The creation of a city housing authority and support of small businesses in a separate "tax tier" are COPE's biggest pledges in the coming civic election, according to the party's election platform announced Tuesday.
"We want to set up another office at the city to take housing head on," said council candidate RJ Aquino, who added the authority would deal primarily with the province and federal government as an independent jurisdiction.
He also emphasized that small businesses in Vancouver should be protected from high taxes with a new tax bracket. Aquino said this could pave the way to boost the city's taxation powers.
