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Neeraj Murarka

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Affordable Housing

Neeraj Murarka's promise

No more foreign real estate ownership.

The housing situation is unacceptable and symptomatic of gross negligence and corruption on both the provincial and federal levels. Even professionals with middle or advanced educations earning great salaries have no chance to buy a house, unless they own one already. It is difficult to imagine buying a house unless things change dramatically. This is completely absurd and unhealthy. I see friends and colleagues moving away to places like the prairies or even to the USA to find an affordable lifestyle. Local companies can’t find staff willing to live and work here. BC is being used to launder and hide the money of foreign nationals. This is unacceptable and offensive.

When elected, I will restrict ownership of any residential-zoned property only to Canadian Citizens and Canadian PR. I will remove the 15% foreign buyer tax (a tax-grab for the Liberals) and ban foreign ownership, outright. This prohibition will also apply to ownership by corporations or partnerships where ANY participants are not Canadian Citizens or Canadian PR. I will retroactively introduce legislation that requires parties (individuals and corporations) that do not qualify to liquidate their real-estate holdings, with reasonable and appropriate terms.

I personally follow a brand of Libertarianism that believes in the rights of the citizens and immigrants of a country, and promoting laws and policy that provide the liberties that form the platform of our party to citizens and immigrants. The liberty to live wherever you want is one such example where it is important to ensure that Canadian citizens and immigrants are able to freely choose where they live without being affected by acts of foreigners.

Libertarian's promise

Reduce Government Interference that Makes Housing Unaffordable

Housing prices reached new highs during the past year, making the dream of ownership more difficult. The BC Liberals want to spend billions on interest-free loans, which place a heavy burden on taxpayers while further inflating home prices and put our economy at risk of a 2008 style sub-prime mortgage crisis. A safer and less costly way to keep home prices reasonable is to increase supply. Bringing new housing stock to market is restrained in numerous ways. For example, over 80% of the land in Vancouver is zoned for single-family residential only. By relaxing or removing these restrictions, we can free up the market to provide more housing at lower cost.

Work with municipalities to reduce development costs, streamline building permit processes, and simplify and accelerate rezoning

Budget and Taxes

Neeraj Murarka's promise

Elimination of the PST

It is completely ridiculous how pretty much every level of taxation is governed. Property taxes are illogical. Sales taxes make no sense. Income taxes are misused. Governments misspend, give themselves raises, and then cry about shortfalls, cutting programs and increasing taxes. I don't believe in taking away a man's hard earned wages. I believe in encouraging him to work hard with the knowledge he will be rewarded for the fruits of his labour. I will systematically eliminate the PST. It serves no purpose except to feed the coffers of the gangs that have been in power in Victoria. Unfortunately, many social programs might depend on it, and these will gracefully be weaned off the PST. To cover shortfalls, we will massively cut the salaries and benefits given to MLA’s in Victoria, and any other bureaucrats. We will cap salaries such that they are in line with what a small business operator would make and ensure that the voting public is aware of these salaries.

Libertarian's promise

Make Taxes Lower and Easier to Understand

Because we don't pay directly for services offered by government, politicians come up with incomprehensible formulas to make us think that someone else (the rich, corporations) will pay more. But there is no free lunch and funds must come from somewhere. By trying to hide costs, politicians just add costs, complicate our lives and create dissension among us over conflicting meanings of "fairness". Taxation is compulsion and libertarians seek to minimize compulsion. Wherever possible, government services should be financed by fees paid by willing customers. In a transition period, we seek taxes which are as simple to understand as possible (so government can't hide the cost of their programs) and ones which cause the least damage to our economy.

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Personal income tax: Remove all tax credits and exemptions and replace them with a lower overall tax rate. Make filing simple by using a BC Income Tax form that fits on a postcard.

Business and Sales taxes: Encourage business growth and job creation by replacing the complex and burdensome PST and corporate income tax with a simple and low tax on business revenue.

Carbon tax: Repeal it. Fuel prices are already too high, with nearly half the cost made up by various taxes.

Education

Libertarian's promise

Provide Real Choice in K-12 Education

In an age when knowledge is widely available online to suit anyone’s individual interests and learning styles, our public education system seems decidedly old-fashioned. And the labour struggles that shut down schools would seem like relics of a bygone era if they weren’t such a recent memory. The problem with the current system is that responsibility for how schools are run flows the wrong way—up to administrators, bureaucrats and union leaders, instead of down to students and parents. We believe that parents are the best advocates for their children’s educational needs, and that teachers who have been freed from the one-size-fits-all model will be empowered to bring out the best in each child. If schools have the right incentives and the flexibility to customize curriculum to the diverse learning needs of children, they can prepare them well for 21st century life.

Instead of funds going to each school district, each family with children will receive a voucher to spend at the public or independent school or home learning plan of their choice

Maintain provincial standards for core subjects such as math and English, but provide greater autonomy and flexibility for schools (public, private, and home schools) to meet the diverse learning needs of children

Environment and Natural Resources

Fentanyl Crisis

Libertarian's promise

End Prohibition and Let Police Focus on Real Crimes

BC is experiencing an epidemic with fentanyl and other powerful opioids that is claiming hundreds of lives. It's also tying up emergency responders, making it harder for everyone to get an ambulance when they need one. All options need to be on the table when dealing with a crisis like this, and decriminalization is a key part of the solution. By confronting this as a health issue instead of a criminal issue, we will discover new ways to reduce harm, encourage treatment of addictions, and make our communities safer. And eliminating victimless crime from the police’s mandate we allow police departments to focus their limited resources on catching real criminals (those who assault people or steal their stuff). Exclude the enforcement of victimless crimes from the provincial Police Services Agreement

Health care

Libertarian's promise

Create Choice in Healthcare

Let's admit that the performance of our public healthcare system is lousy. A trip to emergency rarely takes less than several hours. It can take months to see a specialist. Patients on waitlists see their conditions worsen or even die, yet the lines get longer. Why? It isn't because we don’t spend enough on healthcare, which is the single largest item in our provincial budget and continues to grow. No, the problem is that this sector of economy hasn’t been provided with incentives to innovate or be more efficient. If patients had more control over how resources were allocated, there would be much better service and much less waste.​ allow health practitioners (doctors, nurses and paramedics) to offer services for mutually agreeable fees that are not covered by MSP (home visits, phone prescriptions, etc.) allow health insurance alternatives to MSP so that consumers can choose an insurance plan better tailored to their own needs allow more experimentation in care delivery models, such as primary direct care (where health providers contract to provide patients with a clear set of medical services for a low monthly fee)​

Oil and Gas Industry

Post-Secondary Education

Transit

Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team

Born:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Hometown:

Burnaby, British Columbia

Education and certifications (degrees, certifications, and where they were obtained):

  1. Computer Science Honours plus Minor in Mathematics from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Focus on Mathematics, Computer Science, and French.
  2. Dale Carnegie Course in Leadership, Human Relations, Effective Communication, and Public Speaking.
  3. Private Pilot with Night Rating from Pacific Flying Club in Delta, British Columbia. Licensed to fly aircraft in Canada and the United States of America. Close to gaining commercial license.
  4. Licensed Amateur Radio Operator, licensed through course offered by Vancouver Amateur Radio (VECTOR).
  5. California CMSP (California Motorcyclist Safety Program).

Professional experience:

Software engineer, game developer, college course tutor, airplane pilot, technology startup entrepreneur, supply chain management company operator, technical support specialist, Olympic volunteer, software architect, chief technical officer of multiple technology companies.

Accomplishments (can be professional, political or personal):

My proudest accomplishment was getting my license to fly. It enabled me to accomplish one of my biggest passions in my life. A close second was my bachelor’s degree in computer science from SFU, with an average GPA of 4.0. I am also proud of my grasp for multiple languages (English, French, Hindi, basic Japanese).


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