Former Victoria mayor Lisa Helps appointed premier's adviser on housing support
Former Victoria mayor Lisa Helps will help advise B.C. Premier David Eby on housing solutions, the province announced Thursday.
Helps, who was mayor of Victoria from 2014 to 2022, will work with Ravi Kahlon, minister of the newly formed B.C. Ministry of Housing, which was launched last year by the incoming premier.
The ministry is responsible for working with stakeholders and partners on housing solutions in the province, as well as designing and developing the BC Builds program – which is intended to bolster housing for middle-income families, individuals and seniors.
"The current reality is that many people in our province struggle to find housing, even if they earn a good income," said Eby in a release Thursday.
"I’m very pleased that Lisa Helps has agreed to use her years of leadership to help us work on innovative solutions, like BC Builds, to make it easier for people to find a good place to live in their communities," he said.
Two other special advisers were recently announced in B.C.
Dr. Penny Ballem, who was the head of B.C.'s COVID-19 vaccine campaign, was named the premier’s health systems specialist.
Meanwhile, lawyer Doug White was appointed the special counsel to premier on Indigenous reconciliation.
"Doug, Penny and Lisa have tremendous amounts of experience and they are all very motivated to help take concrete action on the issues important to British Columbians," said Eby.
In 2021, Helps made it clear she was not going to run for re-election as Victoria's mayor.
On her last day in the role in 2022, Helps said she would be interested in working in the fields of housing, climate change or reconciliation once her tenure as mayor was over.
"The most pressing issue, though, in our city and province and country is housing," she said at the time.
"Not only housing for people who are currently living on the street and living in tents, that's obviously important, but housing for the middle class," said Helps.
"Housing for working people, working families. It's a bit of a shame that we've somehow normalized that a young family with two good jobs won't be ever be able to buy a home. That is not OK," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.