Today, October 4, is the first of two advance voting days for the Vancouver by-election October 14 to elect one new council member and nine school board members. The second advance poll will be held October 10. Both advance polls are located at City Hall. Of course, regular voting day is Saturday, October 14 and…
Category: Vancouver
If you can afford a mansion, you can afford more property taxes
Jean Swanson, one of the candidates in this fall’s by-election for Vancouver City Council, has recently proposed a mansion tax. Under her proposal, property taxes would be tiered in much the same way that income tax is tiered — the lower your property value, the lower your property tax rate would be. In making her…
Three cheers for regulating campaign donations!
During the recent provincial election campaign both the NDP and the Green Party made strong commitments to electoral financial reform. Tuesday, the NDP came through with a bill that will go a long way towards creating a level playing field in that regard during provincial elections. The legislation tabled by the NDP will eliminate all…
Enjoy summer in our spectacular city!
With August fast approaching I should let you all know that my partner Penny and I are taking our annual August staycation. This means I won’t be blogging until after Labour Day. We already have a number of exciting items booked into our staycation schedule! What a great city to live in. A visit to…
The shadow of Geoff Meggs
Big news on the political front: Geoff Meggs is leaving civic politics and moving to the provincial scene, where he will be working for premier-designate, John Horgan, as chief of staff. While I have been very pleased with all of John Horgan’s other announcements so far, this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth….
NDP-Greens’ take on pro rep: the great transformer
With the results now finally in for the Courtney-Comox riding, it’s official — Christy Clark and the provincial Liberals failed in their attempt to obtain a majority. Better yet, BC’s NDP and Greens have entered into an agreement to bring down the Liberals. If all goes according to plan, we are about to witness some…
The nightmare of SRO conditions can be solved in an instant
With income assistance rates frozen for over 10 years now, welfare recipients have a very small amount available for rent. With the province of BC providing a single person on welfare with only $610 a month, SRO landlords are very limited in what they can charge for rent. So they use the low rental revenue…