Vancouver Civic Election 2026

[kikin]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Notable that many homeowners spoke in favour of property tax increases at the last budget hearing... and were dismissed as, quote, "mobilized opposition."

probably boomers that have pensions and their homes paid off, screw anyone younger working two jobs recently struggling on the property ownership ladder

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by kikin

probably boomers that have pensions and their homes paid off, screw anyone younger working two jobs recently struggling on the property ownership ladder

Don't worry, property taxes will increase next time to compensate for not going up enough last time, and the times before that

I think I read there is a $500 million infrastructure deficit

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by kikin

probably boomers that have pensions and their homes paid off, screw anyone younger working two jobs recently struggling on the property ownership ladder

Spoken like one of those boomers; with an average of $843k for a two-bed unit and $2.8k/month in mortgages, a modest increase to an 0.27% yearly tax is the least of their problems. The ones crying to ABC about property taxes are the homeowners worth $4m+.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Spoken like one of those boomers; with an average of $843k for a two-bed unit and $2.8k/month in mortgages, a modest increase to an 0.27% yearly tax is the least of their problems. The ones crying to ABC about property taxes are the homeowners worth $4m+.

Always is. Boomers don't realize that single family homes are effectively luxury housing and should be taxed accordingly. People don't realize how much single family homes are subsidized by the rest of the tax base.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Spoken like one of those boomers; with an average of $843k for a two-bed unit and $2.8k/month in mortgages, a modest increase to an 0.27% yearly tax is the least of their problems. The ones crying to ABC about property taxes are the homeowners worth $4m+.

Well they are already getting their taxes increased by the Province:

Budget 2026 proposes that effective January 1, 2027, the additional school tax rate be increased to:

0.3% from 0.2% on the residential portion assessed between $3 million and $4 million, and
0.6% from 0.4% on the residential portion assessed over $4 million

[csbvan]

The several cups of coffee that I have saved in no tax increase are not worth the decay in City budget. What an absurd and immature decision that was. It's trying to be populist, but I don't think that it is actually popular. Will be interesting to see if it helps or hurts ABC come election time.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by csbvan

The several cups of coffee that I have saved in no tax increase are not worth the decay in City budget. What an absurd and immature decision that was. It's trying to be populist, but I don't think that it is actually popular. Will be interesting to see if it helps or hurts ABC come election time.

Counterpoint: Taxes went up a lot during ABC's first few budgets. What improved?

[chowhou]

This feels like the classic taxation question, how much taxation is enough, and what exactly is it that you want funded? Feels like a lot of people in this thread just want to tax more because more tax = more better and don't have anything in particular they're asking to have funded.

[Migrant_Coconut]

More like people in this thread are sick of Ken trying desperately to pretend that he's not part of The Cycle (TM):

• Taxes go up.
  
• Outsider calls incumbent administration corrupt and/or inefficient.
  
• Outsider makes vague promises to "clear corruption and/or bureaucracy" if elected.
  
• Outsider gets elected.
  
• Outsider realizes things are a little more complicated than that.
  
• Taxes go up.
  
• Rinse and repeat.

He got elected by insisting that his shrewd businessman acumen would find a way to freeze taxes without reducing services. After four years of him failing to do so, it seems it's a little more complicated than that.

[chowhou]

I don't remember ABC ever promising to freeze taxes.

https://abcvancouver.ca/platform/

He got elected by promising to hire 100 cops and 100 nurses for the DTES. That's what I remember. That doesn't come with zero tax increase.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I don't remember ABC ever promising to freeze taxes.

https://abcvancouver.ca/platform/

He got elected by promising to hire 100 cops and 100 nurses for the DTES. That's what I remember. That doesn't come with zero tax increase.

Actually, that's exactly what he promised in 2022. This Dan Fermano article in the Sun in 2023 references that. ABC have removed the original press release.

ABC’s August news release announcing the 100-cops-and-100-nurses proposal estimated it would cost “$20 million per year, which can be fully funded without a tax increase,” or reductions in other staff and support services.

At that time, I asked Sim how the city could hire 200 professionals without increasing taxes or cutting services. Sim said he couldn’t identify then exactly what he might cut or change in the budget, but he was confident that, as a chartered accountant, once he was in office, he would be able to go through the budget with a “fine-tooth comb” and “reallocate resources accordingly.”

Then once he was in office the first tax increase, which had been budgeted at 5.5%, was hiked to 10.7% as ABC added all sorts of additional spending.

[Migrant_Coconut]

There's also this:

Reporter: “You’ve said funding for the new hires would come from 'non-core' spending. But the big question is – is that going to come from an increase in taxes?

Sim: “We need to go through all the financials when we’re in office, when we have line-by-line detail, and we will take a very methodical approach to that. If there are legitimate services that make a difference, we will be the first ones to support them. But I think it’s healthy to ask if there are items that have nothing to do with service levels whatsoever. Now, we can start prioritizing.”

Link

Apparently everything had to do with service levels, because even after ABC tried to recruit unpaid volunteers to look at the budget, taxes did go up that year.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Actually, that's exactly what he promised in 2022. This Dan Fermano article in the Sun in 2023 references that. ABC have removed the original press release.

From your own article, my esteemed friend.

Sim didn’t promise during the campaign to freeze property taxes or anything like that.

The claim was that they could find funding for the police and nurses in the existing budget, not that they would freeze property taxes. That probably didn't come to fruition but you're intentionally trying to rewrite history.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Actually, that's exactly what he promised in 2022. This Dan Fermano article in the Sun in 2023 references that. ABC have removed the original press release.

ABC’s August news release announcing the 100-cops-and-100-nurses proposal estimated it would cost “$20 million per year, which can be fully funded without a tax increase,” or reductions in other staff and support services.

At that time, I asked Sim how the city could hire 200 professionals without increasing taxes or cutting services. Sim said he couldn’t identify then exactly what he might cut or change in the budget, but he was confident that, as a chartered accountant, once he was in office, he would be able to go through the budget with a “fine-tooth comb” and “reallocate resources accordingly.”

Then once he was in office the first tax increase, which had been budgeted at 5.5%, was hiked to 10.7% as ABC added all sorts of additional spending.

Did we ever even get the nurses? Not really a municipal jurisdiction.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Did we ever even get the nurses? Not really a municipal jurisdiction.

Supposedly they worked with VCH and decided 50 was better, included all mental health professionals in the count, and hired 41 out of the 50.

On Tuesday, VCH provided an update on how the program is going through a presentation to city council, saying 41 of 50 full-time equivalent positions are currently filled.

...

“So they have hired 41 of 50 mental health workers and nurses, and what we’re heard today from Coastal Health is that they’ve determined that that 50 staffing complement is actually the right number of staff as opposed to the 100 we promised during the campaign,” ABC city councillor Peter Meiszner told CTV News outside city hall when asked about some of the criticism of the 100 nurse promise not being met.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/art...ogram-success/

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The claim was that they could find funding for the police and nurses in the existing budget, not that they would freeze property taxes. That probably didn't come to fruition but you're intentionally trying to rewrite history.

I was referencing your statement that "He got elected by promising to hire 100 cops and 100 nurses for the DTES. That's what I remember. That doesn't come with zero tax increase." You're right, he didn't promise to freeze taxes during the campaign, but he attacked the previous Council for raising taxes, claimed he could fund his main campaign promises of adding police and nurses by finding savings rather than raising taxes, and then raised taxes by the largest percentage in at least a decade.

[s211]

Originally Posted by mcj

Always is. Boomers don't realize that single family homes are effectively luxury housing and should be taxed accordingly. People don't realize how much single family homes are subsidized by the rest of the tax base.

Don't forget to complain that single-family housing is racist.

[Feathered Friend]

Justin McElroy 🇨🇦‪@jmcelroy.bsky.social‬
Today in interesting local politics and local media news:
@fabulavancouver.bsky.social seems to be making the leap to local politics and will join OneCity.

I phoned @fabulavancouver.bsky.social, and she officially declined comment until the “career transition” becomes pub

Frances Bula ‪@fabulavancouver.bsky.social‬
I approve this post.
7:48 PM · Mar 8, 2026lic tomorrow.

https://bsky.app/profile/fabulavanco.../3mgltrs5pos2m

Not going to lie, this would easily secure one of my votes for council.

[whatnext]

OneShitty? That’s disappointing. Too bad ABC has made so many errors and maybe handed back control of council to another band of vapid virtue signallers.

[chowhou]

OneCity is the only party on the left that is not full of virtue signalling. I hope to god that the OneCity slate completely crowds out the COPE and Green slate.