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John Coupar

Liberal for Vancouver Council

Businesses & Jobs

Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres

Liberal promises

Keep AI data centres off Vancouver's scarce and expensive land needed for housing, while supporting Canadian AI capacity elsewhere.

Business Permitting

Liberal promises

Modernize outdated industrial-era zoning and business rules so small businesses can make and sell products in the same space.

Economic Growth

Liberal promises

Establish an Industrial Land Reserve to keep good-paying jobs in Vancouver, surrounded by affordable housing.
Champion Vancouver as the headquarters of a future CANZUK alliance, bringing more jobs, trade, and talent to our city.

Tourism

Liberal promises

Rename YVR as Terry Fox International Airport, in honour of Terry Fox's legacy.

Climate Change, Heat, Fires, & the Environment

Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres

Liberal promises

Keep AI data centres off Vancouver's scarce and expensive land needed for housing, while supporting Canadian AI capacity elsewhere.

Green Space

Liberal promises

Keep the elected Park Board and properly fund it, so our parks are protected from being chopped up and sold off.

Private Vehicles & Parking

Liberal promises

Remove every parking meter in front of beaches and community centres within our first year.

Culture & Events

Festivals & Events

Liberal promises

Find a fair way to make policing costs affordable for community festivals and events, and end Vancouver's 'no fun city' reputation.

Public Art

Liberal promises

Create North America's first Artist Land Reserve in four locations across the city, with studio space and property taxes cut in half.

Tourism

Liberal promises

Rename YVR as Terry Fox International Airport, in honour of Terry Fox's legacy.

Housing & Homelessness

Affordability

Liberal promises

Replace the Vancouver Building Code with the BC Building Code, cutting the costs, wait times, and complexity that make housing slower and more expensive to build.

Every other city in BC uses the BC Building Code, yet Vancouver has its own special code, adding costs, wait times, and complexity to everything from a simple home renovation to a new multi-unit building. This is a big part of why Vancouver's housing costs are so high. We will adopt the BC Building Code, in line with Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, and our other neighbouring cities.

Consolidate the twelve City departments that approve new housing into one, making applications and approvals faster and simpler.

Homelessness

Liberal promises

Require 24-hour public bathrooms and showers for people who are unhoused in every new supportive housing project.

Property Taxes

Liberal promises

Tax luxury yachts over 40 feet to fund property tax cuts for family doctors, walk-in clinics, food banks, and Vancouver's creative sector.

Public & Assistive Housing

Liberal promises

Reverse the ban on new supportive housing on day one, so seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities get the supports they need.

Local Government, Planning, & Democracy

Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres

Liberal promises

Keep AI data centres off Vancouver's scarce and expensive land needed for housing, while supporting Canadian AI capacity elsewhere.

Budgeting

Liberal promises

Cancel Ken Sim's $800-million Second City Hall and reinvest the money in services that matter, like pools and parks.
Shift spending from managers to front-line services by hiring 400 new unionized workers for garbage pickup, roads, parks, and libraries.
Ban foreign travel for councillors and City staff.
Call for an independent Auditor General investigation into the failed $600-million Art Gallery project and all related spending.

Good Governance

Liberal promises

Create a City of Vancouver Lobbyist Registry, like the ones our federal and provincial governments already have.
Reduce Freedom of Information fees so the public can see what City Hall is doing with their tax dollars.
Launch an independent external review of the Integrity Commissioner's office and strengthen the Code of Conduct for elected officials.
Require politicians to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings and accounts along with their other financial interests.

Public Engagement

Liberal promises

Convene a citizens' assembly to study a ward system for Vancouver, with its recommendations going to a public referendum.

Mental Health, Drugs, & Addiction

Treatment for Addiction

Liberal promises

Push for a long-term methamphetamine strategy for Vancouver and BC focused on safety, treatment, and recovery.

Public Safety & Policing

Non-Police-Based Public Safety

Liberal promises

Declare intimate partner violence a public health and public safety crisis, and support a victim-survivor led action plan to address it.
Support proper staffing, long-term funding, and transparent deployment planning so Vancouver firefighters have the resources they need.

Upstream Causes of Crime

Liberal promises

Crack down on the Bitcoin ATMs and money laundering that fuel the toxic drug trade, organized crime, and street-level disorder.

Ken Sim's approach to safety amounts to "give the police whatever they ask for." While we support our men and women in uniform, this approach isn't working. Crime thrives when there is money to be made, and the spread of Bitcoin ATMs across our city is enabling the toxic drug trade and the violence that comes with it. Ken Sim has promoted Bitcoin at every opportunity, calling it his "hill to die on," while organized crime thrives here. We will go after the root causes of crime through smart, well-considered policy that actually makes our streets safer.

Phase out unregulated currency exchanges and replace payday loan shops with trusted institutions like Pigeon Park Savings.

Public Spaces & Services

Fitness & Sports Facilities

Liberal promises

Make a historic $1.35-billion investment in parks, recreation, and pools.
Build 50-metre pools, not 25-metre pools, at the new Vancouver Aquatic Centre.

Green Space

Liberal promises

Keep the elected Park Board and properly fund it, so our parks are protected from being chopped up and sold off.

Health Infrastructure

Liberal promises

Cut property taxes in half for family doctors and walk-in clinics to attract and keep physicians in Vancouver.

Public Washrooms

Liberal promises

Build new public washrooms across the city, and mobilize new front-line workers to clean up our streets and parks.

Transit & Getting Around

Private Vehicles & Parking

Liberal promises

Remove every parking meter in front of beaches and community centres within our first year.

Transit Projects

Liberal promises

Make finishing the SkyTrain to UBC our top transportation priority.
Cut property taxes by 50% for local businesses during SkyTrain construction, with incentives for landlords to lower rent for affected tenants.

Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team
Combining private-sector leadership and public-sector service, Coupar seeks to bring fiscal management, community engagement, and environmental advocacy to City Hall in hopes to build a more affordable, livable, and family-friendly vibrant Vancouver.

For Coupar, public service is a family legacy. His father, Charles (Charlie) Coupar, a renowned horticulturist who spent over four decades with the Vancouver Park Board, served as the inaugural director of the Bloedel Conservatory. It was through his father's work that Coupar's commitment to the city's green spaces first took root – and at age 13, standing beside his father at the Conservatory's grand opening, that commitment was cemented for good.

This commitment was put to the test in 2009 when the Park Board marked the Bloedel Conservatory for closure. Determined to protect his father's legacy, Coupar spearheaded the defense campaign by co-founding the Friends of the Bloedel Association. The successful grassroots initiative not only saved the facility but also established a partnership that boosted annual attendance and earned him the City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour in 2013.

During his time at the Park Board, including two years as chair, Coupar established himself as a defender of public assets, challenging administrative shifts toward developer-centric policies. His tenure was marked by a few major successes: he secured vital restoration funding for the Bloedel Conservatory, oversaw marine upgrades at Vanier Park, and facilitated the development of the Killarney Seniors Centre and False Creek Dragon Boat facility. Alongside this record of achievement in public office, Coupar built a career in the private sector, most recently as President of a carbon-neutral transportation company.

See John Coupar's election promises

Reason for running

submitted by the candidate or their team
John is running to bring practical, common-sense leadership, fiscal responsibility, and livable communities across Vancouver.

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