The B.C. Lottery Corporation wants Vancouver to lift or amend its 13-year-old moratorium on the expansion of gambling in the city.

According to the city’s general manager of arts, culture and community services, Margaret Wittgens, there has been recent interest from the BCLC to expand gambling at the city’s two casinos — Parq and Hastings Racecourse.

“BCLC is seeking to expand gambling opportunities at the Parq and Hastings Racecourse casinos by potentially increasing the number of slot machines and table games,” Wittgens wrote in a report going to council’s committee on policy and strategic priorities on May 8.



The province’s short-term-rental compliance enforcement unit officially swings into action Wednesday, as B.C.’s new rules banning most short-term rentals come into effect.

The new rules passed in the fall — part of a multi-pronged approach to create more homes to rent or buy amid a national housing crisis — are aimed at converting thousands of short-term rentals into long-term rental housing for people who work and live in the province.

Despite pressure from vacation-rental owners, Premier David Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon have not backed down from the controversial initiative to “rein in profit-driven mini-hotel operators” and return homes to people who need them.

Canadian mortgage payments went from virtually nothing to the highest level in well over a decade, inflicting pain on mortgage borrowers. However, the value of homes also surged. In fact, from the rate cuts that sent home prices surging in March 2020 to the end of 2023, the growth rate of home prices outpaced the increase in the average mortgage payment on file at Equifax. This was true in most of Canada’s largest cities, especially in Eastern Canada where the average household’s payment significantly lagged home price growth. 

Canadian Home Values Climbed Faster Than Mortgage Payments