Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology.
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Interview with educator & social activist Shauna Sylvester, 2018 Vancouver Mayoral Candidate
As respected civic affairs reporter Frances Bula wrote in her Globe & Mail profile of educator & social activist, the accomplished Shauna Sylvester …
A woman best known for fostering public dialogue and advocating for sustainable cities is announcing her bid to become mayor of Vancouver — without the backing of any civic party. Shauna Sylvester is the first candidate from the centre-left of the political spectrum to formally declare her candidacy in one of the most wide-open campaigns Vancouver has ever seen. Mayor Gregor Robertson and several seasoned councillors have chosen not to run again — just as the city’s seemingly intractable housing crisis has become the No. 1 issue. Ms. Sylvester said she believes her collaborative style is what’s needed as the city grapples with its severe housing crisis, as well as its transition to a different kind of economy — less resource-based, more diverse and tech-oriented.
Ms. Sylvester is committed to running her race through until voting day, Saturday, October 20th, and believes she is the change-maker Vancouver needs in 2018 to create a more socially just city that serves the interests of all citizens. Shauna will meet with the Vancouver & District Labour Council next month to seek their endorsement as Vancouver’s next Mayor.
Commitments Shauna Sylvester has made in her Mayoral campaign …
Appropriate housing that is affordable for service workers as well as professionals;
Public and private transit into and within the City;
Living wage campaigns;
Affordable day care;
Quality public education and retraining programmes;
Vibrant arts and culture;
Diverse food and entertainment offerings;
Secure, affordable housing that nurtures the social connections and sense of belonging, with the city leveraging city assets to help facilitate non-market solutions such as housing co-ops and co-housing, non-profits and community land trusts.
Sign up to support Shauna Sylvester’s Mayoralty campaign by clicking here.
On Monday evening, June 25th 2018, the Board of Education Trustees at the Vancouver School Board (VSB) wrestled with a full agenda covering a range of items, including …
The formation of a new school naming and existing school renaming committee, in response to a demand by the public to have school names reflect community heritage, and the contributions of not just white men (as is the case at present) but the diversity of those residents of Vancouver who either now call Vancouver home, or did in our past;
Establishing live streaming video of Vancouver School Board meetings, the service to start at the beginning of the new school year;
Banning plastic disposable cups in favour of ceramic cups or glasses in school cafeterias;
Approving a five-year capital plan for the Vancouver school district;
Making changes to the electoral ballot in the upcoming civic election, so names will occur at random, rather than in alphabetical order.
No item on Monday night’s Vancouver School Board agenda was more contentious than the decision that the Board would make as to whether the Board would sell the subsurface of a West End school property to the BC Hydro Crown Corporation — in order that BC Hydro might construct an underground substation — in exchange for BC Hydro building two new, state-of-art elementary schools in the burgeoning West End neighbourhood.
Lord Roberts Elementary School Annex | Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood
The controversy? Here’s what former VSB Chair Patti Bacchus wrote in a May 10th story in The Georgia Straight, titled, The VSB should pull the plug on B.C. Hydro’s school substation plan …
(If the Vancouver School Board approves the BC Hydro plan) the West End loses a much-loved small school and several trees beside a lovely, peaceful park that’s one of the few public green spaces in their densely populated community. They get five or more years of major construction work and all the disruption, dirt, and noise that brings. They get left with a buried electrical substation they worry will harm their and their children’s health, or maybe catch fire or blow up, as substations have been known to do. They may or may not get a school built on the site that would open in 2030 or later.
Meanwhile, those trustees who were in favour of the proposal pointed out to their colleagues that an agreement with BC Hydro would provide funding that would expedite the construction of a new Coal Harbour school, create a new playing field at Lord Roberts Annex, and provide space for a full-sized elementary school at the site after the work on the substation is completed.
Vancouver School Board meeting, June 25 2018 | Photo credit, Patti Bacchus
At Monday evening’s Board of Education meeting, as instructed by Board Chair Janet Fraser that the discussion of the contentious BC Hydro proposal must remain respectful, the eight Board of Education trustees who were present discussed the efficacy of the BC Hydro proposal: a precedent-setting sale of school property to a corporation vs the realization of two new elementary schools in the burgeoning West End neighbourhood.
In a story published in The Georgia Straight this morning, The Straight’s editor-in-chief Charlie Smith quotes School Board Chairperson Janet Fraser on the controversial decision taken at the Board last night …
“We thank our stakeholders and the West End community for their interest and input on this proposal and I also thank our Board of Trustees for their due diligence in reviewing the proposal materials and asking many questions,” Fraser said in a news release. “Having considered all relevant factors the Board has now voted to move forward with this project. The VSB will continue to consult and work with our stakeholders and the West End community as the timeline for this project unfolds.”
As Charlie Smith also goes on to write, “The two NPA trustees, Lisa Dominato and Fraser Ballantyne, both strongly endorsed the decision,” with Vancouver Non-Partisan Association trustee Dominato quoted from a press release, stating …
“There is a critical need for another school in the West End and this agreement will enable us to move ahead with this project sooner so we can meet the educational needs of current and future families,” Dominato said in a party news release. “The minister of education has been clear that the province does not intend to fund this project any time soon.”
Ms. Dominato confirmed in last week’s Planning and Facilities Committee meeting on this matter that the City of Vancouver is committed to the Coal Harbour development as part of the upcoming capital plan, which will include the new school, day care, and social housing.
The new Coal Harbour K – 7 elementary school is set to open in 2023 as part of this development, and will house the Lord Roberts Annex students until a new school is constructed on the Annex site, the new K – 7 Lord Roberts school projected to open in the fall of 2028.
In statement on Facebook titled, Why I Voted No on the Substation Proposal, OneCity Vancouver School Board trustee Carrie Bercic writes …
Schools and parks are there for the community. They are community assets and should be held in trust for all future generations. We shouldn’t be selling any of our assets to corporations (no matter what type of corporation) whether in whole or in part. This is especially the case because we are considering this proposal in order to have needed schools built — schools that should always be paid for by the provincial government.
The community impacts from this project, are too great. While we as trustees are responsible for school board decisions, this decision extends beyond just school board. The green space at Nelson Park is precious. It is something to be preserved. The transmission lines that would go through the park have a significant perception of being unsafe. This means that it will deeply impact the use and enjoyment of this park for the entire West End. It is important to realize that this park is the back yard and playground for hundreds of children and pets.
All of the above said, written and recorded, contention and controversy notwithstanding, if you’ve ever wondered what our elected officials are up to — no matter where you live — Monday evening’s Vancouver School Board discussion of the BC Hydro proposal offered a master class in respectful, informed, passionate and reasoned democratic engagement, as fine an example on how thoughtful decision-making takes place in the public realm as you’ll ever witness. Please, do yourself a favour: watch the video above.
We live in a cynical and divisive age, an age of anomie and alienation, of a seemingly never-ending flood of rage. But you know — it doesn’t have to be that way. Although the Board of Education trustees are off for their annual summer break, do yourself another favour when the Board returns in September. Attend a Vancouver School Board meeting, impress yourself, hearten yourself, and come to realize that things are not one one-hundreth as bad as you think they are, that indeed there are good and great people of conscience who listen to you, and make decisions on your behalf — because the decision that took place on Monday night, as retiring Board of Education trustee Joy Alexander so eloquently put it, “reflects the will of the people, the decision we will take tonight beneficial to those who elected each one of us to office in the hope that the decisions we might make would reflect their best expressed wishes. And so we must, and so we will.”
OneCity Vancouver candidate for City Council Christine Boyle doesn’t just shake hands and kiss babies, she will offer to provide child care, in this case for friend, colleague and new baby mama, Tasha Diane - which, as Ms. Diane writes, “Christine’s respect for women and mothers will translate to her advocacy for equitable social policy once elected to Vancouver City Council. We are on Team Christine Boyle! You should be, too!”
The attribute of OneCity Vancouver’sChristine Boyle we most admire is her humility, the bedrock foundation of her hopeful candidacy for City Council.
While what community activist Am Johal has to say about the socially just Christine Boyle is true, as Ms. Boyle herself has written on her campaign website reflects her values and commitment to our city, that …
“It’s time to tackle Vancouver’s deepening wealth gap, ensure that homes are for housing people rather than profits, and strengthen community and democracy, to change the direction Vancouver is headed, and make ours a city where people can live and belong for generations to come”…
… what is also true is that she is not alone in her recognition of the role humility plays, if one is to both achieve elected office and prove an effective community leader. Note should be made that humility is not a decision made by a political aspirant to gain success, but rather an essential part of the very nature of those who are seeking, or already hold political office, an essential element to their success in the common weal of public life.
In the era of Trump, humility has become so out of fashion as to almost have been forgotten. Nonetheless, it is worth articulating why humility is an essential attribute of civic life. Genuine humility and good governance is defined by grace and an intense interest in the lives of others, and if such is the case, the perspective of the public, our neighbours, must be always be taken into account in the taking of decisions in the public realm.
If we in Vancouver have suffered in the civic domain these past 10 years, with an otherwise recommendable civic administration of conscience, the central failure of governance in our city has occurred as a consequence of an unremitting arrogance, and a certitude that what is being done is right and in the collective interest, whether or not community consensus has been achieved, and whether or not the voices of our neighbours have been heard, and the decisions taken by our elected officials in City Council chambers having incorporated the wants, needs and wishes of the public.
January 27, 2015 | B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan threw out a major development in downtown Vancouver over a flawed public hearing process that had ignited criticisms over transparency and fairness at City Hall.
Such perspective was elucidated in the ruling of The Honourable Mr. Justice Mark McEwan in his January 27th 2015 ruling in The Brenhill Development Limited case (the proposed 36-story tower to be built on city land located north of Emery Barnes Park at Helmcken & Richards), a development voted on in favour by the majority Vision Vancouver City Council, and which controversial development proposal was overturned by Justice McEwan arising from the fact that elected officials did not listen to the public, mislead the public as to the scope of the project, and did not incorporate into the final development proposal the input received from the public.
As Justice McEwan wrote in his reasons for judgement …
(120) It is, however, also obvious that, despite this, the public hearing should be a kind of counterweight, and as fair, open and transparent as the nature of the overall project dictates. To be fair, it cannot be conducted on the basis that the public will get just enough information to technically comply with the minimum requirements of a public hearing. The desire of those who have brought the project along to get past the approval stage cannot be allowed to truncate the process. A public hearing is not just an occasion for the public to blow off steam: it is a chance for perspectives to be heard that have not been heard as the City’s focus has narrowed during the project negotiations. Those perspectives, in turn, must be fairly and scrupulously considered and evaluated by council before making its final decision.
(121) I have concluded in this case that the public hearing and the development permit processes were flawed in that the City has taken an unduly restrictive view of the discussion that should have been permitted to address the true nature (of the Brenhill project).
(132) The procedure the City adopted was unfairly restrictive, in presenting the public with a package of technical material that was opaque … in limiting comment on the integrated nature of the project, and in failing to provide an intelligible … financial justification for it.
Vancouver Sun civic affairs reporter Jeff Lee provided further insight into the reasons for judgement, while Green Party Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr quite rightly weighed in with …
“With allegations of cosy dealings & large donations from major developers to Vision Vancouver at the base of citizen complaints about a lack of transparency, the judge’s ruling reinforces those concerns,” said Carr. “Unfortunately, that is what many members of the public believe, and it was raised during the election,” she went on to say. “When there is that kind of suspicion, that’s bad for democracy.”
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, given the conservative nature of the Court of Appeals, and unfortunate for the interests of the public — and despite the fealty to her old civic party, Vision Vancouver, and the “joy” 2015 Vancouver Centre federal NDP candidate Constance Barnes felt at the Court of Appeals ruling that were contrary to the public interest and the New Yaletown appellants — on April 23rd, 2015, the B.C. Court of Appeal overruled Justice McEwan’s groundbreaking democratic and public-engaging ruling, siding with the City and the developer. And tears fell from the heavens.
Let us be very clear here: we as a voting public in Vancouver do not want more arrogance in civic governance of our city. We do not want holier-than-thou elected civic officials, whether they are with the so-called “progressive coalition” or the nominally right-of-centre Vancouver Non-Partisan Association dictating what is best for us, and ignoring our voices. We’ve had 10 years of that, and 10 years is more than enough.
In Vancouver, to be a respected, successful and admired politician, one must know what one stands for and what one is fighting for — but it is absolutely critical that the electoral aspirant must know how to go about achieving the ends promised to voters during the course of a campaign for office, how to work with others, to listen to the public — all members of the public — and be a voice for change for the better, and always, always remember that theirs is a life of service, one sometimes admittedly with little reward other than the knowledge one is doing good and performing their very best, all the while keeping deep within them a humble nature, in recognition that no matter the inducements of office, that it was humility and perseverance that elected them to office, and humility that will sustain them, and provide the foundation for their service.
But damn it all, if you’re going to be an elected official, you better darn well listen to the public, bring them along with you, and not find yourself sitting back on your high horse telling the public …
“Oh, deary, I know what’s best for you. Oh sure, I know you think you know what’s best for you, but believe me, I know better than you what’s good for you. Just trust me. And even if you don’t trust me, I’m going to go ahead and do what I damn well please, anyway.”
That’s a recipe for electoral disaster, and a very pissed off public — and if you’ve got any caring, compassion and humility at all, you don’t want that. Take heed candidates. Should you fail to do so, you proceed at your peril.
David Eby, British Columbia’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General — the latter portfolio making Cabinet Minister David Eby, the Minister Responsible for the administration of our criminal justice system in British Columbia, including family law, court services, gaming policy and enforcement, liquor control and licensing, and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation — in his role on the government’s Executive Council, Minister David Eby also the Minister Responsible for ICBC, BC Ferries and the BC Human Rights Tribunal … well, as you can see, it’s all la-di-da for Minister Eby, not busy at all, not a whole lot on his plate, gosh its a good thing he needs only three hours sleep a night … and did I mention what a good and moral and principled man Mr. Eby is, and that he is kind and generous of his time, and probably B.C.’s single hardest working MLA, most sensitive to the needs of his constituents — with an almost beyond belief coterie of constituency assistants, competent, passionate, informed, their lives almost solely dedicated to serving the needs of those of us who live in Kitsilano, or the Point Grey neighbourhood on the west side of Vancouver, and out at the University of British Columbia and the University Endowment Lands.
On a regular basis, David Eby posts a newsletter to his constituents, meant for those whose interests he represents in the British Columbia Legislature. In the interest of openness and transparency, and without having secured the permission of the good Minister and unbelievably great MLA of service to Kitsilano, Point Grey and UBC / UEL — I’ll wait to be given heck by David’s unbelievably great constituency staff, the spectacularly wonderful Dulcy Anderson, Nicolas Bragg and Thea Dowler (who somehow find a way to put up with me, not an easy chore for any of you who know me) today on VanRamblings please find below, the expansive and informative June newsletter from Vancouver-Point Grey MLA, the indefatigable David Eby.
(Note: the photos and — hopefully helpful — links have been added by me)
Dear Neighbours:
The legislature has officially wrapped up and I’m back from Victoria for the summer and September. It’s great to be home with my family and back in our neighbourhoods on a daily basis.
For our family, June has meant that Cailey has wrapped up her epic medical school journey at UBC and will be starting her residency in family medicine on Canada Day — July 1st! I’m trying to get some time with her and our son at home this month before she’s back to an extended full time schedule as a new doctor, so my apologies in advance if you have to wait a little longer than expected for a face-to-face meeting with me.
As you may have heard, watched on Facebook live, or seen in person, our second run at holding our townhall meeting, this time at the Hellenic Community Centre, was a great success. Hundreds of you came out and had your voices heard, and we had five outspoken community experts and advocates share their opinions on where the government has succeeded, and where we need to continue to do work to improve.
David Eby, Housing Townhall, Hellenic Centre, June 6, 2018 | Photos credit, Elvira Lount
More than 50 volunteers came out from the community to staff our meeting and ensure our event was, as intended, for constituents first, and that everyone felt welcome to share their thoughts and opinions. A special thank you to those volunteers, and to my hard working staff Dulcy, Nic and Thea who worked overtime to organize this meeting on the very first Monday after the legislative session wrapped up.
Generation Squeeze author and University of British Columbia professor Paul Kershaw speaking at David Eby’s June 6th 2018 Housing Townhall 2.0, held at the Hellenic Hall in the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood, a well-attended event comprised of activist and involved citizens of conscience spanning the political spectrum.
The school tax debate was a big part of the evening, and I’d like to thank those on both sides of the discussion who ensured that the meeting was as constructive as possible. We even arranged a venue with enough room for the school tax protesters who came to our community event to make their voices heard! I had a very anti-school tax protester come up to me after our town hall and thank me for organizing the event, even though she clearly disagreed with the government’s position on this policy.
It might seem strange to hear given the controversy of the last couple of months, but I have never been more hopeful about the future of our community, more confident in the importance of the work you sent me to Victoria to do, and more sure that the results we will achieve will be a legacy for our children’s children.
It is a bit hard to remember, but in March of 2016 we hosted another townhall in the very same Hellenic Community Hall on the same topic — housing. Back then we were having a very different discussion than we are now. We had a broken political system where unlimited donations from the wealthy and well connected bought access to the province’s leadership at private and secretive dinner parties. Our system was so broken that BC was featured on the cover of the New York Times as the “Wild West“, where a premier could collect a second salary paid for entirely out of corporate donations to her political party, and her MLAs would defend it in the legislature as the cost of democracy.
These donations, which brought us a government sponsored in no small part by those profiting from the housing and the climate crisis, were surely a consideration when rather than taking action, the Premier and her then housing minister told those feeling the pressure of the out-of-control housing market in Metro Vancouver to stop complaining and move to Fort St. John or Prince Rupert.
In March of 2016, many people showed up to tell me, and the then government, that you would no longer be put off. You wanted real action.
Well, you now have a new government, and real action.
There have been a lot of changes — both big and small — in a short period of time, and not just on housing. A recent CBC analysis showed we’ve delivered on, or made significant progress on, more than 75% of our platform commitments in less than one year in government. For those of you who couldn’t make it to the town hall, I’d like to share our progress with you.
First, the big. Those donations featured in the New York Times as so egregious are now illegal. No more union or corporate donations. No personal donations in excess of $1,200 are permitted. There are new rules restricting lobbying by former government insiders, banning them for two years from lobbying government, and ending the rotating door between lobby shops and government in BC.
We are introducing legislation to impose an innovative new tax on real estate speculators with vacant homes in the parts of the province hardest hit by the housing crisis, including Metro Vancouver. We’re building a beneficial ownership registry so we know exactly who owns property in our province, not numbered companies, but what real people own property. We’re tracking, and reporting to the Canada revenue agency, the activities of people flipping pre-sale condos, with a brand new law passed last session.
We’re making the largest investment in housing supply in BC’s history, $7bn, which includes (but is not limited to) direct funding for 37,000 affordable rental units; a housing hub at BC housing to build more affordable homes that has already announced a blockbuster deal with the United Church to build affordable rental housing; increased rental assistance for seniors and working families through the SAFER program; the opening of over 2,500 modular housing units with badly needed services for those living outside or in tent cities; and, 1,500 new transition and long-term housing units for women and children fleeing domestic violence.
I haven’t forgotten that many of you raised concerns with me about conditions in our classrooms during the campaign. Our government is hiring 3,700 new teachers, reducing class sizes and getting kids the support they need to succeed. Parents don’t have to fundraise for playgrounds anymore – they’re considered part of a new school and funded by government.
On that note, we’re investing $2bn to maintain and replace schools in our communities across the province that desperately need it. Here, in our community, our government green lit the Bayview Elementary replacement, to the delight of the Parent Advisory Committee there. These parents were sick and tired of sending their kids to an under-maintained school that waited, and waited, and waited for seismic repairs that never came. Instead of working on collecting and delivering petitions to my office, the PAC is now working on planning out a brand new school.
Many renters asked for better protection from out of control rents. We closed the fixed term lease loophole, and the geographic increase loophole, giving renters more protection from unfair evictions and rent increases. Instead of asking my office for help that is impossible to deliver, these renters can now focus on their work, school and families.
Many parents struggle with the cost of childcare in our community, and many have for the first time seen their childcare bills go down, not up, because of the largest investment in childcare in BC’s history, providing monthly savings of up to $350 per month per family. As of today, 37,209 families are receiving these monthly savings, including many hundreds of families in our community at local childcare facilities. In September, the second half of the program, the enhanced direct benefit to families, will be rolled out.
We’re partnering with the federal government to build out the biggest transit investment in BC history, with rapid transit on Broadway, and in Surrey, and three new express B-Lines.
For other community priorities, we’ve responded strongly to the overdose crisis, making life-saving naloxone kits available free at community pharmacies for those likely to witness an overdose, and launching 18 community action teams to spearhead local responses in the hardest hit areas.
Many of you wrote in to my office to celebrate when Minister Doug Donaldson signed the order that ended the grizzly bear hunt, to protect BC’s iconic bears.
We’ve passed comprehensive new laws to ensure ICBC and the car insurance rates paid by British Columbians are sustainable, to begin the work of putting out that financial dumpster fire left for us by the previous government.
We’ve also used every tool in the toolbox to protect BC’s interests in relation to the Trans Mountain Heavy Oil Pipeline project, and the massive expansion in heavy oil shipments by rail as well. We need to know we can clean up the mess when spills happen, and that someone will pay for the cleanup. Too many BC jobs in fisheries and tourism rely on our reputation for a pristine coastline.
In reading all of the above, you may remember that you were told by the previous government that British Columbia couldn’t make these long-needed changes without sinking our economy.
That information was, as we have pointed out for a long time, incorrect.
BC currently has the lowest unemployment rate in Canada, and we have maintained our top rating with all three international credit rating agencies. Showing confidence in our future, big tech companies like Amazon have announced massive expansions in Vancouver – most recently, 3,000 new jobs – backed by hundreds of new post-secondary spaces in engineering, science, technology and math. Smaller companies have also followed suit.
In the meantime, you are all doing the incredible work you do to make this a better place. You are coming in to talk to me about starting not for profit organizations that reduce plastic waste, organizing neighbours to make and learn more about art, assisting refugee families who have joined our community, creating vibrant local sports organizations, doing academic research on transportation planning that you hope to use to make our streets safer, campaigning for better schools and better childcare, bringing your kids in to show us their amazing achievements in science and math competitions, and coming to talk to me about how you want our government to keep improving. So many of you give back and participate in our democracy. Thank you for making Vancouver Point Grey a special place in British Columbia.
Yours truly,
