The Tri-City News sent out a questionnaire to all candidates in the local ridings for the 2024 B.C. election.
The following is from Ken Holowanky, independent candidate in Coquitlam-Maillardville.
Name: Ken Holowanky
Age: 68
Profession: Machine shop manager at a New Westminster repair and manufacturing business
Residence: Coquitlam’s Chineside neighbourhood
Biography
- Having a wide range of interests, I will be able to connect on a personal level to a larger percentage of the electorate than MLAs historically have done. These include being an avid motorcyclist (who would commute more often if two vehicles could be on one insurance policy), boating, hiking, snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, snowshoeing, vintage automobile and motorcycle restoration, landscaping with trees and shrubs, listening to music on vinyl (but not a musician), being aware and getting involved in conversations about B.C. political issues, photography, reminiscing about world travels as a young man, and, building and visiting remote wilderness cabins and, most enjoyable of all, considerable time socializing with good friends. I am a major proponent of boosting the stature of those who add value to goods in the course of a work day. This includes those in the teaching and health care professions. As an independent, I will have the option of thinking outside the box, yet be a team player should any of my legislative peers from either side of the floor propose good legislation. Balance is a big word, luckily I had good teachers during my formative years and learned how to spell it. We need more people in government that have some level of technical expertise to oversee infrastructure and transportation projects and less people from real estate.
Contact information
- Profile: kenholowanky.title.is/election2024
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 604-735-1340
Questionnaire
Recent legislation designed to get more housing built in urban areas close to transit has created tumult in some communities. How might your government further refine this approach to ensure the new housing that gets constructed also addresses local needs for affordable housing as well as homes for families and seniors?
My goal is to eliminate influence of the real estate lobby at provincial and municipal levels. Land assemblers do not add value to goods. They are creating the disconnect between home prices and the local economy. It is a well-published folly to densify by way of decimating established neighbourhoods and their associated contiguous greenspaces. A significant path to affordability is banning foreign ownership and the practice of using homes as an investment vehicle (domestic owners included). Another is to promote development in greenfield areas zoned for density from the beginning. Build transit to these areas, don’t build transit as a savvy real estate speculator’s dream. Bill 44 (six-plexes on every lot in every town in B.C. over 5,000 people) and Bill 47 (Eight storeys anywhere within an 800-m circle of a SkyTrain station) are blatant over-reaches. The tumult being created in communities is due to this government’s dismissal of residents that have spent a lifetime contributing to the local economy, paying taxes and maintaining homes that will allow them to age in place. Once tree lined streets and backyards are gone, they are gone. All young families will have left to move up to after outgrowing tiny condos is nothing.
What would your government do to help municipalities provide more supportive housing?
To provide more supportive housing, I default to our federal government to re-instate the federal affordable housing strategy that was ended in 1993, and for them to limit immigration to levels that this program would be expected to support. Social housing fell from a high of 20 per cent of all housing built annually between 1972 and 1994 to a low of two per cent. It is acknowledged the most recent figures indicate 3.5 per cent.
How would your provincial government support municipalities dealing with the increase in growth and demand for infrastructure like schools, childcare, parks and recreational facilities brought on by the new provincial housing regulations?
To support municipalities dealing with growth, I would forcefully lobby the federal government to reduce immigration levels until such time as we can look after all of those who are here already.
How will your government help make $10-a-day childcare more widely available to more families?
$10-a-day child care is already being introduced at a pace that is admirable. A big hurdle to speeding this up is reasonable of cost floor space for our daycare providers. I submit this is directly related to cost of onerous leases due to inordinate profit seeking by non value adding landowners and real estate speculators, as well as issues like taxation of the air above buildings by local governments.
Small businesses are struggling with onerous leases, petty crime, increasing costs. According to a recent survey almost half fear they won't be around in four years. What will you do to make it better for those businesses to have a chance to survive and new ones to start up?
Small businesses are indeed struggling. Onerous leases are tied to investor landlords waiting for properties to be rezoned into high density residential. This is a direct result of influence of the real estate sector on government. Another leading cause is movement of qualified employees out of our area. This is also a direct result of influence of the real estate sector by way of propagating speculation in our established neighbourhoods. Tradespeople do not want to go home only to lug toolboxes up two flights of stairs (in the only stairwell), and they do not want to have the service truck parked blocks away because it is too tall for underground. Industrial lands like Fraser Mills (that is nowhere near a transit hub) are being lost to residential, there will soon be nowhere for people to work at places that add value to goods. We cannot have elected officials that are tied to the real estate business. I am a strong believer in bolstering our trades training (from cooking to welding) in the lower grades of school like they were before the public apprenticeship program was dropped in the early 1980s.
Local governments now have more Emergency Social Services (ESS) responsibilities for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery for major incidents like fires and floods. Will your government provide a temporary group lodging facility at səmiq̓ʷəʔelə / Riverview Lands as part of a coordinated regional response plan for natural/human-made disasters?
Emergency response cannot be allocated to one large central location such as Riverview. There needs to be several, smaller dedicated muster stations that people can get to without travelling a long distance. No, I do not support a proposal to have a lodging facility on Riverview lands. There are enough existing schools, community centres, playing fields (in our local climate temporary large-scale tenting could be erected) and privately owned commercial spaces to serve this need. Riverview should be re-dedicated to be a health-oriented facility specializing in care of people with mental challenges. The lands should be kept as is, with updates to the existing structures and no change to the iconic greenery. This is in the best interest of the community as a whole.
Coquitlam RCMP continues to get daily calls about people who have left a mental health facility or group home. The ground- and paper-work involved to account for each person missing from these centres takes hours of police time. How will your government help the detachment and the cities of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam with resources?
I am in full support of seeking people to fill positions as mental health support staff for our police forces. It is a special trait to be able to quickly recognize behaviours that require specifically different approaches when responding to a call, not to mention the specifically different avenues of interaction during the call. It should not be expected of all police officers to possess these traits. They are there to police. The day will not be filled with these out of the ordinary calls and as such, absolutely there would be time to look after documentation.
How will your government partner with the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation?
*The candidate did not respond to this question.
The Société francophone de Maillardville has been in Coquitlam for more than 40 years and receives provincial funding. What will you do to ensure it has a permanent home in the traditionally French-speaking community?
There is no reason for funding of Le Société Francophone de Maillardville to change. The only reason their home could be in jeopardy is real estate development. My position is clear, the real estate lobby should not have the influence it does.
Upgrades to the Highway 1/Brunette Avenue Interchange have been on the books for decades. What will you do to make sure this pinch-point is improved, especially for emergency responders?
I attended most meetings regarding the Brunette/Highway 1 interchange. There are good ideas already on the table. I will ensure this is moved ahead before the massive Fraser Mills and 100 Braid Street residential projects are allowed to proceed. My goal is to be an elected official with a modicum of technical expertise that will hold potential vendors of all infrastructure projects to task and move this along. There is no reason for the proposed road plan to not have been started on already, other than lack of pressure by officials presently in office. We need people in government that can review engineering reports and make decisions. I advocate for a return to our Department of Highways as it used to be. Knowledgeable people whose decisions were not made by profit margin, but by value to the public.
