Category Archives: Politics

Follow The Bouncing Ball, Where It Lands Nobody Knows

May 9, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Vancouver voters go the polls in October of this year, E-Day October 20th determining the victors

The evening of Monday, May 7th, 2018 was hardly a salutary one for Hector D. Bremner, sitting NPA Vancouver City Councillor, elected to office in a by-election to fill the vacant seat of Geoff Meggs (now Premier John Horgan’s Chief of Staff) on October 19th, 2017. Monday night, Mr. Bremner was informed by Gregory Baker, the President of the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association (NPA) Board of Directors, that despite his candidacy passing muster with the party’s Greenlight Committee — as Mr. Bremner states in his Facebook post below, the NPA Board rejected his candidacy, Mr. Baker stating to the MetroStar civic affairs reporter Jen St. Denis that he “disputed (Mr. Bremner’s) version of events.” (Baker) said the committee had serious reservations about Bremner, which the committee communicated to the board verbally. “They (the Greenlight Committee) discussed them at the board, and the board voted on them, and that was that,” he said. Mr. Bremner’s Mayoral candidacy was no more.

May 7 2018 | Hector Bremner NPA Mayoral candidacy | REJECTED

Mr. Bremner has accused the board of kneecapping his bid.
Hector Bremner has stated that an unnamed candidate had “stacked” the board (ed. note, one would have to think that Mr. Bremner is referring to his mortal enemy, Glen Chernen, whose NPA Mayoral candidacy is moving forward) and that even though the NPA’s Greenlight Committee agreed to move his name forward, “the board rejected their advice.”

“My team has tried to do the right thing at every step to keep moving forward in a positive direction, and signed up the most members to the NPA of all of the candidates, with over 2,000 supporters.”

But, again, Gregory Baker, disputes Mr. Bremner’s version of events. He continued to aver that “the committee had serious reservations” about Bremner, which the committee communicated to the board verbally. Mr. Baker has refused to expand on what “serious reservations” constitutes, and explain to the press, or to Mr. Bremner, what, exactly, that means.

“They discussed them at the board, and the board voted on them, and that was that,” he told the MetroStar’s Jen St. Denis.

Still, Mr. Bremner vows to fight on — what form that will take is yet to be decided — as he indicates in a Facebook post published Tuesday morning …

May 8 2018 | Hector Bremner NPA Mayoral nomination | REJECTED

As you might well expect, Mr. Bremner, his family and his many supporters — both inside and outside of the party (sitting Vancouver School Board trustee, Lisa Dominato, is one such supporter) — were devastated at hearing the unwelcome news from their party’s Board of Directors.

While Hector Bremner’s Mayoral candidacy would have proved a potent threat to victory for Vancouver’s progressive forces, in this year’s critically important civic election — given Mr. Bremner’s youth, his well-practiced Kennedy-esque presentation and his diversity marriage — a Hector Bremner Mayoral candidacy would have presented a similarly potent threat to the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association and the brand the NPA attempted to promote in the 2014 election and will again in 2018, that of the New Progressive Association, a socially forward municipal party still bent on lower taxes while providing service to the public — Hector’s ‘in the pocket of developers’ supply, supply, supply ethos and his, how do we say this, thickheadedness, would have proved death for a civic party doing its best to emerge from the electoral weeds, and resume power at City Hall.

John Coupar could very well become Vancouver’s next Mayor, come October 20th

That smiling face you see above (nice picture, by the way, John and City Councillor, George Affleck, who is John’s Mayoral campaign manager) is John Coupar, a current (and dare we say, outstanding) two-term member of Vancouver’s invaluable and necessary to the people of Vancouver, Park Board, on whom VanRamblings has written glowingly about, previously.
As the headline in Travis Lupick’s story published yesterday morning in The Straight states, the “NPA greenlights three potential candidates for mayor and rejects two others.” Once there were five, now there are three: the aforementioned Mr. Coupar; Glen Chernen (who if you didn’t click on the link on his name above, you should click here to learn a bit more about Mr. Chernen; and the corporate-backed businessman, and virtually unknown quantity (who we will seek to interview next week), Ken Sim, who — again for the record — still does not have a campaign website. Puh-leeze.
John Coupar, who is a nominally right-of-centre political figure, would relieve Vancouver’s often beleaguered “natural governing civic party” of their relatively recently-acquired reputation as a civic political party comprised of fire-breathing troglodytes, intent in locking up the homeless, throwing up towers willy nilly in your neighbourhood, and in the pocket of developers and foreign national interests who see Vancouver as the resort town of their dreams, the next Monte Carlo and a playground for the rich.
John’s candidacy, then, would provide the NPA with the opportunity to put their best foot forward, offering a Mayoral candidate of much wit and no little compassion — as we’ve written previously about Mr. John C. Coupar.

Campaign launch for Vision Vancouver School Board candidate, Aaron Leung

On Monday evening, at the kick-off for Vision Vancouver Aaron Leung’s sure-to-be-winning campaign for School Board, even former Vision Vancouver Park Board Commissioner and political adversary, Trevor Loke, had good things to say about the accomplished John C. Coupar.

“I like John,” Trevor Loke told VanRamblings Monday. “When we were on Park Board together, he worked hard, was passionate about parks & recreation issues, and the life of our city. We may be on opposite sides of the political fence, but I possess a great deal of respect for the man.”

As such, then, if you’ve visited John Coupar’s campaign website, and watched the video on the front page of his website introducing his campaign, and if you’ve read the VanRamblings piece, must suggest to you that a John Coupar Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Mayoral candidacy would present the greatest impediment for victory on October 20th, for whoever it is that emerges as Vancouver’s progressive parties’ — COPE, OneCity, TeamJean, Greens, Vision Vancouver — ”unity Mayoral candidate.”
Oh, did we forget to mention that John Coupar has a lock on the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association nomination, come Tuesday evening, May 29th at the Hellenic Hall (hey, Peter Armstrong, want to see what you can do about making sure there’s going to be some great food there that night)?
Or, that John Coupar’s and George Affleck and team’s sign-up of existing and new members, according to the affable Mr. Affleck, went swimmingly well, and much to the satisfaction of Mr. Coupar, Mr. Affleck, and now certain-to-be NPA Council nominee, a generational nominally right-of-centre candidate, current Park Board Commissioner, soon-to-be Vancouver City Councillor, and a future Premier of the province (we know, we know — we weep, too, that the BC NDP won’t always hold power in Victoria — but if it ain’t gonna be the NDP’s John Horgan or David Eby as British Columbia’s Premier, it darn well better be a real Liberal, or at least progressive Red Tory conservative, and populist of the first order, not to mention a person of principle, that you would find we would have in …) Sarah Kirby-Yung.
In terms of debate, and a reasonable and fruitful electoral discussion of where Vancouver is heading — at least in the near future, what the issues are that the opposing Mayoral candidates will prioritize during their term in office, and who will emerge as the political figure who best reflects the concerns of Vancouver voters clamouring for change — the shenanigans that occurred Monday evening and yesterday concerning Hector Bremner’s rejected NPA Mayoral candidacy, will at the end of the day prove to serve the best interests of Vancouver voters who’ll be heading to the polls this upcoming October autumn, with John Coupar as the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Mayoral candidate, and whoever in heck will emerge as Vancouver’s progressive party ‘coalition’s’ much-desired “unity candidate.”

Vancouver Votes 2018 | VDLC | Brokering a Necessary Civic Deal

May 8, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Over this past weekend, the Vancouver & District Labour Council held a one day conference, open to members of the labour movement, and Boards of Directors and candidates running with Vancouver’s five progressive civic parties — the Greens, OneCity, TeamJean, COPE and Vision Vancouver — Saturday’s Crossroads Conference, a plenary session designed to put 100 Vancouver politicos, and labour activists, in a large conference room together, at the Croatian Cultural Centre, and introduce them to each other, many of the participants meeting one other for the very first time.
Ben Bolliger (pictured above), a candidate for nomination for Vancouver City Council in the current election cycle, running with OneCity Vancouver — the civic party VanRamblings believes will emerge as the powerhouse political force in the 2018 Vancouver civic election — attended the critically important Crossroads Conference on this Saturday past, and was kind enough to speak with VanRamblings about his experience.
Listen to the audio above. See if you don’t come away impressed with the expressively optimistic & politically sophisticated Mr. Bolliger. Articulate? Ben’s picture may be found right next to the definition of the word in your dictionary (c’mon now, people still have those in their homes, don’t they?).
Ben is a Project Manager with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), having worked in public health now for four years, including having served as the Manager of the Project and Change Management office with Providence Health Care, where he worked extensively and in close contact with staff and the administration at metropolitan St. Paul’s Hospital.

Just a few of the very fine folks in OneCity Vancouver, who are working for you.

More, you want to know more about the affable and — ”Hey, I’m casting a ballot for Ben Bolliger at the advance Vancouver civic election polls in October, or on election day, Saturday, October 20th, aren’t you? You are? Good! — Ben Bolliger (the link, it’s Ben’s candidate website — really, honest, you should click on it, learn more about Ben, and then come right back here) is, as you may have gathered at this point, seeking a OneCity nomination for Vancouver City Council. Ben, a person of conscience.

Ben Bolliger, OneCity Vancouver nomination candidate for Vancouver City Council

Ben Bolliger, an avid cyclist and active transportation advocate

2018. Entering the political fray? Emerging as a difference maker? Nope, this isn’t Ben’s first visit to the farm. He’s been there as a graduate political science student focusing on First Nations history — in our nation’s capital, at the University of Ottawa — after which, Ben went on to work as a parliamentary assistant with late NDP leader, Jack Layton’s federal NDP.
In 2008, Ben moved to the west coast, settling in the West End. Ben, as may be seen in the rough and tumble photo above, is an avid cyclist, currently completing his second term as a member of the City of Vancouver’s essential Active Transportation Policy Council. Good for us.
Ben’s issues, the ones he is focusing on? How about: working collegially with his colleagues on Vancouver City Council, one of whom will most assuredly be fellow One City candidate, Christine Boyle; tackling Vancouver’s current affordable housing crisis — which means, of course, the construction of thousands of housing co-op units on city-owned land, on a 66-year lease, with no cost to taxpayers, given that developers will build the housing co-ops as part of Vancouver’s much-vaunted Community Amenities Contribution programme — as well as working with the federal and provincial governments, and businesses in our city, to continue the diversification of Vancouver’s booming economy, although an economy that continues to leave some Vancouver citizens out. Ben aims to fix that.
Addressing the issue of accessibility is also a key concern for Ben Bolliger — Ben is right when he says, “Vancouver must be a city for everyone.”
Conscientious, accomplished, ready to get to work for you, an elected official who will answer all calls placed to his office at City Hall, will respond to each & every e-mail, who will listen to your concerns, and take action to remedy those concerns, working with others to ensure remediation occurs.
And, if you get out there to support Ben’s candidacy — as you must — Ben Bolliger will emerge as a soon-to-be-elected public official who will be on your side, each and every day. Voters simply can’t ask for more than that, in 2018 or in any other year, when traveling to the polls to cast their ballot.

A Destructive Political Divide, One We May Not Be Able to Bridge

May 7, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

In the age of Trump, a great chasm has opened on our political landscape, one that — despite the best of intentions — may not be able to be bridged.
On the one side, you have that portion of Vancouver’s population who reside in multi-million dollar homes located predominantly in Yaletown and southeast False Creek, West Point Grey, Dunbar, Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy, whose populations turn out in droves — up to 85% of residents in these neighbourhoods arriving at their local pollings station on election day to cast their ballot — to vote for the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association, the corporately-funded-and-backed municipal political party that has, for generations, protected their class and economic interests.

These are the folks — pictured above — who rallied last week at West Point Grey’s Trimble Park to oppose a move by the BC NDP government to impose a school surtax on homes worth more than $3 million, a newly-created tax that would see a westside homeowner who owns an $8-million home paying an extra $18,000 in property taxes, annually, to the province.
The mainly westside residents think it unfair, after decades of right-of-centre B.C. Liberal / Socred provincial governments, and the right-of-centre Vancouver Non-Partisan Association pulling the levers of civic government, that new wealth taxes be imposed on them so that government can better fund our public education system (from which the B.C. Liberal government cut $58.3 million in funding in Vancouver each year from 2002 to 2015), build affordable homes to house the 50% of seniors in our city living on less than $26,000 a year, the construction of affordable housing, and provision of funding for the one in five children in Vancouver who live in poverty.
In order words, these are the Darwinian “I’m all right, Jack, you make out of life what you put into it, I’m not responsible for you” folks. Nice.

On the other side of this great political chasm, you have folks like United Church Minister and current OneCity Vancouver candidate for Vancouver City Council, Christine Boyle — and her progressively-minded colleagues in OneCity, Vision Vancouver, COPE, the Greens and TeamJean, the latter of which group’s core organizing philosophy revolves around “building the city we need”, a fairer, more inclusive and more just city for all of us, whether we live in the sometimes blighted Downtown Eastside neighbourhood where residents have come together in solidarity to build a vibrant community of the caring and compassionate, or Strathcona, Hastings Sunrise, Riley Park, Grandview Woodland, and any one of Vancouver’s 23 diverse neighbourhoods where housing is acknowledged as a right, and where the elimination of poverty and wont is a central operating principle of the five progressive parties offering candidates in the upcoming civic election.
The latter grouping of political parties have reached out a hand to those in our community who have been deemed to be “wealthy”, by dint of income or housing status, have attempted to bridge the political divide, thus far to no good effect. All of this is not to say, either, that there are not many good persons of conscience resident in Yaletown, West Point Grey, Dunbar, Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy who are at present, and as has been the case for some while now, working with their neighbours & with civic parties like OneCity Vancouver in common cause to acknowledge that Vancouver is, indeed, one city, comprised of diverse peoples from every socio-economic strata and circumstance, who live together in the village that is Vancouver, where we are — each and every one of us — responsible for one another.
For as President-elect John Fitzgerald Kennedy stated in an address (abridged) to the Massachusetts legislature, on January 9th, 1961 …

For those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us — recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state — our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:

First, were we courageous, possessed of the courage to stand up to our adversaries, to stand up when necessary, to resist public pressure, when such pressure does not serve the common good?

Secondly, were we possessed of good judgment — with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past — of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others — with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candour to admit it?

Third, were we possessed of integrity, who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed or the public who believed in us — women and men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?

Finally, were we truly women and men of dedication — with an honour mortgaged to no single individual or group, and comprised of no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good? Courage — judgment — integrity — dedication — these are the historic qualities which must characterize the conduct of governance, in every city and in every region of our fair nation, in the four turbulent years that lie ahead.

And so it is. The divide in our city must be bridged, if at all possible, in the current civic election cycle, by the political figures who would seek to govern our city over the next four years, beginning in November of this year, each of whom must be governed by the notion of implementing legislation and policies based on what is best for all, and not one particular interest group — which for too long has been the overriding foundation of government in our province and, far too often, in our city.

We must together realize that, in principle and in fact, we are our brothers and sisters keepers, that collectively we have an obligation to one another, and that as has been stated: to whom much is given, much is expected.
In the coming election, let us all come together as one, let us bridge the chasm that would seem to divide us, let us work together to ensure that modular housing is built in neighbourhoods across our city (let’s make sure, too, that there is adequate, respectful, information-filled, and inclusive consultation with residents in neighbourhoods, as a pre-condition to the taking of decisions to construct that housing).
And, that new and truly affordable housing co-ops are constructed on city land, as homes for families across all of Vancouver’s 23 neighbourhoods; that Vancouver City Council work with the provincial government to ensure supportive social housing is built, opened and properly and humanely administered in the housing of those in need; that the tax structure at City Hall for small business, which is such a burden for small business operators, is moved to the multi-national companies in our town, who pay woefully less in business tax than is fair and proper — in the process, this transfer of tax responsibility to “big business” relieving the beleaguered home owner of the burden of annual titanic property tax increases; and that Vancouver continue to move forward as we’ve written previously, and will continue to write, to become a city defined by inclusion, social justice, and a city that truly serves the needs of all of Vancouver’s diverse citizenry.

Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical | Vancouver’s Cherished Politico

May 2, 2018BC Politics, Cinema, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical
Première of Teresa Alfeld’s new documentary film
17th annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Thursday, May 3rd, 2018, at 7pm
Venue: The Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton Street, just off Dunsmuir
SOLD OUT DÉBUT SCREENING
Tickets still available for the Tuesday, May 8th repeat screening

Cantankerous, opinionated, possessed of a pithy and often biting sense of humour — particularly around the Vancouver City Council table, where he sat, but more often stood on his feet, championing the interests of working people and the most vulnerable among us, the nemesis of veteran, ‘right-of-centre’ Vancouver Non-Partisan Association City Councillor George Puil (seeing the two of them go toe-to-toe in Council chambers was to witness transcendence and deliverance on Earth) who, if the whole truth be known, loved Harry Rankin as much as the rest of us (if not more), which is to say almost to distraction, for Harry Rankin was a charismatic figure who every Vancouver citizen loved — absolutely adored — as a great orator and champion of the public interest, whose often boisterous conduct at Council was tempered with a huge dollop of humility, and inveterate good cheer.
Harry, who died at the age of 82, on February 26th 2002 — his passing mourned by everyone who ever knew, or knew of, him — ran for civic office more than a dozen times before being elected to Vancouver City Council in 1966 as the sole independent “alderman”, as elected officials were called back then, sitting as the lone voice and soul champion of working people in Vancouver, on a City Council that was dominated by the corporate-minded, and ultra-conservative Non-Partisan Association.
In 1968, Harry was instrumental in co-founding — along with the Vancouver & District Labour Council — the Committee (now, Coalition) of Progressive Electors (COPE), who this year celebrate 50 years of championing the interests of working people, and the vulnerable among us, a legacy of caring among progressive political parties in Vancouver which has no equal. Teresa Alfeld’s new documentary on the legacy of Harry Rankin, offers a fitting tribute to a champion of the people, a political figure for whom most held great affection, others seeing him as “polarizing.”
In her interview with Ms. Alfeld, veteran PostMedia arts critic Dana Gee writes that “while the film outlines all Harry Rankin’s social causes and policies, the film doesn’t mythologize him to the point of revisionist history. There is no shying away from Rankin’s sexist views, views that had him once call fellow Councillor, a member of the NPA, Helen Boyce, “stupid.”

“As a feminist filmmaker of course I am disappointed, but I am not surprised. We work with it. We don’t shy away, and we don’t pretend things were different because we love Harry and we love his politics,” filmmaker Teresa Alfeld stated to Ms. Gee is the course of her interview.

So, yes, Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical is not hagiography, but as Ms. Alfeld avers …

“I think 2018 is the year to see this film and to understand as citizens we have a choice and a responsibility to get involved and to think about the kind of city that we want to live in.”

Although Thursday’s début screening of Ms. Alfeld’s film is sold out, there is one final DOXA screening of Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical on Tuesday, tickets available by clicking the link at the top of today’s post.

Perhaps it is fitting that the final word on the making of Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical should be given to the person who played a central role in getting the film made, retired Park Board Commissioner and Vancouver City Councillor Tim Louis, who raised the funds necessary for Teresa Alfeld to spend two years of her life in the making of a film, which — along with the invaluable contribution of Phil Rankin, whose Vancouver law practice is much in the tradition of his celebrated lawyer father, and who along with many others, including the work of Peter Smilksy, who gathered together clippings & memorabilia during Harry’s 1986 candidacy for Mayor, shooting 33 reels of 16mm film, with the intent of making a documentary in 1986 — along with the monetary contributions of good people, made the début of DOXA’s screening of Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical possible.
Here, then, is political activist Tim Louis, on his friend Harry Rankin …

“Harry played a key role in my decision to go to law school – intervening on my behalf with the university, and supportive through all my years at UBC Law School, bringing me into his office as an articling law student near the end of my university days, and hiring me following my graduation from law school. Throughout the 20+ years I knew and worked with Harry, up until the time of his passing in 2002, and throughout the early years of his mentorship of me when I worked long hours with Harry in his law office just off Gastown, Harry politicized me — and in consequence, and I say this unabashedly, Harry is responsible for my political career.

In my time on Park Board, in the 1990s, and as a Vancouver City Councillor and Finance Committee Chair on the majority, progressive COPE 2002 – 2005 Vancouver City Council, I adhered to the advice Harry gave me early on in my political career …

“Don’t waffle. Get to the point. See past all the bafflegab.” Harry taught me to always treat the public with respect, because at the end of the day, it is the public, the working people of our city, who are the employers of the elected officials who sit at the Council table, in the Park Board meeting room, or in the large meeting room at the Vancouver School Board.”

Harry Rankin’s Political Legacy

“Harry’s legacy to the citizens of Vancouver remains to this day the acknowldegment that we, as citizens of Vancouver, have an obligation to care for one another, to care for all of our neighbours, every one of us resident in any one of the 23 neighbourhoods that make Vancouver the welcoming and diverse city that is has become.

Harry’s success as a political figure in the history of British Columbia, and Vancouver city governance, was due in no small part to the role he played in championing and giving voice to the interests of working families and children, and the vulnerable among us.”

If you don’t have a ticket for Thursday’s début screening of Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical, VanRamblings urges you to attend DOXA’s second and final screening of the film, this upcoming Tuesday, May 8th at 6pm, at SFU Goldcorp Theatre, adjacent to the Woodward’s building downtown.