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The very public spat between the province and West Vancouver is over an extremely small number of properties, almost all of them in the parts of the Ambleside and Dundarave neighbourhoods close to Marine Drive and the city’s major bus route. Most of West Vancouver, which extends out to Horseshoe Bay in the west and up Cypress Mountain in the north, is unaffected by the ministry’s requirements.

West Vancouver, with a population of about 45,000, is routinely listed in real-estate profiles and media reports as one of the wealthiest communities in Canada, with high household net worth and high employment income overall. It has also been identified as one of the slowest-growing areas of Metro Vancouver of the past quarter century. About 80 per cent of West Vancouver employees commute from outside the city.

Councillor Christine Cassidy and other councillors said West Vancouver has been working hard to add housing, rezoning the city several years ago to allow the basement suites and coach houses on most lots as well as approving big new projects and areas for development.

“I’m not somebody who likes to be dictated to,” said Ms. Cassidy, calling the current government “now quite frankly bordering on communism.”