Port Moody-Burquitlam BC NDP and BC Green Party candidates spar for progressive votes at Thursday election discussion

[CORRECTION: The original article erroneously stated that BC Conservative candidate, Kerry Van Aswegen, did not attend the event due to a scheduling conflict, instead opting to attend a webinar hosted by the Laidler Group, a Port Moody based development company. In fact, Van Aswegen attended the webinar earlier in the day, and the scheduling conflict was with an event hosted by the Tri-City Iranian Cultural Society.

With the absence of the BC Conservative candidate, BC NDP and BC Green Party candidates for the Port Moody-Burquitlam MLA seat seemed to generally agree on most issues at a Thursday night discussion.

Housing, however, turned out to be the most pronounced divide between BC NDP incumbent Rick Glumac, and his Green Party challenger Samantha Agtarap.

Agtarap criticized the BC NDP’s recent housing legislation. She said the BC NDP’s approach has been to rely on the private sector to fill the housing gaps across the province, whereas the Green Party would focus on funding non-market and supportive housing co-ops.

“(The NDP are) expecting for-profit enterprises to provide affordable housing. That’s a bit of a gap for me.” she said. “We really need to provide the support to the non-profit housing sector. They can build it.”

Municipalities are being expected to do more with less money, according to Agtarap, who said there are huge infrastructure projects in Port Moody that can only be funded through increasing property taxes.

She said the Green Party would provide $650 million annually in infrastructure funding for municipalities to support the growth being mandated by the province.

Glumac countered that the NDP’s housing legislation has given municipalities the tools to set minimum thresholds on affordable housing, upfront inclusionary zoning, and bylaws for rental protection, all which had previously been subject to uncertainty and drawn-out negotiations.

He said the province will provide added funding to support municipalities that are meeting or exceeding their growth targets, which can be put towards infrastructure.

Glumac pointed out the cities of Port Moody and Coquitlam have been building a significant amount of housing, all of which was approved before the legislation was introduced.

“Some of the proposals coming forward are far exceeding anything that we are putting forward in terms of what we’d like to see in the community,” he said. “We’re trying to give municipalities the ability to address not just building more housing, but building the right kind of housing, building affordable housing.”

Agtarap said the Green Party would make public land available for non-profits and co-op housing, and consider buying land that can be used for affordable housing.

She said that community land trusts are crucial for securing land for non-market housing developments.

Another Green Party promise is to provide upfront investments, low interest construction financing, and long-term mortgage guarantees to non-market builders, Agtarap said.

“A really challenging part for non-profits is to get the loans,” she said. “BC Housing is a great idea in principle. Some of the frustrations that I as a councillor have had with it is that our community is not eligible if the program is fully subscribed.”

Glumac said some of that work is already being done though the province’s rental protection fund, which is being expanded, and will create opportunities for non-profits to redevelop or maintain older rental buildings to preserve affordable units in communities.

The NDP are consistently trying to counter speculation in the housing market, Glumac said, pointing to the speculation tax, anti-flipping tax, and the ban on short-term rentals.

“Speculation ran rampant under the BC Liberals, and you better believe it will run rampant again under the BC Conservatives,” he said.

Glumac and Agtarap also differed on the significance of splitting the vote between left-leaning voters.

Glumac emphasized the BC Liberals were pushed out of power by one only seat in 2017, while touting his party’s popular policies, such as removing bridge tolls, MSP premiums, ending the freeze on building new schools, and stabilizing ICBC and BC Hydro’s finances.

“We did all of this because of one seat,” Glumac said. “In this election, we know the polls are very close. They are very close in this riding, and they are very close provincially.”

Agtarap, on the other hand, said minority governments force parties to work together to find the best outcomes through compromise. The BC Green Party was ousted as the BC NDP government’s minority partner after a snap election was called in 2020.

“Ultimately, this election is really being positioned as a binary choice between the Conservatives and the NDP,” she said. “We go from one side to the other. Really think about the opportunities that the Green Party could provide this province.”

Recent polls show the BC NDP and BC Conservatives effectively tied. The race tightened considerably after BC United leader Kevin Falcon announced he would throw his support behind the Conservatives while essentially folding his own party.

Throughout the discussion on Oct. 3, hosted by TROPICA in a conversational format at Old Orchard Hall in Port Moody, Glumac stressed the sharp divide between NDP and Conservative policies, while Agtarap sought to distinguish the Green Party’s platform from the NDP’s.

Glumac frequently pointed to statements from BC Conservative Leader John Rustad and fellow party members, bashing them as conspiratorial and unscientific.

He also highlighted Rustad’s record as a BC Liberal, warning about funding cuts across the public sector, and reversals to the province’s environmental policies.

Agtarap, however, said she was roused to take a run at Glumac’s seat after the BC NDP announced they would consider removing the consumer carbon tax if the federal government did first.

She said while transparency and fairness associated with the policy could be improved, it incentivizes innovation in new emerging clean industries, and the Green Party will keep it in place.

“That was sort of my radical moment,” Agtarap said. “It has not been a net negative for our economy, people get benefits from it. It’s acknowledged by economists as one of the least painful ways to encourage a reduction in emissions.”

Glumac also took shots at the BC Conservative candidate for Port Moody-Burquitlam, Kerry Van Aswegen, for failing to attend the election event.

Van Aswegen did not appear due to a scheduling conflict with the Tri-City Iranian Cultural Society, though Glumac claimed she chose to attend a developer-hosted event instead.