Paris Climate Accord
7.1 COPE will adopt the Paris Climate Accord protocols and all subsequent international agreements that are designed to balance ecological and economic necessities. In doing so, a COPE Council will recognize the limits to growth and the need for concrete action.
7.1.1 COPE will oppose the construction of new bulk export fossil fuel pipelines that traverse any part of Metro Vancouver.
7.1.2 COPE will advocate a clear and transparent climate change mitigation plan. Its goals will be measurable, its success criteria stated in plain language, and its progress regularly measured and reported.
7.1.3 COPE opposes the construction of any and all fossil fuel pipelines that transverse any part of Metro-Vancouver, other than those that meet the needs of local residents/households.
7.1.4 COPE will restrict existing, and prohibit new, fossil fuel infrastructure including storage and distribution terminals for oil and gas in Vancouver.
Food Production and Food Exchange
7.2 COPE will collaborate with residents and other stakeholders and governments on the reallocation of civic resources and implementation of zoning allowances to increase and encourage food production.
7.3 COPE will advocate for the creation of Community Food Exchange Markets, for food distribution and community building.
Water
7.4 COPE will protect and conserve Vancouver’s water resources, ensure public ownership and operation of water resources, and secure funding to renew existing infrastructure.
7.12 COPE supports Vancouver becoming a Blue Community with public, non-profit ownership and operation of water and wastewater treatment services for our City. COPE will lobby the provincial and federal governments to fulfill their responsibility to support municipal infrastructure to address increasing problems with water quality, conservation, and wastewater treatment by funding renewal of existing water and wastewater infrastructure and building new systems. COPE will also work with other municipalities in Metro Vancouver to improve our water system and wastewater treatment.
Environmental Monitoring
7.5 COPE will ensure that, despite cuts to environmental monitoring and research by the federal government, air and water quality are being monitored, including levels and types of radiation, carbon dioxide and monoxide, and greenhouse gases.
7.6 COPE will support an ongoing public forum on air and water quality, and inform the public of the current state of the environment and potential effects on public health in Vancouver as well as performing research on solutions to climate change.
Ethical Purchasing Policy
7.7 COPE will expand the City of Vancouver’s Ethical Purchasing Policy to include a ban on genetically modified products, open net salmon farming, and other products that do not reflect sustainable resource use.
Public Health Care
7.8 COPE will enable municipal officials to speak out against health privatization and demand adequate funding of our public health care system in every community. Municipal officials can use their zoning powers and public outreach processes to foster the development of not-for-profit health care instead of private for-profit facilities. Vancouver will stand in solidarity with counterparts across the province and request that the Union of BC Municipalities call on the provincial government to take specific measures to stop the growth of private for-profit medical facilities.
7.9 COPE will lobby the Province of British Columbia to:
7.9.1 Establish a moratorium on any further expansion of private, for-profit surgical and MRI/CT clinics,
7.9.2 Require an end to public funding of for-profit clinics, including the contracting-out of day surgeries and the provision of Health Authority contracts to for-profit clinics,
7.9.3 Require full accountability and transparency on the part of for-profit clinics by ensuring that they submit to all oversight and regulatory mechanisms currently applied to public facilities operating under the BC Hospital Act; and
7.9.4 Expand public capacity by requiring the development of publicly funded and administered outpatient facilities,
7.9.5 Require UBCM to continue to research and monitor the threat to universal public health care posed by the operations of private, for-profit surgical and MRI/CT facilities in its member communities.
Eliminate GHG Emissions
7.10 COPE will make reducing carbon emissions a priority to address the global climate emergency. All policies and programs will maximize efficiencies while minimizing or eliminating contributions to Greenhouse Gas emissions and other causes of climate change.
St. Paul's Hospital Redevelopment
7.11 COPE will advocate for adequate health related services in the West End. If St Paul's Hospital is relocated from its present location, COPE protests the move unless adequate replacement services are made available to its area's residents, including but not limited to a public 24 hour - 7 days a week, medical clinic complete with lab and other diagnostic tools, enhanced ambulance services, seniors, mental health, and addiction services, and HIV related treatment. Improved service integration, assurance that all services be provided within the public health system, and a smooth transition between hospital based and community based services must be delivered.
Participatory Planning
7.13 COPE will commit to establishing environmental policies and programs through a participatory design process that involves, on an equal basis, those most affected by those policies and programs and who are not standing to gain financially.
Solar Panels
7.14 COPE will ensure that people who want to put solar panels on their buildings are not subject to long waits and high costs for building permits.
Wildlife and Plant Protection
7.15 COPE will work to bring the municipality of Vancouver into compliance with the federal Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA).
Pesticide and Herbicide Ban
7.16 COPE will lobby to adopt a policy similar to Ontario’s cosmetic pesticides and herbicides ban.
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