As noted in previous Member Updates, on February 24th, UDI participated in the launch of campaign of several business associations “… to scrap the newly announced expansion of the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) to a wide range of professional services, including accounting, engineering, architectural, security, and commercial real estate services, with the 7% PST applied broadly and a partial 30% tax base applied to architectural, engineering, and geoscience (AEG) work.” These new PST measures were announced in the Budget 2026, and were to take effect on October 1st.  

 In addition, Michael Drummond, UDI’s CEO, identified the PST changes as one of the issues contributing to the cost-of-delivery crisis the building sector is currently facing in his June 4th Pre-Budget presentation to the BC Legislature’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. On August 11th, the Select Standing Committee issued its Report on the Budget 2027 Consultation, and one of its recommendations was “… that the provincial government … Repeal the planned Provincial Sales Tax expansion to professional services to simplify and streamline taxation systems.” 

Last week, UDI and the the business associations supporting the PST campaign, sent a letter to the Premier and Minister of Finance raising concerns about the upcoming implementation of the PST expansion and requesting “… an urgent meeting to discuss the economic challenges facing our province and the actions needed to strengthen British Columbia's competitiveness amid the ongoing trade dispute with the United States.” 

On September 18th, the Province announced that “In response to new and ongoing international trade disruptions and the economic uncertainty they are creating, government intends to delay the PST expansion to professional services that had been scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1, 2026.” The Premier stated that the Government would be delaying the implementation of the tax “… until well after …” the “… trade war is over …”.