Heritage Act Backlash: Local Governments and Industry Refuse Eby’s NDA Process
The NDP says it needs more engagement on heritage-law reform. A broad municipal and business coalition says the process is still moving behind closed doors — with NDAs attached.
A rare coalition of local-government and industry organizations has publicly refused to sign non-disclosure agreements connected to the province’s proposed Heritage Conservation Act reforms. According to Daily Hive, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Urban Development Institute, Association for Mineral Exploration, Mining Association of BC and Independent Contractors and Businesses Association rejected NDAs tied to a provincial “three-column document” outlining anticipated legislative amendments.
That is not a procedural footnote. The Heritage Conservation Act governs archaeological and cultural heritage sites across B.C., including sites on Crown and private land. Daily Hive reported that the provincial heritage register had more than 64,000 protected heritage sites as of 2025, with 90 per cent of them being of First Nations origin. Changes to that framework can affect housing, utilities, transportation corridors, mining, forestry and disaster rebuilding.
The province’s own January 2026 release said government was postponing spring amendments because more engagement was needed with industry, local governments and First Nations. It also acknowledged the need to streamline permitting for major projects on Crown land and private residential projects, speed community rebuilding after disasters, and better protect significant First Nations cultural sites. In plain English: the file touches both reconciliation and the practical ability to build.
The problem is the process. Daily Hive reported that stakeholder consultation closed on April 23, 2026, and that organizations say the province moved quickly toward drafting legislation. UBCM has also warned that proposed changes could expand the definition of heritage, complicate compliance and enforcement, and slow development while adding costs for residential, business and industrial landowners.
For British Columbians already facing a housing shortage and weak investment confidence, secrecy is not a small issue. If the government has a draft, the public should see it. If municipalities, builders, miners and contractors are expected to absorb the consequences, they should not be muzzled before their own members can understand the rules.
The NDP often says consultation creates certainty. This episode shows the opposite: uncertainty created by closed-door drafting, selective disclosure and NDA conditions. Reconciliation policy that changes land-use economics across the province cannot be treated like a confidential cabinet exercise after the public consultation window closes.
Release the draft. Drop the NDAs. Let British Columbians debate the law before it becomes their problem.