BC Alliance for Healthy Living
℅ Rita Koutsodimos Via
September 24, 2024
Re: BC NDP Response to the BC Alliance for Healthy Living Questionnaire
Dear Rita Koutsodimos and Members of the BC Alliance for Healthy Living,
Thanks for reaching out to us at the BC NDP. We appreciate the opportunity to engage with your membership. Please see responses to your questions below.
1. Thinking about health and wellness beyond the healthcare system, what plans does your party have to reduce chronic disease which currently affects over 35% of British Columbians and is primarily from risk factors related to diet, activity and smoking?
When it comes to health, David Eby and the BC NDP are committed to delivering a healthcare system that is there when you need it. This means British Columbians should be able to quickly and easily receive support when they experience a health issue. But, the best systems also include proactive ways to stay healthy.
We’re taking action to prevent the downstream health impacts of factors like poverty, housing instability, and food insecurity. For example, experts say that David Eby’s Action Plan on housing will bring hundreds of thousands of homes online, and our BC Industrial Blueprint includes plans to help British Columbians choose foods grown closer to home.
We’ll also empower people in BC to reduce or prevent health issues tied to inactivity, limited access to nutritious foods, and substance use. We’re incorporating methods for active transportation in major highway expansion projects, improving access to mental health care, expanding access to greenspace like parks and trails, and reducing costs for ICBC and BC Hydro so people can spend their money on things that matter to them.
2. What policy measures or investments would your party implement to expand the availability of affordable housing?
BC is a great place to live, but housing here is too expensive. We’re up against high interest rates and real estate speculators who want to cash in on our housing market.
Everyone should be able to afford a home and build a good life here. When the BC NDP took office in 2017, we started by addressing some of the most challenging
issues head on, like preventing organized crime from using our housing market as a personal bank for dirty money – something John Rustad’s government let slide for more than a decade.
We tackled housing costs by taking on speculators, cutting red tape, and breaking down barriers to construction. The speculation tax has turned well over 20,000 empty condos into long-term homes and the flipping tax helped level the playing field for families who were previously competing with house flippers to purchase homes. Since 2017, nearly 80,000 affordable homes are complete or underway through BC Housing. Those are homes that would never have been built under John Rustad, who believes BC’s for-profit housing market will fix itself.
Our platform includes measures to make homes more attainable for middle-class households and expand social housing options for people with lower or fixed incomes. Please take some time to go through it when released.
3. Will your party invest in social infrastructure in areas with growing populations or where new housing is built (ex. recreation facilities, parks, daycares, immigrant services, seniors’ programs)?
Yes. We know that record numbers of people are making their homes in BC and we’ll need to enhance programming, childcare, services, and community amenities to make sure everyone can have a good life here.
To keep our communities vibrant, we’re supporting people from all walks of life. The BC NDP has greatly reduced the cost of childcare for many families and updated legislation to ensure that municipalities have clear and consistent guidelines for funding amenities. We’ve increased housing subsidies for seniors and are working on plans for improved long-term care. We’re also supporting local governments and First Nations in expanding sport, fitness, arts, education, and social activities for all ages and skill levels.
We plan to strengthen creative partnerships so that new housing can be provided in the same building as community services like daycare, health clinics, and seniors programs. A housing development called The Springs in Port Moody is a great example of this: in a transit-friendly location, the building provides 55 units of affordable housing, supports for people with disabilities, and a childcare centre.
4. How will your party address the youth vaping epidemic? What is your party’s position on tobacco reduction (ex. banning flavoured vapes, expanding smoke-free housing or increasing the legal age of purchase)?
The BC NDP supports strong action to discourage youth vaping, recognizing that this is not a harmless activity. We’re providing free programs to help youth quit substances, including vaping. We know that one of the best ways to reduce vaping
among youth is to talk about it openly. We plan to continue our education initiatives on youth vaping and ensure these materials can be easily found online by parents, caregivers, teachers, youth workers, and youth themselves.
Additionally, to better protect youth from nicotine use and potential dependency, we moved flavoured nicotine pouches behind pharmacy counters.
We’re also expanding access to counselors in school to help youth navigate stressors and develop healthy ways to cope with life’s challenges. When youth are engaged in healthy recreation, they’re less likely to experiment with substances – we’re improving youth access to community sports to keep kids on track.
5. What other measures will your party put in place to improve air quality (ex. public and active transportation, trees and greenspace in urban areas)?
David Eby and the BC NDP know that spending time in nature and greenspace is a key part of healthy living. We’re improving access to parks, enabling more active forms of transportation, and have created a dedicated ministry to support our climate goals. We’re expanding greenspace and tree canopy.
We provided $1 billion to local governments to address their community’s infrastructure and amenities demands including parks and recreation facilities, as well as other community infrastructure.
John Rustad will be a disaster for our environment. We should be deeply concerned about entrusting the health of our communities and the quality of our air, land, greenspaces, and transportation to a party that doesn’t believe in climate change or vaccines.
6. What policies or programs would your party advance to improve food security and the availability of affordable healthy foods?
The BC Industrial Blueprint, launched this past spring, outlines plans to keep food production closer to home by supporting local farmers, producers, and food manufacturers. We’re doing this by funding a growing agritech sector, improving the transportation and infrastructure that gets food from farm to table, supporting local food businesses with marketing, and by ensuring institutions in BC like schools and hospitals are buying local.
The BC NDP is also helping British Columbians save on costs, like the $500 each family is saving on ICBC insurance. People can choose to use this money in the ways that are most meaningful to them, which could include things like buying shares in a food co-op, signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture program, or
renting a community garden plot. We also plan to make farmer’s markets more affordable for all.
7. Does your party have a plan to reduce poverty (ex. Raise income assistance rates to account for the cost of healthy food and market rental rates or offer subsidies so those with low incomes can access physical activity programs)?
Yes. We know that poverty has a major impact on health over time. One of the most impactful ways to help people in BC afford and maintain healthy lifestyles is by supporting people when they’re young. By reducing childcare fees, enhancing education, keeping public transportation free for kids under 12, serving local food in schools, and expanding affordable and attainable housing options, and supporting sports programs for youth, we are helping families raise healthy kids.
The BC NDP has also raised income assistance rates five times, raised disability rates, and expanded housing supplements for low-income seniors. Our housing action plan is on track to deliver hundreds of thousands of new homes across the housing ecosystem – from complex care housing to attainable home ownership strategies for middle-income households.
Over the coming weeks, John Rustad will put a shiny new cover on a book we’ve all seen before. During his time in office he gutted social services, slashed social programming, took away affordable transportation options for people with disabilities, and drained our healthcare system.
John Rustad is a risk we can’t afford.