British Columbia has voted for change.

The Conservative Party of British Columbia, led by Lorne Doerkson, has won the October 24 provincial election, ending nine years of NDP government that was characterized by a lack of humility and hypocrisy over David Eby’s tenure.

For a party that was engulfed in a leadership crisis only weeks earlier, the result is an extraordinary political reversal.

Here are five issues that will help define the next government’s agenda.

1. Can the Conservatives get B.C.’s deficit under control?

British Columbia’s fiscal situation may be the single greatest challenge facing its next government.

According to the province’s September financial update, B.C. is forecasting a $13.8-billion deficit for the 2026–27 fiscal year. That comes after several years of significant operating deficits.

Looking at the province’s financial history puts the challenge into perspective.

Under Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberal government, the province recorded a $3.94-billion operating surplus in 2006–07. However, that government also ran deficits during its early years and following the global financial crisis.

Under David Eby, the operating deficit has grown considerably, reaching a projected $13.8 billion in the current fiscal year. And there is no global financial crisis to lay blame on this time.

These figures are in nominal dollars and do not account for inflation, changes in population or the size of the economy. Nevertheless, they demonstrate how the province’s fiscal position has shifted over time.

The Conservatives have promised to grow the economy, reduce administrative spending and cut taxes. Their election platform anticipates more than $11 billion in tax relief and additional government revenue from stronger economic growth.

However, their own plan still projects a deficit of approximately $10.8 billion in 2029–30, with no balanced budget during the four-year outlook.

The NDP has questioned the Conservatives’ economic growth assumptions and warned that spending restraint could affect public services.

The challenge is clear: can the next government stimulate investment, improve public services and begin repairing the province’s finances at the same time?

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2. What does a Conservative government mean for health care?

Health care was one of the biggest issues of the campaign, in part due to the fact that many British Columbians are struggling to find family doctors or face lengthy waits for treatment.

The Conservatives have promised to maintain public health care funding while recruiting more doctors and nurses. Their commitments include a $50-million emergency fund to support rural medical practices, expanded medical training and faster recognition of international credentials.

Doerkson has also promised an expert commission within his first 100 days to examine ways of reducing wait times. The party has proposed publicly funded treatment at private facilities when surgical wait-time benchmarks are exceeded.

The Conservatives insist that health care will remain universal and publicly funded. Many critics, however, have raised concerns that increasing private delivery could draw staff away from public hospitals.

For British Columbians, the real test will be whether these changes translate into faster access to care.

Can more residents find a family doctor? Will emergency departments remain open? Can surgical wait times fall without placing additional financial pressure on an already strained health care system?

3. What happens to Metro Vancouver’s major transportation projects?

The next government will inherit billions of dollars in transportation projects already underway, with Metro Vancouver among the fastest-growing regions in the country.

The Broadway Subway extension remains on track to open in 2027, while the 16-kilometre Surrey–Langley SkyTrain extension is expected to begin service in late 2029.

The Conservatives have pledged to expand rapid transit where population growth and ridership justify it. More specifically, they have promised to work with Ottawa to extend SkyTrain south along King George Boulevard to Newton Town Centre.

They have also proposed replacing the George Massey Tunnel with a new 10-lane bridge, abandoning the NDP’s eight-lane replacement tunnel plan.

These commitments raise important questions about cost, timelines and priorities.

Will the new government maintain the momentum behind projects already under construction? How quickly could a Newton extension move from a campaign promise into an approved, funded project?

And beyond the projects already announced, what happens to longer-term priorities such as extending the Broadway Subway to UBC and improving rapid transit to the North Shore?

Vancouver needs more than new commitments. It needs reliable infrastructure delivery that keeps pace with population growth.

4. Can the Conservatives repeal DRIPA and restore investor confidence?

One of the most consequential policy changes could involve British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, commonly known as DRIPA.

The legislation was passed unanimously in 2019, establishing a framework to align provincial laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

However, the legislation has become increasingly contentious, particularly following court decisions examining its legal implications.

The Conservatives have explicitly promised to repeal DRIPA and Section 8.1 of the Interpretation Act. They argue that the current framework has created uncertainty for businesses, investors and resource development.

If the Conservatives secure a legislative majority, they could move quickly to introduce repeal legislation. But removing DRIPA would not eliminate the constitutional rights of First Nations or the Crown’s duty to consult.

Indigenous leaders have also strongly opposed previous proposals to suspend or amend the legislation, warning that unilateral changes could create further conflict and litigation.

That presents the next government with a complicated challenge.

Investors want clear rules, predictable permitting timelines and confidence that approved projects can proceed. First Nations want their rights respected and meaningful participation in decisions affecting their territories.

A change in legislation alone will not guarantee either outcome.

Can the Conservatives establish a more predictable investment environment while building durable partnerships with First Nations?

For a province seeking to attract major capital investment, the answer could shape B.C.’s economic future for years.

5. Will Vancouver’s new mayor and the province find common ground on public safety?

Perhaps the most interesting political relationship to emerge from October’s elections will be between Vancouver’s newly elected mayor, Pete Fry, and incoming Conservative premier Lorne Doerkson.

Fry’s election victory on October 17 marked a significant change in Vancouver politics. Yet voters also delivered a clear message on two public safety questions.

According to the City of Vancouver’s official results, 68.6% of valid votes on the first plebiscite supported strengthening city laws against open-air hard drug use in public spaces.

A further 68.0% supported asking the province to establish a secure medical facility offering voluntary care and more than 100 involuntary care beds for people with severe addictions or mental health disorders who pose serious risks.

Both questions were non-binding. Nevertheless, the results provide a clear indication of what participating voters want addressed.

Fry has dismissed the plebiscites as a political gimmick, although he has also said he does not want open-air drug use continuing on Vancouver’s streets. His preferred approach involves directing people toward supervised consumption facilities, shelters and other appropriate locations.

The Conservatives have promised stronger enforcement against public drug use, alongside expanded intervention and treatment.

The two approaches are not identical. Yet both acknowledge that the current situation demands attention.

The question now is whether Fry and a Conservative provincial government can establish a working relationship that respects Vancouver’s municipal responsibilities while addressing the concerns expressed by voters.

Will the mayor pursue stronger local bylaws? Will the province fund additional secure treatment capacity? And can both governments agree on practical measures to reduce open-air drug use without abandoning people who need medical care?

For residents and businesses dealing with the effects of the toxic drug crisis, results will matter more than political differences.

The election is over. The harder work begins.

The Conservatives have formed a majority government following one of the most turbulent political periods in recent B.C. history.

But the scale of the challenges facing the province is considerable.

British Columbia needs better health care access, stronger public finances, transportation infrastructure that matches its growth and a regulatory environment that can attract investment while respecting Indigenous rights.

Meanwhile, Vancouver has a new municipal government with its own priorities and a population expecting action on affordability, housing and public safety.

An election changes who makes the decisions. It does not automatically resolve the problems.

The next four years will reveal how much of the Conservatives’ agenda can be translated into measurable progress.

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Vancouver is about to get another major name in global streetwear, and this one comes with ice cream. New York based Kith officially opens its Vancouver flagship on Friday, October 23, at Oakridge Park, marking just its second Canadian location in Canada. The first location opened back in 2023 in Toronto.

Kith was founded by Ronnie Fieg in 2011 and since then has become one of the most influential names in streetwear, building a loyal following through limited-edition collections, high-profile collaborations and carefully designed retail experiences. And Kith isn’t exactly everywhere. It operates just 20 shops worldwide, with locations in fashion capitals including New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Seoul. Vancouver is now joining that very exclusive club.

More Than Just Another Clothing Store

The new flagship will feature Kith’s full range of collections, alongside Kith Treats, the brand’s popular cereal-inspired dessert concept serving ice cream creations, milkshakes and customizable treats. Kith is also celebrating its Vancouver arrival with an exclusive early release of its latest Salomon sneaker collaboration, ahead of the global launch on October 26.

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The best part of the new location is Kith’s decision to celebrate Vancouver sports history with a special Vancouver Grizzlies collection. The lineup includes vintage-inspired T-shirts, snapbacks and a $1,825 leather jacket developed with AVIREX, featuring one of the NBA’s most iconic branding. The Grizzlies may have left Vancouver 25 years ago, but their cultural influence clearly hasn’t disappeared.

It also comes as conversations about bringing the NBA back to Vancouver continue. In fact, I wrote about it as Sports Page BC recently explored what it would actually cost to bring the Grizzlies back, including the potential investors who could make it happen. I know it’s a a dream, but the Grizzlies coming back would be the best thing to happen to Vancouver since the invention of the California Roll.

See Also: The Rise of Aritzia: From Oakridge to SoHo

Is Vancouver Becoming a Streetwear Destination?

Earlier this year, Japanese streetwear giant A Bathing Ape (BAPE) opened its first Canadian flagship on luxury row aka Alberni Street, choosing Vancouver ahead of Toronto. Now Kith is arriving just months later. These are two internationally recognized brands making significant investments in physical retail in Vancouver, and that should tell us something about how Vancouver is being viewed internationally.

Of course, Vancouver’s streetwear culture didn’t appear overnight. Independent retailers like HAVEN, DIPT and Livestock have spent years building a community around sneakers, Japanese fashion, design and contemporary menswear. Perhaps the international brands are finally catching up.

It also raises an obvious question: Who’s next? Could Aimé Leon Dore, the New York label celebrated for its elevated take on streetwear, eventually choose Vancouver for its first Canadian flagship? What about Supreme, arguably one of the most recognizable names in streetwear history? Neither has announced plans for Vancouver, but with Kith and BAPE establishing a presence, the conversation feels less far-fetched than it once did. And Oakridge Park is most likely the destination of choice.

For decades, we’ve celebrated homegrown brands like Lululemon, Artizia and Arc’teryx as they’ve expanded around the world. Now we’re seeing some of the world’s most influential streetwear brands looking at Vancouver as a place worth investing in. Two major openings don’t make Vancouver the next Shibuya or SoHo, but they could mark the beginning of an important shift in the city’s retail and fashion landscape.

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Kith Vancouver Location, Opening Date and Hours

Opening date: Friday, October 23, 2026

Address: Oakridge Park, 650 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 2M9

Location: North Arcade, with a separate entrance for Kith Treats.

Store hours:

• Monday–Wednesday: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

• Thursday–Saturday: 10 a.m.–9 p.m.

• Sunday: 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

The Vancouver flagship features Kith’s men’s, women’s and kids’ collections, alongside Kith Treats, offering signature ice cream creations, cereal-based desserts and Vancouver-exclusive offerings.

For more information, visit Kith’s official Vancouver announcement.

You’ve probably never heard of him or have been following his rise to fame. Before he became one of Hollywood’s most unique and creative individuals, Nathan Fielder attended business school at the University of Victoria (UVIC). Since then he has built a career doing things most business schools would probably advise against. Things like opening a coffee shop called Dumb Starbucks or turning an outdoor clothing company into a vehicle for Holocaust education. Both ideas came out of his show Nathan for You, where he put crazy business concepts into practice.

Now the Vancouver comedian and filmmaker has made a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes. You may remember her from such great cons as Theranos, the company that promised to revolutionize blood testing and instead became a multibillion-dollar fraud scandal, and the reception has been extraordinary. Vulture published Alison Willmore’s review under the headline “Nathan Fielder Has Made the Movie of the Year.” As of October 18, You Can See Everything holds a 99% critics’ score and a 98% verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s not just drawing critical acclaim, it’s drawing big crowds. The film earned an estimated US$15 million across the U.S. and Canada in its opening weekend, playing in just 855 theatres. The biggest opening for a non-music documentary since Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004.

You Can See Everything, which Fielder co-directed with Lance Oppenheim, opened October 16. The project begins 34 days before the Theranos founder goes to prison and develops into a three-year story. It brings someone who has spent years exploring persuasion, performance and self-deception into the orbit of a woman whose public image helped sell a spectacular business failure.

From Point Grey to business school

At Point Grey, Fielder performed in the same school improv group as Seth Rogen. Imagine trying to predict where those two careers would go. One would become a globally recognizable comedy star. The other would convince people to participate in increasingly elaborate situations while looking like he regretted starting the conversation.

After high school Fielder then took a more practical route and studied commerce at the UVIC, graduating in 2005. That background became part of the premise of Nathan for You.

The business degree was real. The advice required considerably more scrutiny. The Comedy Central series, which ran from 2013 to 2017, placed Fielder in the role of an adviser helping businesses with ideas that became more absurd the longer he pursued them. Dumb Starbucks, a coffee shop dressed almost exactly like the real thing with one additional word attached, was among the most famous.

Anyone who works in marketing can appreciate how funny that premise is. Our industry spends plenty of time dressing up ordinary ideas as breakthroughs. Fielder took that confidence to ridiculous extremes, then did the work to make the ideas happen. The uncomfortable part was watching people try to decide whether he might actually have a point.

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The joke came back to Vancouver

Remember Summit Ice, the outdoor clothing brand launched through Nathan for You, directed profits toward Holocaust education? In March 2017, Fielder brought a pop-up shop to East Broadway, announcing a US$150,000 donation from the company’s profits to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

The event offered people a chance to exchange a Taiga jacket for a Summit Ice jacket. The venture had emerged after Fielder learned that Taiga had published a tribute to Holocaust denier Doug Collins.

Only Nathan would take an idea developed for television into an actual clothing business supporting an educational institution here at home.

A career built on taking the premise further

With HBO’s The Rehearsal, Fielder expanded the scale. The series uses actors and carefully constructed simulations to let people practise situations before facing them in real life.

It’s an appealing offer if you’ve ever replayed a difficult conversation in your head. In Fielder’s hands, it also raises an obvious problem: how much can you prepare before the preparation becomes its own ordeal?

Then came The Curse, co-created with Benny Safdie and starring Fielder, Safdie and Emma Stone. Its story of a couple making a home-renovation show pushed his work further into scripted television, with the same interest in the distance between the image people project and what they actually do.

The new Holmes documentary puts those interests into another setting. Fielder has earned an audience willing to follow him into a project without being entirely sure what kind of experience he’s offering.

Vancouver’s Hollywood royalty

When people talk about Vancouver’s Hollywood royalty, Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogen are usually among the first names mentioned. I think it’s safe to say that Nathan Fielder belongs on that list. He’s taken a different path, building a career around ideas so strange they’re difficult to explain until you’ve watched them. Now he’s drawing audiences to a nearly three-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes.

His career stretches from a Point Grey improv group to Comedy Central, HBO, a series with Emma Stone and an opening weekend with US$15 million in ticket sales. Somewhere along the way, he also got people lining up on East Broadway to exchange their jackets.

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Stephen King’s Carrie is back as an eight-part series on Prime Video and honestly what better time of the year than spooky season. The reviews have been strong, but what caught my attention was where it was filmed. Yep, Vancouver.

I knew Mike Flanagan had filmed several projects here, but going through his credits I realized something I hadn’t fully appreciated, he’s made five consecutive television series in Vancouver.

I thought that was pretty cool. Flanagan is one of the key people making horror right now, responsible for Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher. And after spending years filming here, he liked Vancouver enough to make it his home.

Stephen King himself seems to agree. The legendary author called Flanagan “the best adapter of my work” in a video posted online promoting Carrie. That’s quite the compliment considering the number of filmmakers who have adapted King’s work over the past five decades.

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Five series, all made here

Flanagan’s career started with smaller horror films. His 2011 feature Absentia was funded through Kickstarter, followed by Oculus in 2014 and Hush in 2016. By 2017, he was adapting Stephen King with Gerald’s Game, and two years later he directed Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining.

His TV breakthrough came with Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House in 2018. Filmed largely in Georgia, the series established him as one of horror’s most recognizable filmmakers before his next project, The Haunting of Bly Manor, brought him to Vancouver.

He was already scouting his next project while Bly Manor was filming. In 2021, Midnight Mass arrived on Netflix, featuring an isolated fishing community called Crockett Island. If you’ve seen it, you’d be forgiven for assuming they found some remote coastal village and shot there. Turns out they couldn’t find one. They built it instead.

In a personal essay for Bloody Disgusting, Flanagan explained that the islands around Vancouver were either too developed or too difficult to reach with an entire film crew. Production designer Steve Arnold’s team constructed waterfront houses at Garry Point Park in Richmond, with more of the town built on farmland in Langley. Bridge Studios in Burnaby housed the interiors.

Flanagan recalled that Richmond locals were curious, and sometimes a little annoyed, about a collection of houses suddenly appearing in their waterfront park. Fair enough. All of that work was nearly derailed when COVID shut down production days before cameras were supposed to roll. Flanagan returned to Los Angeles while the newly built community sat empty. Months later, the crew came back and finished the series under pandemic protocols.

It’s funny to think that thousands of people have probably walked through Garry Point Park without knowing one of Netflix’s creepiest fictional towns once stood there. In Hollywood North, that sort of thing happens often.

Then in 20022 The Midnight Club was released, using Pitt Meadows to help create the mysterious Brightcliffe Hospice. Then The Fall of the House of Usher in 2023 turned Metro Vancouver locations, including a Ladner mansion, into the world of Edgar Allan Poe’s wealthy, dysfunctional family.

The fifth is Carrie, filmed in 2025 in Vancouver and Surrey. Parts of Cloverdale became the fictional town of Chamberlain, Maine, while Eric Hamber Secondary School was among the other locations used.

And the scale of Carrie goes well beyond dressing up a few storefronts. The famous prom scene took roughly two weeks to shoot, with hundreds of extras, stunt performers, fire effects and an elaborate set built to be destroyed. According to People, star Summer H. Howell spent about 12 days covered in fake blood. I can’t imagine how much cleanup that involved.

Four Netflix series and one for Prime Video. All shot in Vancouver.

Hollywood North and the Flanaverse

Vancouver’s crews can convincingly turn a public park into an island community, a school into an American high school and a mansion into the home of a fictional pharmaceutical dynasty. We’ve had almost fifty years of practice at being Hollywood North, but Flanagan’s work is a particularly good showcase of what local production teams do.

Flanagan also likes working with familiar faces. Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel and Rahul Kohli have appeared in several of his productions, often playing wildly different characters. Netflix even has a name for this recurring group of actors: the Flanaverse. It’s pretty cool how many of those productions have been made right here.

The five productions are impressive on their own. What surprised me more was hearing he’d actually decided to live here.

His daughter thought Canada was home

In a 2022 interview with TheWrap, Flanagan recalled returning to Los Angeles after The Fall of the House of Usher. His family had spent so long in Vancouver that his daughter had no memory of living in L.A. She thought Canada was home.

In September 2026, he said on Tumblr that he now lives in Vancouver. He was answering a fan who asked about future visits to the Rio Theatre.

There’s a fun local detail here. After finishing Carrie, Flanagan and some of the cast watched Brian De Palma’s original 1976 film together at the Rio. Howell hadn’t seen it before making the series. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Flanagan recalled sitting beside her as she realized how different their adaptation was. That’s a pretty great night at a neighbourhood theatre. The Rio even added a second public screening hosted by Flanagan after the first sold out.

The Park Theatre’s Hollywood investors

When Cineplex stopped operating the Park Theatre in 2025, it looked as though Vancouver might lose another independent cinema. The Rio Theatre team, led by Corinne Lea, stepped in, and local producer Chris Ferguson of Oddfellows Pictures helped assemble an Avengers-like group of investors.

The lineup is ridiculous: Flanagan; Longlegs director Osgood Perkins; Anora filmmakers Sean Baker and Samantha Quan; Final Destination: Bloodlines director Zach Lipovsky; and Stranger Things actor Finn Wolfhard, among others.

Ferguson is also a partner with Perkins in Phobos Pictures, the Vancouver company associated with Longlegs and The Monkey. Flanagan’s involvement in the Park doesn’t mean he’s making films with Oddfellows or Phobos; no such collaboration has been announced. But it’s interesting that so many recognizable filmmakers are connected to the same Vancouver theatre. And one day I would love to see a Flanagan/Phobos film.

With the number of local cinemas we’ve lost, I’m glad people with that kind of industry influence were willing to help keep the Park alive for generations to come.

Another film on the way

Flanagan’s company, Red Room Pictures, is producing Rot, a psychological body-horror feature scheduled to shoot in Vancouver this November. Alexandra Magistro, a longtime collaborator, is making her feature-directing debut. The cast includes Cooper Koch, Amber Midthunder and Matthew Lillard; the latter two are also in Carrie. Flanagan is producing, not directing.

He also has a new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist in development. No filming location has been announced, but given his track record here, I hope Vancouver gets a look.

I don’t know if Flanagan will shoot his next five series here. But he’s already made an enormous amount of television in the region, he’s chosen to live here and he helped save The Park Theatre.

For someone who’s one of the key names in horror right now, that’s super cool. I’d love to see more filmmakers follow his lead, film, produce and lay down roots in Vancouver. And I think Vancouver should make a little more noise about the ones who already have.

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I think that most people in Vancouver know about Aritzia and how it started here (and if you didn’t, now you do), but I don’t think most of us have stopped to think about what it has become.

It all started 40 years ago, in 1984, when Brian Hill opened the first standalone Aritzia retail boutique at Oakridge Centre. Fast forward to 2026 and the company is one of the biggest homegrown fashion retailers Canada has ever produced generating over $3.7 billion in revenue and this year it’s expected to do nearly $5 billion.

What may come as a surprise to some is that most of the growth is now coming from America, now Aritzia’s largest market. In its latest quarter alone, U.S. revenue jumped 60%, that accounts for roughly two-thirds of the company’s sales.

It went from humble roots in Vancouver’s Oakridge Mall into an American fashion phenomenon. That’s not only a remarkable Vancouver story, that’s a remarkable Canadian story.

It all Started at Oakridge

The Hill family was already in retail, prior to starting Aritzia, going back to the the family-owned Hills of Kerrisdale, which still has several locations today. But Brian Hill saw an opportunity for something different. Better clothes, better stores, and a shopping experience that felt more elevated than your typical mall retailer.

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Then came one of the decisions that would become central to its success. Instead of simply selling other companies clothes, Aritzia began to build brands of its own. Babaton arrived in 1994, Tna a decade later in 2004. Shortly after they created Wilfred in 2007 and later Sunday Best, Denim Forum and the Super Puff.

Think about it, these aren’t independent companies that Aritzia happens to carry in-store. They created them, own them, design the clothing and control the entire customer experience. Everything ultimately flows back to the same company.

By 1999, Aritzia had expanded across Canada. Then in the 2000’s it set it sights on the United States.

America was Always the Prize

Aritzia opened its first U.S. location in 2006, followed six years later by a flagship in New York City’s SoHo neighbourhood.

There is a great quote from Aritzia’s then-CMO in a 2014 Fashionista interview that gives you a sense of how the company was thinking: “We don’t want to be known as a Canadian brand.” He quickly added that they were proud to be Canadian. They just weren’t going to lead with it.

That might hurt our Canadian pride a little, but strategically it makes sense. Aritzia wanted to become a fashion brand, not just a Canadian fashion brand. And I think to be a successful brand of this magnitude, that’s the mantra you have to carry.

When Aritzia became famous

Later the company started making a much more deliberate push into American media and celebrity culture. Taylor Swift was wearing Aritzia. So was Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba and many others.

In 2017, Meghan Markle appeared at the Invictus Games wearing a burgundy Wilfred dress. This was right at peak “Who is Prince Harry dating?” insanity, and the dress instantly sold out. They couldn’t keep it stocked.

Then came the Super Puff. Aritzia launched the jacket in 2017, but its defining pop-culture moment came the following year when Kendall Jenner appeared in a bright red version as part of a campaign. She was reportedly paid more than $1 million for two Instagram posts.

Shortly after, Bella Hadid, Ariana Grande, Hailey Bieber and other celebrities were all wearing Aritzia and they do so to this day.

The company itself disclosed in 2018 that it had dressed more than 50 high-profile people, including Kylie Jenner, Karlie Kloss, Jessica Alba and Meghan Markle.

This wasn’t accidental anymore. Celebrity placement and social media had become part of the growth strategy, and Aritzia rode the wave before it became overly saturated.

In 2023, the story came back to B.C. in a pretty perfect way when Pamela Anderson became the face of a Babaton campaign. One of B.C.’s most recognizable global celebrities selling one of B.C.’s most successful global brands. A match made in heaven.

The Sales Numbers Exploded

Aritzia went public in 2016, but the acceleration over the last few years has been something else.

In fiscal 2026 alone the net income jumped 84 per cent to roughly $382 million. And overall sales are projected to hit nearly $5 billion this fiscal. That would put Artizia right up there with Gildan and with Arcteryx. 3 Vancouver based brands in the top 5, that’s impressive and neither of those brands appear to be slowing down.

By comparison, Canada Goose generated roughly $1.5 billion last year. That gap surprised me. For years I thought of Canada Goose was the larger global Canadian fashion company (outside of lululemon of coures). It certainly had the bigger international profile. I was so very wrong.

The Risk of Getting This Big

There is one question hanging over all this growth and that is, can Aritzia get this big without losing some of what made people obsessed with it in the first place?

Spend enough time around longtime customers and you’ll hear the complaints. Older coats felt heavier. Some staples were better made. There’s more polyester. The clothes don’t always feel as distinct as they once did.

That’s anecdotal, not proof of some company-wide collapse in quality, but the criticism is common enough that it’s worth paying attention to. It’s also almost what happens when apparel companies begin to scale. You see similar chatter around KITH and ALD these days and they are much smaller than Aritzia.

With roughly two-thirds of Aritzia’s sales now coming from the U.S. it represents the biggest opportunity for the brand. While growth in Canada remains solid.

Can Aritzia become a global fashion giant without sacrificingthe things that made Aritzia feel like Aritzia? It’s almost damn near impossible to scale without some loss in quality. Only time will tell.

From Tna to Reigning Champ

Aritzia has mostly grown by creating brands internally, but in 2021 they decided to acquire another made in Vancouver apparel company.

In June of 2021 they acquired a 75 per cent stake in Reigning Champ, in a deal that valued the business at about $63 million. Two years later, Aritzia bought the rest and now fully own the brand.

Reigning Champ is much smaller when compared with Aritzia’s women’s business, but the acquisition is interesting because it gives the company something it never really had before: a legitimate foothold in menswear and who knows over time it could become as similar story of growth.

The Jennifer Wong story might be just as good

There is another part of Aritzia’s rise that I love and it’s extremely rare these days.

Jennifer Wong has been with the company for almost 40 years. She started working there long before Aritzia became Aritzia as we know it today and eventually worked her way up to president and COO and 2022, Brian Hill stepped aside as CEO and Wong took over.

Since then, Aritzia’s revenue has gone from around $1.5 billion to $3.7 billion, the U.S. has overtaken Canada, and the company now expects to approach $5 billion this year.

There are plenty of companies where the founder leaving marks the end of an era. At Aritzia, it seems to be the beginning of another one.

From Oakridge to SoHo

This wasn’t a startup that appeared out of nowhere, raised a pile of money and suddenly became famous. The first store opened in 1984, Aritzia didn’t enter the U.S. until 2006 and it didn’t go public until 2016.

More than four decades later, the company is still accelerating.

And fittingly, Aritzia has returned to Oakridge with a new flagship as the place where the story began is rebuilt into Oakridge Park.

Same corner of Vancouver. Very different company.

We spend a lot of time talking about the companies Vancouver fails to build, loses or watches move somewhere else. Every once in a while, it’s worth looking at the ones we got very, very right.

There’s plenty more of these stories, they simply never get told or reach the right audience. I’ll be covering more of them going forward.

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October is a busy month when it comes to British Columbia politics. On the 17th citizens across the province will vote in municipal elections and again in an early provincial election on October 24. Premier David Eby may call the latter an opportunity to renew his mandate. We all know it was opportunistic, and to be honest I don’t blame him for calling it. That’s just politics.

My concern here isn’t the municipal layer of government. It’s the bigger economic decisions being made in both Victoria and Ottawa, and a question neither of them can afford to ignore: With everything BC has going for it, why aren’t more British Columbians getting ahead?

I’ve long said the path to Canada’s future prosperity is a stronger west, I know it’s tough for those in Central Canada to grasp that concept, but it’s true. We have extraordinary resources, universities, talent, access to Asian Pacific markets, an established tech sector (with proximity to Seattle and SF), and a remarkably creative workforce. However, in B.C. I believe that we’ve lost much of the momentum we had following the Gordon Campbell years. Where are the higher real wages, locally owned companies and infrastructure those advantages should be producing?

This isn’t a left vs. right argument, although people will try to put you in a political box due to sheer convenience. I’ve voted NDP and BC Liberal provincially, and ABC and Vision Vancouver municipally. To me good ideas don’t belong to one party, and I, like many have little patience for the loud, ignorant voices at either ideological extreme. My problem with the Eby government isn’t simply the constant large deficits and political pandering to the left. It’s what happens when ideology overtakes competent delivery.

And we can’t blame politicians exclusively. We reward rhetoric, amplify outrage and then wonder why we’re still debating the same problems a decade later. I include myself in that criticism.

I want something more ambitious than someone wanting to be in power for another election cycle. We should ask ourselves, where does British Columbia intend to be in 2050? And can we work together together to get there?

How Does BC Actually Compare?

First we have to look at where we currently are. We constantly benchmark ourselves against Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Useful, and the easy national comparison. But now more than ever, we are competing globally for talent, investment and opportunity. So why don’t we compare BC with other similarly sized economies?

Chart 1: BC Versus Comparable Global Economies (2024, PPP-adjusted international dollars)

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Using estimated GDP per resident adjusted for purchasing power, Norway sits around $107,900, Colorado $92,900 and Alberta $83,000. These figures are expressed in 2024 international dollars (Int$), a standardized purchasing-power measure benchmarked against the US dollar.

BC comes in at the bottom of the pack at roughly $65,100. Nothing raising more taxes won’t fix, right Mr. Eby?

GDP per resident isn’t take-home pay or affordability. Resource-rich Norway and Alberta also have different economic structures. But that’s the point. What are other jurisdictions doing with their advantages, and why aren’t we demanding that Victoria and Ottawa learn from them and apply them towards resource rich British Columbia? The fact that it’s taboo to even mention resource development in B.C. is part of the problem. Seldom are we having nuanced conversations around this, it typically devolves into kicking and screaming from both sides of the political spectrum.

Growth Without Prosperity

I swear we’ve been discussing versions of the same problems forever. Go as far back as the 1970’s and you’ll find politicians talking about housing failing to keep up with population growth. More than half a century later, we are still having the same conversations?

At what point does identifying the same problems without a credible long-term vision or measurable results become little more than political bullshit?

Now of course, BC’s total GDP can rise simply because more people live here. But if productivity, wages and quality of life aren’t improving, who’s actually getting ahead? If our economic model relies on continuously adding people (cue the massive wave of immigration) to keep headline GDP climbing, it starts to resemble a pyramid scheme more than genuine economic growth.

So far the province’s September First Quarterly Report for 2026–27 forecasts a $13.8-billion deficit and real economic growth of just 0.9% in 2026. In reading that, only one word comes to mind, pathetic.

But wait, that’s only the first year. The updated forecasts also project deficits of $12.7 billion in 2027–28 and $12 billion in 2028–29. To anyone, this should be alarming. Yet, barely a whisper from most of the journalists in this Province.

That’s $38.5 billion in combined projected deficits over three years.

What exactly are we getting in return? In short, very little. But we are getting more taxes to offset the incompetence of this current government.

Of course there are genuine projects underway. The Royal Columbian Hospital’s acute-care tower opened in May, and Budget 2026 does plan for $37.7 billion in taxpayer-supported capital spending over three years. Yet the quarterly report cut this year’s capital-spending forecast by $716 million because of project-timing changes, while Surrey’s new hospital and cancer centre is targeting 2030 completion. Where are the transparent delivery dates, costs and outcomes?

And don’t get me started on the nearly $1.5-billion natural-gas royalty forecasting error. Four calculation mistakes, including a currency-conversion blunder, overstated projected revenue by $1.46 billion over five years. That’s a forecast error, not money spent, but how does it make it through the budget process? (Canadian Press)

To further add insult to injury, Moody’s, S&P and Morningstar DBRS all downgraded BC in 2026. These ratings can affect the cost of new borrowing, and Moody’s projects debt-interest costs rising from 4.7% of government revenue in 2025–26 to 7.9% by 2028–29. This is another direct result of a poorly run government.

I’m not against borrowing to build the future. But show us what it’s building. Otherwise, more of tomorrow’s revenue goes toward servicing yesterday’s debt.

That’s Victoria’s record to defend. But our economic problem runs deeper than the provincial books. Both Victoria and Ottawa need to explain why we aren’t creating more high-value businesses, attracting greater investment and building an economy capable of paying for the future we’re promising.

And the warning signs aren’t limited to government finances. According to Startup Genome, Vancouver has slipped from 30th worldwide in 2023 to tied for 40th in 2026 in its global startup ecosystem rankings. Methodologies evolve, but the direction should concern us. We have extraordinary talent in AI, biotechnology, cleantech and advanced manufacturing, yet other jurisdictions are aggressively pursuing investment while we continue twiddling our thumbs and espousing political rhetoric.

Are Victoria and Ottawa doing enough to help commercialize our discoveries, finance BC companies and retain more intellectual property here? Because we certainly aren’t going to borrow or tax our way to prosperity without strengthening the economy.

Turning Natural Wealth Into Public Wealth

Here’s an idea I think deserves serious exploration.

BC is sitting on a goldmine for the AI, electrification and advanced-manufacturing economies. I know AI scares people, and it should, as it’s currently unregulated, but from an economic standpoint, it’s here and it isn’t going anywhere.

According to the province’s September 2026 mining update, BC produces or has the potential to produce 22 of Canada’s 34 designated critical minerals. We are Canada’s largest copper producer, accounting for approximately 48% of national mined production in 2024, and its only producer of molybdenum, a metal with industrial and emerging advanced-semiconductor applications.

Exploration isn’t exactly standing still. According to EY, mineral and coal exploration and evaluation spending reached a record $751 million in 2025, up 36% year over year.

But here’s what frustrates me. Natural Resources Canada acknowledges that almost all the copper mined in BC is exported overseas for smelting and refining. Yes, we already have important domestic processing operations, including Trail, and Ottawa has been exploring additional Western Canadian copper-processing capacity.

But why are we still exporting so much of the material while other economies capture the downstream opportunities? Where is the larger strategy for processing, refining, advanced materials and manufacturing? And why is it taking so long to realize that we need to get moving on this?

We’re literally sitting on a goldmine, and I’m tired of watching so much of the additional economic value get created somewhere else. British Columbian’s deserve better leadership, not ones obsessed with staying in power.

Responsible development must protect the environment, but a responsible government can’t use environmental concerns as a scapegoat to stall growth; there must be a balance. The province’s Look West strategy already identifies growth opportunities. Why not take a defined share of future resource revenues and turn them into permanent public wealth?

This brings me to Norway. Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global invests petroleum wealth for future generations, guided by a framework generally based on an expected 3% annual real return. Now BC isn’t Norway, and our deficits need addressing first. But why couldn’t we eventually establish an independently governed BC Prosperity Fund, protected from politicians treating its principal as another operating account?

Imagine what a disciplined share of its eventual returns, working alongside existing budgets, federal partnerships and private investment, could help build:

Transportation: More rapid transit and regional bus service, an expanded Waterfront Station, better passenger rail to the Fraser Valley and Interior, and a serious BC–Ottawa partnership on proposed Cascadia High-Speed Rail, with the ambition of linking downtown Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. Why shouldn’t we think at that scale?

Venture capital: Independently managed capital to help BC companies commercialize research, attract private co-investment, scale and retain local ownership. Not politicians picking their favourite founders; a serious effort to grow the next generation of BC-headquartered businesses. It’s time for an Innovation Hub, one that Frontier Collective has touted for years.

Creative intellectual property: A BC Creative IP Fund for locally developed film, TV, animation, gaming and music. We’ve spent decades supplying the talent that makes other people’s productions. Why shouldn’t we own more of the underlying stories, franchises and commercial rights, and share in their long-term value?

A railway, a startup and a television franchise aren’t the same kind of investment. Each would require suitable funding structures, independent expertise and transparent performance measures. The point isn’t another government slush fund. It’s converting today’s natural wealth into tomorrow’s infrastructure, companies and intellectual property. Imagine what that could mean by 2050. I know it would mean more high paying jobs, and opportunities for the youth. In another word, it means hope. Hope for a Province with so very little right now because we have little to no faith in our provincial leadership.

A City Worth Living In

Prosperity isn’t only GDP. It’s also what governments deliver with the money they collect, and the quality of life residents experience.

Take homelessness, addiction and mental-health services. BC’s 2023 budget committed $1.5 billion over three years toward expanded homelessness and encampment responses. Budget 2026 added $131 million over three years for intensive mental-health and addiction treatment. These were broad program commitments, not simply payments to non-profits. But where are the clearly reported outcomes? How many people are receiving effective treatment or moving into stable housing?

We need compassion, treatment, recovery and safe communities together. But getting those basics right can’t be the entirety of our ambition. If we’re talking about what prosperity should look like in 2050, surely it includes creating a province people are genuinely excited to live in, rather than one where we’re simply getting better at managing crises.

And this is where culture belongs in the economic conversation.

Culture isn’t a luxury, or something we should only remember when there’s money left over. Music, festivals, restaurants, film, professional sports and public spaces create jobs, attract visitors and investment, and give people a reason to stay. Why aren’t Victoria and Ottawa treating Vancouver’s cultural potential as a serious economic opportunity? Let’s secure the Whitecaps’ future, examine the possibility of Major League Baseball, support live venues and develop a recognizable calendar of signature events with community producers and private partners. Let’s bring more locally created wealth into cultural endowments.

Owning more BC creative IP is one goal. Building a city worth experiencing is another. Both should be part of prosperity.

The Next 25 Years

I’ve worked across media, business, hospitality and community initiatives long enough to know BC doesn’t lack talented people. Our conversations are just siloed: tech talks to tech, real estate to real estate, culture fights for scraps, and Victoria and Ottawa too often consult the usual suspects.

But we should challenge ourselves, too. We’ve become exceptionally good at saying no. We want prosperity but sometimes treat entrepreneurship, development and investment as suspicious. Not every project deserves approval, of course. But surely our vision can’t stop at finding another reason to oppose something. The lack of conviction amounts a culture of “No”, a culture we have perfected here.

The media rewards conflict. Business leaders complain without always helping shape solutions. Voters defend bad decisions when they’re made by their preferred party. I’m not above that criticism either.

Why not bring founders, researchers, investors, cultural producers and community leaders into a serious 2050 conversation, with projects and measurable milestones instead of another photo-op committee?

I want higher real wages, more BC-headquartered companies, reliable infrastructure, safer communities and a richer cultural life. Victoria and Ottawa have the economic tools. We have a responsibility to demand that they use them intelligently, and to support worthwhile ambition when they do.

What does British Columbia want to be by 2050? Who is prepared to build it? And at what point does accepting mediocrity become a choice we’re making ourselves?

Update: Vancouver received it’s first ever 2 Michelin Star restaurant. AnnaLena was awarded 2 stars and 10 others spots were awarded 1 star. Full list here at Dished Vancouver.

Vancouver was a great food city before Michelin arrived. Many of us already knew we had something special here, but one dinner at Kissa Tanto served as a reminder as to just how much our restaurants could offer.

The food and drinks were memorable. So was the service. At one point, we dropped a piece of cutlery and before we could even reach for it, a server had placed a fresh one on our table and picked up the one that fell. It was a small moment, but the whole evening felt that considered. Kissa Tanto remains one of my favourite spots to this day.

The folks plugged into Vancouver’s restaurant scene already knew what we had here in the Pacific Northwest. That said, many people from the suburbs would still tend to stick with familiar places like Cactus Club or Earls. There’s nothing wrong with either of them, besides that Earls Happy Hours is legendary. And at over 10,000 employees, they also happen to be two of Vancouver’s strongest hospitality employers. But we had chefs and restaurateurs taking bigger risks practically down the road, and too many people weren’t paying attention. It’s one of the reasons we created the Dished channel at Daily Hive, now one of the most watched channels by a Canadian digital publication.

We shouldn’t need Anthony Bourdain (RIP), Seth Rogen, Michelin or anyone else to tell us how great of a food city we are. But apparently, we did.

That feels very Vancouver. We’ll tell anyone about the mountains and ocean. We’re less comfortable telling the world, or even each other, what the people here have built.

Enter Michelin: A stamp of approval

When Michelin announced its Vancouver guide in 2022, the hard work had been going on for years. Chefs, owners and their teams had built restaurants worth travelling for, in a city where rent, labour and ingredient costs make ambition expensive. Michelin gave that work recognition people understood well beyond Vancouver.

For some restaurants, the impact was immediate. In a 2023 Eater report, St. Lawrence chef-owner J-C Poirier said a month of reservations sold out in about 15 minutes after the restaurant received its star. He put the emotional side of it plainly: “I knew we were at the level. But this is a stamp of approval.”

The effect went beyond reservations. Eater reported a stronger sense of pride among Poirier’s team. At Michelin-recommended Yuwa, owner Iori Kataoka said the recognition encouraged her staff’s development.

That got me thinking about what could come next. If Vancouver is known around the world for its restaurants, could more people come here to work and learn? Could more of the people already here see a future in hospitality? Over time, that could help develop the next generation of chefs, owners, brands and service leaders. It’s an opportunity I don’t want the City and its citizens to overlook.

I think the recognition mattered to the rest of us, too. Michelin gave Vancouverites a reason to take another look at their own city. It gave visitors a reason to plan a trip around food. And it gave us a little more confidence when talking about our City.

Full credit goes to Destination Vancouver and its president and CEO, Royce Chwin, for helping bring Michelin here. It was a smart move. Our restaurants and the people behind them deserved a bigger stage. While the mountains and ocean may bring someone to Vancouver, a great meal can get them into a neighbourhood they might otherwise have missed.

We punched above our weight

The first guides gave us something else to point to. Vancouver’s inaugural Michelin selection included 60 restaurants, eight with one star and 12 with Bib Gourmand recognition. In comparison, Toronto’s first guide, released the same year, included 74 restaurants, 13 of them starred.

For context, the 2021 census counted 6.2 million people in the Toronto metropolitan area and 2.64 million in Metro Vancouver. For a market our size, Vancouver’s held it’s own and we punched well above our weight class. Which is a recurring theme, we are City that seldom gets national attention, it truly is up to us to make our own noise.

The guide, just like the City, kept growing. By 2025, Vancouver’s list included 76 restaurants across 22 cuisine types, with 12 starred restaurants.

Main Street is the Vancouver we should be selling

Arguably one of the more eclectic streets in Canada, Main Street, is also home to a concentration of Michelin-recognized restaurants, so much so it’s been dubbed the as the Michelin Mile. From Mount Pleasant toward Riley Park, it includes starred restaurants Burdock & Co and Published on Main. Anh and Chi, Good Thief, Song (by Kin Kao) and Sushi Hil have Bib Gourmand recognition, while The Acorn and ¿CóMO? Taperia are among the recommended spots. Nearby on East Broadway, Sumibiyaki Arashi has a star of its own.

What I love is that these places aren’t all trying to do the same thing. You could book dinner at one, spend the next afternoon walking Main, stop at a café, browse a local shop and make a note of where you want to eat next.

That’s a trip someone could come to Vancouver for. Michelin might get them to book the table, but Mount Pleasant gives them a reason to spend time in the neighbourhood. To me, it’s a glimpse of where Vancouver is headed: the food, culture and work all colliding in Mount Pleasant. We just need some hotels in the area (City Wide for that matter) would make it easier for visitors to stay and experience it that way, too.

Give people a reason to stay in the city

Thinking beyond Michelin, here’s the campaign I’d like to see: market our neighbourhoods with the same confidence we market our mountains. Start with Mount Pleasant and Yaletown. Main Street has restaurants, cafés, shops and bars you can spend a whole day exploring. Yaletown has its old warehouse buildings and patio culture and a vibrant nightlife (Thursday to Saturday). I’ve called it Vancouver’s patio district for years. Folks of all ages come for dinner, stay out and experience the city around them.

Commercial Drive would be close behind. Little Italy is part of its history, but the Drive has grown into something much broader. Its restaurants, independent businesses and people give it a character you only get by spending time there.

Most visitors want to experience the city beyond the usual tourist stops. Let’s show them the Vancouver we know, alongside the mountains and ocean they came to see. Follow a night out in Yaletown, an afternoon on Main or a long walk down the Drive. Put the people who make those places what they are at the centre of the story.

What comes after recognition?

Michelin sparked curiosity. Events like Dine Out Vancouver give people another reason to try somewhere new. But I don’t think we’ve done enough yet to market Vancouver’s food scene to the world, or to turn that attention into lasting support for the people behind it.

Which brings us to Destination Vancouver’s decision about Michelin. Its agreement was due to be revisited in 2026.

I think bringing Michelin here was the right move. Do we need to renew the agreement? I’m not convinced. Before making that call, I’d like to know what it costs and see how that investment compares with a campaign introducing Mount Pleasant, Yaletown and Commercial Drive to the world. Michelin helped people find the restaurants. Now let’s give them a reason to explore the neighbourhoods around them.

The chefs and independent restaurateurs should be part of that conversation. They’re the ones living with both the benefits and the pressures of Michelin’s attention. What would help them keep building here? What would make Vancouver a place where the next generation wants to train, stay and who knows open up a restaurant here? Destination Vancouver and City Hall should hear them out. The people taking the risks know things the rest of us need to hear.

Kissa Tanto, Anh and Chi, and Published on Main are among the places that remind me why I’ve always believed in Vancouver’s food scene. Michelin helped more people see what was already here. Now we have to support the people behind these restaurants and show the world the neighbourhoods they help bring to life.

And for those of us who live here, there’s an easy place to start: book somewhere we’ve been meaning to try.

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