#Vancouver #VanPoli

Quinn: "What did the 'Evict Ken Sim' banners and badges mean?"

Orr: "It means in 2026 we're going to have a new, progressive slate of councillors."

7/7

#Vancouver #VanPoli

Quinn: "As one of four voices of non-ABC, opposition on council, what kind of change can you affect?"

Orr: "COPE has a history of keeping other parties honest, routed in our principles and where we stand. Pulling other members of council toward us and based on Vancouver's turnout in huge numbers to support that [at the by-election], maybe a few members will have a change in conscience. But there's a lot of work to do as an advocate for social justice."

6/7

#Vancouver #VanPoli

Quinn: "On fully-funded and free public transit?"

Orr: "Be an advocate to higher levels of government. Jean Swanson fought for free transit for children under 12. On "fully-funded transit", in 1993, the NDP could've done a vehicle levee ($75?) on brand new cars. If we'd gone through with that, we'd have more money for transit"

5/7

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Quinn: "We've seen a lot of the lower-rise, affordable apartments being sold off because the land has become so valuable -- development potential become so lucrative. What do you do with that as councillor?"

Orr: "Championing our platform with something Montreal does: the Right of First Refusal. The city has the right to purchase those buildings when they come up. Obviously expensive, but we can do it with a Mansion tax with homes valued over $5 million."

4/7

#Vancouver #VanPoli

"There's also the question of infrastructure in the plan. Not a lot of schools and amenities. A previous COPE councillor voted against it [the Plan]. She wanted transit and density around transit, but she wanted people who ride the bus to be able to afford to live there. Jean Swanson"

3/7

#Vancouver #VanPoli

Quinn: "Looking at one example, the Broadway Plan. What do you think generally of that as a strategy to provide more rental housing?"

Orr: "We need more rental housing around transit. We need density. But the plan was a little bit rushed. I don't think there was not a lot of forethought put into it in that we could have bought up a lot of that land around 15 years ago and earmarked it permanently for affordable housing - non-profit, non-market, co-ops, etc."

2/7

#Vancouver #VanPoli

Maloney: "People in Vancouver are compassionate, care about their neighbours. They want to see homeless people looked after. Mayor Ken Sim underestimated that."

On Sim's promise of 100 new police officers + 100 mental health nurses, despite the City having no jurisdiction over hiring nurses and only a handful of nurses hired...

Maloney: "Another example of Ken Sim & ABC Party focused too much on reaction to the challenges we face as a city. Not enough on prevention."

4/4

#Vancouver #VanPoli

Quinn: On mayor Ken Sim's motion to freeze on supportive housing, "you've said that that violates the values of this city. There are a number of new projects in DTES"

Maloney: "That's true. But, we don't want a gap in the pipeline. We're not building enough. One of the things that voters object(ed) to is that Ken Sim is always pointing the finger at other people to be responsible for the problems that he himself has a lot of power to solve."

3/4

#Vancouver #VanPoli

Maloney: "We heard [from Vancouverites] people deeply concerned about losing and/or how to pay for their housing, about services and infrastructure looking tired and getting cut back"

"Also, the fear that things are not being done for the right reasons -- on the part of the Integrity Commissioner, the Park Board, and others"

2/4