Sorry I’m later than usual – it’s been quite a week. Monday’s Council meeting included presentations and delegations, and it is worth watching the video to hear the conversation. Our agenda started with a presentation from staff on a major project:
Crises Response Pilot Project: Prevention, Support and Transition Services Plan and Supportive Housing and Wrap-Around Services Plan
The City has been working since the beginning of this term on our multi-faceted response to the overlapping challenges of homelessness and untreated mental health and addictions. We have committed to addressing the needs of people who are experiencing the three crises with a focus on supportive housing, and on addressing the externalities associated with the three crises that are impacting residents and businesses without compromising our compassionate approach.
Since the beginning of this, we have known that the solution to homelessness is housing and the solution to untreated mental illness is health care, and those resources will take time and significant senior government funding to bring up to the level of need, so we need to take actions to mitigate impacts in the meantime. This report is an update from staff on the current work, and presents a bit of a roadmap for two time frames – both five and ten years ahead. It also clearly lays out what we can do as a City, and where we need to advocate to other levels of government, because people are tired of governments just pointing fingers at each other, we need to work together on the solutions.
Our commitment to this work includes the commitment that we would take a data-informed approach, and lean on the expertise of subject matter experts, and that we would track the progress of the work to assure we are applying resources where they will do the most good. As such, it is informed by the City’s Homelessness Action Strategy, our Housing Needs Reports, and the work of our Mental Health Roundtable. We are not (and cannot!) do this alone. And, of course, we are connecting with the community as we do this work to keep everyone informed and take feedback on progress.
This is the work the Downtown business community has been asking of us, this is the work downtown residents have been asking of us. This is the work the non-profit support community has been asking of us. I have never heard anyone serious about the livability of our community suggest the City slow down and do less of this work.
I wrote more about this project here, and more info about the longer history of our Three Crises Report dating back to 2023 is available here. Finally, despite harmful misinformation being spread in the community, the one thing Council didn’t do was “approve a new illicit drug inhalation centre.”
Along with the above, the following two items were Removed from Consent for discussion:
Community Advisory Assembly Pilot Evaluation and Next Steps
The Community Advisory Assembly pilot project has run for a year, and it is time for us to assess the model and decide if this is something we need to invest in, and if so, what adaptations might make it work better.
Betraying perhaps my bias, I attended the wrap up event for the Assembly members, and it was an unexpectedly inspiring event. This model of true community engagement was a trial, starting with finding a space where a full representation of the diversity of our community could work though some complex issues and provide community feedback to Council. In the sense of community driving the direction of work at City Hall, the Assembly is clearly a success. What we didn’t expect was that we would be giving a group of three dozen residents a deeper and more meaningful connection to their community, and to each other as neighbours. This was a diverse group in every way and over a year of working together they created real bonds, friendships even. They were a bit sad to be ending the term, and the wrap event felt a bit like a graduation ceremony.
Of course, this was a trial, and we committed to reporting out on the first assembly before we commit to continuing this approach. We will measure the results, we will see a report back. We need data to back our good feelings, and to demonstrate value to the broader community. We also need to talk about the resource needs, and it will be up to Council to decide whether this pilot was the start of something sustainable and new.
Notably, the Assembly members unanimously agreed to recommend to Council that the Assembly model should be adopted as a permanent initiative, even if they are not invited back to participate in subsequent years. At a time when the very words diversity, equity, and inclusion are being vilified by the old power systems that fear the people they are elected to serve, this is yet another example of New Westminster doing things differently.
Procurement Strategy for Canadian Made Products
The City’s practices around procuring goods and/or services has always been to source Canadian made alternatives first before sourcing foreign made products all things being equal. However, there are circumstances where Canadian made products are not available or may be cost prohibitive. As a practice, if the cost variance is 10% or less, the City would procure the Canadian product. In situations where a Canadian product may not be available, the Supervisor has recently implemented sourcing off shore products prior to American products. Notably, 97$ of the vendors the City has or currently uses are Canadian vendors.
I added a motion here asking that staff explore including Country of Origin in our regular major purchase reports, and that staff to report to Council prior to making significant purchases where staff are only able to source from United States companies, including consideration if the purchase could be deferred or if an alternative can be identified. There are complications here (vehicles are typically mixed domestic and foreign-made; there are some specialty products like firetrucks that may only be available from American vendors). Councillor Fontaine added an amendment that we restrict travel to the USA by staff, and we asked staff to report back to us on that recognizing there may be necessary reasons such as specialized training or emergency support (such as in wildfire suppression) where we may want to permit such travel.
In the end, Council supported all of the recommendations, with reporting back form staff on how to implement them.
The following items were approved On Consent:
Dine Kanadiyan, 525 Seventh Street – Application for Patron Participation
Speaking of diversity, an older pub Uptown closed last year, and a new operator has a new model that maybe reflects our demographic shifts – Filipino comfort food. They have had music, but apparently karaoke and dine & dance requires a specific liquor license from the province (add this to the “provincial liquor laws are archaic” pile) which requires us to move a resolution supporting this. There was notice given to the neighbourhood, we got no negative feedback, so Council moved the resolution.
Extend Licence to Occupy BC Hydro Lands for Pollinator Meadow
A few years ago, the community of Connaught Heights approached the City about wanting to put a “pollinator meadow” on some of the green space under the BCHydro power lines that run through the center of their community. The City doesn’t own the land, but worked with the Residents Association to approach BC Hydro and get a license to permit this on their land. This is a great example of a community-driven project where the City can help out, and the birds and the bees can benefit! It is time to update that license agreement for another two years, and Council authorized me to sign that agreement.
Mobile Food Vending Licence Bylaw Amendment
The Food Truck industry has been though a lot of changes over the last few years. Though the boom of the last decade has clearly cooled, there is still a lot of interest in seeing pop-up and diverse food options in commercial areas to add to the active street vibe. The City went through an extensive process in 2016 to find a set of rules that work for the vendors and the business community, and last year added some park sites as a temporary measure due to some public interest in bringing food options to some popular park sites. At the time, we asked to review after a year, and no problems arose, so we are adopting permanent changes that add təməsew̓txʷ, Hume Park, Moody Park and Ryall Park as permitted locations, and made some changes to locations Uptown related to shifts in infrastructure in the neighbourhood.
Shark Fin Regulation Bylaw No. 7564, 2012, Repeal Bylaw No. 8511, 2025
Back in 2012 there was a regional push to ban the sale of shark fin soup due to the unsustainable harvesting practices of the shark fin industry. New West joined the wave. But our updated Business Licence Bylaw includes this, making this stand-alone bylaw redundant. So we are repealing it.
Council then adopted the following Bylaws:
Five-Year Financial Plan (2025-2029) Bylaw No. 8501, 2025
This Bylaw that codifies Financial Plan for 2025 through 2029 was adopted by Council.
Zoning Bylaw No. 6680, 2001, Amendment Bylaw (Non-Profit Housing Development) No. 8502, 2025
This Bylaw that updates our zoning regulations to allow below- and/or non-market rental housing projects of up to six stories to forego rezoning in mutli-family zoned areas of the city was adopted by Council.
We then had a few Motions form Council:
Installation of Two Remembrance Day Themed Pedestrian Crosswalks in 2025
Submitted by Councillor Minhas
BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff be directed to provide Council with a budget, potential sources of funding and operating impacts pertaining to the installation of two ‘Remembrance Day’ themed crosswalks with the goal of having them installed in time for the November 11, 2025 Remembrance Day commemoration ceremonies; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the two Remembrance Day themed crosswalk locations be chosen in consultation with the local Legion and representatives from the Canadian Military.
Commemorating Royal Canadian Legion 100 Year Anniversary in 2026
Submitted by Councillor Campbell
BE IT RESOLVED that staff liaise with the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #2 to explore and recommend meaningful opportunities to commemorate the centennial milestone in 2026 to honour the Legion’s tradition of helping veterans, supporting seniors, empowering youth and contributing to the broader community.
I am putting these together, because Council decided to move a modified version of the first motion that included enough of the second motion that the second motion was withdrawn as being redundant. I don’t have a copy of the final motion approved (wait for the minutes to be released, or watch the Council video) but I’ll try to summarize here, hoping I don’t miss anything, and recognizing this blog is not, and had never been, an official record!
The idea of a Memorial Crosswalk (though the mover confusingly kept referring to it as a sidewalk, which may mitigate some concerns) for Veterans is not a new one, and Council is happy to explore this along with other possibilities. I know staff have some concerns specifically about crosswalks as memorials, as they are surprisingly expensive and ultimately very short-lived because placed in prominent locations they often wear out quickly and can lead to a feeling of disrespect if not constantly maintained. In effect, they look great the day the politicians are there to cut the ribbon on them, but degrade quickly, while not providing any real tangible benefit to the veterans they are meant to honour. This is part of the reason the Orange Shirt Day crosswalk idea from last year was changed to a sidewalk mural in Hyack Square – they simply last longer and have longer-term impact if heavy traffic is driving over them all day.
So Council was interested in opening up the discussion to a crosswalk or other similar-veined commemoration, and will have staff report back on that. At the same time, the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #2 is coming up next year, which seems an appropriate time for the community to mark the occasion with an appropriate memorial. The important first step is to actually engage with the Legion and have them tell us what they think is appropriate instead of the City imposing one idea or another. In the end, all of Council agreed on this path.
Conducting Market Value Assessment of New West Electrical Utility Assets
Submitted by Councillor Fontaine
BE IT RESOLVED THAT Council request the New West Electrical Utility conduct an independent assessment of its current market value prior to January 2026 and the results be shared with Council; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the New West Electrical Utility Commission be requested to concurrently seek public feedback regarding potential alternate governance and operating models that can provide better value for ratepayers.
I appreciate Councillor McEvoy calling this motion out for what it is: a clear precursor to privatization of public assets. You only spend time and money to do a “market value assessment” if you are interested in putting something on the market. And it raises a bunch of questions about what other public assets the Councillor is interested in selling off to private interests.
I don’t think selling the Electrical Utility off is a good idea for the City. I will write a longer blog post about my amendment to the above motion, which read:
That the NW Electrical Commission include in its ongoing strategic planning and reporting back to Council a pathway to future residential rates that closely match BC Hydro rates while balancing other factors that assure the financial sustainability of the utility.
After approving the amendment, Council decided to refer the entirety of this motion the Electrical Utility commission, who are currently undertaking a Strategic Planning process, and who are really the best body to provide advice to Council on infrastructure planning, governance, and rate setting for the utility.
That was it for a full and meaningful Council week. No meeting next week, as it is Family Day long weekend, and we need to see what’s been rattling around inside that Tin Soldier for the last 25 years.