VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — BC NDP Leader John Horgan pledged to reintroduce a renter’s rebate if re-elected, among a slew of incentives announced on Thanksgiving.

His party’s election plan includes providing a renter’s rebate of $400 a year for households earning up to $80,000 a year. That promise was included in the NDP platform, released last week.

“That’s going to put money, again, into people’s pockets. Combined with our COVID benefit, that will be $1,400 dollars to put towards rent, to put towards childcare, to put towards groceries, whatever individuals believe they need to do,” Horgan said of the rebate.

He also promised to freeze rents until the end of 2021.

In his first term as premier, Horgan capped rent increases at inflation each year, saving renters an average of $333 annually.

NDP leader John Horgan on the campaign trail, re-iterating previous promises that if re-elected his government would extend rent freeze to the end of 2021 and issue $400 renter “rebate” cheques to households earning up to $80,000 annually. #BCVotes2020 #bcpoli

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) October 12, 2020

Horgan said, if re-elected in the Oct. 24 provincial election, the NDP would pass legislation to make that cap permanent.

As part of the NDP election platform, the party previously promised a one-time, $1,000 recovery benefit for families with a household income under $125,000 a year, with a sliding scale to $170,00.
Individuals would receive $500 if they are earning less than $62,000, with a sliding scale up to $87,000.

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The NDP claims the BC Liberals caucus opposed capping rent hikes to inflation.

“Now they want to give a $200 million tax break to people with homes worth more than $3 million,” Horgan said.

Liberal candidate counters

BC Liberal candidate George Affleck countered on Monday, suggesting the average rent in Vancouver increased by more than $2,000 a year under the previous NDP government.

“The vacancy rate hasn’t budgeted and the cost of housing has gone up under the NDP, the opposite of what he promised. We need a real plan to help people and that’s what the BC Liberals are offering,” Affleck added.

“John Horgan promised 114,000 affordable housing units and less than 3,000 units have actually been built. It will take nearly 100 years for the NDP to deliver on the promise in full.”

Affleck also said Horgan previously promised a $400 renter’s rebate, but it never materialized.

Greens, Conservatives

BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau is spending time with family in the Cowichan Valley for Thanksgiving Day.

Meanwhile, the BC’s Conservative responded Monday to a questionnaire from the BC Wildlife Federation, covering a number of topics, including management and conservation, habitat and water sustainability, parks and public access, fish and aquaculture, and predator management.

“Hundreds of thousands of our party’s members live, work and play in rural B.C., and we will always fight hard for it’s preservation, and for sustainable management,” says Conservative Leader Trevor Bolin.

Leaders debate

The B.C. leaders of the NDP, Liberals, and the Green Party will be facing off in a televised debate Tuesday.

With the provincial election looming, party leaders will have 90 minutes to answer questions about current issues and go head to head on topics that matter to B.C. voters.

The televised debate will be moderated by Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.

You can catch the debate starting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on our website, on Citytv, as well as on OMNI Television.

You can also find all the election-related news you need in the lead up to election day on our B.C. Votes 2020 page.