Who’s standing up for the environment?
What did we learn from the Positive Voices-hosted all-candidates 'Forum on the Environment’ on 6 October?
Some people in the community expressed doubts, asking: why was this all-candidates meeting focussing only on the environment?
That may provide a clue about how seriously they take climate change and environmental protection.
But we know that many voters in West Van are deeply engaged on the issue, and will consider climate change and the environment when they cast their ballots.
Many residents and supporters of Positive Voices understand that municipal decisions have an outsize impact on emissions, and strongly support West Van’s leadership on climate-related initiatives.
Forum attendance:
12 candidates for council
2 mayoral candidates
5 incumbent members of council
~100 people in person
~60 viewers on zoom
Click here to watch the recording.
A first for West Van
Our event - the first ever West Vancouver municipal all-candidate meeting with a focus exclusively on the environment - heard from 12 council candidates (including three of the four incumbents running again) and two mayoral candidates.
Council candidates who attended were: Amir Alavi, Tyler Blair, Eileen Buchanan, Christine Cassidy, Alexis Chicoine, Nora Gambioli, Claus Jensen, Elaine McHarg, Rim Martinez, Ken Schultze, Bill Soprovich, & Sharon Thompson.
Davis McCosh tested positive for Covid, a few days before the event, but offered to take part by Zoom. Due to the complexity of the event, we were unable to accommodate his request.
Mary-Ann Booth and Marcus Wong were the mayoral candidates who took part.
The event was moderated by Jatinder Sidhu, and Shirley Yu, a Grade 12 student from West Van.
Please note: the audio is poor for the first 20 minutes. We have added subtitles.
No shows
While Mark Sager said he was not available on that day, due to a family visit. Teresa De Cotiis did not respond to our calls and emails.
Keen Lau & Peter Lambur accepted our invitations, and then failed to show up, without any explanation. Linda Watt at first accepted our invitation, and then told us she would not be coming.
Scott Snider declined our request, without giving any reason.
Watch the mayoral candidates discuss environment and climate change here:
There was some strange chatter after the event (on social media, naturally) that the questions had been selectively shared with some candidates.
This is untrue, not least because Jatinder didn’t finish writing them until 5pm. After 21 years in broadcast news, some habits die hard.
The real reason those complainants felt aggrieved, of course, was that they hadn’t done their homework. To help them, we’re providing the questions here.
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What would be your number one priority for the environment in West Vancouver?
What’s your understanding of the connection between housing, land use planning, and climate change?
David Eby, who’s most likely to become the next Premier of BC, says he wants to override single family home zoning. The province has for a while been looking at taking away local government powers to restrict building project approvals, as a way to alleviate the chronic housing shortage. How will you respond to that?
How do we preserve our natural assets - foreshore, forests, and streams - and extend our urban tree canopy?
Should we be setting aside more money - through the environmental levy, and even insurance - to protect our community from increasingly extreme weather events (what’s often referred to as ‘climate adaptation’)?
The province has set a target for greenhouse gas emissions from buildings to be reduced by about 50% by 2030. How do we accomplish this goal given that 55% of our emissions come from homes?
Given that 40% of West Van residents’ greenhouse gas emissions come from vehicles, and even electric cars add to traffic congestion, what would you do to reduce OUR dependency on cars?
Do you have a compass card? And when was the last time you used transit?
Ahead of the mayoral candidates’ debate on the environment, what would do you want from a climate leader? What makes a climate leader?
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What does it mean to be a climate OR environmental leader? And how would your style be different from that of your opponents?
What specific measures would you adopt to provide a safer walking and biking environment - infrastructure for ‘active transportation’?
Why is it important, in your view, to help our middle-class workers live near where they work? And could you enlist senior levels of government (provincial and federal) - to help address the housing crisis, which makes that so difficult.
After more than 20 years of climate change leadership, West Vancouver District staff are working on a Climate Action Strategy bringing together many climate initiatives. You supported it - but how would you get councillors who don’t agree, to support future votes which flow from that strategy?
Some climate change policies - including the environmental levy - have been dismissed as “virtue signalling” by some. (For those that don’t know - that means actions designed to look good, but which are pretty empty.) Leaving aside those comments - what would you do to explain, and win support for, our climate strategy from the community?
Is $500 (and $1500 for lower income households) - the amount to be offered in West Van’s e-bike incentive scheme - a good investment to encourage people to leave their cars at home?
Many governments, including Ottawa, say oil and gas extraction must continue while we transition to a low-carbon economy, and net zero by 2050. How would we do that - and what would the transition to net zero look like in West Van?
Since 2013 the District has been tracking its corporate emissions - from its own operations, including buildings, infrastructure and vehicles. The idea is to work towards becoming carbon neutral. But emissions have barely gone down. What will you do about that?
What would you do to reduce our dependency on cars, which contribute 40% of the GHG emissions that we produce as a community (including electric vehicles, since they do nothing to relieve traffic congestion)?