Category Archives: Vancouver Votes 2018

Vancouver Votes 2018 | Conflicted Candidate Announces for Mayor

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

Squamish Nation Hereditary Chief Ian Campbell Seeks Vision Vancouver Endorsement for Mayor

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.

Vancouver Votes 2018 | A Primer on Civic Affairs Coverage

May 21, 2018BC Politics, Park Board, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

As loathe as we are to admit it, VanRamblings is not the only place for you to turn to for coverage of the upcoming 2018 Vancouver municipal election.
Outside of VanRamblings, here are your primary sources for coverage of Vancouver’s critically important election, the folks you should turn to …

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 —&#32parties offering candidates for office —&#32about 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.

Get Involved | 2018’s Election Outcome Will Be Decided by YOU

May 17, 2018Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

As much as we love OneCity Vancouver candidate for City Council, Christine Boyle — but simply politically, you understand (which is the admonition you will hear thousands of people giving themselves, who have become just as smitten with Christine Boyle, as we assure you, you will become) — as we do her talented, chock full of integrity, energetic, full of ideas for a better and more livable city for all of us, colleagues who’ll be running for office and Council, in tandem, with OneCity Vancouver: the phenomenally bright, learned and engaging democrat, Ben Bolliger, his incredibly wonderful colleague, the move-you-to-tears when you hear him speak, Brandon Yan, and colleague, dad and saviour of our city, R.J Aquino …

Just a few of the very fine folks in OneCity Vancouver, who are working for you. Click on this link to join OneCity Vancouver, and this link to donate money to OneCity Vancouver.

Good lookin’ crew above, huh? They’re with Vancouver’s oldest and most established left-of-centre social justice political party, COPE — the Coalition of Progressive Electors. Want to see the revolution come sooner than later? Then these are your folks — good-hearted, well-meaning, mean to get things done now, and you better believe they will, who believe, as Emma Goldman did, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Good thing these folks can dance up a storm. Join COPE today. Click here.

And as deep as our affection is for Anne Roberts, who is the must-elect COPE candidate for Council come this autumn, who will sweep into office, returning to Vancouver City Council for a much-deserved second term (there was a bit of an interregnum between terms, but she was fighting in the trenches on our behalf, a ground level, people-oriented social justice campaign of change), and as much as we would wish to see Adriane Carr near top-the-polls this year (which position will be reserved for, yep you guessed it … Christine Boyle), and for her very able, city-building for all of us, neighbourhood advocate colleague, the too lovely and kind for words, and — can we say phenomenally bright again? We can. Oh good — phenomenally bright Green colleague, autumn must-elect, Pete Fry …

Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr, and Pete Fry, Green Party of Vancouver 2018 candidates for City Council. Join Adriane and Pete in the Green Party, work with them to ensure they’re both elected to Council, and help our city to become the city you know it can be — defined by compassion, an environmentally-forward and slow-and-sustainable-growth, where affordable housing, better transit and much much more can be yours. All you have to do is join the Green Party of Vancouver — in order that you can be the one who will make a difference, make the difference. And, you know what else? When you join the Vancouver Green Party, and you find yourself spending time in the campaign office, particulary on Friday afternoons, you’ll discover one little known salutary aspect of being involved in a Green campaign for office — the food, the most scrumptious food you’ve ever eaten, biotic region food, natural and organic food, tasty-beyond-belief food, enjoyed in the company of some of our town’s most good-hearted and socially-conscious folks. Click here to join the Green Party of Vancouver, and enjoy the time of your life.

Ignore all the foofaraw that you’re hearing around the NPA, the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association. That’s just the politics of distraction. The three folks above — John Coupar for Mayor, with Sarah Kirby-Yung and Rob McDowell looking to each secure a seat on Vancouver City Council, as they must — three of the best people our town has ever produced, politicians of character (how rare is that?), whose nose-to-the-grindstone approach to public life, where they’re working 24 hours a day for you … I mean, what’s not to love about that? Honest, you should join the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association if you’re looking for a party that offers a steady hand on the till, non-intrusive governance that keeps you in mind, and a City Council dedicated to services and service for the citizens of Vancouver. Oh sure, they’re nominally right-of-centre, but puh-leeze, that’s hardly disqualifying wherever you are along the political spectrum. Want to join the NPA, and work on their civic election campaign, as you must, then click here.

And as much as we think the the sun rises and sets on Park Board Commissioner, Sarah Kirby-Yung — set to become British Columbia Premier one day … just you wait and see, but who has her eyes set on a seat on Vancouver City Council this autumn, a net good and a great thing for the citizens of Vancouver, the depth and breadth of her democratic advocacy beyond compare in this civic election year — our affection for her Park Board colleague, John Coupar, who all but willed us to get better during our battle with cancer — and as deep and abiding as is our affection for their soon-to-be-announced colleague’s candidacy for Vancouver City Council, the one, the only, you’ve got to vote for him, Rob McDowell …

For the new candidates elected to Vancouver City Council on Saturday, October 20th, they are going to find that there is a huge learning curve. Realistically, it will take Christine Boyle, Ben Bolliger, Sarah Kirby-Yung, Catherine Evans, Rob McDowell, and even Anne Roberts a good year-and-a-half to find their way around City Hall, figure out how things are done, read up on past decisions of Council, and the impact of those decisions on newly proposed pieces of legislation at the Council table. Honestly, as we say below, don’t you want some institutional memory, a couple of people, like Raymond Louie, Heather Deal, and the Greens’ Adriane Carr in the chambers of Council, to help facilitate what looks to be an unprecedented affordable housing construction programme for the people of Vancouver? C’mon now, if you’re a rational person — and you know, you are — you absolutely want that to be the case. That’s why you want to make darn sure Raymond Louie, Heather Deal, joined by Park Board Commissioner Catherine Evans, will be re-elected come this October 20th. Join Vision Vancouver? You betcha. Just click right here.

And, did we tell you how important it is to cast your ballot this autumn, for these folks: they’ve accomplished far, far, far more than they’re given credit for, Vision Vancouver 2018 candidates for Vancouver City Council, Mr. Federation of Canadian Municipalities honcho Raymond Louie (we have the same first name, what’s not to love about that?) — who may not be going for the top job this year, but we sure-as-hell need his voice of passion and compassion, wit and intelligence, and critical institutional memory that he has gained in 16 years as a member of Vancouver City Council; and his equally able, arts advocate extraordinaire colleague, the talented woman-of-the-people feminist and environmentalist, Heather Deal (did you see her on the video, in the Monday column, chairing the City Finance & Services meeting? Wow, wow, wow! … we believe Ms. Deal’s picture accompanies the definition of the word democracy in your dictionary); and let us not forget, saving the best for last, current Park Board Commissioner, the humble and kind and oh-so-talented voice of reason (coupled with an incredible work ethic, and a heart as big as all outdoors), Catherine Evans, whose term in office at the Vancouver Park Board is the realization of a dream for those of us who love Vancouver’s Parks & Recreation system, and whose election to Council will provide us with an advocate extraordinare …

Has VanRamblings told you how much we honour, respect, admire and just plain love the folks who are working on #TeamJean, on #TheCityWeNeed campaign, the single most organized, heartened and heartening group of activists to become involved on the municipal scene in Vancouver in nearly 50 years? Join with the folks working with and on #TeamJean if you really, really, really want to make a difference, by clicking here.

You know how VanRamblings like to save the best for last when we’re writing about folks we love? You do? Thought you did. Thank you to the indefatigable Anne Roberts for reminding us — we tell ya, this four hours of sleep each day, up until 6am or 7am writing thing we seem have going — and how could we forget, because they are first in our heart, running a campaign we truly believe in, good and caring folks like activist, Carnegie Community Action Project worker along with Jean Swanson (our town’s most powerful speaker, although she’s quiet and you’ve got to listen closely), and unbelievably great mom and her father’s daughter extraordinaire, Wendy Pederson (follow her on Facebook now!), Riaz Behra, Maddy Madderson III, Maria Wallstam, writer and organizer extraordinaire, Derrick O’Keefe, Nathan Crompton, Laura Stannard (who we hugged last Saturday at the St. James Community Square fundraiser — it was our friend Christopher Richardson who purchased our $100 ticket, cuz … y’know … we’re a pauper, cuz coverage of the civic political scene and this lack of sleep thing we seem to have going was getting to be just a little too much) and … tell you what, VanRamblings will interview and write about each of these fine folks (who, if you look up the word humility in the dictionary you’ll find their photo) and the names of #TeamJean / The City We Need folks whose names we have missed above. VanRamblings’ socks are impressed off with the dedication, the determination and the heart — and an organizational ability and élan that would have made the Obama team blush in 2012, these folks are that good. Well, you know about them now, if you didn’t before, and in this sometimes crazy world of ours, you can set about to make a difference working with The City We Need folks.

Incredibly good people, democrats to their core, public officials who will dedicate their lives to making this a more livable city for you, your family, your friends and colleagues, and everyone in every neighbourhood in our city, Vancouver — but only, and listen up and listen tight … have we got your attention? … only if you get involved, and we don’t mean just voting, we mean: donating monies to the candidates and civic parties of your choice, who best reflect your values, because those candidate and civic party brochures you’re going to see so much of this next five months don’t come for free, they require your hard-earned, put to a good cause dollars.
Democracy. That’s what we call it in these parts.

We live in a democracy, and not a totalitarian state, or in the United States below, where a racist, homophobic, ill-tempered man-child is destroying the very essence of what his country has stood for the past 242 years, because of good folks like you — because in each and every election, hundreds and thousands of volunteers get involved in the campaigns of the candidates they support; answering phones in the candidate campaign or party office, making fundraising calls, holding coffee klatches for their neighbours, going door-knocking on behalf of their candidates til they can’t climb another stairway or walk another step, who dig deep and give whatever monies they have to forward the cause of the candidates and party they support, because money is needed, and money helps to win the campaign.
Quite simply, it is not good enough for you to sit at home on your duff (or for your friends and neighbours to sit at home on their duff). There is simply too much on the line in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election, as there is in every civic election that will be held across British Columbia on Saturday, October 22nd.
What’s that we hear? You have no interest in politics. That’s like saying …

“Sure I’m a chain-smoker. Hell, I smoke 3 packs a day, as I have for years. And drinking? Never gone through day without drinking at least a mickey of gin — and more, if I can afford it. What’s that you say? Exercise? That’s for chumps & suckers. Walking? What a waste of time. Me, I like to start off each day the same way, fry up some eggs soaked in oil with a frying pan full of bacon, sausage, ham and steak, with greasy hash browns piled high on the plate, and four slices of white bread toast slathered in honey, cinnamon, butter and jam. Of course, that’s just to get me going to start my day. Dinner? Lemme tell ya …”

As eating well, exercising, not smoking and taking good care of yourself is important to your health and well-being, getting involved in the maelstrom we call Vancouver politics is equally, if not more, important.
The environment, green initiatives, advocacy for expansion of transit, the construction of housing co-ops, the approval of co-housing, social housing, and truly affordable rental housing is critical to our city’s future, and critical to the livability of the city where you — where we all — reside.
Make a difference. You are the difference. Work together for change. Help build the city we need.
And you know what?
If you don’t get off your duff, if you don’t join the political party which best represents your values, if you fail to set aside at least 100 hours this summer, and another 100 hours come September and October, if you don’t dig deep, go into your savings or even a bit into your line of credit or put some money on your VISA or Mastercard, you are not going to get the city you want, the Vancouver we need, a city of equity, fairness and social justice, a city for every person, in all of Vancouver’s 23 neighbourhoods.
Again: you are not going to get the city you need, we need, your family, your neighbours, your friends and colleagues need, if you don’t work for it. Because, the success of our city, the health of our city depends on YOU.
That’s right — no sitting at home on your duff whining, “Oh, they’re all a bunch of neoliberals. Why would I want to dedicate 5 minutes of my time, when I’ve got John Pilger, Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky to read.” No sitting on your duff at home saying, “Those damn politicians, they’re all alike. They’re just trying to line their pockets. And they’re all a bunch of communist thieves, too. I don’t want anything to do with any of them.”
Active transportation. A thriving parks and recreation system. The commencement of the construction of thousands of new homes for people, member-run housing co-ops, or co-housing, and social housing. An expanded transit system to meet the needs of our fellow citizens. A livable city where our environment remains a priority, as does the recognition of and reconciliation with our indigenous peoples. A livable city for you to live, to enjoy, to love, a city for everyone.

Christine Boyle. OneCity Vancouver. You MUST save a vote for Christine this October.

Tell you what, though. If you are not out on the hustings with the candidate you’ve chosen to support in the crucial civic election year of 2018, if you’re not donating monies and time and energy, if you’re not out meeting with your friends and neighbours and colleagues this next five months, extolling the virtues of candidates like — okay, okay, we can’t help ourselves, and you won’t, either, once you get to know her — Christine Boyle, and doing everything human and in your power, to do your part to realize the city that you want, come Saturday, October 20th, you’re going to be darned disappointed, whether you know it or not, that you didn’t do your part to help our city become the city of your dreams, and a near paradise on Earth.