Stop the pipelines in their tracks

  • Force Kinder Morgan to be fully insured in the case of a leak, making expansion unfeasible
  • Stop all nonviolent protest arrests
  • Work closely with local first nations
  • Intervene in all relevant legal cases
  • Promote a one day general strike in Vancouver to protest Kinder Morgan

Work toward free transit pass to reduce carbon emissions

Vancouver’s #1 source of greenhouse gas emissions is personal vehicles. In Metro Vancouver the single greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions (>5 million tonnes) is vehicles

  • TransLink estimates that switching from car to transit will reduce a person’s CO2 emissions over four-fold, from 224 grams of greenhouse gases per km travelled to only 50 grams.

The fastest way to drastically reduce our emissions is to expand public transit. The best way to increase ridership is to make it affordable.

  • Calgary introduced affordable passes based on income, with a price range of $5 to $65. In the first year transit pass sales increased 40%.
  • When the U-Pass program was introduced at UBC, ridership increased 53% in the first year alone.
  • When a Community Pass was introduced for non-students at UBC, ridership grew 65%.
  • In Boulder Colorado, where the Community Pass model was spearheaded, ridership increased 50%.

The current City Council is seeking to reduce automobile usage in Vancouver from 55% of trip to 33% 2040. That’s not good enough. We’ll never become a truly “green” city at that rate.

By working toward free transit, we could approach that goal immediately. The proportion of people using transit would increase from 22% to about 33%, and car usage drop below 40%, in the first year alone.

By investing carbon tax revenues into rapidly expanding transit infrastructure -- including more B-lines, priority bus lanes, and light rail -- transit usage can surpass car usage within one council term.

End unnecessary house demolitions

Building demolitions in Vancouver cause 500,000 tonnes of waste every year, of which over 25% ($160,000 tonnes) goes right into the landfill. To reduce this massive amount of waste, we need to end unnecessary home and apartment demolitions.

Every year, there are over 1,000 single-family home demolitions in Vancouver, causing about 100,000 tonnes of waste, a quarter going directly to the landfill. Furthermore, each year ~50 rental buildings (>300 apartments) are demolished/redeveloped such that tenants are displaced and cannot return.

By banning the demolition of rental buildings and homes that contain rental suites, we could reduce waste by 10s of thousands of tonnes every year.

Furthermore, strict recycling requirements should be applied to all demolitions -- not only those in Shaughnessy. Instead of demolition, the city should incentivize repairs that reduce waste, and do not cause tenants to be permanently displaced.