Category Archives: BC Politics

Vancouver Votes 2018 | Trump’s Impact On Our Election Outcome

May 28, 2018BC Politics, Pop Culture, Vancouver Votes 2018, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

2018 Vancouver civic election results will be announced in the evening of Saturday, October 20th

The Grounds the 2018 Vancouver Civic Election May be Fought On Part 1, Backlash: Rightist Vancouver Residents Rise Up to Fight City Hall
The 2018 Vancouver civic election is less than five months away, with election results available late in the evening of Saturday, October 20th.
As the six main Vancouver political parties ramp up their election strategy, the issues emerging are affordable & social housing, transit, property taxes, street cleanliness and service to the public, renewal of our community centre system, and civic government expenditure. But are these the issues, the ground that 2018’s Vancouver civic election will actually be fought on?
VanRamblings would suggest to you the core issue for some residents in the coming Vancouver civic election only tangentially relate to the platform issues on which Vancouver’s six civic parties will run their 2018 campaigns.
Rather, VanRamblings would present to you that the core issue of the coming civic election is … heart, or the lack thereof, and the willingness of Vancouver voters to place self-interest second to that of poverty reduction, and the construction of transitional, social and affordable housing in neighbourhoods across our city, over the course of the next four years.

Funded by the province and being built in the City of Vancouver, by this time next year 680 transitional modular housing units will have opened on ten or more supervised sites across the city, located in as many Vancouver neighbourhoods, the modular housing meant to house Vancouver’s most vulnerable population. The experience of the City following an announcement of modular housing construction has found that each and every time a new modular housing project site is announced, be it at …

Little Mountain, at 37th and Main;
650 West 67th Avenue, at Heather Street;
595 and 599 West 2nd Avenue, near the Vancouver Police Department headquarters, and nearby the Olympic Village Canada Line station;
4480 Kaslo Street, just south of the 29th Avenue Skytrain station;
1131 Franklin Street, over by the B.C. Sugar Refinery, just off Powell Street; and
525 Powell Street, at Jackson Street.

Fearful, socially regressive neighbours driven by self-interest, safety and the potential for lower property values come out in droves, well-organized and sometimes numbering in the hundreds, carrying signs and yelling at passersby, while vehemently protesting modular housing construction in their neighbourhood, each time the City announces a new construction site.

Vancouver Coastal Health has proposed an affordable housing facility and detox treatment centre on East 1st Avenue at Clark Drive, the project a divisive one for some Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood residents. One group of locals, though, worries such divisive behaviour will teach their children to be afraid of those who most need assistance and empathy, this latter group coming out in favour of the project.

OneCity Vancouver candidate for City Council, Christine Boyle, had an unhappy experience at a May 2nd Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood — the neighbourhood where her family and friends live — information session on a proposed affordable housing facility and treatment centre to be located on East 1st Avenue at Clark Drive, with the treatment centre controversially, for some residents, taking over the duties for the current, smaller detox centre located on East 2nd Avenue, near Main.
Ms. Boyle said such opposition to the treatment centre was disappointing.

“I don’t want my kids to learn that they should be fearful of people who are homeless or struggling,” Boyle told StarMetro Vancouver reporter, Perrin Grauer. “I worry that’s the lesson coming out of this.”

And there you have it: NIMBY residents opposing modular housing construction in their neighbourhood, or construction of an under lock and key detox and treatment centre — and even the provision of affordable housing in their neighbourhood, that might lower their property values.
Heart, social conscience, empathy for our most vulnerable citizens vs naked, socially maladroit, near-heartless self-interest. That my friends, is the battle ground on which 2018’s Vancouver civic election may be fought.
The 2018 Vancouver civic election is a “throw the bums out” election, and by that many Vancouver residents mean — we’ll see how many, come the evening of Saturday, October 20th — that they’re “sick-and-tired” of the social engineering that has gone on at City Hall”, the focus on reconciliation with our indigenous peoples, promoting the interests of women in the workplace, making our city a racism-free zone, a nuclear-free zone, catering to the interests of our LGBTQ and gender variant communities, Vancouver as a non-gendered bathroom zone, a catering to the interests of vulnerable citizens zone — all at the expense of “tax paying” NIMBY citizens — a city where progressivism has been the order of the day, all much to the chagrin of Vancouver’s meaner, more socially regressive “hey, it’s all about me, my interests, maintaining the value of my property” citizens.
In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, progressives were convinced that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had a presidential win and four years in the White House in the bag, that under no circumstance would a sexist and misogynist, barely literate and totally uninformed man-child buffoon go on to win the White House. Well, you know how that one turned out.
In the 2018 Vancouver election, a lowest common denominator Mayoral candidate, and candidates for Council will emerge — the Wai Young Coalition Party and Hector Bremner campaigns — will emerge from the primordial muck quite soon, well-financed and hungry for power, and ready to turn the clock back to a meaner time, a “people’s movement” that could snatch victory from both the progressive party coalition, and the socially progressive, nominally right-of-centre Vancouver Non-Partisan Association.

A Master Class on Meeting Conduct, and Democratic Engagement

May 24, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

There exists in our city, governance serving the public interest that sets the standard for democratic engagement — the likes of which VanRamblings does not recall ever previously having witnessed in the public realm.
We are, of course, speaking of the work of Chairperson of the Vancouver School Board, Janet Fraser, who meeting in, meeting out conducts a Master Class on how one must conduct a meeting, efficiently and well, in the public interest, respectful meetings of democratic engagement, where the Board of Education trustees are encouraged to work as a team — and woebetide the person who does not accede to Dr. Fraser’s unspoken ordinance.

For Dr. Janet Fraser, outward appearance to the contrary, is a tough as nails, brooks no nonsense, respectful, engaged, informed, demands the best from those sitting around the VSB Board of Education table, who absolutely and utterly does not ever allow untoward commentary to stand — the finest and most democratic public official, and Chairperson of any civic body we have ever had the privilege of witnessing.
A story. Early in her term as Vancouver School Board Chairperson, Janet Fraser allowed One City Vancouver trustee Carrie Bercic to move a motion that would see the newly-elected trustees working with staff to ensure the timely hiring of teachers and other educators, so as to meet the conditions of the November 2015 ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ms. Bercic, even as early as the beginning of her term as school board trustee, was making it clear to anyone with ears to listen that she would be the new conscience of the Vancouver School Board ‘Board of Education’, as has proven to be the case throughout the course of 2018.
Veteran trustee Allan Wong, in support of trustee Bercic, seconded her motion, the motion now open for discussion, recently-elected Chairperson Fraser presiding at the head of the Board of Education table. Early reception for trustee Bercic’s motion was not salutary, with both Vancouver Non-Partisan Association trustees Fraser Ballantyne and Lisa Dominato, as might well be expected, speaking against “interference” by trustees in the work of administrative staff. Trustee Wong spoke in support of trustee Bercic’s motion, as did his Vision Vancouver colleague, Joy Alexander, while their colleague Ken Clement chose not to weigh in on the matter.
Trustee Estrellita Gonzalez, a novice in political life, looked on, attempting to weigh what she heard. And what trustee Gonzalez heard next, from her Green Party of Vancouver colleague, Dr. Judy Zaichowski rocked the meeting, sounding the death knell for trustee Bercic’s motion …

“Never have I heard such a poorly worded motion” trustee Zaichkowski proclaimed. “Trustee Bercic seems not to know what it is she is attempting to move, injudiciously unclear in her intent — quite honestly, I cannot make head nor tail of what trustee Bercic is attempting to accomplish. From what I’ve read, looking at her motion — a motion which she did not discuss with me, nor to the best of my knowledge, with other of the trustees around this table — I would suggest that, perhaps, “she” might benefit from one of the courses on ‘Clear Communication’ I teach at Simon Fraser University in the Beedie School of Business. I will not be supporting Ms. Bercic’s motion, and stand adamantly against it.”

A hush fell over the room. Trustee Gonzalez seeming to weigh no longer on how she would vote — she would cast her vote in the negative.
Meanwhile, trustees Dominato and Ballantyne seemed thunderstruck — it is usual business at the school board table that Fraser Ballantyne is the one who acts out. Meanwhile, Joy Alexander — always calm, had a look of alarm in her eyes, while you could almost hear trustee Wong’s thoughts on the matter (“Never in my 19 years as a trustee on school board, have I ever witnessed …”), while trustee Clement looked on, disbelieving of what he’d just heard — for this group of trustees, perhaps with one notable exception, are persons of conscience, as humane and caring of the public process that leads to the decisions that affect the lives of thousands as may be found on any publicly-elected body. All the while, even though it was but mere seconds, Chairperson Fraser sat at the head of the table, her face inscrutable, her thoughts unreadable. And then Dr. Fraser spoke …

“Around this school board table, trustees speak to and about one another with respect. Trustee Zaichkowski (ed. note, one of the two Green Party trustees elected last October, along with Dr. Fraser), despite your statement and suggestion to the contrary, I feel quite assured that you know exactly what trustee Bercic’s motion intends. How could you not? The content and activism of trustee Bercic’s motion is as clear as day to me, as I am sure is the case with all of my other trustee colleagues sitting around this table this evening — clearly with the exception of yourself, if I am to believe what you said earlier … and I do not.

I will be supporting trustee Bercic’s motion, as I hope would be the case with my trustee colleagues, on whom I am depending for support of trustee Bercic’s motion, a motion the intent of which I clearly understand, and without reservation support. Could I now have a trustee Call the Question, so that we might vote?”

All tension in the air evaporated, you could hear the audible sighs of relief around the school board table, trustee Gonzalez was smiling for she now knew for certain how she would vote, with trustee Ballantyne speaking out of order to say, “I am fully in favour of trustee Bercic’s motion.”
Chairperson Janet Fraser asked for a show of hands, “All those in favour of trustee Bercic’s motion raise your hands.” Seven hands shot up: trustees Bercic, Wong, Alexander, Ballantyne, Clement, Dominato and Gonzalez. Chairperson Fraser next asked for a show of hand(s) for those opposed. Nothing. Trustee Zaichkowski had abstained on the motion that only minutes earlier she had spoken so vehemently against.
With the above described interaction of trustees now history, Dr. Fraser proved herself to be … how do we say it? … someone not to be fucked with. A tone was set. Dr. Janet Fraser was in charge. Going forward, members of the Vancouver School Board would work together in the best interests of children enrolled in the Vancouver school system.
Meanwhile, Dianne Turner (for whom I possess some great affection, and who is owed an apology from me … nothing too egregious, just some casual thoughtlessness on my part, if casual thoughtlessness can ever be juxtaposed with use of the word “just” … surely, a contradiction in terms) — the Official Trustee appointed by B.C. Liberal Education Minister, Mike Bernier, on behalf of the Christy Clark government, and kept on as a Special Advisor to current B.C. Education Minister, Rob Fleming, her term as Special Advisor expiring earlier this spring — looked around the room, at the gallery, at the trustees, and at Dr. Fraser. With a subtle, yet warm and reassuring smile, Ms. Turner limned the moment of reason and humanity that she had just witnessed around the school board table. You could almost hear her say, “I think they’re going to be just fine. Soon, I’ll be speaking with Minister Fleming, when I will seek to assure him that the Vancouver School Board is in good hands, and that he need not worry.”
Dr. Janet Fraser. Master Class in Meeting Conduct. Every Chairperson of every body, be it housing co-op, arts organization, elected body, or in any other forum where people come together to promote good governance and democratic decision-making would do themselves well to arrive at the offices of the Vancouver School Board this upcoming Monday evening.

Broadview Housing Co-operative, located in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood

An Invitation to the Members of the Broadview Housing Co-operative, and to all Vancouver citizens
For anyone who is familiar with VanRamblings’ activist work in the community, you would know that we are a lifelong democrat, that we believe in respectful and informed democratic engagement, where although within a group or on an issue of contention on occasion we might disagree, we believe in humanity and what constitutes the best of us, as persons of conscience, as social activists, as engaged citizens striving always for more and better, not for ourselves — because we recognize that we are persons of privilege — but for others, for whom it is our obligation to use our privilege to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we come into contact daily, and for those whom we have not yet met, the vulnerable members of our community, for whom we harbour a deep and abiding caring, and for whom we will do our best to make theirs a better life, and in doing so give our own lives a sense of meaning and a deeper purpose.
Working together, striving to improve the lives of others, the creation of community, and a sense of social obligation defines life in housing co-ops, as it defines life in the public realm, at Council, Park and School Board.

Why is VanRamblings inviting the members of our housing co-op, and you as citizens of Vancouver, to next Monday’s, May 28th public meeting of Vancouver School Board trustees, set to start at 7pm, at 1580 West Broadway, in the Board room at the Vancouver School Board’s head office?
In part, it’s because Broadview is a mere 19 blocks from the Vancouver School Board offices, an enjoyable walk, bike or bus ride away. And why not? Aren’t housing co-ops all about respectful, democratic engagement, and is it not important for the well-functioning not only of the Broadview Housing Co-op at our various general, finance, membership and maintenance committee meetings — but for all of us in the public weal — to strive always for better in the conduct of our lives, and in meeting engagement where decisions that have profound effect are rendered?
At next Monday’s Board of Education trustees meeting, you will see …

VSB Chairperson Janet Fraser working to increase engagement and teamwork among the trustees, in a meeting of passion and commitment;
Dr. Fraser creating an environment in the Board room where all the trustees contribute to the decision-making around the school board table, creating personal ownership of issues;
Chairperson Fraser setting standards for the meeting, by encouraging behaviors of respect needed for the meeting to be successful;
Dr. Fraser providing a sense of purpose, energy and optimism, and a sense of vision, mission and aspirational values that give meaning to the meeting, resulting in productive and demonstrably effective outcomes.

What you won’t see at meetings chaired by Dr. Fraser …

Cross-talk, verboten in proper and democratically-run meetings. Cross-talk occurs when someone has the floor, and others in the meeting are engaged in separate conversations, being disrespectful of the person who has the floor, and to others members present at the meeting;
A disrespect for Robert’s of Order, through which intimate knowledge ensures respectful, democratic decision-making by which all meeting governance must abide.

All meetings, whether at the Broadview Housing Co-operative, at City Council, School Board or Park Board must observe the rules of proper and respectful meeting conduct, and all chairpersons — whatever the body — must take their obligation as chairperson, as seriously and with as much import as does Dr. Fraser, who is as serious as death about ensuring democratic engagement will carry the day at school board, as should all persons engaged elsewhere who are charged with the responsibility of conducting respectful, fulsome and democratically-run meetings.
Victoria’s Cameo housing co-op has adopted rules of order to ensure their meetings abide by a central tenet on which Canada’s housing co-op movement was founded in the 1970s …

“The empowerment of housing co-op members, through the establishment of respectful, democratically-run meetings, occurs in order that members will feel empowered, not just around the co-op meeting table, but in the society at large, and in the public realm, so that the housing co-op movement might serve to fight against anomie, alienation, cynicism and disengagement from the decision-making that affects their lives in the municipal, provincial and federal political realm, for when a meeting is well run, when members are intimately familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, when Co-op members are energized and engaged they might come to work with others to change the conditions of their lives, and the lives of others, so as to better serve the common good.”

Of course, in British Columbia, members of the Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia can avail themselves of the three-hour Good Governance and Principled Leadership workshop, where a CHF-BC staff person travels to housing co-ops to teach a simplified version of Robert’s Rules of Order, how to capably chair a meeting, how to manage difficult situations, how to make meaningful decisions in a timely and respectful manner, and how to conduct a productive meeting.
Or, as CHF-BC is wont to say …

“In a well-run co-op, meetings run smoothly. They’re a place where things get done instead of done to you. Good meetings produce sound decisions and are a positive experience for members. Bad meetings don’t get the work done and undermine morale.”

Members of Broadview are always open to ensuring that our meetings run better, are more efficient and respectful of members’ time, that decisions are arrived at thoughtfully and in a timely manner, that humanity and a respect for others around the meeting table is of prime importance for the well-functioning of not only a co-op meeting but for the interests of our housing co-operative, and the housing co-op movement, as a whole.
For we in Vancouver, and in British Columbia, are at a crossroads in the history of the provision of affordable housing. The conduct of the affairs of any of the housing co-ops in Metro Vancouver and across the province, must reflect the best values of the housing co-op movement, as respectful, member-owned-and-run affordable social housing projects — for soon, very soon, we are about to witness our municipal, provincial and federal governments embark on a housing co-op construction programme, the likes of which we have not witnessed in 40 years.

VanRamblings would then ask of Broadview members, and of you …
When such a resource as Dr. Fraser is so nearby, so readily available, the meetings she has been charged by the public to conduct, as close to beauty in the public realm as one is likely to encounter in the course of our prosaic daily lives, why would one — and members of Broadview Housing Co-op, in particular — not wish to avail themselves of nonpareil beauty extant?
And as Broadview’s Laurie and Kevin, Libbi and Yvon, Alex, Goran, Josh, Laurette and Yoshi, Judi and Max, Tatiana, Kyle, Charlotte and Richard, Tina and Shane, Joe, Jette, Heather and Jason, Natasha and Meaghan will be present this next Monday evening for the well-conducted one and a half hour, critical to the future of children enrolled in the Vancouver school system, movingly profound meeting of our Board of Education trustees …

One City’s ‘move you to tears’ social justice warrior, Carrie Bercic; Beedie School of Business professor, Dr. Judy Zaichowkski, and her quiet, yet passionately engaged Green Party colleague, Estrellita Gonzalez; retired school principal, Fraser Ballantyne, and the utterly tremendous Lisa Dominato, mom to a daughter enrolled in Grade One, and up until recently, the Director of Integrated Services and Safe Schools in B.C.’s Ministry of Education; the calming, informed, reasoned — and we think, sometimes mischievous — Joy Alexander, and her Vision Vancouver colleagues, the entirely tremendous Allan Wong, a father of daughters, and a 19-year veteran School Board trustee; and Ken Clement of the Ktunaxa First Nation, long a voice for social justice, health and housing for our indigenous peoples, and at School Board, an activist for better educational outcomes for Aboriginal students …

VanRamblings believes that you, too, must be present to witness, to avail yourselves of the opportunity to be a participant school board meeting observer, in what we assure you — and what we assure Broadview Housing Co-op members — will prove to be a transformative experience in your life, in their lives, in service to what is the best of us, democracy, respectful democratic engagement, and needed and necessary change for the better.

Vancouver Votes 2018 | Conflicted Candidate Announces for Mayor

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

VanRamblings harbours a great deal of respect for retiring Vision Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer, and for Stepan Vdovine — recent, and now former, Executive Director of the party that has governed Vancouver for the past almost 10 year now. We believe both to be admirable persons of honour and integrity, persons of conscience possessed of good judgment.
When Squamish Nation hereditary Chief Ian Campbell announced on May 14th that he would be seeking the endorsement of Vision Vancouver to become Vancouver’s next Mayor, we were surprised — and we would have to say disappointed, as well — that Ms. Reimer had signed on as co-chair of Mr. Campbell’s bid to become Vision Vancouver’s Mayoral aspirant.
We were also surprised (and disappointed, although one supposes we shouldn’t have been) that Stepan Vdovine, Mayor Gregor Robertson’s former chief of staff Mike Magee, Vision Vancouver’s former co-chairperson, Maria Dobrinskaya, and longtime Vision campaign veteran and labour activist Clay Suddaby had also signed on to Mr. Campbell’s bid to become Vancouver’s next Mayor. Ms. Reimer’s co-chair on Ian Campbell’s well-oiled-and-organized campaign is urban planner Ginger Gosnell-Myers, who resigned in March as the City of Vancouver’s aboriginal relations manager.
Why is VanRamblings disappointed that Ms. Reimer and Mr. Vdovine, in particular, have come forward as staunch supporters of Mr. Campbell?
As you’ll read today, and as you’ll read ad nauseum in the months to come should — c’mon, let’s face it, he’s a lock for the Vision Vancouver nomination — Mr. Campbell emerge as the well-financed and Vision Vancouver-backed candidate for Mayor, there won’t be enough print, enough social media space, and enough online blog and other chatter to carry all the stories of how Mr. Campbell is the developers developer, how he currently has 16 major development projects in Metro Vancouver in the pipeline — most of which projects will come before Vancouver City Council in the next term — and how “conflicted” he would be should he become Vancouver’s next Mayor, on the evening of Saturday, October 22nd.

Squamish Nations’ Ian Campbell ponders what it would be like to be Vancouver Mayor

In a story published last Friday, written by Vancouver Courier civic affairs columnist and reporter Mike Howell, he wrote that …

(Ian Campbell is) a key negotiator in getting (the Squamish Nation) to work with the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations to reclaim more than 120 acres of land in Vancouver.

The properties include the 90-acre Jericho lands (the 36-hectare property overlooking Jericho Beach Park) …

Jericho Lands expected to be redeveloped into a residential neighbourhood

… the 21-acre Heather Street lands near Queen Elizabeth Park (ed. note, from The Straight, “which used to be the home of the RCMP headquarters in B.C., previously known as the RCMP Fairmont Lands, the property located north of 37th Avenue, south of 33rd Avenue, by the lanes behind Willow and Ash streets, the draft statement for the Heather Lands proposing a mainly residential development, which include towers ranging in heights from 12 storeys to 24 storeys) …

Heather Lands, a 21-acre development site between West 33rd & 37th avenues

… and the 10-acre Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse property on East Broadway, which is co-owned with the Aquilini Investment Group.

Once redeveloped, the value of the properties is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

The federal government’s commercial property arm, Canada Lands Company, holds an equal interest in the Heather Street lands and 52 acres of the Jericho lands; the remaining 38 acres of Jericho is owned by the bands.

The Squamish Nation plans to develop land at the foot of the Burrard Bridge

The Squamish also fully owns an 11-acre property that runs under the south side of the Burrard Bridge, which is not under the portfolio of the MST Development Corporation but is slated for redevelopment at some point in the future.

In total, Mr. Campbell is the developer of “approximately 160 acres in Metro Vancouver,” over one billion dollars in property that when developed will change the face of Vancouver in ways untold, and perhaps not desirable.

Do the citizens of Vancouver really want major developer Ian Campbell, the person behind the development of the critical properties to Vancouver’s future identified above, as our city’s next Mayor? Perhaps Mr. Campbell would not find himself conflicted as Mayor, but we have a difficult time believing that would be the case, as would the citizens of Vancouver, we would suggest. In politics it’s all about optics, and the optics here are bad.
Whether you’re on the left or on the right side of the political spectrum, the number one complaint about Vision Vancouver this past 10 years is that they are the developer party, in bed with the developers who have financed their winning campaigns for office — electoral wins that have served the interests of the majority Vision Vancouver party at City Hall, while ill-serving the interests of the average citizen in Vancouver, and ill-serving the crying need for building truly affordable housing in the City of Vancouver.

Squamish Nation traditional territory includes the settler community of Vancouver.

Additional note: VanRamblings reader Claudia Ferris writes, ” … if he’s (Ian Campbell) Squamish he is running in his territory,” as clarification and correction of what is written above, that Mr. Campbell is a “North Vancouver resident.”

Activist and community leader Claudia Ferris (2nd from right) standing with Squamish Nation hereditary Chief Ian Campbell — currently running for the Vision Vancouver nomination for Mayor — working together to build a Visitor Information park in Gibsons.

Ms. Ferris adds, “One of the reasons I like Ian Campbell is because of the interaction I had with him when I lived in Gibsons. I was on the leadership team of the Gibsons and District Chamber of Commerce when we built a visitor information park. The site is on the Squamish territory and I invited their leadership to the opening. And they came! Chief Campbell and his councillors were very responsive and helpful and it was a pleasant experience to be supported in building a community amenity. We also had singers from the Sechelt Band come out and it felt very inclusive and progressive to be working together. Chief Campbell was a total sweetheart throughout the process.”

Vancouver Votes 2018 | Humility as the Key to Electoral Success

May 22, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

OneCity Vancouver co-founders, Christine Boyle, Cara Ng, and Alison Atkinson (Anna Chudnovsky missing from photo) working during last year’s Vancouver civic by-election

The attribute of OneCity Vancouver’s Christine Boyle we most admire is her humility, the bedrock foundation of her hopeful candidacy for City Council.
While what childcare advocate Sharon Gregson 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.

The building blocks, and the foundation of electoral success: humility and service

In Vancouver, politicians who bring immense humility to the endeavours of political life are legion: the very bright democrat of conscience, Sarah Kirby-Yung at Park Board, who will seek a seat on Council this upcoming autumn as a candidate with the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association; her equally generous and bright colleague of conscience and integrity, John Coupar, an NPA aspirant for Mayor — and for that matter, all of the Commissioners who sit on our Vancouver Park Board: coach and Park Board Committee Chair, Casey Crawford; the ‘he’s so articulate and compassionate that he will bring you to tears’ Green Park Board Commissioner, Stuart Mackinnon; Erin Shum, perhaps the hardest-working member of Park Board, who folks like Ainslie Kwan, the President of the Killarney Community Centre cannot find words superlative enough to describe Erin’s humanity, her ‘gets thing done’ ethos, and her ability to not just listen, but really hear what is being said, and act on what she has heard; and the reasonable and reasoned, quietly powerful force of nature on our beloved Vancouver Park Board, Catherine Evans, who is also seeking to win a seat on Vancouver City Council this upcoming autumn season …

Michael Wiebe, Green Party Park Board Commissioner, and 2018 City Council aspirant

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of this past electoral term is recent Park Board Chair, Green Party of Vancouver Commissioner, and now aspirant for an elected position on Vancouver City Council, Michael Wiebe (we like that he’s now calling himself “Michael”, rather than Mike — affords him the well-earned gravitas that has emerged this past four years of his political life), who can be seen everywhere across town, as the owner-operator of the eight 1/2 Restaurant Lounge, the President of the Mount Pleasant BIA, and the co-founder of the recently formed Vancouver Art House Society (VAHS), a non-profit with a mandate to preserve the city’s rapidly-disappearing arts and culture spaces (think: the Rio Theatre, as but one example).
Whether it’s retiring City Councillor Andrea Reimer, or her Green party colleague, Adriane Carr; or OneCity Vancouver’s Carrie Bercic at the Vancouver School Board, or her Green party colleagues on the Board, Estrellita Gonzalez and Janet Fraser, and Vision Vancouver School Board trustees, Joy Alexander and Allan Wong, the innate nature of these successful, hard-working, dedicated and respected elected persons of conscience carry within them a sense not just of service, but of the virtue of humility, an appreciation of oneself, of one’s talents and skills, and a commitment to integrity, and the effacing of oneself to noble pursuit: the achievement of better & more, not for themselves, but for us, for all of us.

To be a respected, successful and admired politician, one must know what one stands for, what one is fighting for, 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, be a voice for change for the better, and always, always remember that theirs is a life of service, one sometimes with no 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.