Patrick Weiler
Patrick Weiler
Working Together to Build Better Communities
October 13, 2022

Municipal elections matter. From shaping the type of homes we see in our communities, building and maintaining community infrastructure, operating transit, delivering most of the local services we depend on, creating the frameworks that determine whether small businesses thrive, and so much more, municipal governments make decisions that have the greatest impact on our day to day lives, more than any other form of government. Yet four years ago, voter turnout in local elections in British Columbia was an abysmal 39%, much lower than in provincial or federal elections.

 

I will be working closely with whoever is elected on October 15 to run the ten local governments across our riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine-Coast-Sea to Sky Country. Here are the two most important ways I see local governments making a critical difference in building the kind of smart and livable communities we all want.

 

We all know the cost of traffic congestion on the environment, business activity, and our mental health. Study after study has shown that the only way to alleviate congestion is to reduce single occupancy car trips, in favour of public transit and active transportation. So if we want to seriously address traffic in our communities and improve connectivity in our region, we need councils rowing in the same direction of the provincial and federal governments to get such infrastructure approved. Canada has invested thirteen times the amount of money into transit projects over the last seven years than it had in the seven prior and established permanent and predictable funding for transit that will get us where we need to go faster and in a cleaner, more sustainable way.

 

Canada’s $72 billion National Housing Strategy works directly with municipal governments to help build affordable, as well as supportive housing. Unfortunately, we are not seeing the type and quantity of housing that is most in demand, shutting many workers, young people, and families out of the communities they grew up in, while fueling the labour shortage that is strangling small businesses. Councils need to take heed of the impact this is having on our communities and be ready to do what it takes to get housing built. The federal government will work with willing councils to speed up housing approvals through the Housing Accelerator Fund.

 

I’m not here to endorse any particular candidate or vision, but if the priorities I’ve mentioned speak to you, I hope you take the time to think about your choice in this election and who will help make these goals a reality.

Democracy works at its best when we all do our part. Please remember to vote on October 15 if you haven’t already. Your vote will shape the type of community you and your family will live in.

 

Main office - West Vancouver
6367 Bruce Street
West Vancouver, British Columbia
V7W 2G5

Telephone:
604-913-2660

Fax:
604-913-2664
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Hill Office
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Telephone:
613-947-4617

Fax:
613-947-4620
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