All posts by Raymond Tomlin

About Raymond Tomlin

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. View all posts by Raymond Tomlin →

Shauna Sylvester, Trojan Horse? The Destruction of a Candidate

April 23, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Simon Fraser University's Shauna Sylvester Announces Her Bid to Become Vancouver Mayor

On Saturday afternoon, when returning home on the bus from a friend’s place, in checking our Facebook timeline on our iPhone (as we are wont to do), we ran across a post by former Coalition of Vancouver Electors City Councillor, Tim Louis, titled Shauna Sylvester: A Trojan horse for Vision?
For reasons we have yet to get a handle on, VanRamblings found ourselves becoming emotionally verklempt and stricken, as if we had just taken a punch to the gut. Our whole demeanour saddened. Stumbling off the bus at the stop nearest to our home, we had to steady ourself, leaning our arm against a building wall protusion, remaining stock still, our eyes downcast, standing there for a number of minutes, before finally making our way home to our cozy co-op apartment, at which point upon entering the living room, we slumped down onto the sofa, where we remained for a half hour.
VanRamblings was struck, upon re-reading Tim’s piece, by what we feel is the rank unfairness and mis-characterization of a person of conscience, a strong, accomplished woman with agency, a social justice warrior who has fought for inclusivity and for a fairer and more just world during the course of her entire adult life, one of the kindest, most welcoming and spiritually soulful women we have encountered during the course of our own lifetime.

A digression. VanRamblings has known Tim Louis well for 14 years. We worked on his 2005 re-election campaign, and in 2008 acted as a co-campaign manager for Tim (along with his spouse, Dr. Penny Parry, and if memory serves, longtime Tim Louis devotee and founder of Free Geek Vancouver, Ifny LaChance), creating his campaign website — with the able assistance of our longtime friend, current Vancouver Courier civic affairs columnist, Mike Klassen (yes, Michael — then a member of the dreaded Vancouver Non-Partisan Association — was instrumental in creating Tim’s 2008 and 2011 campaign websites, a job assumed by COPE Executive Director, Sean Antrim, in the 2014 Vancouver civic election campaign).
In each of the campaigns we worked on closely with Tim, we posted regularly to his campaign website, shot and edited video, and assisted him in developing a platform in each of three municipal election cycles – playing a key role in developing Tim’s 2014 affordable housing and transit policy (which, if truth be told, was a direct steal from Dr. Patrick Condon, a Mayoral aspirant in the current civic election, & a longtime, well-respected Professor of Urban Planning at the University of British Columbia).
VanRamblings, too, is a longtime devotee of the estimable Mr. Louis. But we think he’s got it wrong in 2018. As we’ve suggested before, in the era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, when men are allies in the fight for sustaining social justice for women, it is wrong-headed (and sexist, at the very least, we believe) to attack a women of character whose values, for the most part, he shares, and whose core values all progressively-minded voters would most assuredly share, support, champion and celebrate.
VanRamblings has been criticized in the past for being too quick to employ the word misogyny in circumstances such as the one we describe above — unsurprisingly, this castigation always coming from men, as if somehow misogyny and the ingrained prejudice against women long evident in our culture does not constitute a fact of life for all women, most particularly in western society as evidenced in the denigration of women who deign to challenge male dominance. One is left to wonder if an ingrained misogynistic attitude does not inform and lay at the centre of Tim’s article.
End of digression.

In a discussion with Ms. Sylvester (from here on in, our intention is to, mostly, refer to Ms. Sylvester as Shauna, as an acknowledgement of her innate humanity, and certainly not as any intended sign of inappropriate familiarity or disrespect) eight days ago, at the OneCity Vancouver Membership Meeting, we voiced to her that we would be “mean” to her in the column we would publish about her “independent” candidacy for Mayor of Vancouver. Her response: “Why?” Why, indeed? In the column we had written and intended to post today, we employed the sardonic, offhand style of commentary we are often wont to employ on VanRamblings.
We’ve scrapped that already written — and, we thought, “entertaining” and informative — column in favour of today’s, we hope more humane, ramble.
Not that we intend to forego reporting on concerns about Ms. Sylvester’s candidacy, concerns that are being widely expressed in the Vancouver political community. To fail to report out would be to do a disservice to VanRamblings readers, and the cause of journalism – which, as celebrated muckraking writer Finley Peter Dunne opined in the late 19th century is to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” And so we shall.

The photo you see above — published in a January 16th, 2018 CBC news online article, written by journalist Maryse Zeidler — sees Shauna Sylvester standing beside longtime Chief of Staff to Mayor Gregor Robertson, Mike Magee, the photo taken at this year’s Vision Vancouver Annual General Meeting, one week after Mr. Robertson announced that he would not seek a fourth term of office at Vancouver City Hall.
The photo is meant to suggest to voters, or remind them, that Shauna is a died-in-the-wool Visionista, a Gregor Robertson devotee and, as Tim Louis “points out” in his brief article published this past Saturday, a “trojan horse” and as Tim also writes, “anything but independent” and almost certainly “a placeholder” for a discredited civic party “certain” to lose power on the evening of Saturday, October 20th, British Columbia’s municipal election date. The photo above is also meant to “remind” voters that …

Shauna sat as a member of the Board of Directors of Vision Vancouver;
Shauna is a longtime friend — and acolyte — of Vision Vancouver founder Joel Solomon, who journalist Frances Bula characterized as The Unlikely Revolutionary in a June 1st 2009 feature article in Vancouver Magazine, Mr. Solomon a longtime target of Vivian Krause, and Canada’s right-wing forces (and, no, we’re not going to link to any of those attack articles), Joel Solomon as the “left wing” counterpart to the “right wing” longtime NPA President, Peter Armstrong;
Shauna is the “woo woo” candidate, as a member of the “cult forces” of Cortes Island’s pricey Hollyhock Spiritual Centre, about which journalist Shannon Rupp wrote in an article in The Georgia Straight, “I assume this artificial feeling of love and acceptance is what people are paying for, but I have to admit I find these get-togethers oppressive. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of Hollyhock is its culture of conformity — Goddess forbid anyone should question anything. After five days here, I’ve found Hollyhock is really two places: the site itself is delightful, but the half-baked spiritual and psychological concepts it peddles make me uneasy.” Note: Gregor Robertson owns a home on Cortes Island, and is a charter member of Hollyhock, as is current Vancouver City Manager, Sadhu Johnson (as well as other senior administrators at Vancouver City Hall);

And, finally, as the pièce de résistance …
Shauna chaired a Mayor’s task force establishing an “affordable housing rate” in Vancouver — and as was recently pointed out by Vancouver Kingsway NDP MP Don Davies, at an Affordable Housing Forum — at a ludicrous $1700 for a studio apartment, $2250 for a one-bedroom, and $2850 for a two-bedroom apartment, on Vancouver’s eastside!

The above “talking points”, then, are what have been making the rounds among the left cognoscenti in Vancouver, are denying Ms. Sylvester agency in her campaign to become Vancouver’s next Mayor, and have caused COPE and Team Jean to refuse to even consider an accommodation with Vision Vancouver in the upcoming civic election.
Among the ideological left, it was always thus.

All of which begs the question: What kind of Mayor would Shauna Sylvester become, should she emerge victorious late in the evening of October 20th?
Well, first of all, Shauna is a woman, and in Vancouver we are one of the few jurisdictions on the planet who have never elected a woman to become Mayor of their city, which is a stain on the reputation of a city that purports to be and widely extols itself as a “progressive city”. Vancouver can hardly call itself “progressive” when we’ve never elected a woman as our Mayor.
All of the social justice issues that Vision Vancouver has promoted during their term in office as the majority party at City Hall are central to Shauna’s vision of the world, and as such she would be a staunch defender of the progressive values that Vancouverites are known the world over for celebrating within the cultural mosaic that is early 21st century Vancouver.
Vancouver would remain a sanctuary city, where police would not ask for I.D. or otherwise seem to harass citizens who are persons of colour, and where no one is illegal; Vancouver would continue to champion LGBTQ2+ issues; would remain a nuclear free zone; would continue to implement the 10-year Women’s Equity Strategy, to make Vancouver a “fair, safe and inclusive city” for all women; would continue to implement the benefits of our city’s ongoing active transportation initiatives (and, yes, for those of you who are not paying attention, that means more bike lanes — about which initiative VanRamblings continues to be, and will always be supportive); and would work with senior levels of government to ensure the construction of truly affordable housing (defined as one-third of a person’s income), while continuing the city’s work with the Community Land Trust to ensure the construction of co-operative housing, such as the recently-opened 135-unit family friendly Railyard Housing Co-op at Quebec and 1st.
Mayor Shauna Sylvester would work to continue the important environmental initiatives that are critical to the future of our children and our families; would work with provincial Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Judy Darcy, and provincial Minister of Justice, David Eby, to work towards the elimination of the scourge that is the fentanyl crisis, most evident on Vancouver’s downtown eastside but also evident across our city, while supporting the good work of Sarah Blyth, Constance Barnes and others who work with the Overdose Prevention Society; would be a fair and judicious chair of Vancouver City Council meetings, providing all elected City Councillors a voice in the decision-making that affects the quality of life in Vancouver, and as such would be a mediator and an agent for change to bring Vancouver City Council together to enact programmes and legislation that would enhance the lives of all Vancouver citizens.
To be honest, and let’s be damn sure about this, Shauna Sylvester would make a first-rate Mayor for the City of Vancouver were voters to cast their ballot for her in sufficient numbers come this October, such that Shauna Sylvester would become our first ever, compassionate woman Mayor, in a four year term that would begin this November, not a fire-breathing radical Mayor, but a neighbourhood-championing Mayor who would put the interests of Vancouver families, families of every description in all of our communities, first on her political & social agenda, and make us all proud.

Over 50? You Need to Get Your Shingles Shingrix Shot Today

April 22, 2018Food & Health, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

Today is Earth Day. How can you play your part?

Well, if you’re a senior, maybe by not dying prematurely from the stress and pain associated with the varicella zoster virus (shingles) or postherpetic neuralgia, so you can be around to witness, participate in and contribute to making ours a greener and more environmentally sound planet.

Are you over the age of 50, or do you have a parent, friend, spouse, relative, neighbour or colleague who is over the age of 50? If so, you or someone close to you will want to make arrangements this coming week to have the new Shingrix vaccine administered at your, or their (if it’s someone you’re advising) doctor’s office, or local pharmacy.

Those over the age of 50 are susceptible to contracting shingles, probably the single most painful and sustaining malady a senior might experience.

Many millions of North Americans, especially those older than 40, are susceptible to an attack of shingles, caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Once the varicella zoster virus infects a person, it lies dormant for decades in nerve roots, ready to pounce when the immune system is weakened, say, by stress, medication, trauma or disease. One-third of North Americans eventually contract shingles, but the risk rises with age; by age 85 half of adults will have had at least one outbreak of shingles.

Just have a look at the testimonials in the link in this sentence …

Comment from Francie, age 65 – 74

I had the worst pain from shingles, it was just off the charts! I was unable to sleep, eat, walk, or talk for three months.

Comment from: David, age 55 – 65

On March 26, 2015, I had my first annual anniversary with the horrible and constant pain of post herpetic neuralgia (shingles). The first 9 months was a nightmare; especially at night. It’s in my armpit, and all along my shoulders; so it’s too painful to have clothing or even a sheet touching my skin. Nothing helped even as new medications appeared. My doctor tried everything and couldn’t understand why my shingles just got worse. He told me he’s had patients who suffered with shingles for 7 years. So by the time this goes, I’ll be dead; or want to be.

Once you’ve contracted shingles, there’s nothing you can do about it, except live as best you can with the pain and the prejudiced lifestyle.

However, there is something you can do to prevent contracting shingles.

Merck’s Zostavax was first brought to the market in 2008, with an efficacy rate that reduced the risk of shingles by 51%, and a 67% preventive rate of contracting shingles a second time.

This year, however, a new medication from Glaxo-Kline, called Shingrix, came onto the market, that studies indicate reduces the risk of contracting shingles by 97% for people in their 50s and 60s, and 91% for those in their 70s and 80s, also reducing the risk of contracting shingles again by 86%, lasting much longer than its Zostavax predecessor, which starts to lose its protection after only 3 years.

Needless to say, we had the Zostavax vaccine administered some years ago, and have now had the first of two Shingrix shots administered.

Sharon Livingstone, a gerontologist, is ‘adamant’ people get the Shingrix vaccine. She herself got the Zostavax shot 10 years ago but, as can happen, she contracted shingles four years ago. She now encourages the seniors she sees to be vaccinated with the new and more effective Shingrix vaccine.

The headline in the January 1, 2018 Globe and Mail article, by health reporter André Picard, called Shingrix “a game changer” …

More than 130,000 Canadians are diagnosed with shingles each year — most of them seniors.

Anyone who has had chickenpox — which is about 90% of people born before 1995 — can develop shingles later in life, and about one-third do. The varicella zoster virus lies dormant for years, or decades, and erupts for reasons that are unclear, usually after age 50.

The pustules on the skin are bad enough, but one in eight of those afflicted with shingles suffer post-herpetic neuralgia, the medical term for lingering and sometimes debilitating nerve pain. The virus can also destroy nerves, causing blindness or deafness and, in rare cases, lead to grave infections such as meningitis and flesh-eating disease. Shingles also increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Yet, the misery that befalls so many is largely preventable.

Now there is a new vaccine, Shingrix, that dramatically improves protection — showing itself to be up to 97 per cent effective in large clinical studies.

“This is a game-changer,” says Dr. Iris Gorfinkel, a Toronto physician.

The blisters that arise from an incidence of shingles tend to heal in a week or two to form crusty scabs that eventually fall off. But for about 15% of people, shingles does not end there. Instead, it leaves them with deep, searing nerve pain — a condition called postherpetic neuralgia, or PHN — that can last for months or years and has no treatment or cure. More than half the cases of PHN affect people over 60.

VanRamblings first became aware of shingles when a neighbour contracted the infection 5 years ago. For a period of one year, he couldn’t move out of his co-op apartment, couldn’t sleep (except when he passed out from exhaustion), wearing any kind of clothing was near impossible, and having anything touch his skin brought him excruciating pain. Every male in VanRamblings’ housing co-op, and all of VanRamblings’ close friends, made arrangements to have the $180, one time, Zostavax vaccine administered.

Now that Shingrix is on the market — requiring two shots, two to six months apart, at $150 apiece — all of VanRamblings’ close associates have either had the Shingrix shot, or are making arrangements to do so. Note should be made that — thanks to our new New Democrat government over in Victoria — British Columbia is the only province in Canada that allows pharmacists to administer the Shingrix vaccine (which is where we got the first of our two shots on Wednesday this past week).

You will need a prescription from a doctor, though. And, yes, as the video below suggests, there is some (ouch!) pain involved — even five days later — and a lingering malaise. But, hey, VanRamblings is still posting everyday, so it can’t really be that bad, can it (it’s not, we’re just a big baby)?

And, oh yeah, make arrangements this week to get your first Shingrix shot.

Amazon.ca | Knife-Sharpening as A Life Changing Experience

April 21, 2018Food & Health, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

To prepare meals simply and easily, home chefs (that’d be you and me) need three things: fresh ingredients (preferably organic), well-honed and simple preparation techniques, and a few, high quality tools.
We’d add the life-changing Instant Pot, but we’ll save writing about this best-selling, homegrown Canadian device for another day.
Having the right equipment available makes the job of preparing breakfast, lunch or dinner that much easier. Whether it’s a well-seasoned cast iron frying pan, or baking dishes that have been passed down through the generations, great kitchenware makes preparing meals a near & utter joy.
Much has been written over the years about a kitchen’s one essential tool, used in the creation of virtually every dish, and that would be: the knife.
Good, sharp knives represent the single most important set of kitchen tools used in the creation of virtually every and any dish that you might wish to prepare. A sharp knife means more control and less slippage when you cut, leading to safer, more consistent slices. Plus, cutting with a sharp knife is something of an unadulterated joy! From mincing garlic and fine herbs, or slicing thick wide wedges from a fresh-baked loaf of bread, to the often tough job of peeling the skin off a cantaloupe, a truly sharp chef’s knife will help you get the job done, quickly, efficiently & - most importantly - safely.
In Vancouver, if you need your knives sharpened, knife sharpening aficionados have long known that the Sharpening House, at 511 West 7th Avenue in Vancouver - just west of Cambie, in the neighbourhood of Best Buy, Canadian Tire and Home Depot - is the place to go. Read the Yelp testimonials available in the link on the second line of this paragraph. Knives sharpened well (and repaired, if necessary) for as little as $7.

Now, of course, as a chef, one is supposed to learn to employ a diamond-sharp honing tool to keep our knives truly and well-sharpened (you’ve got one, right?) - anyway, for VanRamblings this seems like a little bit of too much work. Don’tcha think? Who knows about the future, though?
VanRamblings has long believed that the “big things” in life have a way of working themselves out, but it is the “little things”, the nagging annoyances that come with everyday life that when resolved bring the most, if only momentary, joy. Today, we’re going to let you in on a life-changing secret: the $4.50 Edgeware 50009 2-Stage Edge Grip Knife Sharpener, available through Amazon.ca, with free shipping! Take a gander at the videos above.

The Edgeware 50009 2-Stage Edge Grip Knife Sharpener works as advertised, a simple, straightforward, reliable, ‘you get far more out of the use of this utterly essential knife sharpening tool than you paid for it’ joy. VanRamblings believes that you’ll find this kitchen staple one of the most rewarding kitchen tools in your kitchen repertoire of essential products, and one that you’ll find you use to great satisfaction multiple times a day.

VanRamblings’ friend, Norquay community organizer, General UBC Librarian Emeritus, and VIFF aficionado, Joseph Jones, has taken us to task for promoting the pecuniary interests of Jeff Bezos and his worker-exploiting online behemoth, Amazon, by deigning to suggest that even expending $4.50 for the Edgeware Knife Sharpener is as poorly thought out and demeaning of worker interests recommendation as we could possibly make.
Of course, Joseph is entirely correct, and the person of honour and integrity we know him to be. Joseph has come up with what he considers to be a far superior — if somewhat costlier, at $19.95 — alternative to the Edgeware product we recommended above: the Chestnut Tools ‘all-purpose carbide wonder’ (Joseph’s words) Universal Sharpening Tool, available at Lee Valley Tools, 1180 S.E. Marine Drive in Vancouver, just east of the Knight Street turnabout, the indispensable, local economy and non-exploiting worker supporting company offering a principled place to shop, for a product that is in all likelihood a superior product, and one that will last a lifetime.

VanRamblings being the pauper that we are, we’ll have to save up a bit o’ the old do re mi to set aside for the purchase of the Chestnut Tools Universal Sharpener, perhaps as a birthday present for ourselves. And for our treasured VanRamblings readers, you now have a principled knife sharpening alternative to the worker exploiting Bezos-Amazon product.

Vancouver Municipal Election 2018 | A Dog’s Breakfast

April 20, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

The critical 2018 Vancouver municipal election is only 6 short months away.
Today, as you’re probably aware is 4-20, the annual “stoner’s day” celebration. Voters in 2018’s Vancouver civic election may need to be as high as the participants at Sunset Beach today if they’re going to make any sense out of the miasma that is this year’s Vancouver municipal election.
Take a look at the graphic above. There are 12 — count ’em, 12 — candidates who are currently vying for a Vancouver Mayoral nomination, and at the end of this year’s sure-to-be-bumpy and decidedly and overtly partisan electoral contest, on October 20th the grand prize as Mayor of Vancouver will determine Vancouver’s future early in the 21st century.
Looming large on the Vancouver political landscape, the four candidates for the right-of-centre Non-Partisan Association (NPA), the largely male-dominated Vancouver civic party that held power from 1937 through 1972, 1976 through 2002, and from mid-autumn 2005 until the fall of 2008. Four men. Take a look at their faces. Clearly, for the antediluvian NPA, the #MeToo & #TimesUp movements have had little impact on the world view of the corporate-funded-and-backed civic party they’ve chosen to run with.
Is this 2018, or is this 1938? One wonders, when considering the ‘he-men‘ of the NPA. Sad, and more’s the pity, because 2018 is a year of change.
Left-to-right top row, we have John “I don’t suffer fools gladly” Coupar, a homegrown boy, a decent man, recent Chairperson of the Vancouver Park Board, and current Commissioner on our illustrious Park Board.
To John’s right (and we do mean “to his right”, in every sense of the word), current Vancouver City Councillor Hector Bremner, the Mr. Supply, Supply, Supply candidate in the current civic election, Tom “Terrifying” Campbell for the 21st century, the development candidate on methamphetamine famous for saying, “The people of Kitsilano have had it way too easy for way too long. At the end of my first four year term, I will have turned Kitsilano into the new West End. I’ll be coming for your neighbourhood next. I love towers.” In 2018, it would seem that what is old is new again. Alas.
And to Hector’s right, the indefatigable 2014 Cedar Party Mayoral aspirant, Glen Chernen, the “they’re corrupt, they’re all corrupt, there’s a new sheriff in town, and I’m gonna clean this town up, yesirree Bob & Mabel, you can count on it”, a 2018 Non-Partisan Association Mayoral aspirant, don’tcha know. If nothing else, Glen will keep the contest interesting (sort of like the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”). Alas deux.
And, finally and to the far right (is he, or is he not?), 47-year-young entrepreneur “I’ve never even given a passing thought to running for elected office before, but I figure Mayor is as good a place as any to start” Ken Sim, the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association corporate candidate, who announced his intention to seek the NPA Mayoral nomination this past Monday. No website for his candidacy, though. No Ken Sim for Mayor Facebook page, either. Tch, tch. Maybe the affable Mr. Sim is not a nomination candidate for Vancouver Mayor. Could be. Enquiring minds want to know — or at least see a galldarn web page for his putative mayoral bid.

VanRamblings’ money is on one of the four women Mayoral aspirants pictured above. As we will do for all candidates, next week and the week after we’ll write at some greater length about all 12 of the Vancouver Mayoral aspirants — taking a glancing blow at each individual’s candidacy, which none of them will like, but we can guarantee that we’ll be kinder than what all 12 have in store for them over the next six months.
First up, there’s Shauna Sylvester — to the far left (which she is, compared to any of the NPA mayoral aspirants) — a thoroughly decent person, someone VanRamblings likes and very much admires — and someone who doesn’t have a hope in hell of becoming Vancouver’s next Mayor. Not that VanRamblings won’t give you myriad reasons to support Ms. Sylvester’s “independent” bid for Mayor — we will, and will sing Ms. Sylvester’s glory to the rafters (but as we warned her, we’re gonna be “mean” first, but not a tenth as mean as she’ll find herself subject to in the coming months). In 2018, Ms. Sylvester is the “woo woo” candidate. Alas and alack.
To Ms. Sylvester’s right, above, we have the gregarious, principled and top vote-getter in the 2014 Vancouver municipal election, two-term Green Party of Vancouver probable Mayoral candidate Adriane Carr — or, as we like to say, the “Harry Rankin Mayoral candidate” in this year’s Vancouver civic election. Why the “Harry Rankin Mayoral candidate”? The exceedingly cantankerous, but ever-so-bright and on your side, Harry topped the polls each election during his 20 year tenure as an alderman (as they called City Councillors then) on Vancouver City Council, but when Harry ran for Mayor in 1986, against a young upstart by the name of Gordon Campbell, the NPA entered a new electoral Valhalla when Campbell didn’t just top the polls, he slammed a disconsolate Rankin by a greater than 20,000 vote margin.
To Ms. Carr’s right (but not politically), 2017 Vancouver-False Creek NDP candidate and current Vice-President on the Executive Council of the beloved and activist British Columbia New Democratic Party, a political party that is actually on your side, the one, the only Morgane Oger, who VanRamblings believes is the unity candidate in the 2018 civic election, the only Mayoral candidate that all five political parties could & would support.
In 2018, the Vancouver & District Labour Council (VDLC) is in the throes of an attempt to broker a deal that would “unite” the “progressive” parties — Vision Vancouver, One City, the Greens, COPE and Team Jean — against the dark forces of the dastardly Vancouver Non-Partisan Association. If none of this makes any sense to you, VanRamblings will take a glancing blow at each of the civic parties offering candidates for office in the coming civic election, although truth to tell we’re pretty smitten with OneCity Vancouver. And, please, don’t get us started on the Council candidacy of Christine Boyle — we’re so over-the-moon about Ms. Boyle’s candidacy, we may change the name of our VanRamblings website to VoteForChristineBoyle.
And, finally, on the far right above (but not politically), the incredibly wonderful Meena Wong, who was the principled COPE candidate for Mayor in the 2014 Vancouver municipal election, and may — we did say may — make another bid for the Mayor’s chair if the VDLC is unable to broker a deal for a “unity candidate” for the five progressive parties to get behind.

And last, and most probably least, the final four candidates for Mayor, Colleen “my taxes are just too damn high” Hardwick — who will give VanRamblings hell if we don’t point out that she has not, finally and once-and-for-all, made up her mind as to whether she’ll enter the race with, probably, A Better City (a party she and others formed years ago); Dr. Patrick “working with the citizens, together we could build a livable Vancouver for all of us, and in 2018 I am the Naheed Nenshi candidate (and let us hope for all our sakes that turns out to be the case)” Condon; current Vancouver City Councillor, Finance Chair and recent President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Raymond Louie; and last and least, Wai “whack-a-doodle” Young, whose putative candidacy for Mayor is dead on arrival, as she sets about on her bid for Mayor with the so-called Coalition Party, which appellation is accurate if you consider the meaning of her party’s name to mean, The Coalition of the Damned.
VanRamblings imagines that Ms. Young’s campaign manager, Peter Labrie (who last November ran for the NPA Board, and lost miserably) and Dunbar Theatre owner, Ken Charko, a federal Conservative Party member (and seeming Trump supporter) will be far from pleased with our construction of Ms. Young’s Mayoral candidacy. Alas.
Just chalk it up to VanRamblings being a miserable old cuss. It is to weep.

Today’s VanRamblings column represents the first in what will probably emerge as more than 100 columns, over the course of the next six months, on the upcoming civic election, for Council, School Board and Park Board. As you have no doubt detected, VanRamblings remains a devotee of hyperbole, and where some might say we’re being “mean”, we see it simply as truth-telling. We will attempt to be fair, though, and will afford each candidate an opportunity to have their unadulterated thoughts on their bid for electoral office recorded on VanRamblings, without benefit of snarky or untoward comment from VanRamblings.
Over the course of the next six months, we will attempt to make some sense of all that is about to unfold on Vancouver’s civic scene. At this point, we have a pretty good idea of who we like and who we’ll be supporting — but the list of those persons VanRamblings will be supporting come early October, when the advance polls open, and on Vancouver Election Day, Saturday, October 20th, is by no means complete.

Sparkling OneCity Vancouver Council candidate Christine Boyle (centre), with friends

If you’re wondering what values we support, you need look no further than Christine Boyle’s essay, It Matters How We Do Politics, a more expansive recording of what the principled Ms. Boyle stands for than was published recently on The Georgia Straight website — which is to say, she stands for us — the single most hopeful, skilled, humane and utterly transformative candidate for office VanRamblings has ever witnessed emerging on the political scene, anywhere, anytime (and we know some darn fine folks, political people we just love, and so admire that sometimes it is difficult for us to contain ourselves — and, yes, Patti Bacchus, David Eby, Carrie Bercic, Spencer Chandra Herbert, Allan Wong & Adi Pick, we’re talking about you).
VanRamblings will publish every day going forward.
On the weekend, we’ll take a break from writing about politics (but we will write a column each day this weekend), and will return to writing about the upcoming civic election on Monday. Steel yourself, Ms. Sylvester, and mayoral compatriots. One final thing: VanRamblings will soon publish an apology to Vision Vancouver, for our horrid past coverage of a civic party that has done much good (not that they get a lot of credit for it — we’ll attempt to change that egregious circumstance by recording all that is good that has been accomplished by Vision Vancouver this past 10 years).