 30, 2024.

New protections for staff members who report significant misconduct have been made available by the BC government’s expansion of its whistleblower protection laws to cover workers at research universities and WorkSafeBC.

A new financial incentive of up to $60,000 is being offered by the Saskatchewan government to retain medical residents who specialize in diagnostic imaging, emergency medicine, and anesthesia.

BC Care Providers Association welcomes Marc Kinna (Baptist Housing) as its new President, as well as Gavin McIntosh (The Care Group) as Vice President and Angela Grottoli (Optima Living) as Treasurer.

Russel Metals has acquired Tampa Bay Steel, which will join their Southern US businesses.

The Canadian Snowbird Association reports that Canadian snowbirds are continuing to travel to the U.S. sunbelt this season, despite the Canadian dollar trading at a four-year low against the U.S. greenback.

Air Canada has released its most extensive international flight schedule, departing from its Vancouver (YVR) hub, has added three new transborder routes: Tampa, Raleigh, and Nashville. Additionally, capacity has been increased to Austin, Denver, and Miami. Air Canada and its partner, United Airlines, will run 58 nonstop flights per day to 21 US destinations in the summer of 2025, offering up to 7,700 seats. This is an 1 per cent upgrade from summer 2024.

Howe Sound Marine, a reputable brand in maritime services since 1992, was acquired by Port Boat House. Howe Sound Marine, based out of Lions Bay Marina, has provided exceptional service to the West Vancouver areas, specializing in the sales and maintenance of Yamaha outboards, Mercury Mercruisers, and Volvo Pentas.

The Tsilhqot’in National Government in BC is working with the federal Fisheries Department to build a permanent salmon hatchery.

The sale of a 195,159-square-foot warehouse/storage facility at 880 Vaughan Ave., Kelowna, has been announced by Unison HM Commercial Realty on behalf of Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., the court-appointed monitor of BC Tree Fruits Co-op. According to court filings, the property was sold for $17.5 million on Nov. 27, which is significantly less than its $22 million list price, to Mark Anthony Group‘s Pelecanus Real Estate Ltd.

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