Dear Editor,
Once again Christmas-time has revealed how our neighbourhood has devolved from a community of homes occupied by middle-class Canadian families and retirees to a collection of unoccupied over-sized safety-deposit boxes for wealthy off-shore owners and developers.
Christmas lights adorned the occupied split-level homes that are left on our streets, while the perpetually unoccupied pseudo-mansions — now more than 50 per cent of the neighbourhood — remained dark voids, bereft of both occupants and Christmas spirit.
Young Canadian families will never be able to buy homes and properties in our neighbourhood and as retirees pass away and their homes are sold to the off-shore investors who can afford them, I foresee a future where there will be no lights, no shining, blinking celebrations of Christmas at all along our streets.
Some will accuse me of negativism, but I would argue that by ignoring the implications and long-term consequences of such issues as we have for so long, we have created problems for ourselves that could have been forestalled, brought under control, or eliminated altogether if we had been more cautious about allowing off-shore investments in this country and in Richmond.
The federal government has finally woken up to how such problems negatively affect the lives of Canadians by instituting a two-year ban of foreign purchases of homes and properties in this country.
Far too little, far too late, and the exemptions they have built into the act will provide many loopholes for smart foreign investors to exploit to their advantage.
I will predict, for example, that there will be many, many foreign “students” showing up that will somehow have $4 million that they can use to buy a home in our neighbourhood.
Again, too little, too late, and too lax — but when it comes to governments acting in response to serious issues, should we expect anything else?
And besides, who has more say in how our community is developed and occupied — long-time citizens like me, or foreign investors who will never live here?
A question certain people do not want to answer.
Ray Arnold
RICHMOND
