A panel of municipal leaders addressed a Vancouver real estate conference Wednesday, covering an array of topics including property taxes, infrastructure and multiplexes.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the panel appearing at the Vancouver Real Estate Forum 2025.
Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley on property taxes and infrastructure:
- No room to increase taxes for homeowners and small businesses to fund infrastructure, despite being told to do this by other levels of government.
- Small businesses are struggling to pay their rents and stay afloat, and cannot afford higher property taxes.
- "In no way in my world could I agree that the local business owner, the small business owner, or the local person who’s been paying taxes on their home for years, should be expected to fund the immigration policies of the federal government to pay for further growth."
- Cities do not financially benefit from immigration's impact on GDP, unlike the federal and provincial governments.
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart on public hearings and multiplexes:
- With public hearings not required for projects that fit within official community plans, this may not save much time, as projects can already be approved later during the same sessions as public hearings.
- “Now we’re able to tell the public, ‘The province doesn’t want us to hear from you, and so please go away.’ That doesn’t speed it up any more. It allows me, as mayor, to redirect the anger at someone else rather than at me. So they still hate me maybe, but they hate the province too, which is good. So thank you, Ravi [Kahlon, B.C.’s housing minister]."
- Despite being pushed by the province, multiplexes are the most inefficient form of housing and densification. Building four units where there were previously two requires the same labour and municipal work as 10 townhouses.
Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen on Indigenous partnerships and public safety:
- The city's Indigenous partnerships are timely and important.
- "We have to respond to the fact that we are a city of reconciliation here, and these are not only important gestures, it’s a form of justice to be able to provide First Nations that have stewarded this land for tens of thousands of years to have an opportunity to be a part of the future growth of this city.”
- The city is dedicating more resources to public safety, property crime and shoplifting.
- The city has been working with Vancouver Coastal Health on a "very innovative" program of expanding mental health supports.
