Basil Langevin
Website: votebasil.ca
Facebook: facebook.com/BasilLangevin
Twitter: twitter.com/BasilLangevin
Instagram: instagram.com/BasilLangevin
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
No
Do you live in the municipality where you are running, and if so, for how long? If not, what is your connection to that community?
Yes, I live in Saanich.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
I have been the Executive Director of an LGBT nonprofit for eight years.
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
Since 2014, I have led a nonprofit that helps people build strong, inclusive communities across Canada.
I am heavily involved in community volunteer work here in Saanich:
• I co-founded a road safety organization that advocates for quick-build solutions to dangerous streets;
• I am a member of the Healthy Saanich advisory committee;
• I volunteer with several organizations that restore parks and native ecosystems;
• I help out at countless community gatherings and events; and
• I work with organizations advocating for greater accessibility.
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
I love Saanich and hope to live here for the rest of my life. Yet, I know too many young people who have left the region because they couldn’t afford to stay. With recent record-breaking heatwaves, housing costs, and floods, I worry about what the future holds.
I’m running for Saanich Council because I know how much stronger our community will be when we take the time to listen and include everyone. I know how much we will prosper when we invest in our communities: when we make life more affordable - not less.
What are your top three issues?
My top three issues are housing affordability, road safety, and climate action.
With all three of these issues, Saanich is heading in the right direction. Yet, we need to go further and faster to address the enormous challenges our region faces. We can do this by:
• fast-tracking Saanich’s Housing Strategy, completing it in five years instead of ten;
• rapidly fixing dangerous intersections, streets, and crossings across Saanich through low-cost quick-build solutions, and
• building walkable neighbourhoods that improve quality of life while reducing the time we need to spend in traffic.
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
In 25 years, I envision Saanich as a leader other cities look to for inspiration.
Mature trees and community gardens will line every street. Children’s joy and laughter will echo through our parks. Murals, benches, and flowerbeds will decorate our corridors. Seniors will gather at neighbourhood bakeries and coffee shops to spend each morning with friends.
Saanich will be known across BC as the best place to raise children: as a city that offers an exceptional quality of life that everyone can afford. Doctors shortages, housing challenges, and economic fears will be nothing more than distant memories. 2022 will be remembered as the year that everything started changing for the better.
With leadership and collaboration, all of this is possible. Let’s build this future together.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
My “big idea” is to empower community groups and residents to redesign their streets as safe, comfortable places that meet the needs of the people who use them daily.
Known as “Street Design Teams,” this idea brings together neighbours, community leaders, health professionals, and engineers to reimagine how neighbourhood streets could better work for the people who live on them. Instead of engineers drawing up designs in their offices based on standardized codebooks, Street Design Teams empower the people on the ground who know their streets best.
Dozens of cities have seen incredible results from these teams already. With all the creativity and passion we have in Saanich, this idea will undoubtedly transform our neighbourhoods for the better.
