Last week I blogged about the very positive, upbeat COPE nomination meeting I recently attended. This week let’s take a look at the bigger picture — the likely impact of new legislation that will govern campaign financing in this fall’s municipal elections. David Eby, B.C.’s Attorney General, brought in legislation last September shortly after Vancouver’s…
Category: British Columbia
Better to debate than deliberately disrupt
The provincial NDP are proposing a new school tax on homes worth more than $3 million. The revenue projections are in the vicinity of $200 million and would largely be used for seismic upgrades for school buildings. Many of the homes that would be affected by this new tax are located in the Vancouver-Point Grey…
Getting to first base with basic income
It’s been two weeks since the provincial budget was released. Many of you may be unaware of the fact that the new budget contained $4 million to “test the feasibility” of a guaranteed basic income for all British Columbians. The basic income movement has been around for many decades. In the 1970s, the federal government…
Gregor Robertson: 10 years of disappointments
A week ago, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced that he would not be seeking re-election this fall. So now is the time to reflect on what his 10 years in office have meant. I’ll tell you up front that I do not look back with any degree of fondness at Gregor Robertson’s time as mayor of…
A made-in-B.C. ridesharing solution is the winner!
The provincial government’s all-party committee on ridesharing is in the midst of holding hearings on whether or not to allow this service into British Columbia. I’ve written about this topic before expressing my concerns about the negative impact ridesharing services such Uber and Lyft will have on taxi drivers. One of my biggest concerns is…
Short-term rental restrictions: First step or attention diverter?
City council has taken a step in the right direction by voting to prohibit short-term rentals like Airbnb for anything that’s not a person’s principal residence. This much-overdue decision will hopefully bring some relief to long-suffering tenants who are finding it more and more difficult to secure rental accommodation in the city. While I welcome…
It’s no trick — campaign finance reform is here!
It is finally coming! Campaign finance reform will have a dramatic and, I believe, very positive impact on the 2018 municipal election. Our provincial NDP government has just announced that legislation is on its way which will ban union and corporate donations in municipal election campaigns — this just one month after they banned the…