I more than agree with that. Over the last nine years we have been run by a group called "Vision", seen to be left, and is, but with an incredible understanding of meeting the people's basic needs first, and not afraid to think big.
Ten years ago a subway under Broadway to UBC was "an impossible dream", never happen. Today, $ is committed, planning has begun....and not cut and cover, we've going to tunnel 35 km.
When they came in we had a needle problem, teams to people had to go around schools to make sure no rigs have been left overnight. That problem is gone by using and supporting harm reduction, free needles and free needle disposal all around town.
There are about 20 more points I could make, but the biggest issue we have is "bike lanes", Vision has torn up all of downtown and major arteries creating the 'greatest system of bicycle paths in North America', which I doubt. When they started I thought it was the Terrible Tom years and we were looking at riots in the streets.
Adding to that is an expansion of green space, elevated green space (rooftops - we have trees on tops of sky scrapers, I know really excessive), a near zero of actual homelessness, no open drug use, and crime down to its lowest level in history - all the result of "leftist" social policies like creating hard to homeless sheltering, the above mentioned harm reduction, emphasis on walking and cycling over the car.
And to be truthful....I actually fought some of that stuff, especially how they went about housing, but, damn, it works