Decriminalization and housing affordability with Kennedy Stewart Uncommons with Nate Erskine-Smith

Vancouver's Mayor Kennedy Stewart joins Nate to discuss the city's proposal to decriminalize all drugs for personal use, and solutions to deliver affordable housing. 

Canada faces an opioid crisis that continues to kill thousands, and a housing affordability crisis that is leaving a younger generation of Canadians worse off than their parents. Both of these issues are particularly acute in Vancouver. In response to the opioid crisis, the city has applied for a federal exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize all drugs, and has increased funding for safer supply and peer support. In response to the housing crisis, it has moved towards more inclusive zoning, and it is working with the federal government to deliver rapid housing and to build affordable rental units. 

Before his mayoral run in 2018, Stewart served as an NDP MP in our House of Commons starting in 2011. He and Nate were colleagues from 2015 to 2018.





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