In the first episode of Voices of Burnaby, Mayor Mike Hurley sits down with Andy Yan, Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University and one of Canada’s leading housing and urban planning experts. Their conversation highlights growing concerns around the province’s recent zoning legislation and the increasingly top-down approach being taken by the Eby government.
They explore how sweeping, one-size-fits-all policies—introduced with little regard for local conditions—risk undermining thoughtful city planning. The discussion underscores the importance of clearly defined responsibilities between municipal, provincial, and federal governments, and questions whether provincial directives are outpacing the infrastructure, services, and community capacity required to support rapid densification.
Most notably, the conversation challenges the notion that affordability can be achieved simply by mandating density. Yan emphasizes that without coordinated infrastructure investment, realistic timelines, and respect for local planning expertise, these self-righteous policy moves may create more strain than solutions—leaving cities to absorb the consequences without the tools or funding to manage them effectively.