Independent Candidate Response
Burnaby Lougheed
1.What is your party’s position on addressing homelessness in British Columbia?
Homelessness is a call for everyone and together we need to explore all possible resources to resolve the problem, offering proper education being the best, with encouraging and nurturing atmosphere provided, especially in Burnaby, where the mayor wants nothing to do with the problem because he thinks it is just waste of money and resources, unless the federal and provincial governments provide ways to help bring cure for the mental conditions. I am in total agreement and happy for the mayor because I’ve frameworked a device that could well be built by teachers and thus called, “The Teachers’ Program.” Also, with this program, as a major tool, the premier won’t need to take a homeless camp to the court, which is really a poor decision as the government head, who is suppose to hold the responsibility to help them out. Instead, with this framework realized into a program, the governments will be grateful when the homeless people come out in droves to a camp so that they can take the chance to help them up, using the Teachers’ Program and all the supporters, including the city hall, participating. It is not only for homeless. It is for all. Please examine the attached.( at bottom of text)
2. Does your party plan to establish a provincial housing strategy to address the growing affordable housing crisis in British Columbia? Please provide an explanation and key actions that your party would take.
The solution to the housing crisis is supplying the facilities. We have to keep building sufficient amount of affordable rental housing facilities. First of all, I would leave the Site C dam for the next generations and redirect the construction power to providing housing facilities, and save the environment and use the farmland to grow food. That will provide three decades of construction work, and at the end we have space for people who need them, as well, not only transferring wealth to wealthy.
3.What is your party’s plan to establish a poverty reduction program in BC?
Boosting the low and bottom class will also boost economy, and the Poor will be happier suddenly. While middle and top cannot survive without the bottom, bottom can flourish, without the upper and regenerate the upper! To build a healthy, sustainable, satisfactory society with a thriving economy, we must have strong bottom. Gather all the necessities such as 10-a-day-daycare, 15-an-hour minimum wage, welfare and disability benefit increase, and so on, provide basic income, this is necessary while ordinary people have been losing their jobs, expelled by technology, the government has to make sure these citizens can live on, without being traumatized. It is the time. And of course work to keep the jobs we already have, such as forestry, sawmill industry, newspaper industry, corner stores, and so on, while the government tries to build a Canadian Silicon Valley and gearing public education that way so that every one of the graduate student, regardless ones mental or emotional conditions, would land on a well-paying, good job.
4. If elected, what resources would your party allocate to increase the supply of affordable and core need housing stock in British Columbia, the Lower Mainland and specifically to Burnaby?
Along with redirecting the resources from the Site C, we also take an inventory of governments owned lands and empty buildings, for the work. One of such comes to mind is the demolished old school building lot, near Confederation Senior Centre. This site would be very useful for a senior home or care home facility, by the location. And I’m sure that, equipped with the Teachers’ Program (once it’s built and operational) and enhanced teacher power, the mayor will be more than willing to co-operate with the provincial government, whichever the party wins the election. And he will roll up his sleeves and get his court started. We also need to amend the perception about “family” and rebuild the old humane “three generation residency” to benefit all, young or old. And start building multigenerational accommodations.
5. If elected, what resources would your party allocate to prevent the loss of existing affordable housing from conversions, demolitions or serious deterioration?
The first and foremost problem is that our citizens have mayors and councillors, with calculator type of intelligence. They need to go back to school, to unlearn and relearn about life, humanity, using the Teachers Program. In addition, the old, unfair, mal-functioning Residential Tenancy Rules and the court procedures also need to have an overhaul so that judges can make proper decisions. And this should include scrapping the one-room one-person rule, which should be left to individual family’s decision as they see fitting their inward capacity. It can be called as “inward densification,” instead getting rid of the tenants and hurriedly plant skyscrapers. Even if the building more is a must, they have to provide the accommodation, beforehand, for the residents to move in, without worries at all. Some government owned buildings can be remodelled for a quick temporary solution, as well.
6. If elected what strategies and resources would your party commit to the prevention of homelessness amongst those at risk such as low income earners, youth exiting the foster care system?
Our old jobs are phasing out, or forced out, but governments are doing absolutely nothing, if not even accelerating the process, in the dream of building a Canadian Silicon Valley. On the contrary, working to keep the jobs we’ve already have is much easier and must, until we really don’t need them. The government should stop lazily traumatizing people by losing them jobs. Their commitment in creating dream jobs is commendable, but it has to keep stability and respect for low income workers’ way of living. And kids belong to schools and communities, not foster care industries. I will be working with responsible colleges and universities. They have enormous, almost perfect resources for such tasks, to bring up kids in a proper, loving and caring, encouraging environment, providing plenty of rest and nutritious foods and opportunities for job experiences. And again the Teachers’ Program will be a very useful tool.
7. What strategies and resources would your party commit to assist low income earners to overcome barriers such as to improved employment, better health and resource access?
I will work with the teachers, parents, and the city, to work in the aforementioned program that will provide necessary work experiences, education, self-exploration and so on. Also, while the government is busy gifting with tax cuts such as property tax deferrals and home owners grant, I will work on spreading these gifts to benefit low income earners as well, by reporting housing expenses in filing the income tax. The income tax system needs overhaul as well. At least this must be done. And I shouldn’t forget the fact that low income families, especially in single parent settings, likely have more problems, and when it happens, there is no way wriggle around. This also need to be done, and we’ll find out all the possible resources, including real police attention, much more than just “the 5-minute rule,’ which is more harmful than doing anything, for ordinary people.
8. If elected, what resources would your party allocate to ensure people without homes have access to appropriate emergency shelter and supports in their home community?
I’ll consult the task force office and activists first, and explore options with them. And among the options, I’d like to discuss ways to convert the election campaign funds for emergency use or otherwise. Nonetheless, using facilities such as community centers and portables could be or should be used, besides those willing churches, and the community members’ participation would be greatly needed.
9. If elected, what resources will your party commit to Burnaby to address the challenges for Burnaby citizens who are dealing with homelessness?
May I afford the Task Force, Burnaby citizens, police stations, the church teachings? I really want to use the election campaign funds, by centralizing the donation (any donations throughout the year) management, by Election Office (since it seems EO has least suffered corruption, if not at all affected). All the donations should come through the OE and the election campaign is prohibited. And this way the donated monetary or non-monetary funds will be always available for necessity, hopefully.
10 If elected, what will your party do to ensure that short term/transitional housing is established in Burnaby specifically for people who are dealing with homelessness? What time frame?
Reform Election process so that the campaign money can be used—the best fitting use of the fund. And at the same time, the EO will operate to ensure level playing field for all candidates, who are eager to build a good government and to do something about poverty the government ignores, if not accelerating it even worse. And consult people who are already working hard in the field. Tentative time frame can be set, but should not make it worrisome, but rather be given the participants plenty of time to properly rest and explore options through the Teachers’ Program.
As we can see how the government and thoughtless, greedy politicians meddled up to bring chaos, the reasons of corruption have been pooled in, mixed up, strengthening or diluting the facts into mud for millennia, the solution is rather simple.
Currently, the government is at the top, ruling the poor, serving the rich, whose responsibility is also to protect and help the poor.
The government has to get down to the earth, restoring its mandate and education to their original purposes—keeping the order (this doesn’t mean using its police force), by working out for the poor and raising humans (not anything else such as developing good-job seekers or programming machines), through providing a balanced education system.
No country has a good government. If it did, there should not be any growing rich-poor gap. Humans must correct this problem.
Election Long Form
Dear citizens:
This is Sylvia Gung, from the south skirt of the Burnaby Mountain.
During last two municipal elections, she ran as a mayoral candidate. She doesn’t mind whichever the position she is working from, but the purpose is the same – helping citizens work out, to make society more livable and sustainable, for everyone.
Four things to be done:
One: Running a two-branched program, with the city hall and PAC (Parents Advisory Council) in co-operation:
One branch is for human Needs, and this is a large extension of the Take Kids to Work Program, which has offered to grade nine students on job shadowing, is an excellent way for the students (whose parents or guardians cannot afford to do so) and people who don’t have adequate work experiences. This will help the participants find their spaces in the society.
And the other, Wants branch is to give students a new tool. It will help students (and others in need) to re-discover and connect with one’s essence, using self-aware skills through music, exercise and newspaper reading.
This program needs teachers to formulate, using their Professional Development Day, so we’ll call it The Teachers’ Program.
For those who need more explanation on this project, please, consider the advice we helplessly give people who are going through some difficulties, as “Just be yourself.” Easy to say, but what does it mean “to be oneself”?
We understand that there are two different types of freedom—one, the Godgiven, in which the sense of responsibility and sacrifice are deeply ingrained with the quality of loving and caring. And the other is allowed by the laws and rules, such as the Human Rights Accord, that promote greed and selfishness that never want to engage in talking about responsibility, never mind sacrifice, and then, such the “rights” turn to violence itself, resulting in a violent society.
The “being oneself” could mean “discovering and re-uniting with the original freedom” that had mostly gone into cocoon state, by parental/ cultural and societal misunderstanding and mishandling of the children, quite quickly after while we were born, and, with it, each one of us could allow ourselves to flower, as we were born to do … not sure, but what else could there be?
According to the teachers, most children come to school, unprepared; however, it’s rather surprising that many of them attend schools successfully, considering the fact that their parents have come through the traumatizing era, of wars, industrial progresses, feminism, breaking down of family structures and economy, and so on, the Indigenous people enduring the longest sufferings, perhaps.
So, finding the answers for what it means by ‘being oneself,’ and how an individual is to know that it is me, not something else that is cut out of cookie cutters of education, made out of promotions and prizes, would be in order…?
Nonetheless, I am sure that it will make teachers’ work simpler and more interesting, because they won’t need to provide exams, neither their time spent in marking, and so on, not even into the post secondary pursuance. So, let’s start working for some changes.
Two: Innovating and re-energizing the PAC’s so that their target tasks include some matters that are different from what they have been doing since the formation. And, can keep schools free of politicians and participate in the process of providing the post secondary education, free of charge. Revamping paper industry is a great starting point.
Three: Innovating and uplifting the unions so that they can embrace all, double deck the labor force, and do more, from keeping a fierce eye on government tills to sending elderly workers to schools, administering The Teachers’ Program anywhere in their reach, including mental health facilities and the prison houses, and so on.
Four: Mandating municipal governments to maintain city banks to help making important decisions mostly local and direct, without looking at the senior governments
Please, say “YES” to all of these target projects.
Thank you, for your support, for all, to walk forward together.