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The new program will be of particular appeal to renters in Metro Vancouver, where the Liberals lost eight ridings in the election to an NDP campaign that targeted renters and promised improvements on housing affordability.

“The purpose of this … is we think there’s enough provincial property where we could carve out middle-class housing that would stay middle-class housing and it would keep our cities diverse,” she said. “Because nobody wants to live in a city where there’s no middle class.”

The NDP scored points during the election by accusing the Liberals of ignoring renters and those voters without enough money to afford a home.

“I think it’s a bigger issue than just rent or own,” said Clark. “I think it’s the fact that middle-class young people starting out don’t feel they can get a foothold in the city at all, whether it’s renting or owning.”

The Liberals will also try to lure the support of urban renters in the throne speech by promising to finally crack down on fixed-term rental rate loopholes and renovations — both areas in which the NDP have championed reforms while the government has delayed solutions.

The NDP’s gains in Metro Vancouver propelled the party to a large boost in seats and a power-sharing agreement with the B.C. Greens that gives New Democrats enough votes to defeat Clark’s throne speech, topple her government and potentially form a government as early as next week.

In response, Clark has rapidly reversed course on several long-standing Liberal policies — lifting a 10-year freeze on welfare rates, capitulating to demands for a ban on corporate and union donations for political parties, abandoning a protracted fight with Metro mayors over a referendum on transit funding and, on Wednesday, announcing her government would cede to years of NDP demands to create a poverty reduction plan.