OUR PRIORITIES

Housing
We can’t wait six years to relieve pressure on our housing rental market (which is how long Kennedy Stewart’s plan will take) – we need relief, now. That’s why we will immediately allow two secondary suites in every detached home, bringing immediate supply onto the market and relieving pressure on the overall rental market. We also build dedicated rental buildings on City-owned land, fast-track housing for those who need it most, and clean up the development approval process.

Small Business
Our small businesses are closing all over our city, and part of the reason is unfair property taxation. Currently, independent businesses can see their property taxes dramatically increase overnight, just because a new condo gets built down the street. When this happens, businesses often end up closing and the store owners, employees, and entire neighbourhood are worse off as a result. We will make small business taxes more consistent, predictable, and fair so that we can protect what makes our city so liveable.

Child Care
Our families can’t find child care – and yet City Hall charges would-be new operators $42,600 to apply for an “air space parcel” – something they must do before starting a child care business. We need to empower our entrepreneurs to help solve our problems and provide the right incentives for the services we need. We will waive this fee for new child care operators, and provide other incentives and simpler approvals. We will also prioritize under-served areas of Vancouver, and include child care as the norm in all city-led developments.

Seniors
Our Seniors are the people who made our city great, and they should have the right to age in the community they call home. Unfortunately, too many seniors are being forced from their homes through “demovictions” or other forcible displacements. And nowhere is this as bad as Burnaby, where Kennedy Stewart sat idly by as MP for six years and watched it happened. We can’t let this happen to our seniors in Vancouver. This is why we will create a Displaced Tenant Policy to establish clear, consistent obligations for developers whose renovations or new construction displace existing tenants.