PLATFORM

Dear Coquitlam Residents,

What an honour and blessing it was to be chosen by you in 2018. Be rest assured that I worked hard for you. I brought a unique, conscious, and informed lens to every conversation and every decision. I will be humbled and honored to continue to work hard to make Coquitlam the best place to live, work, retire and play.

Managing Growth

There is no doubt that Coquitlam is experiencing unprecedented growth. I will continue to advocate for responsible growth.

  • Prioritize and advance the delivery of subsidized larger units as well as market, below market and non-market rental units.
  • Continue to work on housing strategy and make seniors housing a priority.
  • Continue to leverage partnerships and senior government funding to support redevelopment of aging affordable housing.

Community Engagement

Coquitlam is rich in diversity and bursting with potential. Strong neighbourhoods are vital to our continued growth and quality of life. To build a Just, Equitable and Inclusive Coquitlam, We must:

  • Engage as many citizens as we can including youth, seniors and other diverse groups.
  • Build community trust by being transparent with all our processes and decisions.
  • Engage and work closely with the Kwikwetlem Nation to advance Reconciliation and DRIPA action plan.

Health & Safety

  • Advocate for our friends and neighbors who are struggling with mental health and addictions and ensure that they have access to services and supports.
  • Advocate for crime reduction as well as citizen safety regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, age and other dimensions of diversity.
  • Advocate for the collection and utilization of disaggregated data that can help us build inclusive and sustainable communities.

Livable Communities

To ensure that every resident feels safe, I commit to continue to:

  • Advocate for accessible childcare in every community
  • Invest more in our parks and facilities. Covid taught us that our green spaces are gold.
  • Improve transportation networks, reduce congestion and advocate for more bus services.
  • Champion the infusion of Environmental, Sustainability, Governance (ESG) goals in everything we do.

While we have made many inroads, there is no doubt that the road ahead is going to be challenging. The federal government is welcoming 1.2 million immigrants into Canada over the next three years. Metro Vancouver is expecting 55,000 new immigrants in 2022 alone. Metro Vancouver planners project the region will have more than one million additional residents by 2050. Coquitlam, like other municipalities, is tasked with not only creating diverse housing types, but with managing the growth in a sustainable manner.

There are many gaps that still exist. If I am honored to continue to serve you. My top ten priorities will be:

  • Economic Development
  • Community Engagement
  • Affordable Living / Affordable Housing
  • Fiscal Responsibility and Optimism
  • Seniors housing & Inter-generational care
  • Arts & Culture programs that reflect the diversity and history of our city
  • Traffic calming around the city
  • Mitigating construction growth and noise
  • Indigenous Relations
  • Investing in the City’s infrastructure

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the City in terms of resources and the related services to the community as was the case with all communities around the world.  I am proud of our Council and staff as we made excellent progress across all lines of business, advancing the interests of residents which resulted in great success.

As a testament to the decisions we made, 97% of residents say their quality of life is ‘good’ or ‘very good’ and are optimistic about how the quality of life has changed over the last five years. This is despite the challenges brought forth by Covid. We, however, need to note that the Pandemic affected people differently, some subsets of our population were impacted more than others and continue to feel the negative impacts.  

As I highlight the successes below, I am cognizant of the fact that we have a long way to go and lots of work to do.  

Highlights of Coquitlam’s successes 

  • Completion of City’s Environmental Plan Completing the City’s Environmental Sustainability Plan, which integrates goals and strategies with actions that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting quality of life of the growing community for current and future generations
  • Being a regional leader in the approval of rental housing – as of December 31,2021, the City had approved over 12,000 rental housing units, the most per capita, in Metro Vancouver
  • Approving the financial policy framework that supports long-term sustainability, financial flexibility and tax stability
  • Investing in the City’s infrastructure to maintain service levels and ensure quality programs and services continue to be delivered in perpetuity, including continued support and increased funding for sustainable infrastructure and asset management as well as investment in new infrastructure to support growth
  • Supporting the community through the Covid
  • Approval of the financial policy framework that supports long-term sustainability, financial flexibility and tax stability 
  • Diversification of revenues with strong growth including updating development fee programs to reduce the burden on the taxpayer and ensure development pays for growth 
  • Maintaining reserves to fund future capital infrastructure and provide internal debt financing (and support in times of uncertainty such as the Community Support and Recovery Plan in response to COVID to enable local community groups to deliver important community programs). 
  • Ongoing investment in the City’s infrastructure to maintain service levels and ensure quality programs and services continue to be delivered in perpetuity. This includes continued support and increased funding for sustainable infrastructure and asset management as well as investment in new infrastructure to support growth.
  • Actively pursuing senior government grants to supplement costs of capital projects.
  • Prudently managing debt with low overall debt burden and in particular low external debt and utilization of internal debt providing increased flexibility.
  • Actively managing working capital (cash flow and debt), optimizing investment earnings and mitigating interest expense

Gaps that still exist and issues I will continue to advocate for

  • Economic Development 
  • Community Engagement 
  • Affordable Living / Affordable Housing 
  • Fiscal Responsibility and Optimism 
  • Inter-generational care 
  • Arts & Culture programs that reflect the diversity and history of our city
  • Mental health support and advocacy 
  • Traffic calming around the city 
  • Mitigating construction growth and noise  
  • Public Service