Harjas Popli
Council · Saanich
Gordon Head 6 yrs
About
Priorities inc. affordability and preventing displacement, strengthening food security, supporting youth and seniors and resilient infrastructure, and responsible, transparent use of public funds. I want to listen, be accessible and work together.
Policy commitments
Buildings
We all want healthy, affordable, and comfortable homes. These policies will help to lower energy bills, cut pollution, and improve indoor air quality.
✓
Incentivize electric heat pumps and air filtration systems.
Supportive
✓
Incentivize renewable energy, battery storage, and smart-grid technologies in new and existing buildings to improve energy security.
Supportive
✓
Scale up energy retrofits for existing homes, businesses, and public buildings.
Supportive
✓
Implement a 'right to cool' bylaw to protect tenants during extreme heat events.
Supportive
Climate Justice
Our community is already experiencing the harmful impacts of climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution, and taxpayers are on the hook to upgrade and repair critical infrastructure.
✓
Endorse the fossil fuel treaty and commit to phase out fossil fuels.
Supportive
✓
Enact a moratorium on AI data centres to protect our energy and water resources.
Supportive
✓
Pursue available legal options to recover a fair share of the climate costs facing our community from fossil fuel companies and other big polluters.
Supportive
✓
Collaborate with Indigenous peoples as partners in the stewardship of the land, air, and water, and work towards reconciliation.
Supportive
Ecosystems
The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat all rely on healthy ecosystems. Nature can also help protect our community from extreme weather by controlling floods, protecting shorelines, and cooling neighbourhoods. Access to nature improves the health and well-being of residents, and supports biodiversity.
✓
Protect and restore ecosystems, which are essential to human survival, health, and economic well-being.
Supportive
✓
Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater.
Supportive
✓
Prioritize native tree planting in all areas, especially those with low tree cover, higher population densities, and more vulnerable residents.
Supportive
✓
Create connected urban greenways for people and wildlife.
Supportive
Land Use
We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.
✓
Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience.
Supportive
✓
Increase food security by supporting local agriculture and community gardens.
Supportive
Transport
Connecting neighbourhoods through public transit and active transportation networks will cut pollution, improve public health, and make our communities more affordable (and fun!).
✓
Deliver reliable, frequent, affordable local transit.
Supportive
✓
Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities.
Supportive
~
Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone.
Neutral
~
Expand EV charging infrastructure.
Neutral
Watersheds
Climate change, increasing populations, and overconsumption threaten our water security. Healthy watersheds and forests are critical to support clean drinking water, stormwater management, climate resilience, and biodiversity for future generations.
✓
Protect and restore watersheds as vital municipal infrastructure.
Supportive
Zero Waste
Zero waste policies reduce pollution, keep waste out of landfills, build resilient local economies, and safeguard public health by shifting society away from a disposable culture toward a sustainable circular economy.
✓
Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience.
Supportive
✓
Implement bylaws to eliminate waste from new buildings, renovation, and demolition projects and to use existing buildings as efficiently as possible.
Supportive
✓ Supportive
~ Neutral
× Opposed
– No response
Climate action
How have you contributed to climate action in your community through advocacy, past work, advisory committees, volunteer work, and/or reducing your personal carbon footprint?
My family and I have been driving electric vehicles for many years, and try to reduce our carbon footprint with energy efficient appliances and smart thermostats. Outside of the home, I have supported recycling and waste reduction in my capacity as an HR professional, and support climate action as the risks described about climate change increasingly come to pass.
Worse than that, missed opportunities delay solving the problems and create further downstream. Deteriorating relationships between governments at all levels as well as with those they are entrusted to be responsible. Climate inaction has all manner of costs. Lives are lost the more disconnected from each other we are. Shocking tragedies in Nepal or the evacuations and heat deaths in Europe are from the same science that applies here in BC. Thinking longer-term on climate includes linking our personal and collective actions towards measurable outcomes and positive impacts for ourselves and others.
Worse than that, missed opportunities delay solving the problems and create further downstream. Deteriorating relationships between governments at all levels as well as with those they are entrusted to be responsible. Climate inaction has all manner of costs. Lives are lost the more disconnected from each other we are. Shocking tragedies in Nepal or the evacuations and heat deaths in Europe are from the same science that applies here in BC. Thinking longer-term on climate includes linking our personal and collective actions towards measurable outcomes and positive impacts for ourselves and others.
Questions for Saanich
What are your top priorities for the next 4 years to address climate and environmental goals in Saanich?
What I am hearing from people is a curiosity for understanding Saanich's finances. I think generally that getting on the same page helps shape the next steps. Can we use this curiosity as an opportunity to start structuring a wider dialogue?
There are many things in the near and long-term that will incur costs and we all have a say to decide how distributed, fair, and intense those costs will be. That helps inform next steps.
At the Saanich level as nearly everywhere else the current infrastructure cannot withstand an increasing pace of alternating heat domes and atmospheric rivers. They are happening more years than not. Baked soil becomes water repellant, making flooding likelier and worse. It might cost to do something about that, both in land use and money. We should talk about what it costs and how distributed, fair, or intense it is.
Other priorities include ensuring mature tree canopy, as cited in the BC Coroners Service report following the 2021 heat dome that areas with less canopy cooked in the sun and were an increased health risk.
Not acting also costs. The clean-up after the 2021 atmospheric river is about $4 billion, split between mainly Canada and BC.
Continuing the partnerships with regional, provincial and federal counterparts enable discussions about solution-costing and how distributed, fair, or intense they are. We must be transparent and promote these discussions and welcome more voices in building one Saanich.
There are many things in the near and long-term that will incur costs and we all have a say to decide how distributed, fair, and intense those costs will be. That helps inform next steps.
At the Saanich level as nearly everywhere else the current infrastructure cannot withstand an increasing pace of alternating heat domes and atmospheric rivers. They are happening more years than not. Baked soil becomes water repellant, making flooding likelier and worse. It might cost to do something about that, both in land use and money. We should talk about what it costs and how distributed, fair, or intense it is.
Other priorities include ensuring mature tree canopy, as cited in the BC Coroners Service report following the 2021 heat dome that areas with less canopy cooked in the sun and were an increased health risk.
Not acting also costs. The clean-up after the 2021 atmospheric river is about $4 billion, split between mainly Canada and BC.
Continuing the partnerships with regional, provincial and federal counterparts enable discussions about solution-costing and how distributed, fair, or intense they are. We must be transparent and promote these discussions and welcome more voices in building one Saanich.
How will you apply a climate lens to all your work with your fellow elected representatives, given competing priorities?
A climate lens to me means seeing things farther down the road headed for us whether we want to pay for it or not. Evidence and working through evidence deserves care, and understanding where others are coming from and relationship-building are not mutually exclusive, but might just be essential for speaking the same language about finding solutions to measurable challenges and risks.
Without further scenario-building I can only communicate my approach and my commitment on this is simple: listen, stay accessible, and work with others to build Saanich toward a better future. I believe welcoming more transparency, more leaning in is good for a healthy democracy that can meaningfully address the future challenges whether we want them or not.
Without further scenario-building I can only communicate my approach and my commitment on this is simple: listen, stay accessible, and work with others to build Saanich toward a better future. I believe welcoming more transparency, more leaning in is good for a healthy democracy that can meaningfully address the future challenges whether we want them or not.
How will you provide leadership in moving Saanich towards meaningful climate action?
By not losing sight that there's a backdrop to any one municipality's competing priorities. We are all responsible for a better future, and I think being granted a seat at the table would give me greater insight to what is working well or not.
I heard that people often get engaged in local government when government gets it wrong, but that must change something when people engage in a reaction and frustration rather than come together to build together?
We may increasingly need government to get it right and that seems less likely to happen if we are are not building together. What opportunities the community has to stay meaningfully informed and when to contribute and how meaningful their contribution becomes is important to structure well so expectations are clearer and productive discussions are more likely. There may not be a perfect system, but as one example I have supported participatory budgeting make democracy a practice rather than a reaction to a mistake or exclusion. That is one way neighbourhoods can be connected and contributing, seeing a local impact to a park or public space while staying informed on larger finances.
Leadership here is upholding others.
I heard that people often get engaged in local government when government gets it wrong, but that must change something when people engage in a reaction and frustration rather than come together to build together?
We may increasingly need government to get it right and that seems less likely to happen if we are are not building together. What opportunities the community has to stay meaningfully informed and when to contribute and how meaningful their contribution becomes is important to structure well so expectations are clearer and productive discussions are more likely. There may not be a perfect system, but as one example I have supported participatory budgeting make democracy a practice rather than a reaction to a mistake or exclusion. That is one way neighbourhoods can be connected and contributing, seeing a local impact to a park or public space while staying informed on larger finances.
Leadership here is upholding others.
Vote4Tomorrow is an independent voter guide to evaluate where local candidates stand on climate and environmental policies that will affect our future.
© 2026 Vote4Tomorrow