Election Digest Vancouver 2026
| Est. 12,026 HE | |

Josh Gordon

Candidate for City Council · TEAM for a Livable Vancouver

Official site ↗

Candidate commitments & stances
No commitment or stance published by Josh Gordon personally was found in the sources reviewed. Most candidates campaign on their party's shared platform, which appears below as the party record.
Shared party record · 194

Positions published by TEAM for a Livable Vancouver that apply to this slate — shown as party positions, not Josh Gordon's own statements. Candidate and party authorship are never blended.

Commitments · 175

Transportation, streets, and public space 33

  • Lower parking rates and ensure parking accessibility on main streets.↗
  • Work directly with neighbourhoods to create walkable communities that reduce traffic.↗
  • Encourage the transition of commercial trucks in the city to electric vehicles.↗
  • Establish policy and incentives to expand public EV charging infrastructure.↗↗
  • Simplify Building Code and regulatory requirements to make it easier to add EV charging in existing and new homes.↗
  • Reinstate minimum parking requirements for new buildings.↗
  • Expand bus service and implement new stops in under-served neighbourhoods to create an accessible city-wide public transit network.↗
  • Add small community bus routes to underserved parts of the city.↗
  • Work with TransLink to electrify the bus system — both trolleys and battery buses — to reduce noise, GHGs, particulates, and diesel air pollution.↗↗
  • Restore neighbourhood-friendly streetcars on selected arterial streets where ridership justifies it, informed by a review of the 2019 City of Vancouver Streetcar Feasibility Study.↗
  • Prioritize safe, low-traffic, cost-effective cross-town and connected cycling routes with better signage, lighting, and pavement markings.↗
  • Review contentious cycling and road projects — including the Granville Bridge Connector, Stanley Park and Beach Avenue bike lanes, and traffic lane closures — consulting with affected neighbourhoods, businesses, and road users.↗
  • Advocate for secure, sheltered bicycle storage at major transit stops, bus loops, and schools.↗
  • Address pedestrian-bicycle conflicts on public sidewalks through education and enforcement.↗
  • Work with the Park Board to ensure pavement markings regulating bicycles in parks are clearly visible and maintained.↗
  • Work with TransLink to deploy more electric buses (battery and trolley), increase service frequency, and expand service so all city areas have convenient pedestrian access to transit.↗
  • Work with the School Board to ensure elementary students receive training on rules for cyclists under the Motor Vehicle Act.↗
  • Work with neighbourhood groups to encourage residents to keep sidewalks clear of low branches and bushes that obstruct the full width.↗
  • Work with BIAs to ensure commercial sidewalks are unobstructed and cleared of leaves, snow, and ice.↗
  • Upgrade street and pedestrian lighting where needed.↗
  • Improve traffic flow on major arteries to reduce shortcutting through residential neighbourhoods; prohibit non-vehicular traffic on major arteries and bus routes where a defined cycling or rolling route exists nearby.↗
  • Consult with neighbourhoods on ways to make residential streets safer (speed limits, roundabouts) and on strategies for better movement of commercial goods.↗
  • Not implement road pricing.↗↗
  • Not adopt city-wide parking permits as previously proposed by Council.↗↗↗
  • Work with TransLink and local communities to build a more equitable transit network serving all city neighbourhoods with cost-effective, appropriately scaled options.↗
  • Review access, parking, and stopping areas for tour buses, taxis, and chartered services at popular locations, with input from tourism and hospitality sectors.↗
  • Promote cycling routes on the City website.↗
  • Repair and widen sidewalks in all neighbourhoods to make walking safer for pedestrians.↗↗
  • Improve traffic flow by synchronizing traffic lights and designing roads for better flow, including improved turn lanes, commercial loading areas, and signal prioritization for public transit.↗
  • Support the transition to electric vehicles by making it easier to convert existing onsite parking for EV charging, requiring pre-wiring of new parking stalls, and providing on-street and public charging options.↗↗
  • Restore minimum parking requirements for new construction to accommodate future parking needs and onsite EV charging.↗
  • Work with TransLink to implement service improvements including restoring and electrifying neighbourhood and express bus services cut in recent years, and ensuring affordable fares.↗
  • Aim for a level of bus service that puts all residents within a 5-minute walk of a local transit stop.↗

Parks, recreation, and natural spaces 32

  • Expand tree planting, mature tree protections, green space retention and enhancement, and account for heat island impacts in community planning.↗
  • Invest $739 million over four years in parks and recreation facilities.↗
  • Plan parks and recreation system expansion in alignment with population growth.↗
  • Add more green spaces, recreational facilities, and parks to address increasing density and existing deficiencies, with particular attention to the historically underserved east side of the city.↗
  • Work with Engineering to improve bike access to parks and beaches without paving over existing lawns and gardens.↗
  • Facilitate gardens and urban farming in public and private spaces to support community resilience and food security.↗
  • Enforce maintenance bylaws on vacant or under-construction private property and boulevards to ensure lawn trimming and litter pickup.↗
  • Increase planting and maintenance of the urban forest on City-owned lands, including street boulevards, and plant new trees to support a healthy tree canopy, with improved street tree management to protect existing mature trees and add new trees in underserved areas.↗
  • Retain, protect, and upgrade heritage facilities within the parks and recreation system.↗
  • Restore pre-COVID vehicle access to Stanley Park and Beach Avenue while also providing new alternative infrastructure for cycling and walking without impeding vehicles.↗
  • Assess and plan for the impact of climate change on Vancouver's parks and recreation system, including beaches and seawalls, and protect and expand the tree canopy to provide shade and support urban wildlife and ecology.↗
  • Expand the park ranger program, keep lifeguards on beaches, and add fencing on parks adjacent to busy roads to increase safety.↗
  • Provide safe off-leash dog park spaces within walking distance in all neighbourhoods.↗
  • Keep Park Board assets publicly owned and operated.↗
  • Discourage park encampments to ensure parks are safe and accessible for all, while working collaboratively with the City and other levels of government to ensure parks are not used as a substitute for housing and services.↗
  • Prioritise local neighbourhood community centres, recreation facilities, amenities, pools, and parks to achieve walkable neighbourhoods with universal access.↗
  • Avoid further development of regional-serving parks and facilities within the city, with an exception for replacement of existing citywide special-use facilities such as the Vancouver Aquatic Centre.↗
  • Reconsider the Vancouver Aquatic Centre replacement to include a 50-metre pool as originally approved by voters, including investigating the feasibility of renovating the existing building if that is the only way to keep a 50-metre pool.↗↗↗
  • Provide an integrated swimming and lifeguard training program so all Vancouver children can learn to swim, in cooperation with qualified agencies, with more accessible community-based pools through collaboration between community centres and schools targeting early learning for young children.↗
  • Support local Community Centre Associations and their roles in joint operation of community centre facilities, and ensure renewal of Joint Operating Agreements with all CCAs in 2027 and beyond.↗
  • Encourage collaboration with schools and libraries for use of their facilities for community centre programs.↗
  • Withdraw Park Board support for the City-initiated policy of imposing housing over new community centres.↗
  • Plan for community centre maintenance, upgrades, renovation, and expansions that save money long-term rather than deferring maintenance leading to expensive replacements.↗
  • Ensure annual and long-term budgets for operations and the capital plan include established funding for all existing community centres on an ongoing basis.↗
  • Transfer finance, operations, and facilities back under Park Board jurisdiction from the City's planning, real estate, and facilities departments, with line-by-line budget analysis and oversight.↗
  • Advocate for secure, ongoing funding for the Park Board as a specified portion of the City of Vancouver tax base.↗
  • Protect and expand the parks and recreation system targeting a ratio of 1.1 hectares of parks per 1,000 people to serve projected population growth.↗
  • Designate existing temporary and de-facto parks as permanent parks to ensure their protection.↗↗
  • Halt current logging operations in Stanley Park until a full scientific review and independent risk assessments are conducted, with written records retained including documented tree inspections considering ecological, wildlife, and recreational values, and limit felling to trees deemed imminently dangerous by a provincially certified tree risk assessor.↗
  • Ensure public engagement and multiple expert opinions are considered before major projects are undertaken in Vancouver parks.↗
  • Give preference to in-house employees over outside contractors for parks projects and follow all WorkSafe BC guidelines to protect workers.↗
  • Fund the Park Board's capital plan.↗

Governance, consultation, and accountability 26

  • Reinstate participatory community-based planning as the fundamental framework for Vancouver's future planning.↗↗
  • Restrict participation in City engagement processes to verified Vancouver residents (owners and renters), business owners, and property owners.↗
  • Support a system of neighbourhood-based organizations to enable local planning, build community, and provide a means for residents and businesses to engage with the City.↗↗
  • Create Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) and Development Cost Levy (DCL) registers so that residents can see whether new developments have provided a financial benefit to their neighbourhood.↗
  • Develop diverse, inclusive City Advisory Committees for both renters and homeowners, with members randomly selected from volunteer pools to represent Vancouver's diverse perspectives.↗
  • Publish all materials relating to public proceedings, including staff correspondence, financial documents, and Freedom of Information requests, at least one month before Council discussion, and notify residents, businesses, and local groups of their availability.↗↗
  • Review current policies and practices around in-camera meetings with recommendations to limit them to only when truly essential, and ensure general staff briefings of Council are open to the public.↗
  • Review the Code of Conduct Policies for Council and staff to ensure accountability to the public while not unreasonably restricting councillors' transparency and communication efforts.↗
  • Create a registry of lobbyists and professional advocates working on behalf of special interests, organizations, and businesses, consistent with Federal and Provincial policies, excluding resident groups.↗↗↗
  • Implement a ward system to make City Council directly accountable to neighbourhood constituents.↗↗
  • Require departments to develop annual service plans with performance benchmarks and hold management accountable for achieving them.↗
  • Ensure the Office of the Auditor General supports Council's oversight of the efficiency and effectiveness of the City's administration and finances.↗↗
  • Change the budget process to enable Council and the public to review and set priorities within the operating and capital budgets, including review and approval of departmental budgets, service plans, and performance benchmarks.↗
  • Enact a municipal moratorium on approval and permitting of AI data centres while local planning and regulatory frameworks are developed to mitigate negative consequences.↗
  • Restore finance, operations, and facilities to Park Board jurisdiction to preserve its independence and self-sufficiency.↗
  • Withdraw the City's request to the Province to amend the Vancouver Charter to eliminate the elected Park Board.↗
  • Plan growth and development in consultation with local residents and businesses, within the scale and context of each neighbourhood and with required infrastructure and amenities.↗
  • Simplify zoning, development, and building permitting processes to reduce costs and times, and allow more flexible on-site review for renovation building permits.↗
  • Demand the provincial government amend Bills 44, 46, and 47, and support other municipalities calling for judicial review and withdrawal of those policies.↗
  • Consult with residents to inform policy on health and safety issues in their neighbourhoods.↗
  • Establish a Downtown Eastside Audit to support the provincial advisor's work, request detailed audits of funding and outcomes, and ensure needed resources are provided and properly distributed.↗
  • Restore public consultation as part of a broader return to participatory planning in the city zoning process.↗↗
  • Reform the public hearing process so residents are not required to queue for days or submit mass written objections to influence council decisions.↗
  • Use transparent, verifiable, and publicly accessible data — including Vancouver's existing zoning capacity, StatsCan Census, CMHC, and regional/BC stats — for planning purposes.↗
  • Re-establish neighbourhood planning offices.↗
  • Urge City Council to listen to West End residents regarding the proposed 27-storey hotel rezoning on Barclay Street.↗

Schools, students, facilities, and education governance 18

  • Work with the Province to locate K–12 schools within walking distance of students to reduce car trips.↗
  • Work with the City to end school enrolment lotteries through long-range planning that places schools where and when students need them.↗
  • Return to meaningful public input into a transparent budgeting process.↗
  • Demand the Province protect four annexes, twenty-eight elementary schools, and eleven secondary schools that remain at high seismic risk.↗
  • Coordinate with the Park Board to enhance school fields and green spaces for use by the broader community as well as host schools.↗
  • Provide an integrated swimming and lifeguard training program so that all Vancouver children can learn to swim, in cooperation with qualified agencies, and work toward more community-based pools through cooperation between community centres and schools.↗↗
  • Implement inclusion policies and measure their outcomes to ensure they are effective.↗
  • Incorporate childcare into school sites with the long-range goal of implementing a preschool program for all three- and four-year-olds, in keeping with Ministry of Education plans.↗
  • Include music programming at every elementary school by reinstating Elementary Band and Strings programs.↗
  • Increase focus on alternative, applied skills, and dual credit programs to provide pathways for students across the academic spectrum.↗↗
  • Prioritize keeping children from the same family together in the same school.↗
  • Work with the District Parent Advisory Council on neighbourhood school planning.↗
  • Pause the rollout of Microsoft Copilot for students 13 and older in secondary schools pending research showing benefits outweigh risks and meaningful consultation with students, families, and educators.↗
  • Ensure City growth planning does not outpace school resources, and prioritize new schools in newly developed neighbourhoods such as Olympic Village.↗↗
  • Stop disposing of school land and commit to retaining ownership of school buildings and property for future population growth, repurposing space in underutilized buildings for childcare, seniors care, or community programs.↗
  • Take action by any means possible to reverse the proposed sale of Queen Elizabeth Annex, the leasing of Fleming's field, and the closure of Carleton.↗
  • Negotiate with the Province to retain a greater share of school taxes collected in Vancouver for local schools rather than remitting them to provincial general revenue.↗
  • Examine the need for expansion of senior management relative to direct classroom spending.↗

Economic development and local business 17

  • Invest in growing industries such as film and tourism.↗
  • Work with Business Improvement Associations to revitalize main streets.↗
  • Protect existing industrial and commercially-zoned lands by not rezoning them for primarily residential development.↗↗
  • Work with Destination Vancouver and other destination marketing organizations to support the local visitor economy.↗
  • Support the film and television industry through ease of permitting, resolution of parking issues, and use of city properties and facilities for film production.↗
  • Support the convention industry by addressing concerns of event planners and visitors related to crime and safety, community vibrancy, transportation, and other considerations.↗
  • Engage the city's 22 Business Improvement Associations, local businesses, and residents through neighbourhood-based planning initiatives to shape the future of local commercial areas.↗
  • Support the work of the city's 22 Business Improvement Associations to address issues and opportunities for local business owners, reduce barriers to business establishment and operation, and leverage neighbourhood branding in community planning.↗
  • Provide local economic development opportunities to leverage regional, provincial, and federal economic development initiatives led by Invest Vancouver and other agencies.↗
  • Retain curbside parking in neighbourhood business areas except during peak travel periods on arterial roads.↗
  • Lower parking rates in neighbourhood business areas to support local shops and services.↗
  • Reduce the property tax burden and regulatory fees for local small businesses, including insulating them from excessive tax increases resulting from area upzoning.↗↗
  • Support local businesses during periods of construction disruption.↗↗
  • Streamline the permitting process for business establishment or expansion, covering businesses from small local shops to major industries and large employers.↗↗
  • Review the City of Vancouver's procurement process to prioritize opportunities for local businesses.↗↗
  • Leverage City-owned commercial properties to support local economic development through targeted leasing and more affordable rents.↗↗
  • Push for Vancouver to host a WNBA team, using the existing Rogers Arena.↗

Public safety and emergency services 11

  • Enforce by-laws to address public disorder and ensure parks are accessible and family-friendly and streets are safe.↗↗
  • Work with police and the province to prioritize crime prevention, protect residents and businesses from petty crime and vandalism, and enforce laws against public drug use.↗
  • Improve disaster and emergency resilience by helping neighbourhoods prepare locally and building a disaster-proof emergency command centre.↗
  • Respond immediately when and where wildlife threatens or attacks residents.↗
  • Implement a city-wide program to reduce the rat population.↗
  • Provide additional mental health support for emergency responders.↗
  • Support recruiting and cultural awareness training for police and other first responders.↗
  • Review the adequacy of police, fire, and other emergency services to meet current and future needs from increasing density and population, with new resources added as required.↗
  • Implement district policing and increase support for community policing initiatives such as Block Watch, school coordination, youth-at-risk programs, and anti-gang supports.↗↗
  • Improve safety and sanitation through more public washrooms and frequent collection of syringes from streets and playgrounds.↗
  • Improve cleaning of public spaces and address repeat petty crime.↗

Housing and land use 10

  • Stop demoviction by protecting older rental buildings from demolition.↗
  • Establish a renters office.↗
  • Reverse Council's decision and restore off-street parking minimums for all new construction.↗
  • End mass rezonings if a majority council is achieved.↗
  • Repeal the Official Development Plan, Vancouver Plan, Broadway Plan, Jericho Lands ODP, Rupert & Renfrew Plan, and the Villages Plan.↗↗
  • Revisit the previous neighbourhood plans that were discarded upon adoption of the 2022 Vancouver Plan.↗
  • Ensure that growth occurs within infrastructure capacity, with infrastructure planned in parallel with growth.↗
  • Plan within the local context, complementing neighbourhood character and prioritizing housing types that residents need.↗
  • Prioritize affordable housing types such as co-ops and other models, especially larger units for families.↗↗
  • Require multiplexes to conform to neighbourhood-specific form restrictions, which may include reduced maximum unit counts based on lot size and access, minimum onsite parking, reconsidered setbacks, and design guidelines for streetscape context.↗

Arts, culture, libraries, and civic life 8

  • Review and encourage program funding for arts and culture.↗
  • Build an arts and culture page on vancouver.ca including promotion of all event listings.↗↗
  • Create and publish an inventory of arts spaces on vancouver.ca.↗↗
  • Provide incentives for retention and upgrading of creative spaces and disincentives for their demolition.↗
  • Pursue a one-for-one replacement and retention policy for City-owned creative space, including repurposing unused or underutilized properties such as Park Board and School Board facilities.↗
  • Encourage minimum space requirements for cultural amenities in densifying neighbourhoods.↗
  • Examine how Vancouver's civic theatres could be made more suitable and affordable for the local arts community.↗
  • Keep Community Centres and other Park Board facilities affordable for the arts community.↗

Climate, environment, and resilience 8

  • Implement a Local Environment Action Plan with emphasis on parks and green spaces, low-rise wood buildings, and weather-resilient infrastructure.↗
  • Use incentives to encourage voluntary conversion of existing buildings to improved energy efficiency and zero emissions, rather than mandatory regulation.↗
  • Invest in strategic planning for flood preparation and mitigation, and adaptation to extreme heat, rising sea levels, drought/water shortages, and food security.↗
  • Upgrade city infrastructure to prevent raw sewage or pollution entering False Creek and to align infrastructure growth with capacity.↗↗
  • Expand tree planting, protect mature trees, and enhance green space to mitigate urban heat island effects, including building under the urban forest canopy where possible.↗
  • Prioritize adaptive reuse and renovation of existing buildings over demolition and new construction.↗
  • Work with BC Hydro to reduce electricity costs to consumers by adjusting step energy charges to incentivize electrical use rather than discourage it.↗
  • Improve disaster and emergency resilience proactively by engaging neighbourhoods with required resources, planning for disaster and climate events city-wide, and ensuring vulnerable populations such as low-income seniors and people in SROs have access to air conditioning or cooling facilities for extreme heat events.↗

City finances, taxation, and service delivery 7

  • Limit property tax increases to the rate of inflation.↗↗
  • Reduce city expenditure on administration and non-core services to improve access to core city services and amenities.↗
  • Stop spending City funds on programs that are clearly provincial or federal responsibilities, while holding senior governments accountable for funding those services.↗
  • Continue the Long-Term Financial Sustainability and Municipal Finance Reform initiative—the joint UBCM–Provincial Government review of new options for funding municipal services and reducing property tax impacts.↗
  • Act on service-delivery proposals and spending efficiencies identified by Vancouver's Auditor General.↗↗
  • Review the City's financial structure and policies to ensure consistency with best practices and transparency for citizens.↗
  • Conduct a thorough review of the Operating and Capital budgets to document cost increases over the past decade, identify essential versus supplementary services, develop benchmarks for service cost and value, and establish purpose statements for supplementary services.↗↗

Social policy, health, and community services 5

  • Get the River District community centre and childcare facility built by the end of the term if elected.↗
  • Establish a Downtown Eastside Audit to assess social issues in the community and ensure resources reach those who need them.↗
  • Enhance food security and promote community development by encouraging local gardening on private or public property and neighbourhood farmers' markets to exchange produce.↗
  • Work with the Province to address the complex needs of people experiencing homelessness, addiction, and mental health issues through long-term, holistic solutions rather than emergency services, including voluntary treatment on demand, involuntary care beds, transition services, and long-term supports.↗↗
  • Work with provincial and federal governments to secure resources for vulnerable populations, including full implementation of the Four Pillars (treatment on demand, harm reduction, prevention, enforcement), proper safe housing matched to individual needs, addiction and mental health care, addressing the overdose crisis and safe drug supply, and expanding the Car 87 program subject to needs assessment and provincial funding confirmation.↗

Stances · 19

Coverage — registry: the City of Vancouver's official candidate list. Party policy: extracted and shown above. Candidate-level policy: extracted where a candidate publishes their own; most candidates run on the party's shared record.