West End Votes—Candidate Profile: Taylor Singleton-Fookes

Taylor Singleton-Fookes
People’s Party of Canada
www.mptaylor.ca
taylorsingletonfookes@live.com
(778) 791-7667
No Social Media

Question 1: Housing Affordability 
Approximately 80% of West End residents currently rent their homes. Many neighbours are concerned that rental prices and living expenses are rising exponentially faster than household incomes. What will you do to address rising inequality and housing unaffordability? 
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
The federal government should be smaller and it should keep out of provincial and municipal jurisdiction. The problem of cost of living stems from two major forces: loose monetary policy and burdensome municipal regulation. The housing market prices are an asset bubble due to too much CDN liquidity looking for safety. The PPC will get the monetary policy of the federal government under control by controlling spending. It is up to the municipality to allow for development of density. If it was allowed, developers would cover Vancouver in density with no need for federal investment. The federal infrastructure projects ran by the Liberals were comically ineffective at getting things built. The reason for this is the overlapping jurisdictions which means nobody is accountable and everyone has someone to blame. Programs like social housing, federal building, buyer assistance, are using public money to buy votes. They transfer wealth to the relatively well (i.e. urban areas, house purchasing citizens). That is not what the federal government should be doing. Housing is a municipal problem, the solution must come from drastic changes to municipal policy and community initiatives like co-ops, not federal government handouts.
See https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/housing

Question 2: Homelessness
What will you do to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness, and prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place?  
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
The homelessness crisis in Vancouver is an immense and heartbreaking problem. Large amounts of public money are squandered every year with little or no impact on the growing reality. It is simple economic truth that the demand for anything free will be infinite. Public housing cannot solve this problem. The key to solving it is reallocating the resources available to short term trauma care. Vancouver’s trauma centers are fully occupied. They act as social housing overflow. Too often someone fleeing a dangerous situation is stonewalled, put on a waiting list, and ends up on the street. Once on the street, sleep deprivation, drug culture, and despair make getting out of the situation more difficult every day. Also, the city should prioritize zoning for towers with modest, extremely small, single room apartments that are safe, clean, & quiet. These are not social housing, but are inexpensive and would strive to make the first step off the street within reach of most.

Question 3: Opioids
The opioid overdose crisis has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and BC has reported record numbers of opioid-related deaths, emergency calls, and hospitalizations. We can all play a role in supporting those who use substances and have substance use disorders. What will you do to address this national crisis?  
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
Vancouver politicians have normalized open drug use. Safe injection sites and safe supply are misnomers. There is nothing safe about heroin. The risk of immediate overdose death is much higher with fentanyl than heroin, but long term they are both life destroying, body destroying poisons which cause physical addiction that cannot be easily overcome. Government drug policy needs to be rethought and drug classifications need to be re-accessed to reflect the harm caused by exposure to the substance. Expanding drugs like alcohol, marijuana, psilocybin, & lsd are dangerous, but can be responsibly used. Destructive drugs like cocaine, crack, meth, & heroin are mind and body destroyers that cause dependence. They cannot be responsibly used. We need new drug laws to divide drugs between expanding drugs which should be 100% legal (not medical) and destructive drugs which should be fought with tough criminal prosecution seeking to eliminate all supply and use. Enabling access to life destroying drugs is unconscionable, it is clearly, obviously exacerbating the problem and should be ceased immediately. 

Question 4: Reconciliation
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission produced 94 Calls to Action which have become the leading document for revealing the impact of violent colonization of Indigenous lands and peoples, and the pathway to reconciliation for settler societies and all levels of government. Some organizations claim that only 8 of the 94 Calls to Action have been implemented. What concrete plans do you have to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action in the next four years? 
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is another example of the failed paternalistic approach to interaction with Canada’s indigenous population. For example Call to Action #5: We call upon the [government] to develop culturally appropriate parenting programs for Aboriginal families. Do aboriginal families really need the government to tell them what is culturally appropriate? The 94 Calls to Actions are by bureaucrats, for bureaucrats as they spend $21 000 million every year and produce no tangible improvement in the lives of those who are struggling. We must end the federal programs that seek to control most aspects of indigenous lives. We must allow property ownership and stop perpetuating race based segregation. Aboriginal communities must embrace more individual freedom and take more responsibility. Government support may be well meaning, but it is ultimately destructive.
See: https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/indigenous-issues

Question 5: Food Security
Food insecurity is on the rise and now affects one in seven Canadians. Many families, young adults, and seniors can’t afford food, or worry about running out with no money to buy more. A root cause of food insecurity is poverty. How is your party planning to decrease poverty and food insecurity?
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
The amount of poverty in a society is indicative of how healthy that societies economy is. Artificial government forces that increase the price of food are wrong and should be ceased immediately. The supply management system imposes a financial burden of $339 annually on the poorest 20%. The carbon tax raises the cost of everything. Money printing and the resulting price inflation impacts the poor most. A healthy economy with lower taxes and less interest group protection will reduce poverty and reduce food insecurity.
See: https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/supply-management

Question 6: Climate Change
This Summer, Vancouver experienced the hottest temperatures on record. Many political parties have committed to long-term plans and solutions. What will you do in the next four years to confront climate change? 
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
The world’s climate has always changed and will continue to change. Until twelve thousand years ago, much of Canada was under ice, and it is thanks to natural climate change that we can live here today. There is no scientific consensus on the theory that CO2 produced by human activity is causing dangerous global warming. Climate change alarmism is based on flawed models that have consistently failed at correctly predicting the future. CO2 is not a pollutant. It is an essential ingredient for life on Earth and needed for plant growth.
See: https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/global-warming-environment

Question 7: Health Care
Many neighbours are concerned about the underfunding of mental health services in comparison to physical health. What will you do to ensure all Canadians—regardless of income—can access the complete care they need?
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
I have much doubt about the ability of government programs, no matter how well funded, to assist in the mental health of Canadians. Mental health is a complex reality. It includes how do you perceive yourself? You do you perceive the world around you? How do you relate to the people around you? These answers are unique to you, unique to the community around you, and unique to the time of your life. Government cannot help with these profoundly personal issues of understanding, meaning and value. We must seek to live authentically, to find support in the community around us, to find joy in the toil of existence. Life is full of suffering, pain, loss and death. The medical establishment can only deaden our senses and categorize our suffering. Mental health is having the bravery to face life with courage and having the strength to be there for the ones you love. It is folly to look to the government for such a need.

Question 8: What is your favorite place on the downtown peninsula, and why?
Taylor Singleton-Fookes:
Third beach because swimming under the setting sun is magnificent.

End of Questions.
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