By any objective measure, the B.C. NDP government has failed spectacularly when it comes to delivering major public infrastructure. The Cowichan Hospital. The Pattullo Bridge. St. Paul’s Hospital. The Massey Tunnel replacement. The Langley SkyTrain extension. The Broadway subway line. Every one of these major projects is over budget and behind schedule — by years and sometimes by billions of dollars.

This isn’t bad luck. It’s bad leadership and part of a disturbing pattern driven by political interference, rigid ideology and a procurement system that puts politics ahead of sound public policy and the interests of B.C. taxpayers.

Let’s talk about the ideology piece of all this. For years, the NDP’s Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) framework — a deeply flawed policy that has driven many of those project cost overruns — has been sold to taxpayers as the best way to promote local hiring and expand training and employment opportunities for women, Indigenous workers and apprentices.

Really though, it’s about mandating work to the 15 per cent of construction workers who are members of the building trades unions. The other 85 per cent of........

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