Rebar dispute increasing cost of building in B.C.

WATCH: A trade dispute is boosting the price of new condo developments in Metro Vancouver, with some individual units costing thousands of dollars more. Jill Bennett explains what’s driving the increase.

You can soon add steel rebar to the list of things making B.C. less affordable.

The reinforcing bar used in concrete structures now has a 41 per cent tariff applied to it when imported from other countries. It’s intended to protect manufacturers in central Canada from an influx of rebar from China and other countries in Asia. For B.C., which doesn’t produce rebar of its own and where importing rebar by sea is much cheaper than transporting it from Ontario or Quebec, the new price is a hefty burden on new homes.

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“That cost can be anywhere from 6 to 10 thousand dollars. It’ll eliminate those people who many not be able to afford the increased cost,” says Phil Hochestein of the Independent Contractors and Business Operators of B.C.

“We’re making an already affordability housing market all that more unaffordable.”

Jim Bogusz, COO of the Beedie Development Group, says the tariff could impact many sectors of the economy, from LNG to industrial buildings. He says the cost of replacing the Massey Tunnel with a bridge, scheduled to begin in 2017, could increase by 20 or 30 million dollars because of the tariff.

“It’s a tax. In B.C. this is a tax, and it’s a tax on all concrete construction,” he says.

According to Minister of International Trade Teresa Wat, British Columbia is currently applying for a regional exclusion, but a decision by the Finance Ministry won’t come until after the Canadian International Trade Tribunal issues a report on the subject.

Builders in B.C. are hoping that comes sooner rather than later.

“We’re saying employ the tariff back east where it makes sense, but give us an exemption in British Columbia where it doesn’t make sense,” says Hochestein.