Vancouver city council voted this week to allow for applications to increase the number of slot machines and tables at the city’s two casinos, on the condition they be accompanied by an assessment of their social and economic impacts.

The request to amend the city’s 2011 gambling moratorium was made by the B.C. Lottery Corp., which told council the city’s population has increased 22 per cent in the past decade and that the amendment is a first step to allow BCLC to look at ways of expanding its two existing facilities — the Parq casino in Yaletown and Hastings Racecourse in East Vancouver — rather than building more casinos.

The federal government’s new Housing Plan, announced on April 12, 2024 and supported by Budget 2024, introduced a provision aimed at helping renters build credit by integrating rent payments into credit histories. It proposes amendments to the Mortgage Charter, encouraging collaboration among fintech companies, credit bureaus, and lenders to include rental payment data in credit scores.

The government calls on these agencies to create an ecosystem where renters can choose to include their rental payment history in their credit scores. It also expects lenders to prioritize comprehensive credit information, including rental payment history, in credit evaluations whenever feasible.


The provincial government is unmoved by a petition by homeowners in Burnaby’s Brentwood Park for an exemption from new legislation that could see up to 12-storey apartments built in their neighbourhood.

The “Save Brentwood Park” coalition successfully petitioned city council last week with 298 names to lobby the province to make an exception for their neighbourhood of single-family homes which sits within the 800-metre transit-oriented development area for Brentwood Town Centre SkyTrain station.

The provincial legislation will require cities to allow buildings with minimum heights of eight to 20 storeys within certain distances around “transit-oriented areas” (TOAs) like SkyTrain stations.