B.C. Premier David Eby has rebuffed calls by property developers for the federal and provincial governments to loosen restrictions on foreign investment in the housing sector, saying he doesn’t want to return to the old system that allowed rampant and uncontrolled foreign investment in Canadian housing.

The Premier was responding to an open letter from B.C. developers this week that was also sent to Prime Minister Mark Carney and federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson.

Major players in B.C.’s housing industry are calling on federal and provincial governments to loosen restrictions on foreign investment in Canadian homes to avoid a crash they say will deepen the country’s housing crisis.

The B.C. industry players have written to Prime Minister Mark Carney and federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson outlining their concerns. Toronto developers, whose industry is struggling with some of the same challenges, have said they support the measures being urged.

When the rainclouds burst over Vancouver one grey day this past winter, Lon LaClaire was delighted to see floodwater streaming into newly terraced pools on the side of a steep hill in an east-side neighbourhood.

Mr. LaClaire, Vancouver’s chief engineer, is part of a team that has been working to ensure much of the city’s abundant rain does not end up flooding through the sewer system, sweeping everything from road debris and toxic chemicals into surrounding waterways – False Creek, Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River – along with it.