OneCity vows to reboot Vancouver Economic Commission, three years after closure | Daily Hive

Vancouver Economic Commission

The OneCity Vancouver party wants to rebuild and reestablish the City of Vancouver’s business support and investment attraction capacity, nearly three years after the ABC Vancouver party-led City Council wound down the Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC).

Today, ahead of the October 2026 civic election, OneCity mayoral candidate William Azaroff announced the proposal as a key component of the second part of the party’s Local Economy Action Plan.

If elected, the party would establish a new Business & Investment Office (BIO) — essentially, effectively restarting VEC — with $3 million in funding.

The office would support local companies looking to grow and work alongside Invest Vancouver — the 2021-launched regional economic development agency of Metro Vancouver Regional District.

You might also like:

“Working to reform, fund, and stabilize the regional Invest Vancouver so that Vancouver’s BIO will have a partner they can count on”

OneCity emphasizes it would also seek to reform and stabilize Invest Vancouver so that the two offices — municipal and regional, respectively — could work more closely together.

“OneCity will build a new Business & Investment Office, funded at $3 million, while working to reform, fund, and stabilize the regional Invest Vancouver so that Vancouver’s BIO will have a partner they can count on,” reads the platform.

The proposal would restore the City of Vancouver’s economic development and investment attraction spending to roughly the level that existed before the VEC was dismantled. Prior to its dissolution, the VEC had an annual operating budget of about $3 million per year provided by the City and a workforce size of about 20 people.

The VEC was first established in 1995 as a City-funded, arm’s-length organization responsible for promoting Vancouver internationally — attracting investment and supporting industries such as the film and television production industry, tech, and clean technology.

For example, prior to the pandemic, the VEC previously led Vancouver’s bid for Amazon HQ2, competing against hundreds of other cities. Over the past year, Invest Vancouver has supported private sector efforts to convince the Government of Canada to select Vancouver as the headquarters of the NATO-backed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), which could bring 3,500 high-paying jobs to the city and significantly elevate Vancouver’s global standing in finance and international relations. The federal government’s decision on DSRB’s headquarters city could be made before the end of 2026, with NATO nations and partners selecting Canada as the host country earlier this year.

During its existence, the VEC helped bring more than $3 billion in investment to Metro Vancouver before the ABC-led municipal government decided to wind it down in September 2023. Prior to the creation of Invest Vancouver, VEC was the de facto economic and investment attraction agency of the Metro Vancouver region.

At the time, the City said the VEC’s main functions would be brought under the direct oversight of the City Manager’s Office. It argued that having Invest Vancouver handle regional investment attraction would allow the City to focus on Vancouver businesses while reducing duplication and costs.

Out of the annual funding Vancouver’s municipal government previously set aside for VEC, after its dissolution in 2023, $1 million per year was redirected toward new in-house economic development and business support activities, including $855,000 for the new Business and Economy Office under the City Manager’s Office — employing about five people — and $145,000 for an Indigenous Economic Prosperity function.

Invest Vancouver

However, Invest Vancouver has also faced considerable uncertainty due to political infighting among the regional district’s member municipal governments, which collectively fund the agency’s annual operations.

Invest Vancouver narrowly avoided budget cuts in 2025, when its annual operating budget stood at approximately $4.75 million.

Earlier this year, the City of Surrey filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking to invalidate the existence of Invest Vancouver. The administration of Surrey mayor Brenda Locke has indicated that it would prefer to focus its resources and efforts on the municipal government’s Invest Surrey, which solely serves Surrey’s interests and is the City of Surrey’s equivalent of the VEC. It was noted at the time that the City of Surrey had contributed over $2.6 million to Invest Vancouver since 2019.

Currently, Invest Vancouver’s management board of directors is led by City of North Vancouver mayor Linda Buchanan and ABC Vancouver city councillor Mike Klassen, with business, union, and institutional leaders and other elected officials making up 29 other board members. A total of 15 staff are listed on the organization’s website.

All of Canada’s largest urban areas have regional economic and investment attraction agencies dedicated to promoting the business activities of their regions, and similar entities also exist for major regions in the United States.

Toronto Global and the Calgary Economic Development, for instance, recently had annual operating budgets of about $7.5 million and nearly $19 million, respectively. Both entities were also created many years before Metro Vancouver’s region-wide agency.

Vancouver Economic Commission

In addition to creating a new VEC equivalent, OneCity’s plan would go further by creating a separate Entrepreneur Liaison Office specifically responsible for guiding small- and medium-sized businesses through permits, licences, and government funding programs. The staff of this office would assist companies seeking to open, relocate, or expand in Vancouver and help them navigate requirements imposed by municipal, provincial, and federal governments.

Other measures in this second part of the five-part plan also includes a new citywide micro-grant program for small businesses and non-profit organizations. OneCity notes that the grants would be offered in tiers to help Vancouver-based ventures open, grow, or become more financially secure. A non-partisan committee representing business, labour, and community organizations would oversee the program. However, the party has not yet disclosed the proposed size of the grant fund, individual grant amounts or eligibility requirements.

OneCity would end the municipal practice of choosing the lowest bid

OneCity would also launch a three-year “Buy Vancouver” procurement pilot project directing more municipal government spending toward goods and services supplied by local and domestic businesses. The party states that redirecting procurement toward Canadian suppliers would support local employment and make Vancouver less dependent on foreign multinational companies during periods of trade disruption and economic uncertainty.

City contracts would be assessed using a proposed Good Jobs Procurement Standard that considers wages, workplace safety, apprenticeship opportunities, and local and inclusive hiring — not simply which company submits the lowest bid.

“Vancouver tax dollars are currently going to whoever bids lowest: contractors cutting corners on wages, safety, and training, with the costs landing on residents relying on hollowed out services,” states the platform.

“Cheap contracts often hide expensive problems: contract-management costs, lost institutional knowledge, and weaker accountability. OneCity will reward fair wages, responsible contractors, apprenticeships, safety, and local and inclusive hiring — not just the lowest upfront price.”

You might also like: