Vancouver Election 2026 – Candidate Survey – Vancouver Fire Fighters Local 18

Candidate Survey – Vancouver Election 2026

First Name

Last Name

Position you’re running for

Party affiliation

For each question, mark your level of support on the 5-point scale, then use the space provided to explain your position. Responses will be shared with our members and may be published to inform voters.

Section 1: Fire Service Staffing
We need to match population growth and density with boots on the ground.

1. Vancouver has added tens of thousands of residents and a wave of high-density towers over the past decade. Do you believe fire service staffing has kept pace, and if not, what would you do in your first budget to close the gap?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

2. Would you support tying fire service staffing to measurable benchmarks such as population, call volume, and response times, so that growth in staffing is automatic rather than renegotiated every budget cycle?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

3. Some firehalls, including in the Downtown Eastside, are running record call volumes. What is your plan to address chronic overload at the busiest halls?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

4. If you had to choose between holding the line on property taxes and funding additional fire crews, which would you choose, and why?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

Section 2: Affordable Housing
First responders need to be able to live in the communities they serve.

5. Many of the firefighters who protect Vancouver can no longer afford to live here. Do you see that as a public safety problem, and what is your plan to address it?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

6. Would you support dedicated workforce housing for first responders and other essential workers, including the use of city-owned land? What specific sites or mechanisms would you back?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

7. When a firefighter lives two hours away, callback times in a major emergency are longer. How does that factor into your thinking on housing policy?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

8. What concrete housing commitment are you willing to make to frontline workers that they could hold you to in four years?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

Section 3: Establishing a Fire Board
Independent oversight ensures decisions come from best practice, not the political cycle.

9. Do you support the creation of an independent fire board to oversee Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services? If yes, what would it take to get it done? If no, why not?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

10. Right now, decisions about fire service resourcing sit with council and city management. Do you think public safety decisions should be driven by operational best practice rather than by the political cycle, and how would you make that happen?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

11. Vancouver already has a police board. What is your view on why fire is treated differently, and should it be?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

12. If a fire board recommended a staffing or equipment increase that council found politically difficult, would you commit to following the board’s recommendation?

5 (Most Supportive)

1 (Not Supportive)

Please explain your position

Is there anything else you would like Vancouver’s fire fighters and their families to know about your candidacy?

Does your Party have anything in its platform that would relate to Vancouver Fire Fighters? Would you ask your party to add anything?

Vancouver Election 2026: Candidate Survey

IAFF Union Local 18

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