A City That Works.
A citizens' framework for Victoria 2026. Security. Cleanliness. Results. The one-page version of the full program.
← Back to the frameworkThe Problem in 30 Seconds
Victoria's operating budget is up 29% in three years ($297.9M → $384.1M). Property tax: 6.15% → 7.93% → 6.99%, with 10.44% proposed for 2026. VicPD now costs $750 per resident — the highest in BC. Missing Middle delivered 61 permits in 2024 against a target of 150. 48% of downtown businesses would leave if their lease expired. $25M spent on homelessness since 2023 — with no published outcome metrics.
No competitive benchmarking. No AI. No digital twin. No smart infrastructure. No zero-based reviews.
Victoria does not need to spend more. It needs to spend smarter.
The Five Pillars
Built on a foundation of working partnership with the host Nations — Songhees and Esquimalt.
The Flagship Measures
🏠 Liveable
- 12,000+ new homes by 2030 with composition targets: 25% missing middle, 20% 3BR+, 15% non-market, 30% rental
- City land bank — strategic acquisition and competitive disposition of City-owned land (v1.2, continuing Alto 2022)
- Published permit times by category: simple <6 weeks, complex <6 months, rezoning <9 months
- Adaptive traffic signals on major corridors (Pittsburgh evidence: −25% travel time, −21% emissions)
- Champion Westshore rapid transit and the E&N corridor — endorse LRT/BRT, protect right-of-way
- First-hour free parking in commercial areas + real-time parking availability
- STEP-style supportive-housing throughput with BC Housing + Island Health + Pacifica — free up the supportive units, not just add to them (v1.1)
- Short-term rental licensing tightening to protect the long-term rental pool (v1.1)
- Reach Victoria's young adults (18–25) — youth-priority space, late-evening hours, post-secondary partnerships (v1.2)
- Universal accessibility audit and remediation — every sidewalk, public building, washroom, transit-adjacent site (v1.2)
🛡️ Safe
- Downtown Public Order Team (DPOT) — unified VicPD + Bylaw + Sanitation + Outreach, single daily briefing
- Bylaw enforcement 6 AM – 10 PM, 7 days a week (vs. current 7 AM – 4 PM)
- Smart LED streetlights — Kelowna/Halifax model. No audio surveillance. No behavioural AI. Self-financing in 3–4 years
- Resolve the VicPD funding dispute with Esquimalt — transparent service-consumption formula, binding mediation if needed
- Greater Victoria Regional Policing Services Review — 18-month co-sponsored review with binding mediation outcome (v1.1)
- Phased capacity-first enforcement: enforce when there is somewhere to send people, not when there isn't
- Drug-use buffer zones around schools, playgrounds, libraries, and community centres (v1.1)
🌳 Beautiful
- Modernize underground utility GIS (M53) — coordinate excavation, reduce re-trenched streets, federal modernization-grant eligible (v1.3 reframe of the Digital Twin)
- One-time LIDAR scan of downtown core (M53c) — heritage protection, emergency-management baseline, planning-support data layer (v1.3)
- AI-generated public consultation imagery (M53b) — continuing Coun. Dell's Beacon Hill precedent, on every meaningful public project
- Heritage protection + restored street furniture — Victoria's character is its competitive advantage
- Cultural-venue preservation tool — right-of-first-refusal + lease-bridge fund for designated live-music and arts spaces (v1.1)
- Pedestrianization pilots — Bastion Square full, Government Street seasonal (v1.2)
- Royal Athletic Park restoration — reverse the 2025 reserve raid and complete deferred upgrades (v1.2, continuing Alto 2022)
- 5,000 new trees by 2030 — climate-resilient species, free seedlings for homeowners
- −50% community GHG by 2030 (19 points still needed from current −31%)
- Maximum-temperature rental bylaw (26°C) in at least one room during declared heat-warning periods (v1.1)
💰 Well-Managed
- Managed competition for waste and street cleaning — ~$2.4M/year savings, workers protected by mandatory re-employment clauses (Phoenix precedent: $25M+ saved 1978–1988)
- Zero-based budget review of all 200+ programs on a rotating cycle (Calgary SAVE: $74M targeted by 2022; $60M actually found per March 2026)
- Tax glide path: Year 1 ≤6.5%, Year 2 ≤5%, Year 3+ ≈CPI + population growth (3.5%) — versus the council's 10.44% draft
- Vacant storefront strategy: advocate to Province for enabling legislation + use existing levers (licensing, façade conditions, pop-up facilitation) + quarterly transparency report
- Confront provincial downloading — quarterly public ledger of unfunded mandates + formal refusal threshold (v1.1)
- Rationalize City real estate — sell or lease underused properties; proceeds to debt reduction and capital
🗳️ Democratic
- Referendum on every new (non-lifecycle) capital project over $25M — within BC LGA/Community Charter framework (Assent Voting or AAP)
- Settle Saanich amalgamation through a binding Citizens' Assembly (60 randomly selected residents, 12–18 months, both councils pre-commit to honour the result)
- Integrity Commissioner office + MNP governance report implementation tracker (v1.1)
- Quarterly performance dashboard — permits, potholes, crime, housing, budget variance — published, no spin
- Government-to-government working tables with the Songhees Nation and the Esquimalt Nation, on standing quarterly cadence
The Math
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Council's 2026 draft tax increase | 10.44% |
| Glide path Year 1 (cap) | ≤6.5% |
| Glide path Year 2 (cap) | ≤5% |
| Glide path Year 3+ (target) | ~3.5% (CPI + growth) |
| Managed competition (waste/cleaning) | +$2.4M/yr |
| Zero-based budget review | +$3–6M/yr |
| Admin efficiency (attrition + tech) | +$1.5–2.5M/yr |
| New property tax (12,000 homes, peak by 2030) | +$8–15M/yr |
| Smart streetlighting ROI | +$500K–1M/yr |
| Total at steady-state (gross savings + revenue, before framework operating costs) | $12.5–27.8M/yr |
Year-one is a fraction of steady-state. The glide path is honest about that. Net fiscal headroom after all framework operating costs is $5.4–14.9M/year at steady-state under v1.3 — see Savings & Revenue Analysis.
How Every Major New Project Gets Decided
- Consult locally — what residents say needs to improve
- Design with experts — engineers, planners, affected residents
- Visualize and analyze impact — AI imagery (M53b) and GIS analysis (M53) show the future before construction
- Referendum if >$25M (new, non-lifecycle capital), under BC statutory process
- Report quarterly during construction — on time, on budget, or explain why not
What This Is — And Isn't
Non-partisan and open
Costed and sourced
Measurable, quarterly-reported
Adoptable by any candidate
A political party
A candidate slate
Public surveillance
Ideology dressed as policy
Get Involved
- Read the full program — ~101 active commitments (82 original + 18 sub-measures across v1.1, v1.2, and v1.3), costed and sourced, on the Measures page
- Endorse or adopt — any candidate is free to use these measures in whole, in part, or as a starting point. See the Endorsement Pack
- Suggest improvements — every measure is open to correction by anyone with expertise
- Contact: info@acitythatworks.ca
Version 1.3 — updated May 27, 2026. v1.3 demotes the full city-scale Digital Twin from a Year 1–2 commitment to a Year 3+ aspirational measure contingent on specific gates; replaces it with three smaller, Canadian-peer-precedented measures (M53 GIS modernization, M53b AI consultation imagery, M53c one-time LIDAR scan) that capture roughly 80% of the citizen-facing value at roughly 25% of the cost. Net fiscal headroom widens to $5.4–14.9M/yr at steady-state.
No copyright. Attribution to A City That Works — A Citizens' Framework for Victoria 2026 appreciated but not required.