When Investment Chooses Toronto, B.C. Should Read The Red-Tape Receipt
An established Vancouver restaurateur says he is taking the next project to Toronto while pointing at Vancouver and provincial red tape. That is not a branding problem. It is an operating-cost problem.
When a local restaurant operator says it is easier to put the next dollar somewhere else, B.C. should listen before the next storefront goes dark. Global BC’s August 29 video report says Glowbal Group owner Emad Yacoub is fed up with red tape from the City of Vancouver and the B.C. government, and is opening a new restaurant in Toronto rather than Vancouver.
That does not prove every rule is wrong. Patios, buildings, liquor service, accessibility, fire safety and public space all need standards. But standards are not an excuse for a system so tangled that operators with capital, experience and name recognition decide the better answer is to build outside B.C.
The dispute now centred on Italian Kitchen’s patio pergola shows how quickly a pandemic-era flexibility promise can become a long-running compliance fight. A CTV-sourced summary says the restaurant was ordered to remove a Tuscan-style pergola valued at about $100,000. It says Yacoub argues the patio structure matters to attracting diners and revenue, and that the landlord later received a city notice threatening lease termination if the structure remained.
The City’s own Board of Variance record adds an important fact: on December 12, 2023, the board allowed an appeal for Italian Kitchen’s “accessory building for outdoor dining” at 860 Burrard Street, listing the vote as 4-1 and setting a five-year time limit. That makes the public question even sharper. If a business can win an appeal and still face a new compliance cloud through the property owner, the process is not giving entrepreneurs the certainty they need.
The city side also needs fair wording. The CTV-sourced summary reports the City says it is working with the building owner on compliance and has not required removal while permitting is underway. Fine. Then taxpayers, workers and business owners deserve the timeline: what remains unresolved, which rule is decisive, who has authority to settle it, and when a clear answer arrives.
Premier David Eby’s government cannot shrug this off as a City Hall story when Global’s report frames the complaint as Vancouver and provincial red tape. The province controls major pieces of the business climate: taxes, labour rules, building-code settings, liquor regulation, permitting architecture, housing and transportation pressures, and the tone it sets for investment.
So show the red-tape receipt. Which provincial rules are being reviewed? Which permit steps can be consolidated? Which small-business costs are rising because Victoria added them? Which agencies are accountable for response times? The NDP often talks about good jobs and a strong economy. Restaurants create both. If B.C. wants the next project, it has to make building here feel less like a punishment for choosing home.