On Thursday evening, September 20th, the Kerrisdale Community Centre hosted an all-candidates meeting for 20 of the City Council candidates who are seeking office & tenure at City Hall in the 2018 Vancouver civic election.
Unlike the Council all-candidates forum hosted by the Residents for Community Control — where almost all members of the audience were associated with candidates speaking at the front of the hall — the audience for the Kerrisdale Community Centre forum was 80% local residents, who arrived at 7pm on a dark and inclement Thursday evening not to get out of the rain, but to listen to candidates with whom they were unfamiliar, their community attendance an information seeking venture.
One similarity between the two Council all-candidate events: there were no panelists present from the governing Vision Vancouver party, nor for the second night in a row were there any panelists from Hector Bremner’s nascent and seemingly invisible Yes Vancouver civic party.
On this surprisingly vibrant and engaging Thursday evening, there were no panelists from the Coalition Party, either, although Coalition Party Mayoral candidate Wai Young and her Council candidate colleague, Glen Chernen were present, and standing at the back of the auditorium — both of whom who told this reporter that contact had been made by their civic party with the Kerrisdale Community Centre forum organizers requesting participation in the night’s event. But to no good effect, it would appear.
For the second night in a row, the two most effective and well-received candidate speakers of the evening were the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association‘s generational candidate, Sarah Kirby-Yung, and the Green Party’s phenomenally lucid Pete Fry, although OneCity Vancouver City Council candidate Christine Boyle gave them both a run for their money, and in the humanity and connection sweepstakes had all other speakers beat hands down — which is what you might reasonably expect of a once-in-a-lifetime civic political candidate, destined to become the most beloved political figure in Vancouver’s long, gloried and celebrated civic history.
Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Council candidate Melissa De Genova was her regular charmingly feisty self, while her NPA colleague Colleen Hardwick got better as the evening went on — but please, if there’s a god in the heavens, make her stop talking about her family’s history in civic politics and focus on what she would bring to the Council table — which she finally managed to achieve by meeting’s end. So there is a god, after all.
The Green Party’s Michael Wiebe — who we’re now moving into the must-elect column — emerged as the most dynamic speaker of the evening, his command of & his focused ability to speak to the issues both unparalleled on this particular evening and in the election generally — his current Park Board Commissioner colleague, Sarah Kirby Yung, has done a fine job of mentoring Mr. Wiebe, the two getting along like a house on fire, Michael Wiebe’s respect for Ms. Kirby-Yung palpable and endearing, she providing the voice of reason and experience to Mr. Wiebe’s focused youthful vitality.
In a Vancouver civic election where 71 candidates have come forward seeking office as a City Councillor, Thursday evening was more a look-see evening than an event designed to address the issues of the day — because, let’s face it, there’s only one issue in this election: affordable housing and co-and-co-op housing within the rubric of neighbourhood consultation, with the recognition that we’re in the midst of a housing crisis in Vancouver, and we don’t want more study (consultation, yes; study, no), we want action, and we want action now, not in some distant future.
Five candidates — each of whom you can see and hear speaking in the video at the top of today’s column — emerged on this electoral evening as the candidates capable of getting things done, and getting ’em done now …
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OneCity Vancouver’s transcendently lovely and transformationally inspiring Christine Boyle (just wait til she’s elected … your socks are going to be impressed right off, we’ve never seen anyone like her in Vancouver municipal politics, and that’s all to the good for us);
- Pete Fry, the city builder extraordinaire in this election, the must, must, must-elect in 2018, and a man possessed of much wisdom, knowledge, and unending kindness, the candidate you can count on every day;
- Anne Roberts, the voice of reason and the voice of experience, who’s been elected to civic office before, which means that she knows how to get things done for us, much sooner, and the Councillor who will emerge as the quietly effective social conscience of the next Council;
- Independent City City Council candidate, and the democrat in the Council group, Erin Shum — which means not only that Erin Shum will be the Councillor who will listen to you, but act on your concerns, who will never back down; don’t be fooled by her youth, Erin Shum is an old soul;
and right-out-of-left field …
- Michael Wiebe — a current Park Board Commissioner, who has served well and with distinction for four years now — who, when you watch the video above (you can see and hear Michael Wiebe at the 11:20 mark in the video) you’ll find yourself saying out loud, “I want this young Kennedy-esque man on Vancouver’s next City Council, and I’ll be telling all my neighbours, friends and colleagues about him, too. Now where do I go about donating money and volunteer hours to his campaign?”
So there you have it: the 2018 Vancouver civic election is coming into clearer focus, with City Council candidates emerging from the primordial muck to carry us to the Promised Land, and a better, fairer, more just and transformative future, where the needs of everyone can and will be met.
The next awe-inspiring all-candidates event: S.U.C.C.E.S.S and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Sunday afternoon, September 23rd Vancouver Mayoral debate, which will take place in Chinatown, at 28 West Pender.
