Russil Wvong’s excellent substack Vancouver Needs More Housing just posted a table from a housing survey conducted last year (2022) in Victoria British Columbia. I think it nicely complements what I wrote in my last article, The Three Different Poles of Politics.
As Wvong points out:
From the city of Victoria’s 2022 budget planning survey. For people under 45, affordable housing is the #1 issue. For people 45-84, it doesn’t rank above #4.
The divide on climate and environment is also interesting. For people under 45, it’s #2 or #3; for people over 45, it’s #7.
What I’d say looking at this is there isn’t just a willingness to set aside cherished values to get things done, but also a change in the ranking of values (ie: the re-ranking of “Cliimate Leadership & Environmental Stewardship”).
What is particularly appalling is the not only the continued ranking “Good Governance & Civic Engagment” (which I think is a nice way of saying ‘NIMBY’) over “Affordable Housing” during the current crisis, but also the way the older cohort puts “Climate Leadership & Environmental Stewardship” almost dead last when British Columbia has been absolutely hammered by the effects of the Climate Emergency in the last few years.
It's the same "I got mine, F you" mentality we have with older conservatives down south. Although I, as a person living in that >45 demographic for a few years now, don't entirely blame people struggling with encroaching mortality and increasing jadedness after living in an unchangeable system for so long.