My letter to COPE members

Vancouver doesn’t have to be like this.

I love Vancouver, but I hate what it’s become.

The city is a playground for the 1%. Our social fabric is fraying from a housing system that prioritizes return on investment over human needs. People are sleeping on the streets every night and in every neighbourhood, tenants can't afford rent, and it’s getting worse.

We are at a pivotal time. We are in multiple overlapping crises; the housing crisis, climate change and the drug poisoning epidemic. The thread that connects all of these problems is the disproportionate political power of the rich.

People like Elon Musk are buying off politicians to shape the world in their own image and scrap services that people need. Billionaires are exploiting workers, driving up the costs of housing, and burning up our planet. They are scapegoating immigrants, trans kids, and drug users to hold onto power. For the billionaires, the system isn’t broken, it’s working as designed.

Our millionaire Mayor was installed by billionaire backers like Chip Wilson for a reason. Ken Sim is in power to serve the elite.

He killed the living wage policy, he killed the renters office, he killed social housing at Little Mountain, he killed the class action lawsuit to sue Big Oil for climate change, he tried to scrap the Integrity commissioner, he lied about the park board to get elected and then tried to scrap it, and he gave $3.8 million in empty homes tax earmarked for affordable housing to his wealthy developer friends.

Now is not the time for 'nice.' Now is the time to fight.

If I’m elected, I will spend every moment fighting Ken Sim and ABC and exposing them and their billionaire friends for what they are doing to our city.

We can fight for housing. We can fight to protect tenants from demovictions and exploitation. We can fight like hell to end homelessness. We can fight for fully funded and free public transit that connects everyone in Vancouver to amazing public services, parks, pools, and libraries in every corner of the city.

We’re the ones with the energy. We’re the ones with the principles. We’re the ones with the ‘swagger.’

Together we can take democracy back from the billionaires.

Together we can build the city we need.

Together we can Evict Ken Sim.