Could Mamdani’s bold agenda work in BC?

Aug. 19, 2025

Article by Véronique Sioufi, racial equity researcher and policy analyst, BC Policy Solutions

Well beyond New York City’s boroughs, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani has captured public attention with a comprehensive, unapologetically socialist mayoral platform.

Mamdani’s policy framework includes large-scale investment in social housing, rent freezes, community-led public safety, free universal childcare, fare-free public transit, publicly owned grocery stores and progressive taxation of the ultra-wealthy.

His plan strikes a chord in BC because we face many of the same crises as New York City: crushingly expensive housing, wages not keeping up with the high costs of living, underfunded public services, growing inequality and escalating climate emergencies. 

Could such a platform be viable in BC?

Yes! In fact, much of what Mamdani proposes aligns with evidence-based policies that BC Policy Solutions economists and researchers have long advocated.

By reclaiming public power from corporations and rejecting austerity policies, Mamdani’s platform is a blueprint for delivering tangible improvements in people’s lives while building a sustainable, equitable economy. BC has the fiscal capacity and institutional tools to lead the way and advance even more-ambitious reforms than Mamdani proposes.

Housing — a human right, not a commodity 

Mamdani’s housing policies centre on the principle that the public sector must show leadership and “take back our power” to build for the many and keep housing affordable. This includes a major public investment program for a 10-year build-out of 200,000 permanently affordable homes, rekindling New York’s legacy of union-built, publicly funded housing. Mamdani’s housing plan also includes a rent freeze, stronger tenant protections and a crackdown on bad landlords to keep people securely and affordably housed.

To tackle the housing crisis in BC, we also argue for an “all-of-the-above approach”. We need policies that strengthen tenant rights and organizing power, reduce rents and protect existing affordable housing. These policies must be paired with building at least 25,000 publicly funded non-market homes every year—including non-profit, co-op and social housing—and ending exclusionary zoning. This can be done while advancing UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People commitments, Land Back reforms and Indigenous sovereignty. Such policies would ease pressure on renters, create family-supporting jobs, strengthen a sustainable BC lumber industry, reduce infrastructure costs and give businesses a better chance of retaining workers in high-cost communities. 

Making life affordable through public services

Mamdani understands that real affordability requires not just raising wages and creating good jobs, but also building a strong foundation of public services that reduce costs for essentials like fare-free buses, free universal childcare and robust public education. 

We agree and have long argued that BC must close the growing gap between the minimum wage and the actual cost of living—that’s why every year we calculate the Living Wage for communities across BC.

Our analysis shows that without closing this gap, even full-time workers can struggle to make ends meet. Low-wage workers in BC definitely need a raise and raising the minimum wage would boost the economy and increase tax revenue. But raising the minimum wage is not the only way to close the gap. The provincial government could also make wages go further by reducing the costs of essentials like transit, child care and post-secondary education. 

Workers need reliable and accessible ways to get to their jobs. Since racialized and low-income households are disproportionately reliant on public transit, free public transit in BC would both improve equity and cut costs for all households. More transit ridership would also reduce emissions, congestion and the wear and tear on roads.

Child care is another public investment that pays huge dividends through increased workforce participation and tax revenue, in addition to supporting families and advancing gender equity. We’ve long called for $10-a-day child care as a starting place, leading to universal, free child care.

Central to improving economic and social resilience is education. We’ve argued that BC should begin phasing-in free tuition in public universities and job training programs—starting with high-demand fields such as construction, child care and health care. Recognizing international credentials so that skilled workers are not sidelined is also needed/essential.

People over profits

The commitment to taking back power from corporations through public ownership and democratic economic control is easily the most radical—and necessary—element of Mamdani’s platform. He proposes publicly owned grocery stores, breaking up corporate monopolies and strengthening protections for gig workers.

We’ve made similar arguments for BC. Publicly owned grocery stores could form part of a just food system by providing good jobs, supporting sustainable farming and reducing grocery prices. We have called for a new generation of publicly owned companies to lead the shift to a sustainable, low-carbon economy while delivering goods and services affordably. These enterprises would keep wealth and good jobs in our communities instead of extracting profits for corporate shareholders.

Whether in app-based gig work or AI-driven automation, we also call for policies that guard against the erosion of worker protections under the guise of technological change. BC must transform labour relations for the future of work.

Public safety through community services 

Mamdani proposes creating a “Department of Community Safety” that would shift key responsibilities from police to civilian agencies and community programs. His plan is to invest in mental health emergency response, violence interruption programs and social services that address root causes of crime.

BC needs the same reorientation. Police budgets in BC have continued to grow while much of police activity targets people in poverty. This disproportionately harms Black, Indigenous and racialized people while failing to address the underlying causes of social problems and trapping too many in a costly prison system. We’ve called for divesting from harmful, expensive policing and redirecting those funds to housing, healthcare, income supports, a safe drug supply and community-based services. 

These investments address the conditions that lead to harm, improve public health and create safer communities. “This is not only the right thing to do, but also makes economic sense,” says our senior economist Alex Hemingway.

Paying for these policies

Mamdani is clear: excessive wealth and corporate profits must be taxed. More than a means to generate much-needed revenue, these taxes would help to rebalance power and reduce the extreme inequality that destabilizes communities.

We’ve argued for similar progressive tax reform measures in Canada.

A federal wealth tax targeted at the richest households could raise hundreds of billions of dollars for public investment, while provincial measures could include higher taxes on luxury property, large corporations and the highest-income individuals. These steps would finance urgent investments while directly reducing inequality.

Mamdani’s platform clearly aligns with policies that would benefit BC. At the core of this alignment is leveraging public power (that we hold commonly) to rebuild what decades of corporate influence and austerity have stripped away. This means making big policy moves that put essential services, good jobs and the foundations of a sustainable economy back under democratic control—so they serve communities, not corporate balance sheets. 

While some may view this vision as overly idealistic, the scale of the problems we face calls for solutions of equal proportions.

These are policies that offer a proven path to a stable economy where prosperity is shared more equitably. The question isn’t whether such an agenda could work in BC, but whether we have the courage to turn these ideas into policy. 

From New York to BC, a new politics of justice is taking root. It rejects austerity politics and corporate control in favour of democratic economic planning and public investment.

BC can seize this moment and lead the way.