A GREEN VISION FOR BURNABY
Growth should improve everyday life, not simply make the city bigger
Burnaby is located on the traditional and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam),
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kwikwəƛ ̓ əm (Kwikwetlem) Peoples.
Reconciliation means more than acknowledgement. It means respecting Indigenous rights, knowledge,
stewardship practices and participation in decisions affecting land, water and community. We will bring
Indigenous knowledge together with contemporary science, local knowledge and community experience to
strengthen stewardship of Burnaby’s forests, waterways, biodiversity and urban environment.
Our vision is a Burnaby where housing, transportation, health care, public services, economic opportunity,
community facilities and the environment are planned together, so that growth improves everyday life rather
than simply the size of the city.
This platform rests on five priorities:
- housing people can afford,
- transportation people can rely on,
- safe and healthy communities,
- natural heritage and climate resilience,
- and a vibrant, complete and accessible Burnaby.
A sixth commitment runs through all of them: we will measure what we promise, and report honestly on it.
The Goal
A Burnaby where people can afford to live, move around safely, stay healthy, connect with their community,
enjoy nature and build a future.
Housing
Build homes people can actually afford
- Utilize the Burnaby Housing Authority to build 1500+ new non-market rental homes annually.
- Triple the number of purpose-built rental homes in Burnaby by 2050 to 40,000 and increase non-market housing to 20% of all housing in Burnaby.
- Never sell public land. Keep city land for public benefit.
- Halt the sale of city properties by Royal Oak Station, and instead have the Burnaby Housing Authority build city non-market rental housing.
- Expand partnerships with non-profit housing providers, co-operatives, community land trusts and public housing providers.
- Streamline approvals for qualifying non-market housing and support construction methods that reduce housing costs.
- Track affordable rental homes gained and lost, and ensure meaningful protections for tenants displaced by redevelopment.
Transportation
Get people where they are going, reliably
- Speed up buses at least 20% during peak times with transit priority on all frequent routes in Burnaby within 2 years.
- Implement full signal priority on all frequent transit corridors, advocate for bus lanes and queue-jump lanes, so buses carrying dozens of people are not constantly stuck waiting at red lights.
- Install a bench and shelter at every bus stop by 2030.
- Support north–south rapid transit in Burnaby, including improving the R2 rapid bus into bus rapid transit between Metrotown, Brentwood, Burnaby Heights and the North Shore.
- Support quick implementation of TransLink’s updated proposals for more direct and frequent bus service in Burnaby, especially north–south connections.
- Ensure every street has a connected, accessible sidewalk within 5 years.
- Complete the initial Major Cycling Network outlined in Burnaby’s Transportation Plan within 3 years, and ensure every home in Burnaby is no more than 500 m from a high-comfort bikeway by 2040.
- Re-design dangerous streets and intersections to ensure safety for all, and achieve zero deaths and serious injuries on Burnaby streets.
Safe and Healthy Communities
Care that reaches people when they need it most
- Establish a non-police response model for appropriate non-violent mental-health and wellness calls, built with health workers, crisis professionals, peer-support workers and people with lived experience.
- Ensure police can focus on responding where there is an immediate threat to public safety or criminal activity.
- Work with the Province, Fraser Health and community organizations to expand supportive and permanent housing, mental-health services, addiction treatment and outreach.
- Recognize health care as essential infrastructure and strongly advocate for completion of Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment.
- Develop a comprehensive Heat Resilience Strategy that identifies vulnerable neighbourhoods and residents.
- Expand cooling centres, shade, drinking water and extended cooling-facility hours during severe heat, and explore lending fans and portable cooling equipment.
- Implement a cooling bylaw so existing buildings can maintain a safe temperature during increasingly frequent heat waves, with at least one area that can be kept at a safe temperature during extreme heat.
- Strengthen wildfire preparedness through risk mapping, early detection, evacuation planning and emergency communication, and prepare public facilities to provide clean air during smoke events.
Natural Heritage and Climate Resilience
Protect what makes Burnaby, Burnaby
- Treat Burnaby Mountain, Burnaby Lake, Deer Lake, the Fraser Foreshore and our forests, wetlands and streams as essential infrastructure.
- Protect conservation areas, ecological corridors, waterways, foreshore areas and important wildlife habitat.
- Restore degraded streams, wetlands, riparian areas and habitat, and support salmon restoration where feasible.
- Ensure a minimum of 20% tree canopy coverage in every neighbourhood by 2040 to reduce extreme heat impacts and noise pollution, while increasing city-wide tree cover to 40% by 2050.
- Protect mature and significant trees wherever practicable.
- Prioritize tree planting in neighbourhoods with low canopy and high heat exposure, and around schools, transit stops, public facilities and important pedestrian routes.
- Develop a network of neighbourhood resilience hubs providing cooling, clean air, backup power, drinking water, charging and emergency communications.
- Require major data-centre proposals to disclose electricity use, emissions, water consumption, backup generation and renewable sourcing, and to be powered by renewable, low-carbon electricity.
- Measure operational and embodied emissions from major development approvals and use lifecycle costing in decisions.
A Vibrant, Complete and Accessible Burnaby
Somewhere to go, something to experience, a place to belong
- Build complete neighbourhoods where residents can reach everyday necessities close to home.
- Protect important industrial and employment lands, and explore incentives for manufacturers that create good local jobs and use land productively.
- Create more local libraries and community centres so 95% of Burnaby’s population is within a 15- minute walk by 2050, and advocate for school construction to keep pace with growth.
- Create and support free, accessible public spaces where residents can gather, socialize and play without having to spend money.
- Develop four distinct cultural and entertainment centres, each built around its local businesses, institutions, parks, public spaces and transit connections.
- Ensure eligible residents know about the Fair Play program, and create a Low-Income Transit pass for Burnaby residents.
- Build accessibility into public spaces, sidewalks, crossings, parks and city facilities as a design requirement from the beginning.
Delivering Results
Turn good intentions into measurable results
- Establish clear targets, timelines and responsible departments for every commitment.
- Publish annual public progress reports covering housing affordability, rental and non-market housing, transit performance, walking and cycling infrastructure, traffic safety, tree canopy, ecological restoration, climate resilience, homelessness, health-care advocacy and community-facility access.
- Evaluate major projects according to their public benefits, environmental and climate impacts, and long-term financial costs and benefits.
- Report honestly when targets are not being met, and identify the corrective actions we will take.
