CFIB and the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association (MPBIA) have issued a joint open letter calling on the B.C. government to create an “Infrastructure Lifeline Grant” so Broadway small businesses can survive another full road closure and years of construction disruption tied to the Broadway Subway project. PDF Version.
For more background, CFIB's Hard hats and hard times: Public construction impacts on small businesses report quantifies and analyzes construction’s profound impacts on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), evaluates current government mitigation efforts, identifies critical gaps in support between provincial and municipal governments, and proposes a comprehensive construction mitigation plan for government consideration.
December 11, 2025
Vancouver, BC
OPEN LETTER TO PREMIER EBY, TRANSPORATION MINISTER FARNWORTH & THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
This week, a critical emergency town hall was convened because businesses along the Broadway Subway corridor are facing the most severe economic crisis in the project’s history. After five years of relentless disruption, they are now being asked to withstand an additional two-year project delay, along with a looming FULL FOUR MONTH CLOSURE of Broadway between Main and Quebec in early 2026, followed by four more months of severely restricted traffic and access. This shutdown will sharply reduce customer access, visibility, and revenue for months on end.
The purpose of the meeting was simple: to give business owners a chance to speak directly with their provincial government, outline the severity of the crisis, and seek immediate solutions to prevent more permanent closures. These businesses came prepared, in good faith, to share what they are experiencing and what they urgently need to survive.
Yet no one from the provincial government attended.
Not a Minister.
Not an MLA.
Not a single representative.
In a moment requiring leadership, partnership, and accountability, the provincial government simply chose not to show up.
All you need to do is walk the Broadway corridor to see the number of vacant buildings, papered up windows and for lease signs to see the impact.
The next shutdown threatens to accelerate these losses even further.
The town hall was intended to prevent exactly that - but the province’s empty seats made clear that small business survival is not a consideration – much less a priority.
What provincial representatives would have heard was deeply emotional and profoundly troubling.
A Business owner who sold his home to keep their doors open.
Owners now working second jobs to cover rent and payroll.
Long-time operators who were in tears, admitted they no longer know what to do in the face of compounding losses and an impending full shutdown.
These are not numbers or footnotes. These are real people running out of time, money, and options - while the provincial government refuses even to sit in the same room.
When asked earlier that day about the prospect of mitigation support, Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth responded: “That’s not what any government has done in this province.”
If that is truly the threshold for action, then British Columbia has a leadership problem.
Extraordinary circumstances demand solutions - not excuses based on what past governments did or didn’t do.
The MPBIA is simply seeking a Scalable Infrastructure Lifeline Grant, tied to each business’s size, fixed costs, and documented losses. It is simple, fair, and fast to implement.
This is a practical solution.
What is lacking is political will.
If this government truly values small business, now is the time to prove it.
Sincerely,
Neil Wyles
Executive Director
Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association
On behalf of businesses in the Mount Pleasant BIA
Ryan Mitton
Director of Legislative Affairs, British Columbia
Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)
Print Article
Share Article
