City Debate #7: The vacancy tax will work (VIDEO)
Urbanarium City Debates
Feb
15
City Debate #7: The vacancy tax will work (VIDEO)
Vancouver just enacted a 1 per cent tax on empty homes. Will that make housing more affordable or fail to do so while creating new problems?
Pro
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Christine Duhaime
About:
Christine Duhaime of Duhaime Law has a specialized law practice advising on financial crime legal compliance, including counter-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering law, FATCA compliance, economic and trade sanctions compliance for financial institutions, casinos, money services businesses, securities brokerages, law firms and for emerging financial regulatory areas and market regulation.
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Jens von Bergmann
About:
Jens von Bergmann is the president of MountainMath, a Vancouver based data analytics and visualization company. Through his work with CensusMapper.ca and Vancouver property assessment data Jens has developed a keen interest in urban issues. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and has taught at several US and Canadian universities.
Con
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Kirk LaPointe
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Kirk LaPointe runs the Business in Vancouver editorial operations, hosts a three-hour weeknight Roundhouse Radio FM talk show, and teaches journalism at UBC. He has led CTV News and Southam News, been Vancouver Sun managing editor, National Post executive editor, CBC ombudsman and Newsworld host, and 2014 Vancouver mayoralty candidate.
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Tsur Somerville
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Dr. Tsur Somerville is an associate professor and holder of the Real Estate Foundation Professorship in Real Estate Finance at the Sauder School of Business at UBC. His research focuses on real estate development, mortgage, and housing markets. Dr. Somerville received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.
Pre-debate poll results
Pro32%
Con68%
Post-debate poll results
Pro42%
Con59%