VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Green Party of Vancouver has released their council platform, ‘A brighter future for our city’, for the 2018 municipal election.

The Vancouver Greens believe Vancouver can be a fairer, more affordable, greener, and healthier city for all. We believe that City Hall can be bolder in engaging residents, balancing growth with liveability, and in meeting the needs and aspirations of the people who live and work here, especially in providing affordable housing.

The Vancouver Greens are clear about the path forward. We have met with thousands of community leaders, small businesses, academics, former and current city staff, and residents of all backgrounds and ages across our city. We have heard their concerns, hopes, dreams, and ideas — and this has shaped our passion and platform for a brighter future.

At the heart of our platform is our desire to work with residents and neighbourhoods across our city to collectively create a new comprehensive city plan and guide the continued growth and liveability of our city.

Highlights of the Green Party council platform include:

• Prioritize a comprehensive City-Wide Plan, co-created with residents, with an affordable, liveable city as its goal.
• Recognize the right to housing in the Vancouver Charter and define affordability relative to local incomes. People should pay no more than 30% of their income on housing.
• Create Neighbourhood Planning Offices which will work with local advisory committees to collaboratively plan for liveable, complete communities.
• Develop a Small and Local Business Strategy to sustain and expand neighbourhood shopping districts and resolve taxation, licensing, and permitting issues.
• Protect and support arts and culture, festival, and events as vibrant drivers of community economic development.
• Develop a plan to reduce traffic congestion, without sacrificing walking, cycling and public transit choices.
• Ramp up energy retrofits of buildings, with carbon-offset funds  from a new Vancouver Carbon Trust.
• Implement bolder zero waste initiatives including expanding the ban on single use disposable items to include plastic bags, providing 4-bin public recycling receptacles citywide, and expanding curbside pickup of more types of separated recyclables.

Quotes:

Adriane Carr, incumbent city councillor and co-founder of the Vancouver Green Party, “In this change election voters are asking, ‘Who can we trust? Who will deliver good governance and put public interest first?’ Voters can trust Greens. We’ve always focused on the public good: taking care of people, our economy and our environment. They can trust us to be collaborative and lead a more civil kind of politics. That’s what we’ve been doing on Council, School Board and Park Board. Voters can trust us to search out solid information, listen to them and incorporate their good ideas in our decisions. That’s how we developed this election platform. That’s what we do when we are elected.”

Pete Fry, community advocate and communications designer, “I first ran for city council back in 2014 and mostly on housing issues. I ran with the Greens because we're the only elected party that refused to take donations from the developer industry. Homes for people who live and work here is an absolute priority. There's no free-market silver bullet; there's no clever hashtag that will solve our housing issues; there's no zoning magic wand that we can wave that will fix things either. It'll take a measured, thoughtful approach and all of us working together. That's why I'm running.”

Michael Wiebe, current park board commissioner and small business owner, “As a restaurant owner and co-president of the Mount Pleasant BIA, I’ve seen firsthand the community impact, leadership and actions of our local businesses. I want to work with the business community to co-create a city that supports a stronger, greener local economy; one that has a diversity of local businesses that all have an opportunity to grow, hire, manufacture, build, innovate,and create a brighter business future for Vancouver.”

David Wong, architect, author and ecologist, “I’m a strong proponent of social sustainability, respect for families, respect for diversity and respect for our neighbourhoods. For the past 40 years I have been supporting arts and culture, respect for Indigenous peoples, and our elders. Vancouver is stronger because of our diversity. It's an engine for innovation and creative synergies. That’s who Greens are: inclusive, collaborative and forward thinking.”

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More information:

A brighter future for our city, Green Party of Vancouver Council Platform

Media contact

Alex Brunke, Press Secretary

+1 778-938-2378 | [email protected]