Students under the University of Victoria Real Estate Club banner have on a number of occasions over the last year presented at public hearings in Saanich and the City of Victoria, speaking in favour of development proposals being put forth by paying member companies of the Urban Development Institute (UDI), a registered organization on the BC Lobbyists Registry that represents the interests of their paying corporate member companies involved in the development and real estate industries.
This deserves closer scrutiny. At the time of writing, on the club's website: https://uvicrealestate.com/board, the page states: "UVic Real Estate is the first student group at the University of Victoria to have a Board of Directors made up entirely of industry professionals. Keep reading to meet the leaders mentoring the UVic Real Estate team."
Four board directors of the UVICREC, or half of its eight-member board, are also currently on the board of directors of the Urban Development Institute, including the UDI Capital Region's executive director, who at the Sept. 12, 2023 View Royal committee of the whole told council: "UDI is not a lobbying group," despite being registered on the BC Lobbyists Registry as the UDI's "in-house lobbyist." Two other UVICREC board directors were also previously on the UDI's board of directors.
On the UVICREC's webpage: https://uvicrealestate.com/partners the UDI itself and a UDI member company are in the top "diamond tier" of sponsors of the so-called student group. The next six sponsors mentioned are also UDI member companies.
Of the other sponsors listed, one is former UDI member BC Assessment, two non-UDI companies, and finally the Commerce Students Society, which the UVIC Real Estate Club appears to have been registered under.
The president of UVIC should be aware of this situation. He provided an extensive interview with the UVIC Real Estate Club, which is currently viewable on their Youtube channel.
Is this a genuine university student group, when as their website states, their "Board of Directors are made up entirely of industry professionals"? whose eight-member board is dominated by six present and past UDI board directors?
Sasha Izard
Saanich
