2014 Mayor Gregor Robertson & City Councillor Inaugural, Creekside Community Centre
This upcoming, Monday, November 5th, Vancouver’s newly-elected Mayor and City Councillors will be sworn into office for a four-year term, as will their civic elected counterparts, the seven Park Board Commissioners, and nine new Board of Education Trustees with the Vancouver School Board.
Monday, October 29th were the last meetings of the now past term for all three elected bodies. Tears were shed at School Board for OneCity Vancouver’s Carrie Bercic, the conscience of the Board this past year, and the only incumbent Trustee not to be re-elected.
At a subdued Park Board meeting on Monday night, outgoing Commissioner Catherine Evans thanked the public for placing their faith in her to represent them around the Park Board table this past four years. And at Vancouver City Council, it was a happy-sad day, which saw several Councillors leaving City Hall — when now retired NPA City Councillor George Affleck left City Hall to head home, a surprise party was waiting for him.
Newly-elected Vancouver School Board trustees take office at their 2017 inauguration, a moving part of which involved an indigenous ceremony wishing the new trustees well.
The School Board inaugural will be a low-key affair open to the public, set to take place this upcoming Monday, November 5th at 7pm, in the large Board room (pictured above), situated within the VSB offices at 1580 West Broadway. The new and returning Trustees will be sworn into office by Secretary-Treasurer, J. David Green, with friends, family and the general public seated in the gallery; after the inaugural, a brief reception will be held in the cafeteria, with small pieces of cake available to the public.
2014 Park Board Inaugural for newly-elected Commissioners, at Van Dusen Gardens
The Park Board inaugural will also be a low key, open to the public affair, set to take place next Monday evening, November 5th at 7pm, at VanDusen Botanical Gardens, with seven new Commissioners set to be sworn in, with family, friends and the public — including VanRamblings and a couple of friends who will be present with us — seated in the room in the far southwest corner of the Van Dusen building. Afterwards, given that any “snacks” are paid for with taxpayer’s dollar, there’ll be canapés available - but if you don’t get in to grab one right away, they’ll be gone.
At neither of the School or Park Board inaugurals will wine be available.
Mayor and Council will be sworn in as part of an invitation only, private affair. One Councillor with whom we spoke was told he could invite 10 guests. Another Councillor has invited 15 of her friends and supporters. All totaled, as in the photo at the top of today’s column, anywhere from 180 – 200 specially invited guests will be present at this inaugural ceremony.
As we say, this inaugural is a private affair, not open to the public.
When Justin Trudeau was sworn into office as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 4, 2015, along with members of his new Cabinet the event, although the inaugural was special invitation only, from start to finish, from the time Justin Trudeau stepped off the bus heading toward Rideau Hall for the inaugural ceremony for his new government, the entire event was broadcast live on all of Canada’s broadcast networks. Hardly, then, a hidden-away-from-the-public event.
When John Horgan’s government was sworn in to office on Tuesday, July 18th, 2017, the incoming government broke precedent by inviting the public to attend the inaugural ceremony — more than 7,000 British Columbians, including VanRamblings and a coterie of friends — the Legislature wide open to the public throughout the day, with Premier John Horgan cheerfully trumpeting, “This is the people’s building!” And so it is.
Note. Christy Clark’s inaugural in 2013 was private affair held in the Legislature, peopled mostly with developers and financial backers of both hers and the B.C. Liberal party’s campaign for office.
In 2008, 2011 and 2014, when the newly-elected Mayor and City Councillors were sworn into office, the press went to town on the private, invitation only City Hall inaugural ceremony, a private affair not open to the public (or “the rabble” as some Councillors liked to say — the sounds of “get those smelly plebes away from us, we don’t want anything to do with them” could be heard ringing through the air).
The press were only too happy to report that $74,000, $85,000 and $96,000 was spent in respective Vision Vancouver inaugurals on the private, closed door, not open to the public inaugural events, “a party at taxpayer expense” could read in our local newspapers, or viewed as the lead item on the evening news, that lustrous inaugural night.
On October 20th, only 12 short days ago, 38% of Vancouver’s voting public voted for change. Gosh. VanRamblings wonders if that call for change maybe, could have, might have meant a low-key inaugural for Mayor and Council that would be, y’know, open to the “rabble”, oh we mean … public.
Ain’t gonna be happening in 2018, VanRamblings is here to report.
Two weeks from now, when some enterprising civic affairs reporter - our money’s on CBC civic affairs reporter Justin McElroy - the most important new voice covering civic politics in our city in a generation - or that old (young?) curmudgeon, the Vancouver Courier’s Mike Howell, or maybe freelance curmudgeon, Bob Mackin - receives the reply to his FOI request, only to discover that City Council’s 2018 inaugural has set taxpayers back only $102,000 (what with inflation and all) — well, gosh, galldarnit, gee, shucks, there’ll be whoop-de-dooin’ galore in the media, Global TV’s Chris Gailus with a big shit eatin’ grin on his face as he reports out on “the bunch of spendthrifts just elected as Mayor and City Council in Vancouver” — he might have said “autocratic spendthrifts”, but GlobalBC News Director Jill Krop doesn’t go in for that kind of rhetorical malarkey.
A Prescription to Open Mayor & Council Inaugural To the Public
VanRamblings readers have asked that we publish an update, respecting how — either four years from now, or later this month or next — the Inaugural celebration of the investiture of the new Mayor and Council might be made open to the public.
The “solution”? Open up City Hall, in much the same way the provincial government opened the B.C. Legislature to the public for the inaugural of their new government. Perhaps on a Saturday (this year), or on a Monday after the Vancouver municipal election in 2022, hold the celebration at City Hall, opening up the main floor of City Hall, the cafeteria in the basement, and the third floor where the Mayor and Councillors offices are located, as well as Council chambers, and allow the public access to all of these areas.
Of course, security will be required, and Mayor and Council will have to be on hand throughout the day of celebration that could begin at 11am and conclude at 8pm — with City Hall left open for the day.
Mayor and Councillors would mingle with the public, as Cabinet ministers did at the NDP inaugural — what a great opportunity to get to know who it is Mayor and Council are serving. Chances are, too, that for many of the attendees, this might be the first time they’ve actually visited City Hall.
An empowered public. A Mayor and Councillor meeting the public in a celebratory, party-like atmosphere. Sounds good to us — and to Mayor & Council, too, we bet. After all, who doesn’t like a party?
The cost for the day’s festivities, apart from cakes and perhaps a few canapés available in the cafeteria, minimal and for a good cause — Mayor and Council could even employ the celebratory event as a fundraiser for an agreed upon charitable foundation.
Winners all around, an invested and respected public, an opportunity to open up City Hall as “the people’s building”, and an engaged and delightful and delighted Mayor and Councillor contingent.
Over to you Mayor and newly-elected and returning City Councillors.
Not familiar with, don’t know about, never visited the curries no favours with politicos, tells it like it is and gives you the straight goods, the source, your source for real reporting on the civic events of the day, and the must-visit muckraking site, in the fine tradition of I.F. Stone — theBreaker.news — your source for breaking news on Vancouver’s municipal affairs scene.
Last Monday, VanRamblings reported out on the Five Reasons Why sitting Vancouver Non-Partisan Association (NPA) City Councillor Hector Bremner’s application to be the party’s Mayoral nominee was rejected by the NPA.
The NPA Board had conniption fits reading that column, and when a letter was posted to Hector Bremner’s campaign manager, Mike Wilson, the next day, little reference was made to the issues raised in the VanRamblings column, the focus instead placed on allegations of “conflict of interest” as the reason why the NPA scuttled Bremner’s mayoral bid. Gosh. Really, huh?
The NPA’s conflict of interest allegation couldn’t have anything to do with an April 12th column Bob Mackin published on theBreaker.news …
Hector Bremner’s continued vice-presidency of a firm that lobbies for real estate, construction and retail companies has sparked a complaint to city hall that the rookie politician is breaching the code of conduct.
Bremner lost a run for the BC Liberals in New Westminster in the 2013 election and was an aide to BC Liberal cabinet ministers Rich Coleman and Teresa Wat before joining the Pace Group in 2015. The firm’s clients also include developers Concert Properties and Intracorp, architecture and engineering firms Stantec and Omicron, and Save-On-Foods’ parent Overwaitea Food Group.
Bremner was registered to lobby the provincial government for Steelhead LNG. He has also appeared at city council meetings in North Vancouver and Maple Ridge on behalf of the B.C. Wine Institute and Save-On-Foods’ applications for liquor retail licences. In September 2016, he was a guest speaker at the Canadian Institute’s Canadian Cannabis Business Week conference on the future of government relations (aka lobbying) and cannabis. In his bio on the city hall website, Bremner promotes himself as Pace Group’s vice-president of public affairs, where he “puts his unique experience and special capabilities toward navigating the process of public policy making and ensuring his clients’ messages are heard.”
The Vancouver Charter states that a council member must not use information obtained in the performance of duties for the purpose of “gaining or furthering a direct or indirect pecuniary interest.”
If conflict of interest was a concern to the NPA Board of Directors, as they stated last week, why did they not act sooner on the allegations first reported in Bob Mackin’s April 12th column? Or, did the members of the NPA Board come up with last-minute allegations of Bremner conflicts of interest to mislead the public, misdirect Mr. Bremner’s campaign, and not have to get into the muckier business of an alleged Pay for Play scheme involving Bremner’s ties to a deep-pocketed Vancouver developer, as VanRamblings reported last week as one reason for Bremner’s rejection?
Whatever the case, Bob Mackin and theBreaker.news was the original source to break conflict of interest allegations, making theBreaker.news an invaluable source for reporting on Vancouver civic news.
Bob Mackin consistently both breaks critical news of interest to the public on Vancouver’s political scene, and reports civic political news not reported elsewhere. As such, theBreaker.news should become one of your primary sources for unbiased breaking news on Vancouver’s civic political scene.
The Mainstream Media
The five newspapers above represent Vancouver’s mainstream media, which means that the reporters and columnists employed by these five Vancouver news outlets observe strict journalistic codes of conduct, and the principles, values and obligations associated with the practice of journalism …
1. Truth and Accuracy
Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. Journalists always strive for accuracy, give all the relevant facts available and ensure facts have been checked. When journalists cannot corroborate information such is stated.
2. Independence
Journalists must be independent voices, who will not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural. Journalists must declare to editors — or readers — any political affiliation, financial arrangements or other personal information that might constitute a conflict of interest.
3. Fairness and Impartiality
Most stories have at least two sides. While there is no obligation to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced and add context. Objectivity is not always possible, and may not always be desirable (in the face for example of brutality or inhumanity), but impartial reporting builds trust and confidence.
4. Humanity
Journalists should do no harm. What journalists publish or broadcast may be hurtful, and journalists must be aware of the impact of words written and images captured on the lives of others.
5. Accountability
A sure sign of professionalism and responsible journalism is personal and professional accountability. When journalists commit errors, remedy must be made throught correction; expressions of regret must be sincere, not cynical. Journalists must listen to the concerns of readers. Journalists must strive for fairness, and seek to provide remedy if an unfairness has been identified.
The Vancouver Courier
l-r, Mike Klassen, Mike Howell, Michael Geller, John Kurucz, and eminence gris Allen Garr
The gentlemen above (and more’s the pity that there are no women pictured above), represent the retinue of Vancouver Courier newspaper civic affairs columnists, and reporter. If you’re involved in #vanpoli, you sure as hell better know who these men are, and set to reading what each has written in 2018, all easily accessible on The Courier website.
VanRamblings is constantly surprised — stunned would be more like it — at how absolutely and utterly bereft of knowledge a broad range of political activists and campaigns strategists are, the hardy but clueless folks who are involved with all six of Vancouver’s political parties spanning the spectrum — parties offering candidates for office — about the role and impact of the media in determining the party’s or candidates’ futures.
And who it is, exactly, writes about Vancouver civic politics, what they have to say, how they keep candidates honest, and the role the media — the columnists and journalists above, and the ones you’ll read about below — play in determining how candidates and parties are perceived, and the impact journalists, columnists, reporters, broadcasters, podcasters and bloggers have on the election night results which so consume politicos.
There’s much talk about low information voters. There’s little talk about low information political activists, strategists and party apparatchiks so wrapped up in political ideology or lack thereof, so self-involved and just plain downright narcissistic and unrealistic about their prospects for office — given their utter lack of anything approaching depth of knowledge of civic affairs — that it, to employ a colloquial term, just blows our mind.
Read up. Go online. Research. Inform yourself.
Get involved with your life, as if what you read and research about civic politics actually matters — because it does, not just for you, but for your family, the folks who live in your neighbourhood, and all of us who live in all the neighbourhoods that encompass the city of Vancouver.
Care about the future of Vancouver, inform yourself about issues involving transit, how we’ll go about responding to the crying need for affordable housing, how we’ll achieve the elimination of childhood poverty in our city, and the unending wont of parents or caregivers who cannot adequately provide for our city’s most vulnerable citizens — care for our homeless population, care for the vulnerable, care for your daughters, wives, sisters and mothers and work to ensure ours is a safe city. Read. Inform yourself. Act. Be the change. Do everything in your power to make a difference.
As we’ve written previously, sitting at home and reading John Pilger, Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky is a good thing to do, but if you don’t use what you’ve read to become active in the movement for change, your reading amounts to little more than narcisscism, self-involvement utterly useless to the rest of us, academic masturbation.
Act as if your life matters. Act as if the lives of others matter.
Vancouver’s Mainstream Media
l-r, Jen St. Denis, Gary Mason, Frances Bula, Dan Fumano, Charlie Smith & Carlito Pablo
Tiny photos above of the journalists and columnists who cover Vancouver politics, but powerful — some would say, extremely powerful — people in the realm of #vanpoli, the folks who are the opinion-shapers in our community, their contributions and their impact outsized, and as we say above, powerful. Again, if you’re not reading Jen St. Denis in the StarMetro, Gary Mason and Frances Bula in the Globe and Mail, Dan Fumano in the Vancouver Sun, and Charlie Smith and Carlito Pablo in The Straight — each and every time they publish — you cannot consider yourself to be well-informed on civic issues in the City of Vancouver.
The Georgia Straight’s Travis Lupick, one of Vancouver’s most accomplished journalists
Downtown Eastside activist Wendy Pedersen has written, informing us that we have missed the name of the accomplished Georgia Straight writer and editor, Travis Lupick, who we read all the time, and whose work we very much admire — so we’ve remedied that egregious oversight, with a big photo of Travis published above, too. We apologize to Travis and Wendy.
All seven of the writers above are the Jimmy Breslins, Studs Terkels, Allan Fotheringhams, Marjorie Nichols’, Peter C. Newmans, Peter Gzowskis and Barbara McLintocks of our city, and demand to be read, to be listened to, to have what they write be acted upon in order to make ours a better city, one where we will see transparency in government and governance.
In the near future, VanRamblings will publish an interview we did with The Cambie Reports’ Ian Bushfield, For now, visit the website, listen to the various podcasts, hear what Frances, Jen St. Denis, and ResearchCo’s Mario Canseco, among other civic affairs ‘reporters’, have to say.
And last but not least, the eastside guy who writes every day on his blog …
Jak King — writer, historian, artist, photographer, husband, father, poet and anarchist (me, too, except for the husband part, cuz no one will have me) — swore off on both writing and involving himself in Vancouver civic politics, following what he felt (and many others felt) was a dispiriting 2014 Vancouver municipal election. Click on Jak’s View 3.0 to see what we mean.
Reporting out of the East End of Vancouver (where VanRamblings grew up, as it happens), long an activist on Grandview-Woodland resident, community and development issues, where you’re not generally going to get the overlong, ponderous pieces that you get on VanRamblings, but what you will get is a welcome bit of online humanity, some great photos (and great music, too), writing about Vancouver’s eastside, poetry and insight, and if we are very, very lucky, Jak will reverse and rescind his encyclical on “50 reasons why I won’t be writing about civic politics anymore,” and set about to offer his idiosyncratic (and less labourious than VanRamblings) take on all things Vancouver municipal politics. Here’s hoping, anyway.
VanRamblings is slowly burning out, but for now — and through until the end of June, we imagine, when we’re planning on reducing our writing output to two, three or four times a week for the summer months — you can find everything there is to know about the upcoming Vancouver civic election, which for many of those with whom we interact each day is not even a thing, as in, “There’s an election coming up? Where? When? You mean we’re actually going to the polls, again. Christine Boyle, you say. Never heard of her.” (ed. note. oh woe is us. Raymond tears his hair out).
Click on Vancouver Votes 2018 for VanRamblings’ civic election coverage.
