{"id":581932,"date":"2026-04-04T15:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/581932\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T15:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:19:11","slug":"exposing-the-shadow-planners-special-presentation-for-metro-vancouver-region-crd-watch-with-video-and-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/581932\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposing the \u201cShadow Planners\u201d: Special Presentation for Metro Vancouver region (CRD Watch) with video and materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did B.C.\u2019s housing policy shift so rapidly from community-led planning to top-down, industry-driven mandates? On March 26, 2026, investigative researcher\u00a0Sasha Izard, founder of\u00a0CRD Watch<\/a>, presented an explosive first-hand account of how the development lobby captured the provincial and local governments. Below is a video of the main presentation, plus a copy of his slides, and additional materials. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

See presentation slides and download link at bottom.<\/p>\n

The \u201cSmoking Gun\u201d Investigation<\/p>\n

After analyzing thousands of pages of Freedom of Information (FOI) records, Izard has uncovered a massive, multi-year influence campaign by the\u00a0Urban Development Institute (UDI)\u00a0and aligned activists to rewrite BC\u2019s housing laws in favor of corporate interests.<\/p>\n

Presentation title: \u201cHow the development lobby\u2019s agenda captured local government urban planning with the recent housing bills in British Columbia\u00a0\u00a0\u2013\u2013 And why it is crucial that the public regain control over the future of their communities\u201c<\/p>\n

About the Speaker<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Founded by\u00a0Sasha Izard, CRD Watch, quickly gained a reputation for covering important issues that the local news media in Greater Victoria would not. Sasha believes in the crucial role of public participation in democracy and government institutions. Yet he notes that this has been eroding, particularly at the local government and provincial levels. Starting in 2022, Sasha launched a series of FOI inquiries into lobbying efforts at all levels of government affecting housing, zoning, historical conservation, and the natural environment, including urban, semi-urban, rural and extra-urban ecology, which has been collapsing at an ever more rapid pace due to environmental deregulation.<\/p>\n

Website:\u00a0https:\/\/crdwatch.ca\/<\/a>
Free newsletter subscription:\u00a0https:\/\/crdwatch.ca\/newsletter\/<\/a>
Facebook:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/crdwatch\/<\/a>
Contact: CRDWatch@mail.com<\/p>\n

Guest page on CityHallWatch:\u00a0https:\/\/cityhallwatch.wordpress.com\/guest-writers\/sasha-izard-crd-watch\/<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED<\/p>\n

Summary slide of UDI lobbying influence (slide 41 of the presentation).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Below is a timeline prepared by CityHallWatch (a work in progress, to be updated). <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Original announcement for the event<\/p>\n

Exposing the \u201cShadow Planners\u201d: A Special Presentation for Metro Vancouver region (online event March\u00a026)
https:\/\/cityhallwatch.wordpress.com\/2026\/03\/14\/exposing-shadow-planners-metrovan-zoom-crd-watch-march26\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did B.C.\u2019s housing policy shift so rapidly from community-led planning to top-down, industry-driven mandates? On March 26,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-581932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}