There’s nothing wrong with the basic idea of taking the Insurance Corporation of B.C.’s aging, half-empty, waterfront headquarters in the heart of North Vancouver and turning it into housing. But the governing BC New Democrats left lingering questions about the move with their less-than-honest approach to the announcement this week.
Local MLA Bowinn Ma, who is also emergency management minister, picked up the narrative on social media. Simply put, there was no diabolical plot engineered by sleeper agents of the former BC Liberal government inside ICBC to cut a sweetheart deal for a prime chunk of real estate to well-connected luxury developers.The government paid ICBC $53.3 million for the property. That’s only half of the around $100 million assessed value. And that assessed value is likely a lowball for such a prime chunk of waterfront real estate right beside the Lonsdale Quay and SeaBus terminal.
Eby, who once accused the Liberals of using ICBC profits like an ATM to subsidize government spending, rejected any comparison he’s doing the same by expropriating the headquarters for pennies on the dollar. Again, there’s nothing wrong with a public policy decision to turn the ICBC headquarters into housing.