Business is booming for Linh Truong.
Since opening Vancouver’s first refill store ten years ago, she has welcomed enough customers to expand to a larger location and now sells a wide range of products, including bulk soap and groceries.
“I think the existing system is broken. The way we shop is not sustainable. Climate change is very real and very much happening right now. And climate change affects every industry,” Linh Truong told CityNews in an interview.
Truong is one of over 60 business owners, ranging from marketing consultants to Ernest Ice Cream, who say Vancouver’s eco-friendly policies have been good for the environment and the economy.
They have signed an open letter to the city’s elected officials, urging them not to make a controversial spending cut.
Vancouver City Council is in the middle of finalizing a budget for 2026, proposed by Mayor Ken Sim.
The budget includes cuts to many municipal government departments, but the one taking the largest hit is the Urban Planning, Sustainable Zoning, and Development Department.
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That is the department responsible for the city’s environmental and climate policy.
“To see over the past few years, especially with this ABC governance coming in, the shift in focus and priorities,” said Mark Bakhet, a managing lawyer, who signed the open letter.
“It’s one thing to have a different set of priorities and try to build something different, and it’s a different thing to tear down the work that’s already been put in place.”
Budget discussion will continue until a final vote happens on November 25.
Then, these business owners and Vancouver voters will see if the City Council views its environmental initiatives as a cost or an investment.