Iain Black

Policy Platform

Real solutions. Proven experience. A clear plan to get British Columbia back on track.

1. Economy, Jobs & Red Tape

British Columbia lost 20,200 jobs in February 2026 alone — a decline of 0.7% in a single month — with losses in construction, finance, real estate, and healthcare. Moody's has warned about BC's deteriorating fiscal position. Black argues the NDP has repeated the economic mistakes of the 1990s through excessive red tape and punishing taxes that drive investment and jobs out of the province.

Reducing Costs for Business

  • Eliminate the Employer Payroll Tax
  • Implement full first-year write-offs for productivity-enhancing investments
  • Targeted tax relief for northern and interior resource businesses
  • Review and roll back taxes and fees that hurt local investment
  • Repeal costly Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) that delay infrastructure projects

Red Tape Reduction

  • Roll back overall regulation levels to at least 10% below 2017 (pre-NDP) levels
  • Moratorium on new business regulations and tax increases
  • One-in, two-out rule for small business regulations
  • Mandatory sunset clauses on all new rules and regulations

Small Business Support

  • Reinstate the Small Business Roundtable with a mandate for quarterly actionable recommendations to government
  • Launch a Surrey Economic Growth Strategy targeting advanced manufacturing, logistics, technology, and energy
  • Establish a major economic development zone along the Highway 1 corridor
  • Partner with BCIT and SFU for workforce development and innovation
2. Reconciliation & Indigenous Policy (DRIPA)

DRIPA is the single most frequently asked-about issue on the campaign trail. Black supports genuine reconciliation but argues the NDP has replaced the existing Constitutional framework — Section 35 of the Constitution Act — with a non-binding UN declaration embedded into provincial law, something no other jurisdiction in the world has done. The result has been legal paralysis, cancelled projects, park closures, fisheries restrictions, and growing conflict between British Columbians who are First Nations and those who are not.

Commitments

  • Bill 1 of a Black government:'An Act to Repeal DRIPA and Section 8.1 of the Interpretation Act' — Day One
  • Return BC to governing within Section 35 of the Constitution — applied with discipline, transparency, and confidence
  • End secret backroom negotiations with First Nations; restore transparency and the rule of law
  • Enshrine that private property rights — including Crown Lands — are non-negotiable
  • Maintain meaningful, good-faith consultation with Indigenous Nations, but clarify that consultation does not constitute a veto
  • Ensure courts review legal compliance, but do not substitute for elected decision-makers
  • Deliver equal treatment under the law for all British Columbians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike
3. Natural Resources & Energy

BC has copper, gold, rare-earth minerals, natural gas, forestry, fisheries, and some of the richest agricultural land on Earth. Yet the NDP's hostile regulatory environment — permitting delays, DRIPA-related legal uncertainty, and open hostility to oil and gas — has driven investment out of the province. Black describes this as 'economic negligence.'

Oil, Gas & Forestry

  • Prioritize oil and gas development and end the province's open hostility toward the sector
  • Rebuild the forest sector devastated under NDP management
  • Ramp up 'first dollar' industries: mining, forestry, natural gas, and fisheries

Permitting Reform

  • Dramatically cut permitting delays that have made mining investment unattractive and unviable
  • Streamlined provincial regulations to make it easier to invest, expand, and create jobs in BC
  • Speed-up approval processes without sacrificing safety

Energy Self-Sufficiency

  • Open doors to natural gas-powered electricity generation for mining, forestry, and LNG operations
  • End the practice of running BC industry on diesel while sitting on abundant BC natural gas
  • Stop exporting natural gas to the US while importing electricity — described as 'economic negligence'

Regional Investment

  • Work with business groups and community leaders to attract investment and diversify northern economies beyond single industries
  • Recognize the economic linkage between the northeast and the Lower Mainland — a thriving resource sector underpins all BC jobs
4. Fiscal Policy & the Budget

The NDP has produced a $13.3 billion deficit — the largest in BC history — and over $180 billion in accumulated debt. Moody's has issued an independent warning about BC's deteriorating fiscal position. Black frames this as a bill being passed to the next generation, equivalent to six new St. Paul's Hospitals, nearly four 10-lane Massey Bridges, or 116 new Burnaby North Secondary Schools.

Commitments

  • Grow the economy as the primary strategy for deficit reduction — not tax increases
  • Cut waste and abuse in government spending
  • Shrink government to focus on core services: healthcare, education, and care for the vulnerable
  • Apply Treasury Board discipline from Day One (Black spent three years on the BC Treasury Board)
  • Transparent reporting and measurable results so government lives within its means
  • Stop passing debt to future generations
  • Reverse NDP's elimination of inflation adjustment for tax brackets (bracket creep fix)
  • Reverse the NDP's lowering of the lowest tax bracket that increased taxes on everyone
5. Public Safety & Organized Crime

From organized extortion targeting Surrey businesses to repeat offenders cycling through a catch-and-release justice system, public safety has deteriorated significantly. Business owners are afraid to report extortion. Families avoid downtown cores. Black frames safe streets as economic infrastructure — without safety, Main Streets cannot thrive.

Organized Crime & Extortion

  • Establish a dedicated provincial task force with RCMP and Surrey Police Service to dismantle extortion networks
  • Expand provincial policing resources focused on gangs, extortion, trafficking, and organized crime
  • Deploy high-definition cameras and drones for real-time crime monitoring ('more eyes in the sky')
  • Train more police and get them on the front line
  • Work with the federal government to ensure non-citizens involved in organized extortion face deportation

Justice System Reform

  • End the catch-and-release approach for repeat and violent offenders
  • Advocate for federal bail and Criminal Code reforms
  • Restore police operational independence
  • Strengthen victim supports
6. Mental Health, Addictions & Homelessness

Mental health, addictions, and homelessness are the number one concern Black hears in every community across BC — from Vancouver to small towns in the Okanagan and Fort St. John. He frames homelessness primarily as a public health crisis, with high rates of co-occurring mental illness and addiction. He describes the NDP's approach as 'UNSAFE supply' — a policy that has failed addicts, families, and communities.

Treatment & Recovery

  • Redevelop Riverview as a world-class treatment and research campus for mental health and addictions recovery
  • Build new, secure treatment facilities for those unable to care for themselves
  • End safe supply / 'UNSAFE supply' programs
  • Make treatment mandatory for those in social housing dealing with addiction
  • Empower, encourage, and — where necessary — mandate the medical community to place individuals in involuntary care

Community Safety

  • Expand policing and end the catch-and-release approach that returns addicted offenders to the street
  • Restart stalled long-term care homes and hospital construction immediately
7. Healthcare

BC faces serious health workforce shortages, growing system strain, and a provincial government that has chosen to centralize control over health profession regulators rather than address the crisis. Black's healthcare commitments span workforce recruitment, professional oversight, and physical infrastructure.

Bill 36 — Repeal & Restore Professional Oversight

  • Repeal Bill 36 (Health Professions and Occupations Act), which centralizes control of health regulators in the Premier's office
  • Restore independent professional self-regulation alongside strong public representation
  • Enshrine clear limits on ministerial interference in regulatory bodies
  • Ensure regulatory bodies remain evidence-driven and patient-focused — not politically directed

Workforce Recruitment & Retention

  • Implement an RCMP-style healthcare recruitment model: healthcare immigrants assigned to specific communities for a set period with incentives to stay longer
  • Reform foreign credential recognition to deploy qualified internationally trained healthcare professionals
  • Shift resources from bureaucracy back to front-line healthcare services

Infrastructure & Capacity

  • Mandate maternity services be included in the new Cloverdale hospital
  • Expand capacity at Surrey Memorial Hospital — one of the busiest hospitals in Canada
  • Restart construction of stalled hospitals immediately
  • Demand accountability and measurable outcomes across the healthcare system
8. Housing & Real Estate

BC's housing crisis is driven not by a shortage of demand or land, but by a regulatory and taxation environment that makes it too costly, too slow, and too uncertain to build. The market has swung from a boom to one where homes can't sell and new developments are being cancelled. The NDP's response — more fees, more taxes, more provincial interference — is making the problem worse.

Development Costs & Fees

  • Cap or reduce Development Cost Charges (DCCs) and Community Amenity Contributions (CACs), pegged to a reasonable percentage of hard construction costs
  • Prohibit Metro Vancouver from imposing DCCs or CACs at the regional level — eliminating a duplicative fee layer
  • Restructure DCC/CAC payment timing: collected at project completion, not upfront, reducing the burden that kills viable projects
  • Introduce mandatory audits and escrow requirements to ensure funds reach their intended purposes

Approvals & Permitting

  • Establish provincially standardized, pre-approved application templates to reduce duplication and cut timelines
  • Explore outsourcing or privatizing portions of the approvals process to introduce efficiency and accountability
  • Restore municipalities as the primary authority on zoning decisions — end provincial overreach that has added delay without increasing supply

Building Code Reform

  • Reduce or eliminate the BC Energy Step Code to bring construction costs back in line with the rest of Canada
  • Standardize building codes province-wide, with exceptions only where genuine geographic or climate conditions require it

Real Estate Taxation

  • Remove the Speculation and Vacancy Tax for Canadian taxpayers; allow foreign investors to invest in pre-builds without incurring these (foreign buyers) taxes
  • Reassess the necessity of municipal vacancy taxes given changed market conditions
  • Remove short-term rental restrictions outside Metro Vancouver (starting with individually owned properties); review relaxing the ban within Metro Vancouver

Education Infrastructure

  • Commit that the costs of building and moving school portables will not be borne by the local school district
  • Accelerate school construction in high-growth areas, particularly south of the Fraser River
9. Transportation & Infrastructure

A decade of NDP decisions has left transportation and infrastructure projects delayed, downsized, and more expensive—while communities fall further behind. I will reverse failed decisions, restore better and more cost-effective projects like the George Massey crossing, and get BC building again. My plan delivers: on-time transit expansion, stronger roads and bridges, and immediate action on stalled hospitals, long-term care, and critical infrastructure.

George Massey Crossing

  • Immediately cancel the current NDP eight-lane immersed tunnel project ($4B+, construction 2026, completion 2030)
  • Restore construction of the original 10-lane bridge — shovel-ready in 2017, bids as low as $2.6B, would have opened by 2022
  • Invite public input on naming — Black's personal suggestion: 'Sir John A. Macdonald Gateway'

Surrey & South Fraser

  • Deliver the Surrey–Langley SkyTrain extension on schedule
  • Begin planning for future rapid transit expansion deeper into Surrey
  • Work with TransLink and the City of Surrey to expand frequent bus service and rapid bus corridors: Newton, Guildford, Fleetwood, and South Surrey

Other Infrastructure

  • Rebuild the Red Bridge in Kamloops
  • Restart construction of stalled long-term care homes and hospitals immediately
  • Rebuild crumbling provincial infrastructure
10. Surrey: A City-Specific Vision

Surrey is on track to become BC's largest city within the next decade and is one of Canada's fastest-growing communities. Black has released a dedicated 'Big Surrey Vision' addressing the city's unique growth challenges across safety, transit, healthcare, economic development, and agriculture.

Public Safety

  • Dedicated provincial task force with RCMP and Surrey Police Service to dismantle extortion networks
  • Expand provincial policing and deploy cameras and drones for real-time crime monitoring
  • Work with Ottawa to deport non-citizens involved in organized extortion

Transportation

  • Build a 10-lane bridge to replace the George Massey Tunnel
  • Deliver the Surrey–Langley SkyTrain extension on schedule
  • Plan future rapid transit expansion deeper into Surrey
  • Expand frequent bus service and rapid bus corridors: Newton, Guildford, Fleetwood, South Surrey

Healthcare & Education

  • Mandate maternity services in the new Cloverdale hospital
  • Expand Surrey Memorial Hospital capacity
  • Ensure portable classroom costs are not borne by the Surrey school district

Economic Development

  • Launch a Surrey Economic Growth Strategy: advanced manufacturing, logistics, technology, energy
  • Establish a major economic development zone along the Highway 1 corridor
  • Partner with BCIT and SFU for workforce development and innovation at Surrey City Centre

Agriculture

  • Expand food processing, agri-technology, and distribution capacity in and around Surrey
  • Connect Fraser Valley farms to domestic and international markets
  • Position Surrey as the gateway to next-generation agricultural innovation
11. Main Street & Small Business

Small businesses represent 98% of all businesses in BC and employ over one million people. Yet storefronts are emptying across the province as owners face rising costs, crime, and disorder. Black's 'Get Main Street Back on Track' plan treats economic health and public safety as inseparable.

Economic Action

  • Reinstate the Small Business Roundtable with a mandate for quarterly actionable recommendations
  • Roll back regulations to at least 10% below 2017 (pre-NDP) levels
  • Eliminate the Employer Payroll Tax
  • Full first-year write-offs for productivity-enhancing investments
  • Repeal Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) that delay infrastructure

Safety & Order on Main Street

  • Expand policing targeting gangs, extortion, trafficking, and organized crime
  • Redevelop Riverview as a global treatment and research centre for mental health and addictions
  • Deport non-citizens caught committing extortion and gang crimes

Cutting Red Tape

  • Moratorium on new business regulations and tax increases
  • One-in, two-out rule for small business regulations
  • Mandatory sunset clauses on all new rules and regulations
12. Parental Rights & Education (SOGI)

SOGI was the most frequently raised policy concern in many community meetings. Parents are not asking for intolerance — they are asking for a seat at the table. Black frames this as a parental rights issue and a matter of restoring transparency and common sense to the classroom.

Commitments

  • Repeal SOGI
  • Return control to parents: no curriculum decision affecting children made without meaningful parental input
  • Mandate age-appropriate content: any classroom discussion of sexuality must follow a specific, approved, developmentally appropriate curriculum that is transparent to parents
  • Protect elementary school children from exposure to advanced topics related to sexuality
  • Work with parents to develop replacement curriculum built on teaching respect and tolerance for all
13. Seniors

Seniors built this province — they should not be punished for it by the NDP.

After years of rising costs and political decisions that have made life more expensive, too many seniors in British Columbia are being squeezed from every direction. That ends on Day One. Iain Black will reverse these changes, restore fairness, and ensure seniors can live with dignity, security, and access to the care they deserve.

Commitments

  • Reverse the NDP's property tax deferral interest rate increase — currently 6.45–6.5% compound, higher than the Big Banks and more expensive than a mortgage
  • Reverse the addition of PST to strata fees that seniors rely on
  • Reverse the addition of PST to cable TV and landline telephone services
  • Reverse the NDP's elimination of inflation adjustment for tax brackets (which pushes seniors into higher brackets as incomes rise to keep pace with inflation)
  • Protect long-term care access — restart construction of stalled long-term care homes
  • Ensure healthcare services are rebuilt and accessible for seniors
14. ICBC & Insurance Reform

In May 2021, the NDP eliminated the right to sue at-fault drivers, replacing it with no-fault / no-rights insurance. What British Columbians lost: the right to sue, pain and suffering compensation, access to independent courts, and full wage loss replacement (capped at $1,200/week regardless of actual earnings). Under the current system, the at-fault driver who caused an accident is entitled to the same benefits as the person they injured. Black calls it the most restrictive no-fault scheme in North America.

Commitments (First Session of Legislature)

  • Restore the right to sue for seriously injured British Columbians — amend legislation to allow legal action for full treatment costs and pain and suffering compensation
  • Reinstate the Minor Injury Cap system with stricter definitions of minor injuries to ensure fairness without overburdening the system
  • Conduct a thorough operational review of ICBC to identify efficiencies and ensure the Crown corporation is run leanly — address any premium pressure through better management, not by stripping rights
  • Restore access to independent courts — injured British Columbians deserve their case heard by an impartial judge or jury, not a government-controlled tribunal
15. Autism & Disability Supports

In February 2026, the NDP eliminated the dedicated Autism Funding Program — in place since 2002 — replacing it with a broader disability benefit taking effect in 2027. Families who received up to $22,000 per year in direct, flexible funding may receive as little as $6,500 — or nothing — under the new income-tested system. Black argues the NDP is 'funding their broader disability agenda on the backs of autistic children,' pitting disability communities against one another.

Commitments

  • Restore direct, flexible autism funding to families without income testing — a child's autism does not care about their family's income, and neither should the program
  • Base autism programs on each child's condition and clinically proven needs — not on what the government finds administratively convenient
  • Fund supports for other disabled children and youth separately, so no disability community competes against another for the same limited pool of dollars
  • Give autism families a genuine seat at the table in designing programs — not post-decision consultations
  • Prioritize evidence-based therapies and interventions, trusting parents to direct those services for their own children
16. Human Rights Tribunal

Human rights must be protected — equally, fairly, and without political bias.

Iain Black believes in the fundamental importance of human rights, but the current system is failing to deliver impartial justice. British Columbians deserve a system where rights are upheld through due process, evidence is tested, and decisions are made without ideology. His plan will restore confidence by ensuring equal protection under the law for everyone.

Commitments

  • Eliminate the BC Human Rights Tribunal
  • Real human rights violations belong in court — where evidence is tested, rights are protected, and justice is blind
  • Restore equal protection under the law for everyone
17. Pandemic Accountability & Preparedness

British Columbians lived through one of the most disruptive periods in our province’s history. Decisions were made quickly, often under immense pressure—but their impacts were profound, and in many cases, lasting. As Premier, I will establish an independent, expert-led blue-ribbon commission to conduct a full, objective review of British Columbia’s COVID-19 response.

This review will not be political—it will be about facts, accountability, and learning the right lessons for the future.

The commission will examine:

  • What worked—and what didn’t—in protecting public health
  • The effectiveness and consequences of policies such as mandates and restrictions
  • Where government actions may have overreached or failed to consider broader impacts
  • The social, economic, and health consequences of key decisions
  • How to better balance public health with personal freedoms and economic stability

The commission will be composed of respected experts across health, economics, law, and civil liberties, and will operate independently of government.

Its findings will be made fully public, with clear recommendations to guide future pandemic planning—so that British Columbia is better prepared, more balanced, and more accountable if we face a similar crisis again.

18. Gun Rights & Federal Opt-Outs

Public safety demands results — not symbolism.

Iain Black will take a focused, evidence-based approach to reducing gun violence by targeting what actually drives crime: illegal firearms, organized gangs, and repeat offenders. While respecting the rights of law-abiding citizens, his plan prioritizes stronger enforcement, smarter investments in prevention, and real action to keep communities safe across British Columbia.

Commitments

  • Inform the federal government that BC will not participate in enforcing any federal gun confiscation/buyback program
  • Law-abiding gun owners will keep their property
  • Prioritize resources to fighting gangs, stopping extortion, and restoring public order
19. Agriculture & Food Security

BC's agricultural sector — particularly the Fraser Valley and Okanagan regions — is a strategic economic and food security asset. Black frames investment in agriculture and agri-technology as both an economic opportunity and a regional development imperative.

Commitments

  • Expand food processing, agri-technology, and distribution capacity in the Fraser Valley and around Surrey
  • Connect Fraser Valley farms to domestic and international markets
  • Work with farmers and industry leaders to support value-added agriculture
  • Protect farmland and rancher land tenures threatened by DRIPA-related legal uncertainty (addressed via DRIPA repeal)
  • Recognize the Okanagan's importance as a tourism destination and agricultural hub — wine and fruit production with significant export value
20. Education Reform

British Columbia’s education system has lost its way under the NDP — ideology over results, cancelled letter grades, eroded standards, and parents shut out of decisions affecting their children. Good teachers who simply want to teach have been sidelined by politics. An entire generation of students is falling behind in reading, writing, and math at the very moment when global competition demands more, not less. Black frames this as a parental rights and academic standards issue requiring urgent, structural change from Day One.

Back to Basics — Academic Standards

  • Refocus BC schools on reading, writing, math, and STEM — taught to a standard that means something
  • Bring back real report cards with letter grades
  • Reinstate mandatory standardized testing so that results can be measured, compared, and improved
  • Restore classrooms as places of learning — where teachers can teach, free from political distraction
  • Start every school day with O Canada
  • Teach civics and Canadian history — both achievements and failures — so students grow into informed, engaged citizens

Parental Rights and Transparency

  • Repeal SOGI (also addressed in Section 11 — Parental Rights & Education)
  • Ensure complete transparency in what is taught about sexuality — what is covered, at what age, and with what parental notification
  • Restore parents to their rightful place at the centre of decisions affecting their children — not government bureaucrats

Restoring Common Sense and Removing Ideology

  • Remove partisan political advocacy and activism from schools — classrooms will not be used to advance political agendas
  • Prohibit land acknowledgements using language such as “colonizers,” “settlers,” “unceded,” or “stolen land” — these are ideological positions, not neutral statements

Safe Schools — School Liaison Officer Program

  • Protect, fund, and expand the School Liaison Officer program — building trust between young people and police, making schools safer, and strengthening communities for generations
  • Ensure the program will never again be cancelled at the insistence of activist bodies such as the BC Human Rights Commission
21. Metro Vancouver Reform

Metro Vancouver has become a runaway regional authority — defined by massive cost overruns, executive excess, secretive governance, and zero accountability to the taxpayers who fund it. A North Shore wastewater treatment plant budgeted at $700 million is now projected to cost $3.86 billion — more than the entire new St. Paul’s Hospital. The Metro Vancouver portion of the average property tax bill has reached $875 per household, rising as high as $1,792 on the North Shore. Black frames this as a fundamental failure of governance requiring structural reform, not incremental fixes.

Commitments

  • Halt construction on the North Shore wastewater treatment plant until there is a full, independent public accounting of the cost overruns and a serious examination of whether the project can be delivered more economically; demand the federal government pay its fair share — one-third of the total cost
  • Cut Metro Vancouver’s $220 million salary budget by at least 10% and eliminate excessive executive compensation; further review and reduce as Metro converts to a utility
  • Convert Metro Vancouver into a regulated regional utility — focused exclusively on water, sewage, and drainage — with full provincial oversight; any rate increase or expansion would require justification before an independent utility board, as BC Hydro must justify rates to the BC Utilities Commission; eliminate mission creep and superfluous activities
  • Order a full, independent governance review — including an examination of whether splitting Metro Vancouver into North of Fraser and South of Fraser regional utilities would better serve residents on each side of the Fraser River
  • Where services can be provided by local government or the private sector, Metro Vancouver gets out of the way

Housing Affordability Connection

  • Metro Vancouver’s Development Cost Charge increases (effective January 1, 2026) fully offset Vancouver’s 20% cut to its own development levies — one developer reported $65 million in additional costs; Black would prohibit Metro Vancouver from imposing DCCs or CACs at the regional level (also addressed in Section 8 — Housing & Real Estate)
22. About Iain Black
Experience Matters.

Iain Black brings a rare combination of Cabinet-level experience, Treasury Board oversight, and private sector leadership. He is the only candidate in this race with a proven record of success in both public service and business — and he is ready to lead on Day One.

Join a movement focused on building British Columbia — driving a stronger economy, expanding opportunity, and delivering real growth. A fresh start for BC, and for Canada.

Personal

  • Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba; moved to BC
  • Husband of over 30 years
  • Father of three adult children (two of whom left BC to find opportunity — 'and that drives me')
  • Piano player
  • Lifelong conservative since his paper route introduced him to Gary Filmon and Brian Mulroney

Government & Political Experience

  • BC Liberal MLA, Port Moody–Westwood / Port Moody–Coquitlam (2005–2011)
  • Minister of Labour & Citizens' Services (2008–2009)
  • Minister of Small Business, Technology & Economic Development (2009–2010)
  • Minister of Labour (2010–2011)
  • Member, BC Treasury Board (three years)
  • Federal Conservative candidate, Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam (2025) — lost by 2,521 votes

Business & Community Leadership

  • President & CEO, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (2011–2019)
  • Career in business technology — built and led technology companies
  • Restructured multiple distressed organizations

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