Dear Editor:
Re: Group wants all tenants compensated, Burnaby NOW, March 2.
Mayor Derek Corrigan has just took his passing the buck game to comical levels last week when he asked that the city’s policy for tenant compensation be taken up by the province.
Under provincial law, tenants receive a minimum of one month’s rent when they are evicted. In 2015, when the mayor and council were under pressure for demovicting almost 1,000 low- and moderate-income renters, the city passed a policy that states owners must provide a minimum of three months’ rent as compensation for displaced residents. They didn’t do this out of the kindness of their hearts; rather, it was to deflect mounting criticism that the city didn’t care for renters, especially lower-income ones they are desperately trying to eject from Burnaby.
In the case of the 109 rental units on Silver Avenue, many of these residents were recently told they would not be compensated three months if they moved in after June 2015. Some have been told they will get no compensation.
In response to this, the mayor said to CKNW that any problems should be taken up with the province (Residential Tenancy Branch), not the city. So, effectively, Corrigan expects the province to investigate and enforce infractions of a policy the city put in place rather than the City of Burnaby. This gets more confusing because, if Corrigan is correct, why isn’t the provincial MLA Kathy Corrigan taking action on behalf of dozens of her lowest income constituents?
In this case, probably because she understands that a city policy cannot be enforced by the provincial government. Does the mayor truly think that his demovictions and unwillingness to enforce its own Tenant Assistance Policy is the fault of other levels of government?
Murray Martin, Burnaby
