Vancouver Park Board Commissioner and intellectual property lawyer Tom Digby is running for the Green Party of Canada in the upcoming federal election.
In an interview with The Ubyssey, Digby said he’s ready to “fight for Canada,” as well as “put the environment first.”
“I think we can grow this economy on a smaller and smaller carbon footprint … we have to get away from these high carbon industries,” said Digby. “We need to put the environment first, and that's why I'm running in this election.”
Digby said a top priority of his is to advocate not just for greener policies, but for UBC in Parliament. Specifically, he hopes to secure federal funding for the Millennium Line UBC Extension (a direct SkyTrain route from Arbutus to UBC) and for further university research.
“I'm actually a scientist, originally [and] I have always admired the research at UBC,” said Digby.
Digby, however, did not specify how he would go about securing these additional federal funds.
Digby also wants to re-introduce federally-funded affordable housing to the University Endowment Lands (UEL). According to Digby, “we have this affordability crisis because the private sector just did not step in, and that's why the federal government [needs to reinvest].”
In a 2024 report, Vancouver ranked third for least affordable housing market. According to CBC coverage, the federal government began divesting from the construction of affordable housing in the early to mid-1990s.
In 2024, the federal government released a plan titled Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan, which details several initiatives, including one promising to build housing on “underused and vacant lands across the country.” It is unclear whether this initiative would include the UEL.
Digby’s other goals include supporting the renegotiation of international trade agreements and strengthening protections for Indigenous lands and ways of knowing at an international level.
When asked about the energy projects proposed by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Digby called for an end to federally subsidized oil and gas projects. According to a 2021report, the Canadian government has “provided over CAD 23 billion … since 2018” for the Trans Mountain, Keystone XL and Coastal GasLink pipeline projects.
“If the oil industry can't pay for it itself, why should the rest of us be paying for it?” said Digby. “The oil industry has been living in our basement for 150 years now, and it refuses to go out and make its own living.”
On student loans, Digby said that the Party believes in increasing loan forgiveness and freezing tuition for post-secondary education.
“The Board of Governors should have implemented a tuition freeze … when they approved the new budget,” said Digby on UBC specifically. “They're actually running a budget surplus this year on the backs of the students.”
UBC’s recently-approved 2025/26 budget projects an $80 million surplus, with domestic and international tuition combined accounting for 38 per cent of the university’s projected revenue. The tuition increases, however, passed in December 2024, not alongside the 2025/26 budget approval.
In his interview, Digby noted that the Vancouver-Quadra is currently projected to be a Liberal stronghold. He said his candidacy is an opportunity for constituents to “register their dissent.”
“Liberals let us down with the TMX pipeline here in BC. They subsidized the industry $34 billion and now they're talking about $100 billion to push another pipeline from West to East,” said Digby in reference to recently reignited talk of national energy projects.
“Let's stop subsidizing oil and gas. If you want to register your protest for someone who will fight strongly for Canada and the environment, then I offer people the choice to vote for me.”
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