Category Archives: #VanPoli Civic Politics

#VanPoli | VanRamblings Endorsement Ballot for Vancouver School Board

Voters in 2026 are being given the golden opportunity to wrest control of the Vancouver School Board away from the Greens, ABC Vancouver, and its right-of-centre predecessor, the Non Partisan Association, and place the decision making on Vancouver’s Board of Education firmly back into the hands of advocates for public education, the parents who have children enrolled in the school district, and the approximately 51,859 students who attend elementary or secondary school in Vancouver each and every day.

Do you know, there was a time not so long ago that …

  • The Vancouver School Board operated a volunteer programme on the Downtown Eastside and in Strathcona where immigrant parents — who spoke little or no English — were enrolled in a programme that afforded them an opportunity to support the goals of their children who are enrolled in the Vancouver school district. Now, this was a wildly successful programme. However, thanks to successive Greens, NPA and ABC Vancouver School Board administrations — that would be the folks we elected to Vancouver’s Board of Education — due to “cost cutting” measures (cuz the parents and volunteers and immigrant parents met in a school setting) — that invaluable programme no longer exists;
  • The Vancouver School Board (VSB) operates four standing committees.

    According to official VSB records, the names of these four committees are:

      • Education Plan Committee
      • Facilities Planning Committee
      • Finance and Personnel Committee
      • Policy and Governance Committee

    Additionally, the Board is occasionally supported by specific subcommittees or ad hoc groups, such as the Audit Committee, Advocacy Subcommittee, or the Food Framework Ad Hoc Committee.

    There was a time in the recent past when these committees — chaired by an elected School Board trustee — were active, and provided the union workers employed by the school district, parents who have children enrolled in Vancouver and students themselves to play a significant role, through these committees, in determining policy at the Board level, where the Board Trustee Committee Chairperson would report out at the regularly scheduled meetings of the Board, often moving motions that arose from various of the Committees’ discussions.

    Unsurprisingly, not so much anymore, as the last two terms of the Board of Education encouraged these very important committees to lay dormant, negating the opportunity for the public to be involved in Board decision-making.

The above are but two examples of how the two most recent Vancouver Boards of Education has wrested control of decision-making away from parents, students and CUPE staff employed by the Board.

In 2026, we call that: undemocratic or an unconscionable power grab by Board trustees, over the course of the last two terms of the Vancouver School Board.

With the support of voters who have turned up at the Advance Polls, or intend to vote on Election Day, this upcoming Saturday, October 17 — in what is widely regarded as a change election — the very real opportunity exists, at the Board of Education level — to once again, after so many years of “fiscal prudence (read: destruction of public education in the Vancouver School District) to restore democratic governance at the Vancouver School Board, where once again the voices of the public will be heard around the Board of Education table and, more often than not, acted upon.

Yes, we know the numbers above are out of order, but the candidate ballot numbers are correct.  

VanRamblings knows and has worked with each of the candidates running to become a Trustee around the decision-making table at the Vancouver School Board.

    • Dr. Krista Surgurdson is an academic researcher and educator, political staffer, mother, community organizer, parent advocate, friend, and spouse. She has a PhD in Sociology and worked as a health care researcher at Stanford University and as a research and writing instructor at UBC. Krista believes all Vancouver children, regardless of where they live or their economic or family circumstances, deserve to experience the best possible educational experience that Vancouver schools can provide. Krista has been working her butt off these past weeks and months to become a VSB trustee, because she wants to be a part of putting children and families at the centre of decision-making around Vancouver’s Board of Education table.

    • Rory Brown is an educator with 15 years experience teaching at the secondary school level in Vancouver, has in the past served as President of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers Association, and now teaches the next generation of teachers, at BCIT and UBC. Rory — who has rarely missed a meeting of the Board, in years — would bring a wealth of knowledge to the School Board table, not the least of his myriad skills a deep understanding of labour relations — critically important to a Board, where the VSB administration is too often given to fighting every grievance filed by an employee of the Board, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars before the Labour Relations Board, often in losing causes for the VSB administrators — and even more importantly, Rory’s dedication to promoting the cause of public education on behalf of students enrolled in the Vancouver School District.

  • Suzie Mah is fighting for an education system where everyone has the ability to raise a family in this city and has the right to the best educational experiences. A retired teacher and union organizer for more than 30 years, Suzie has taught every grade from Kindergarten to Grade 12, including non-graduated adults. Suzie, perhaps better than any other trustee, knows what our students needs are, and understands our public education system. As a VSB Trustee since 2022, Suzie has held the line and fought back against ABC’s callous agenda — and won for students. Since being elected, Suzie has played a pivotal role in seeing life-saving defibrillators placed in schools, worked to save school meal programmes threatened by cuts, led the fight for free transit for teens, and opposed ABC Vancouver’s war on democracy, and their handouts of city land to private developers — every step of the way.

    • A four-term Vancouver School Board trustee, and former VSB Chairperson, during his terms in office — because Christopher is so dedicated to his work on behalf of students, particularly learners with disabilities or diverse abilities — that he completed studies in educational leadership and an M.Ed (’25), focusing on inclusive education and learning disabilities within UBC’s Faculty of Education — having earlier completed an Honours Bachelor’s degree at UBC. Both degrees inform Christopher’s approach on Board policy issues, oversight and Board governance, where his academic works helps to provide strategic direction to ensure that the VSB continues to provide K-12+ public educational opportunities for ALL learners, especially those who are vulnerable for whatever reason. Given his depth of experience, the fact that he completed two degrees at UBC while serving as a Vancouver School Board trustee, all the while serving as a Chartered Account and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC (ICABC) — and working as the longest serving Auxiliary police offer with the Vancouver Police Department — for which he received the Exemplary Peace Officer Service Award in November 2019, presented by the Governor General of Canada, Christopher is a must, must, must elect.

  • Derrick O’Keefe is, quite simply, one of my favourite people in the world, heartbreakingly bright and articulate, someone we met a quarter century ago when Derrick and his friend Charles Demers published Seven Oaks magazine, Vancouver’s best ever, most  thought-provoking political journal. Derrick O’Keefe will fight for fully funded, high quality education for ALL students – regardless of learning needs. As a parent of two school-aged boys, he has seen up-close how the system is failing under Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver’s cuts. Bringing his experience in advocacy for public education and his work as a journalist and writer, Derrick will fight for the needs of the many ahead of the wealthy few. He understands that in order to empower the next generation to fight for their communities, we need universal meal programmes, affordable and accessible childcare, and public land that is used for the public benefit.

  • Sherry Breshears, parent advocate, educator and education researcher, is running a campaign rooted in a straightforward conviction: every student deserves an inclusive, well-resourced public education system, and families should have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their children. Breshears holds a degree in Education from the University of British Columbia. Through her experience as a parent, she became increasingly involved in advocating for the educational support her own children and other students needed. She has served with Vancouver’s District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) and the Inclusive Education Working Group, working to make schools more responsive to students with diverse learning needs. Breshears’ campaign emphasizes equity, inclusion and transparency in school-board governance, and is focused on ensuring that students have access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed, families to be heard, and teachers and school staff to be treated with dignity and respect.

  • Steve Cardwell, a former Superintendent with the Vancouver School Board, is running for trustee with OneCity Vancouver. With more than four decades in education, Cardwell brings extensive experience in classroom teaching, school-district leadership and post-secondary education. In 2010, he became superintendent and chief executive officer of the Vancouver School Board, a position he held for five years. Cardwell holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of British Columbia, as well as a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Simon Fraser University. Cardwell is campaigning to strengthen student well-being, support teachers and school staff, and protect inclusive, welcoming neighbourhood schools. He also advocates transparent School Board governance and keeping public school properties in public hands. Cardwell’s candidacy offers voters a trustee with first-hand knowledge of the Vancouver school system, combining experience in educational leadership with a commitment to strengthening public education for students, families and communities.

  • Ishi Dinim, throughout his life, has involved in himself in advocacy as a way of bringing himself to this Earth, while setting a community activist example for his two teenage daughters. As a student at Emily Carr University, Ishi was elected to the Board of Governors. Later, Ishi joined the Vancouver School Board’s District Parental Advisory Council (DPAC). Ishi has spent nearly 10 years as an activist member of DPAC, six of those years as a general member and the last three as an Executive Member. This decade of experience with the VSB provides Ishi with an informed perspective on issues facing our public education system, and knowledge of how the VSB functions, which will allow him to understand and properly address such issues. Ishi Dinim believes in strong, thriving public education in Vancouver. He is passionate about student well-being and believes every learner should feel safe enough to be their whole self at school. He also believes we have a responsibility to protect and improve upon school land and other public assets for generations to come. Healthy public schools must meet the diverse needs of our communities, and Ishi Dinim will work to ensure that the VSB is properly staffed, and has the needed resources and supports to meet the learning needs of every student.

#VanPoli | VanRamblings Formally ENDORSES Kareem Allam to Become Vancouver’s Next Mayor

There are moments in the political life of a city when an election becomes about more than choosing a Mayor.

October 17, 2026, is one of those moments.

Vancouver is not simply deciding whether to give Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver another four years. Vancouver is deciding what kind of city it wants to become — and, more importantly, who the city is actually going to work for.

For the past four years, City Hall has too often appeared preoccupied with grand announcements, expensive projects, political theatre and the interests of the well-connected while the everyday infrastructure of neighbourhood life has deteriorated.

Libraries have faced cuts. Community facilities are aging. Swimming pools are disappearing. Parking meters have appeared around community amenities, our beaches, parks and community centres.

Families are struggling with the cost of living. Seniors are wondering where affordable recreation opportunities are going to come from. Young people increasingly question whether they can afford to remain in the city in which they grew up.

The next Mayor of Vancouver should you cast your ballot for Kareem Allam, Vancouver Liberals.

Into that vacuum comes Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals.

There  is a compelling case to be made that Kareem Allam must become Vancouver’s most progressive Mayor in more than half a century.

Not because he comes from the traditional left.

Not because he comes from the traditional right.

But precisely because he doesn’t fit neatly into either category.

Kareem Allam’s political proposition is something Vancouver has desperately needed: a government organized around people rather than ideology.

The Vancouver Liberals’ stated goal is refreshingly straightforward: create a Vancouver where young people can stay, work, build a career and raise a family. Their platform combines affordability, public investment, stronger frontline services, parks and recreation, public safety, accountability and neighbourhood infrastructure.

That is progressive municipal government in its most practical form.

Kareem Allam: The Vancouver Mayor Who Will Get To Work on Day One

For Vancouver voters looking for a Mayor who can begin governing on the morning after the 2026 civic election, rather than spending the first year learning how City Hall works, Kareem Allam presents a compelling case.

The Vancouver Liberals’ Mayoral candidate is not simply a political newcomer with an attractive platform. He is a lifelong Vancouverite who has spent more than 25 years working in and around municipal, provincial and federal governments, working on public policy, Indigenous relations, health care, transportation and infrastructure.

Kareem’s career has given him something that is extraordinarily rare among candidates for municipal office: an understanding of government not merely from the outside, but from inside the machinery of government itself.

Kareem Allam did not enter Vancouver’s 2026 Mayoral race as a political novice. Far from it. Kareem has worked for elected politicians, inside government, in public institutions, on political campaigns and, critically, inside Vancouver’s Mayor’s office itself.

There is no other Mayoral candidate in 2026 who can match his breadth of experience.

Over his 25-year professional life, Kareem Allam has worked in government relations and public affairs, holding positions involving consequential policy areas facing British Columbia: energy, health care, transportation, infrastructure and Indigenous relations.

Kareem Allam worked with the Fraser Health Authority. He served on public and advisory boards. He became Director of Public Policy at the Vancouver Board of Trade. He developed extensive relationships with First Nations and worked on Indigenous economic-development issues.

Vancouver Magazine placed Kareem Allam among British Columbia’s 50 most powerful people, recognizing him as one of the province’s most sought-after political minds.

A Mayor must understand municipal bureaucracy, the Vancouver Charter, budgeting, procurement, zoning, permitting, capital budgets, collective agreements, infrastructure financing, development approvals, labour relations, intergovernmental negotiations, civic infrastructure, regional government, provincial jurisdiction and the relationship between elected officials and the professional bureaucracy.

Kareem Allam has spent his entire professional career learning precisely those systems.

Indeed, it is difficult to identify another 2026 Mayoral candidate who has worked so extensively across the federal, provincial and municipal spheres while also gaining experience inside Vancouver’s own Mayoral office. His career has included government-relations positions, senior policy work, public boards and direct municipal executive experience. He has served on the TransLink screening panel, and other public and advisory bodies. He currently serves on advisory bodies associated with the University of Victoria and Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

The Mayor of the City of Vancouver has to interact with Metro Vancouver.

With TransLink.

With the provincial government.

With Ottawa.

With developers.

With unions.

With neighbourhoods.

With First Nations.

With a bureaucracy employing thousands of people.

And then the Mayor has to get 10 Councillors to agree on what should actually happen.

This is not theory. It is governing.

And Kareem Allam has spent decades learning how to do it.

Kareem Allam’s political career is unusual because he has worked across ideological and partisan boundaries. Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, civic politicians, business leaders, public servants and Indigenous governments have all been part of his professional world.


In the 2024 British Columbia election, Kareem Allam inspired the NDP campaign for office.

It means Kareem Allam understands that government is not about finding people who agree with you.

It is about finding a way to get things done among people who don’t.

Former B.C. NDP cabinet minister Michelle Mungall joined the campaign back in September as an honourary co-chair, while Arminder Randhawa, a former B.C. NDP executive member and former Vancouver Board of Variance member, has described Kareem Allam as a thoughtful and pragmatic leader who brings people together.

Those are precisely the qualities Vancouver should be looking for.

Vancouver doesn’t need a Mayor who believes governing means announcing initiatives.

Vancouver needs a Mayor who understands implementation.

Consider housing.

Kareem Allam’s approach is revealing. Rather than simply promising to build more housing, he has focused on the regulatory machinery that determines whether housing actually gets built — including municipal permitting, building codes and bureaucratic duplication.

Not to mention which, a core focus of the Vancouver Liberals campaign for office revolves around renewing Vancouver’s commitment to the construction of housing co-operatives across our city, on City-owned land or provincial and federal Crown land, working with the President of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC — who also happens to be the CEO of the Community Land Trust (CLT) — Thom Armstrong, towards expanding the  already existing, and wildly successful, Community Land Trust programme, while building thousands more of co-operative housing units across our city.

Do you know how much the construction of co-operative housing will cost taxpaypers? Nada, nothing, zero, zilch. Because those groups making application to construct a  housing co-operative will secure funding through a lending institution, the loan backed by the federal government through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

That is the language of someone who understands government.

The problem isn’t always that government doesn’t know what Vancouver needs.

The problem is that government often makes it extraordinarily difficult to deliver it.

Kareem Allam knows where the levers are.

He knows which government controls which lever.

He knows who has to be at the table.

And, having spent years dealing with senior governments, he knows how to pick up the telephone and get the right people on the other end.

Imagine a Mayor walking into City Hall on the first day of his administration already familiar with the bureaucracy, already understanding municipal government, already possessing relationships with provincial and federal officials, already knowing the political terrain and already having spent time inside the Mayor’s office.

That is a fundamentally different proposition from electing someone who will spend the first year learning the job.

The choice facing Vancouver voters is larger than a choice between political parties.

It is a choice between experience and apprenticeship.

Between knowing what government should do and knowing how to get things done.

Between another four years of political theatre and the possibility of a Mayor who can walk into the Mayor’s office on Day One and immediately begin governing.

Vancouver voters can rest assured that Kareem Allam understands the machinery required to turn an idea into policy, policy into a decision, and a decision into something residents can actually see, touch and use.

After the experience of the past four years, that distinction should matter enormously.

Kareem Allam may not be the loudest candidate in the 2026 Vancouver Mayoral race.

He may not be the candidate with the largest political organization.

But he may very well be the best-informed.

And when the doors of City Hall open on the morning after October 17, Vancouver doesn’t need another Mayor learning how to govern.

We need someone who already knows how.

An Affordability Agenda That Actually Reaches People’s Daily Lives

Of all the Mayoral campaigns seeking Vancouver’s vote, Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals have put forward one of the most comprehensive affordability agendas.

Consider something as mundane — and as revealing — as parking.

The Vancouver Liberals would remove parking meters in front of beaches and community centres throughout Vancouver within their first year in office.

That may sound like a small issue.

It isn’t.

For a senior taking a child to a community centre, a parent bringing children to a neighbourhood programme, a family visiting the beach, or someone using a recreation facility because they cannot afford a private gym, another municipal fee can be the difference between participating and staying home.

Public spaces should actually feel public.

Vancouver’s parks and beaches are, for hundreds of thousands of residents, the closest thing they have to a backyard. They are playgrounds, fitness centres, meeting places, swimming areas, outdoor classrooms and places of refuge.

They should not be treated as revenue opportunities.

That philosophy runs through the Vancouver Liberals agenda.

Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals are proposing an historic $1.35 billion investment in parks, recreation, pools and community infrastructure, accompanied by 400 new unionized frontline workers. The party explicitly argues that investing in parks, libraries and community spaces is part of creating safer neighbourhoods.

This is an important departure from the simplistic notion that public safety begins and ends with policing.

Of course Vancouver needs police.

But a child who has a safe place to play, a teenager who has somewhere to go after school, a senior who has an affordable fitness programme, a family with a functioning community and recreation centre nearby, and a neighbourhood with a well-maintained park with facilities in the park are all components of a safer city.

Community infrastructure is crime prevention infrastructure.

Fix The Community Centres — And Stop Governing Through Neglect

The Auditor General has already identified a serious problem.

A 2025 audit by Vancouver’s auditor general, Mike Macdonnell, found that Vancouver’s 24 recreation facilities face an infrastructure funding deficit of approximately $33 million a year, with many building systems already extended beyond their intended useful life.

That is not an abstract accounting problem.

It is what happens when a city delays maintenance until maintenance becomes reconstruction.

Kareem Allam understands this.

The Vancouver Liberals are proposing major investment in community centres, pools and parks rather than allowing these facilities to continue deteriorating. Kareem Allam has argued that failing to invest in capital infrastructure actually drives up operating costs because aging buildings become more expensive to maintain.

That is precisely the kind of municipal economics Vancouver needs.

Spend money where it makes people’s lives better.

Repair what is broken.

Build what communities need.

And stop confusing expensive government with effective government.

Vancouver Needs Community Pools In Every Neighbourhood

Perhaps nowhere is the difference between the Vancouver Liberals vision and the ABC vision more obvious than swimming pools.

The Vancouver Liberals have committed to a 50-metre pool, rather than accepting a 25-metre replacement for the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. Their platform argues that Vancouver already has among the lowest levels of public swimming-pool provision per capita in Canada.

Why should Vancouver settle for less?

A city of more than 600,000 people should be building recreation infrastructure for the next generation, not shrinking its ambitions to fit yesterday’s budget.

Kareem Allam’s agenda also envisions additional neighbourhood pools and water parks, including a long-overdue community pool in Mount Pleasant.

This is what a programme for the people actually looks like.

It looks like children learning to swim.

It looks like seniors exercising.

It looks like families having somewhere affordable to spend an afternoon.

It looks like hockey rinks, libraries, community centres and parks that are maintained, accessible and welcoming.

It looks remarkably like the kind of people-centred municipal agenda that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has brought to the international political conversation.

Save the Park Board, Restore the Park Board, Fund the Park Board

The Vancouver Liberals unapologetically defend Vancouver’s elected Park Board.

They argue that Vancouver needs a strong, independent and properly funded Park Board — not its elimination.

That is about more than institutional nostalgia.

The Park Board represents an important democratic principle: Vancouver’s parks belong to Vancouverites.

Restoring stable funding for parks and recreation means acknowledging that these services are not luxuries.

They are municipal necessities.

Did you know that prior to Vision Vancouver being elected to City Hall in 2008, that Vancouver spent 19.3% of the city budget on our parks and recreation system? In 2026, that figure has fallen to an unconscionable 7.9%. No wonder our parks look so neglected, and our community centres have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.

The $1.35-billion Vancouver Liberals commitment would give the city an opportunity to address the accumulated infrastructure deficit while creating better parks, pools, community centres and recreational opportunities across all 23 neighbourhoods.

Finish What Vancouver Civic Governments Have Already Promised

A re-imagined Marpole Community Centre approved in a 2008 Capital Expenditure referendum. Not complete more than 18 years later. Only the Vancouver Liberals will complete the project.

There is another essential principle here: if government makes a commitment to a neighbourhood, government should keep it.

The long-planned renewal of the Marpole Community Centre is finally under construction, with completion expected early to mid 2027. The project will provide a renewed centre, childcare, a field house and new outdoor amenities.

But Vancouver’s broader history is filled with promises that have taken far too long to become reality.

A Vancouver Liberals administration would adopt a rule:

No more indefinite delays.

Where projects have been approved, promised or negotiated — as they were when voters went to the polls to approve the proposed Capital Expenditure budget, in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022 — residents deserve a clear timetable, transparent financing and a government prepared to get the work done.

That includes ensuring that the community amenities associated with major developments actually materialize.

At Oakridge Park, QuadReal and Westbank are responsible for a major redevelopment that includes a community centre, library, performance area and childcare.

At River District, Wesgroup’s long-term plan includes a community centre as an important public amenity.

A government led by Kareem Allam would insist developers honour those commitments.

That is not anti-development.

It is pro-community development.

Food Security is Affordability, and Necessary in the City of Vancouver

Perhaps one of the most innovative elements of the Vancouver Liberals agenda is the proposed Food Hub Programme.

As VanRamblings has previously reported, Kareem Allam’s food-security vision draws inspiration from the University of British Columbia’s Community Food Hub, where the Food Hub Market operates as a not-for-profit community space offering affordable groceries and culturally diverse foods.

The concept is deceptively simple.

Use public resources and partnerships to make nutritious food more affordable.

Create neighbourhood-based food hubs.

Connect residents with community organizations.

Make food security part of a civic affordability policy rather than treating hunger exclusively as a charitable problem.

That matters because food insecurity is not confined to people without jobs.

It increasingly affects working families, students, seniors and people whose incomes simply cannot keep pace with Vancouver’s extraordinary cost of living.

Food security is affordability.

And affordability is the defining municipal issue of 2026.

A Vancouver Liberal Commitment: Taxes People Can Actually Afford 

Kareem Allam has committed to limiting annual property-tax increases to the rate of inflation, or less, per year.

That is an important commitment because Vancouver citizens deserve predictability.

Under Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver, the Vancouver Liberals point out, property taxes have risen by 26%. Kareem Allam has argued that the city’s budget grew from approximately $1.7 billion when Sim inherited it to approximately $2.4 billion, without a corresponding improvement in frontline services.

The question Vancouver voters should be asking is simple:

If taxes keep rising, where is the improvement in our daily lives?

Kareem Allam’s answer is to redirect spending toward frontline workers and core services.

Four hundred new frontline employees.

Better garbage collection.

Better road maintenance.

Ban Bitcoin cryptocurrency ATMs on the DTES and take the fight to the drug dealers — not the street level drug dealers, but their suppliers;

Develop a methamphetamine — the leading cause of violent incidents that puts people at risk — strategy, just like Premier Wab Kinew has done in Manitoba (a plan that is working!);

Address homelessness in a humane and caring manner consistent with the values of the vast majority of us who call Vancouver home;

Protect local businesses during transit expansion, by reducing property taxes by 50% for the duration of construction;

Build more public washrooms, including within our parks (I mean, when the kids have gotta pee, they’ve gotta pee);

Reinstate library funding and hours, cut by a heartless and cruel Ken Sim administration that have so weakened these vital public spaces and community services.

Better parks.

Better recreation facilities.

Better basic services.

No property taxes levied on medical centres.

Downsize a bloated middle management bureaucracy at Vancouver City Hall (do we really need 95 people working in Vancouver’s communications department, or employ more middle managers in our development services and planning departments than on the ground CUPE workers — like plan checkers — who do the real work!);

That is not austerity.

It is prioritization.

A City Hall That Isn’t Afraid of But Actually Welcomes the Public

A progressive government must also be a transparent government.

The Vancouver Liberals have proposed cheaper public access to government records, a stronger Integrity Commissioner and greater accountability at City Hall.

That should include reducing or eliminating Freedom of Information fees for journalists and members of the public wherever possible.

Government records belong to the public.

Journalists should not have to fight City Hall to discover what City Hall is doing.

And citizens should not have to pay excessive fees to learn how their own government spends their money.

Transparency isn’t an administrative courtesy.

It is democracy.

Even The Rats Living in Our Neighbourhoods Are Telling us Something

And then there is the rat problem.

Yes, the rat problem.

The Vancouver Liberals have made tackling Vancouver’s growing rodent infestation a public-health priority, proposing a blue-ribbon panel of experts to develop a comprehensive strategy.

It might sound almost comical.

It isn’t.

A city that cannot keep its streets, parks and public spaces clean and safe cannot call itself well governed.

The rat problem is about sanitation, waste management, infrastructure, construction practices and public health.

Sometimes the most progressive thing government can do is simply do the basics properly.

The Remarkable Coalition Allam’s Vancouver Liberals Have Built

Perhaps the strongest argument for Kareem Allam is not simply his platform.

It is the coalition he has built.

The Vancouver Liberals are attempting something Vancouver civic politics has rarely seen: bringing together people from dramatically different political traditions around a shared municipal agenda.

Their candidates include people with labour and NDP backgrounds, progressive activists, businesspeople, academics, former BC Liberals and former Conservatives.

Jessica Walton, for example, brings years of feminist, environmental, labour and political activism to the campaign, along with experience as a BCGEU shop steward and frontline government worker. Mention should also be made that Jessica Walton was recently endorsed by Unite Here Local 40, one of Vancouver’s most progressive unions.

John Coupar brings 11 years of Park Board experience and a long record of advocacy for Vancouver’s parks and cultural institutions.

And the coalition continues to expand.

On August 27, former BC NDP cabinet minister Michelle Mungall and former BC NDP executive member Arminder Randhawa were announced as honorary co-chairs of the campaign. Ms. Mungall served as B.C.’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources under John Horgan, while Ms. Randhawa has extensive experience in municipal politics and advocacy concerning intimate-partner violence, policing and women’s and children’s safety.

Their presence says something important.

This isn’t simply another ideological faction fighting another ideological faction.

It is an attempt to build a unity government for Vancouver.

As Ms. Mungall put it, she was impressed by Kareem Allam’s emphasis on frontline workers and by the work ethic of the candidates.

Ms. Randhawa described Mr. Allam as a pragmatic leader who brings people together.

And that may be precisely what Vancouver needs.

A Municipal Government of Civic Reconciliation and Unity

Vancouver is an extraordinarily diverse city.

Vancouver Liberal Armor Valor of Filipino descent running for a seat on City Council

The 2021 Census counted 38,605 Filipino residents in the City of Vancouver alone, while Filipino Canadians represented the third-largest racialized group in the Vancouver census metropolitan area.

That diversity deserves political representation.

But reconciliation also means something larger than ethnicity.

It means reconciling competing political traditions.

Labour and business.

Progressives and conservatives.

Social democrats and Liberals.

Immigrants and people whose families have lived here for generations.

Young people and seniors.

Renters and homeowners.

Downtown residents and suburban neighbourhoods.

People who disagree profoundly about politics but agree that Vancouver should be affordable, safe, clean, vibrant and welcoming.

That is the Vancouver Liberals experiment.

And it is a worthwhile experiment.

Why Kareem Allam Needs a Majority at Vancouver City Hall

But there is a final point Vancouver voters need to understand.

Electing Kareem Allam as Mayor will not be enough.

If Vancouver wants the programme described above — the pools, community centres, parks, food hubs, frontline workers, public-space investments, tax discipline, transparency reforms and neighbourhood improvements — Kareem Allam needs Councillors and Park Board Commissioners who share that agenda.

A Mayor Kareem Allam cannot govern alone.

A Mayor Kareem Allam needs a Council capable of passing budgets.

A Mayor Kareem Allam needs Park Board Commissioners committed to rebuilding Vancouver’s recreation system.

A Mayor Kareem Allam needs School Board trustees who understand the needs of families and children.

And a Mayor Kareem Allam needs a political team capable of turning campaign promises into municipal policy.

That is why Vancouver needs to elect a majority Vancouver Liberal civic administration on October 17.

This is not about giving Kareem Allam a blank cheque.

Quite the opposite.

It is about giving Vancouver voters the opportunity to hold an entire governing team accountable for a coherent programme.

For too long, Vancouver has been governed through fragmented politics, institutional conflict and competing agendas.

Kareem Allam is offering something different.

A plan.

A team.

A coalition.

And, most importantly, a willingness to govern.

Vancouver’s Choice: Vote Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals

The choice facing Vancouver on October 17 could hardly be clearer.

One path leads back to four more years of the politics and priorities of the past four years.

The other asks Vancouver to try something fundamentally different.

A city where parks are treated as public assets rather than revenue opportunities.

A city where libraries are strengthened rather than diminished.

A city where community centres are repaired before they become catastrophes.

A city where children have swimming pools.

A city where seniors have affordable recreation.

A city where seniors and persons with disabilities can traverse our crumbling and uneven sidewalks, as a Vancouver Liberals administration — working with all of the elected on Vancouver City Council — will embark on a programme to renew sidewalks across the city.

A city where families can buy groceries without being pushed to the edge.

A city where property taxes are predictable, at or below inflation.

A city where developers are required to deliver the amenities they promised.

A city where City Hall welcomes scrutiny rather than resists it.


Jettisoned by Ken Sim / ABC in 2022, Kareem Allam will renew the ‘Healthy City for All’ initiative

A city where public safety means police, yes — but also clean streets, functioning neighbourhoods, recreation, mental-health services, public spaces and communities in which people actually know one another.

A city where government works for the people who live here.

That is why Kareem Allam represents something larger than another Mayoral candidacy.

Kareem Allam represents the possibility of a progressive, pragmatic, people-first government that breaks with the politics of the past half-century.

The Vancouver Liberals are not perfect. No political party is.

But in 2026, they have something increasingly rare in municipal politics:

An Action Plan That Will Transform Vancouver Into a Livable City

And on October 17, Vancouver voters have an opportunity to put that plan into action.

If Vancouver wants the change we so desperately need, we cannot settle for changing the Mayor while leaving the political machinery of City Hall essentially unchanged.

Vancouver needs a government capable of delivering.

We need a government willing to invest in people.

We need a government willing to listen.

We need a government willing to cross partisan boundaries rather than deepen them.

We need a government that believes public spaces belong to the public.

We need a government that understands that affordability is not a slogan but something measured in grocery bills, parking fees, property taxes, recreation fees and whether a family can afford to stay in the city it calls home.

And above all, Vancouver needs a Mayor who understands that government exists to serve the public — not the other way around.

That Mayor of Vancouver, in 2026, should and must be Kareem Allam.

And the government he needs with him is a majority Vancouver Liberal administration.

October 17 is Vancouver’s opportunity to choose a different future.

Vote for Kareem Allam.

Vote Vancouver Liberal. And give Vancouver the government we have all been waiting for.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 2026 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ONLY 𝗰𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆.

#TogetherWeCan

#VanPoli | Vote for The MUST-ELECT Change Brigade At the 2026 Polls

Kareem Allam as the Vancouver Liberals Mayoral candidate, and the 10 Vancouver City Council candidates whose names appear above represent Vancouver’s only hope for better; for an action-oriented government that will relieve your tax burden; build our city’s parks and recreation system; downsize the “managers managing managers” bloated bureaucracy at Vancouver City Hall; establish a blue ribbon panel to address the pestilence of the rat problem that bedevils our city, that is of so much concerns to residents in every neighbourhood across Vancouver; address street disorder and an out-of-control drug problem on the DTES in a humane, yet efficient and effective manner; spend money on our sidewalks that makes life difficult for seniors and persons with disabilities to traverse, and so very much more that is on the agenda of THE CHANGE BRIGADE asking for your vote.

Thinking of voting for Pete Fry for Mayor? Expect the same old, same old do nothing government that has defined every Vancouver civic administration this century. Rebecca Bligh. Same thing. Won’t achieve any more than a high single digit come Election Day. Colleen Hardwick. Puh-leeze. In a word, nightmare. Ken Sim. Undeserved second term.

You know what the difference is between Kareem Allam, and the 10 Councillors endorsed by VanRamblings? Every other person running for Council — although they might believe what they’re saying — are driven by ego, and what’s good for them, and not us.

The members of The Change Brigade are the only candidates for Vancouver City Council seeking a Council seat, because they believe in the good, that collectively as members of a Vancouver City Council committed to a civic administration of reconciliation that there is much good to be achieved.

In other words, The Change Brigade is in it for us, not for themselves.

Only the collaborative, achingly brilliant, ready to hit the ground running, man of vision who is a natural leader, Kareem Allam, possesses the wisdom and experience to be the best Mayor of Vancouver since the days of the Art Phillips.

Vancouver’s Government of Municipal Reconciliation Working for You

The 10 candidates whose names are listed above, the Vancouver Liberals’ achingly bright Kareem For Mayor and the 10 Council candidates endorsed by VanRamblings represent the 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 we have waited more than 25 years for, the ‘can do’ Zohran Mamdani crew who mean to make a difference …

• Remove pay stations from parks, beaches and in front of and nearby community centres, pools and hockey rinks, which means that the City of Vancouver will — with The Change Brigade in charge — finally get around to spending some of those billions of dollars that languish in the capital budget, monies that we approved in referendums in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022, election after election as the money just sits in the capital budget unspent, instead of being spent on us; • Broken Promises and Rising FOI Fees, means transparency and accountability is needed at City Hall. Vancouverites are facing rising Freedom of Information fees while trust in City Hall continues to decline;

• Reinstate the Livable Wage Programme at City Hall, that mandates suppliers of goods and services to the City must pay their workers a livable wage (approximately $28 today), that doesn’t cost the city a penny, but helps workers;

• Renew Vancouver’s 24 community centres, most of all, the 11 community centres identified by Vancouver Auditor General Mike Macdonell in his scathing report to Council on the “severe state of disrepair” of 11 of those community centres; • Cancel Ken’s $800m Second City Hall, wherein Ken Sim and ABC want to spend $800 million just to build more office space for managers;
• Build community pools in neighbourhoods across the city, water parks and hockey rinks;

Luxury Yacht Tax (40ft+), to protect essential services without burdening everyday Vancouverites, The Change Brigade will implement a tax on luxury yachts over 40 feet;

• Faster, Cheaper Housing Construction, because Vancouver is the only city in BC with its own building code — an unnecessary extra step for people seeking to build more housing in our city. The Change Brigade, led by Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals — working in concert with COPE’s Sean Orr and Solomon Yi-Kieran, One City’s Frances Bula, and the Greens’ Stephanie Smith — will remove the Vancouver Building Code and align our city with the rest of the province, simplifying the process for housing construction;
• Hold developers feet to the fire, by insisting Wesgroup finally get around to building the community centre they are contracted to build in the River District, or QuadReal to build their contracted Oakridge Park community centre, or Concert Properties, to build a much needed SE False Creek community centre they said they’d build ages ago; Build affordable housing, focusing on democratically run housing co-ops, built on City land, working with Thom Armstrong, Executive Director of both BC’s Co-operative Housing Federation and the Community Land Trust, with child care centres built into the newly-constructed co-ops;
Protect Good Jobs and Industrial Land, because Vancouver needs more good-paying jobs, not policies that put them at risk. Ken Sim’s plan to eliminate the city’s remaining industrial land threatens to push businesses and well-paying jobs out of Vancouver; • A Ward System for Vancouver, because Vancouver’s current at-large voting system makes campaigns expensive and leaves many neighbourhoods without direct representation at City Hall. The Change Brigade support exploring a ward system that would divide the city into local districts, each electing their own dedicated Councillor;
• Ban Bitcoin cryptocurrency ATMs on the DTES and take the fight to the drug dealers, not the street-level drug dealers, but their suppliers; • Work to rid our city of the pestilence of rats, that are of concern to residents in every neighbourhood across our city;
• Address homelessness in a humane and caring manner, consistent with the values of the vast majority of us who call Vancouver home; • The Change Brigade Noise Policy, because we’re tired of noisy hot rods and motorcycles revving up at 3 a.m. in our neighbourhoods. So are the members of The Change Brigade;
• Downsize a bloated middle management bureaucracy, at Vancouver City Hall, because do we really need 95 people working in Vancouver’s communications department, or employ more middle managers in our development services and planning departments than on the ground CUPE workers — like plan checkers — who do the real work?; • Reduce Taxes on Medical Clinics, because The Change Brigade means to cut property taxes in half for family doctors and walk-in clinics in the City of Vancouver;
• Build UBC-style Food Hubs across our city, to address food insecurity;

Build More Public Bathrooms, because Vancouver’s chronic lack of public washrooms not only fails to provide basic facilities to residents but could cause even bigger public health problems;

• Build Supportive Housing for Seniors & Veterans, because supportive housing is a lifeline for seniors, veterans, and those with disabilities. On Day One, The Change Brigade will reverse Ken Sim’s cruel ban on supportive housing and ensure that our most-vulnerable citizens receive the supports that they need;
• Restore strong fiscal management, at City Hall; • Stop the Sale of Vancouver Parks, because Ken Sim and ABC’s Councillors who tried to eliminate the Park Board, Sim who is all about putting Vancouver’s parks up for sale. The Change Brigade strongly supports our elected Park Board, a democratic institution that protects our parks from being chopped up and sold off;
• Develop a methamphetamine strategy — the leading cause of violent incidents that puts people at risk — just like Premier Wab Kinew has done in Manitoba (a plan that is working!); • Establish an Industrial Land Reserve, because keeping jobs in the city and surrounding them with affordable housing so that people can build their careers and keep their families in our city;
• Protect local businesses during transit expansion, by reducing property taxes by 50% for the duration of construction;

Build more public washrooms, including within our parks (I mean, when the kids have gotta pee, they’ve gotta pee);

• Support taxation on land value, by capturing the land-owner windfalls caused by proximity to public amenities, speculation, and zoning;
• Reinstate library funding and hours, cut by a heartless and cruel Ken Sim administration that have so weakened these vital public spaces and community services; • Bring back the Renters Office, with teeth this time to give tenants an advocate who is empowered to fight for them;
• Better Front-Line Services, which means across the board, city services are failing: more potholes, missed garbage pickups, dirty streets, and so much more. • Identify why progress towards city goals of affordability, families, renters, and climate has stalled or reversed under Ken Sim, and get back on course;
• Fight for campaign finance reform, to close the loopholes the wealthy can use to, effectively, buy politicians and elections; • Fight for a fast and free public transit system in Vancouver, and take steps on that path immediately;
• Bring in a municipal lobbying registry, because the public deserves to know how and when the wealthy are influencing decisions made by the city government; • Half of bus stops in Vancouver have no bus shelters or benches, so work toward changing that circumstance.
• Expand VanWifi across the city, to allow for more free and open internet access, prioritizing currently under-served areas; • Train and hire lifeguards and swim instructors, because we need to keep pools open and staffed, stop line-ups, offer swimming lessons to meet demand, and keep people safe at Vancouver’s beaches.

#VanPoli | The Cruel and Corrupt Administration of Ken Sim, and His ABC Vancouver Colleagues

Mayor Ken Sim’s majority ABC Vancouver administration at Vancouver City Hall is the most morally bankrupt and cruelest civic administration the woeful citizens of Vancouver have witnessed in the past 60 years, and perhaps even longer than that.

The Vancouver Mayor with the worst attendance record at Vancouver City Hall, and on the Metro Vancouver Board, in our city’s history, who in his first three years as Mayor, took off right after his early November 2022 Inauguration for Qatar, where he watched the World Cup with his well-heeled billonaire backers and friends, who when he returned to Vancouver three weeks later, decided to “take control”, coming up with one hare-brained (and, dare we say, illegal) scheme after another.

No wonder current Vancouver Mayoral aspirant, Kareem Allam — the mastermind of ABC Vancouver’s massive majority victory in 2022, who went on to become Mayor Ken Sim’s Chief of Staff, and now strongest opponent — lasted only 34 miserably short days in his post, so cruel and off-putting, so mean-spirited and just plain idiotic Ken Sim proved to be that Allam simply couldn’t take it anymore, and resigned, his heart broken, and his spirit wounded.

Allam drew up ABC’s Vancouver’s platform.

Yes, ABC Vancouver committed to removing the homeless from Hastings Street, early in their term of office. Allam was clear: no person living in a tent on Hastings Street would be “removed” without the permission of the individual, but would leave of their own volition when more than adequate housing had been found for the cruelly abused unhoused who had taken up residence on Hastings Street.

Kareem Allam’s plan was not dissimilar to that of the late Brenda Prosken, a senior official at BC Housing (and neighbour and friend of VanRamblings), achieved at Oppenheimer Park, or when Ms. Prosken died from cancer six months after being diagnosed with her terminal illness, BC Housing Vice-President, Stephanie Allen — COPE’s recent candidate to be Mayor — achieved at the Strathcona encampment.

A cruel Ken Sim had other ideas: bulldoze (literally, bulldoze) the unhoused on Hastings Street, send in Vancouver’s (reluctant) police force to “help” clear the street, which a cruel and heartless Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver Councillor colleagues managed to do.

Kareem Allam was aghast, disheartened and disgusted at the cruelty and inhumanity of Mayor Ken Sim and Mr. Sim’s ABC Vancouver colleagues.

Chief of Staff Kareem Allam and Mayor Ken Sim Arguing During Mr. Allam’s last day at City Hall.

The final straw came on Monday, February 6, 2023, when Ken Sim called Mr. Allam into his office, where current ABC Vancouver Council candidate David Grewal was standing excitedly by the Mayor’s side.

Mayor Ken Sim told his Chief of Staff the following …

“Kareem, David and I have come up with the perfect way to ensure that over the next four years, businesses and homeowners in Vancouver will not have to pay one red cent in property taxes. We’re thrilled with the idea we’ve come up with.”

Here’s what Ken Sim and David Grewal came up with: Mayor Ken Sim was going to order the sale of the 100  of the 242 parks in Vancouver that are not officially designated as parks. Not only that, Mayor Sim proposed to sell off billions of dollars of property owned by the City to his friends, at cents on the dollar, properties that constitute our city’s Property Endowment Fund, created by Mayor Art Phillips in 1972, a fund that sustains to this day.

As Kareem Allam turned briefly away from Mayor Sim, and rolled his eyes, he then turned to face the Mayor, telling him …

“With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, the Vancouver Charter, and both provincial and federal legislation would prevent you from carrying out your plan to sell off the officially non-designated parks, many of which sit on provincial and federal Crown land, or have been gifted to the City under a long term contract to be kept in place as parks.

As for selling property lodged in the Property Endowment Fund, that is something you might consider, or re-consider. There would be a big hue and cry were you to attempt to sell off properties in the Property Endowment Fund to your friends. Legal challenges would likely follow, and the stories around your plan would dog your days for the next four years of your administration. I would strongly advise you against taking this precipitous, and potentially calamitous course of action.”

By the time, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff had completed making his statement to the Mayor, Ken Sim was livid, firing Mr. Allam on the spot. Thus, February 6, 2023 was Kareem Allam’s last day serving as Mayor Ken Sim’s Chief of Staff.

Ken Sim’s Cruelty. Where Does It End? Hint: It Doesn’t.
Ken Sim’s Vancouver: The Cruelest City Hall in a Generation — And Why He Must Go

There is a word that increasingly defines Ken Sim’s Vancouver.

It is not “better.”

It is not “inclusive.”

It is not “compassionate.”

It is not even “competent.”

It is cruel.

And as Vancouverites prepare to go to the polls on October 17, we should all ask ourselves a profoundly simple question:

Do we really want four more years of Ken’s Sim’s ABC Vancouver administration?

In the more than half-century since Mayor Tom “Terrific” Campbell presided over Vancouver City Hall, it is difficult to think of a civic administration that has so consistently demonstrated such disdain for people with the least power, such contempt for political opponents, such indifference toward vulnerable Vancouverites and such extraordinary self-regard as the Ken Sim–led ABC Vancouver administration.

Campbell was a different kind of Mayor. He was brash, confrontational and openly hostile to the counterculture of his day. His administration became infamous for its treatment of Vancouver’s hippies, culminating in the 1971 Gastown Riot, when mounted police moved against a peaceful smoke-in and dozens were arrested. Campbell also tried to suppress the Georgia Straight, and championed the destruction of neighbourhoods in the name of development.

His was a politics of confrontation.

Ken Sim’s is something more modern.

It is the politics of indifference.

And sometimes, indifference is every bit as cruel as confrontation.

As a First Order of Business Ken Sim Undercut the Interests of Workers

The first great moral statement of the Sim administration came almost immediately after ABC Vancouver took power.

It was not a new housing programme.

It was not an investment in poverty reduction.

It was not an expansion of social services.

It was the cancellation of Vancouver’s Livable Wage Programme.

The programme required companies supplying goods and services to the City to pay their workers a livable wage. At the time it was approximately $25.68 an hour; today, the comparable living-wage figure is roughly $27 to $28 an hour.

Think about that.

In one of the most expensive cities in Canada, an administration elected promising to make Vancouver “a better city” decided that workers employed by companies doing business with the City did not need to be paid a wage sufficient to live in the city in which they worked.

The decision was made without the kind of public consultation one might reasonably expect for a policy with direct consequences for low-wage workers. City records subsequently included residents writing to the Mayor that they were “infuriated and disgusted” by the decision to withdraw from being a living-wage employer.

That is not merely a budget decision.

It is a statement of values.

And then came the renters.

Half the city rents. Ken Sim shut their office.

Again, more than half of Vancouver’s residents are renters.

Yet one of the first things ABC Vancouver did was eliminate the City’s Renters Office — an office that provided renters with information about their rights, referrals to organizations capable of helping them and assistance navigating the City’s rental bylaws and permitting system.

In January 2023, ABC Councillors voted as a bloc to discontinue the office.

Yes, ABC promised that funding would be redirected to the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre, and that TRAC would receive additional support and City-owned office space.

Surprise, surprise. Under Ken Sim, that did not happen. Renters were left high and dry by the Ken Sim-led ABC Vancouver administration.

But the larger political message was unmistakable.

The City’s own dedicated institutional resource for renters was expendable.

The people who rent — the 54% of Vancouverites who do not own the homes in which they live — would be told to find somewhere else to turn.

This is what structural cruelty looks like.

It doesn’t necessarily arrive with a fist.

Sometimes it arrives as a line item in a budget.

Sometimes it arrives as an office closure.

Sometimes it arrives as a decision made in a Council Chambers by people who will never have to worry about whether the next rent increase will force them out of their neighbourhood.

That was the argument made in VanRamblings’ August editorial, Cruelty vs. Kindness: The Moral Choice at the Heart of Vancouver Civic Politics.

Cruelty is not simply yelling at someone.

Cruelty can mean deliberately disregarding their well-being.

And when that disregard is embedded in government policy, thousands of people can suffer.

Then Came the Scandal of the Mayor’s Personal Gym

And while renters were losing a dedicated office at City Hall, Ken Sim found a rather different use for City Hall space.

A Committee Room used by civic Advisory Committees was converted into a personal gym for the Mayor.

When under the Vision Vancouver Gregor Roberston administration, then City Manager Dr. Penny — at a cost of more than $6 million — moved her office, which took up two-thirds of the third floor at City Hall, and moved her office to the newly-opened (at her outrageously expensive bequest) “renovated” fifth and six floors of City Hall, converting her old offices into a luxurious suite for the Mayor, replete with a large dining room, and the services of a chef and serving staff, not to mention a full suite with a luxurious bedroom, full spa bathroom, and comfortable living space with all of the amenities and latest hi-tech gadgetry.

Even so, living the life of Riley, a “Nothing is Too Good for Me” Mayor Ken Sim felt he needed additional space, converting a well-used Committee Room into a personal gym for himself.

At City Hall.

Converted for the personal use of the Mayor.

There is something almost breathtaking about the symbolism.

At a time when Vancouver faces a housing crisis, a homelessness crisis, an affordability crisis, a public-health crisis and a crisis of aging civic infrastructure, Ken Sim’s administration found space for the Mayor to work out.

That juxtaposition would be almost humorous if the consequences of this administration’s priorities weren’t so serious.

And Then There Is The Issue of Mayor Ken Sim Shotgunning Beer

Broadcaster and political commentator Jody Vance has gone on and on during the course of Rachael Segal’s Beyond a Ballot political podcast, where Ms. Vance, Ms. Segal and former Vision Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer are broadcasting daily, commenting on the current Vancouver civic election.

Ms. Vance was present for what she calls Mayor “Ken Sim’s egregious error in judgment earlier in his term if office.”

At Khatsalano Days in the summer of 2023, in front of a family audience that included impressionable young children, Ken Sim appeared on stage and shotgunned a beer, more than one, actually.

Some people thought it was hilarious.

Others did not.

For many parents in the audience, the spectacle was less “mayoral leadership” than an extraordinary lapse in judgment.

And that matters because leadership is not merely about policy.

It is also about setting an example as a municipal leader.

The Mayor of Vancouver is not simply another guy at a neighbourhood beer garden.

He is the city’s principal elected representative.

The office carries responsibilities of conduct, decorum and judgment.

And when a Mayor appears to revel in behaviour that causes families in the audience to recoil, it tells us something about the office-holder’s understanding of the difference between being popular and being responsible.

The Case of The Disappearing Mayor Who Fails to Turn Up for Work

Then there is the extraordinary question of attendance.

Ken Sim’s relationship with the job of Mayor has often seemed remarkably casual.

For much of his first three years in office, VanRamblings observed, he was rarely seen participating meaningfully in Council debate. When he did attend, the Mayor was often dressed casually in a T-shirt and sweatpants and, critics argued, appeared to remain in Chambers only long enough to vote before leaving.

More consequentially, in January 2025 Sim announced that he would boycott Metro Vancouver meetings, declaring that the regional government was “broken.” Global News reported that his attendance at Metro Vancouver had already been sporadic, with Sim attending roughly one-quarter of meetings the previous year.

This is not an argument that a Mayor must attend every meeting under every circumstance.

It is an argument that showing up is part of the job.

Vancouver did not elect Ken Sim to be an occasional Mayor.

It elected him to govern.

And then the attacks began

There is something particularly disturbing about what happens when political disagreement becomes personal.

Ken Sim filed formal complaints against then-OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle, requiring her to spend time and resources defending herself against the Mayor’s allegations.

And then came Sean Orr.

This may be the ugliest episode of the entire ABC Vancouver story.

In February 2026, Mayor Ken Sim told Chinese-language media that COPE Councillor Sean Orr had been handing out illegal drugs on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Christmas Day.

The allegation was false.

It was subsequently revealed that ABC Councillor Lenny Zhou had repeated the allegation in a Chinese-language video, which was later removed, and Zhou apologized, saying his comments were based on incorrect information. CityNews subsequently reported that the information had originated with Mayor Sim himself.

Orr has said he was not even in Vancouver at the time but was visiting friends and family on the Sunshine Coast.

The political implications are enormous.

A Mayor accusing an elected City Councillor of distributing illegal drugs is not ordinary political criticism.

It is not a disagreement over zoning.

It is not an argument over homelessness.

It is not even a nasty election-season barb.

It is an attack on a person’s reputation.

And it was made publicly.

In Chinese-language media.

The consequences were serious enough that Orr subsequently filed a defamation lawsuit against Sim.

This is the Politics of Cruelty in its Purest Form

When you disagree with someone, debate them.

When you think they are wrong, defeat their arguments.

When you believe their policies are harmful, expose them.

But do not invent or repeat allegations that can destroy a person’s reputation.

Political opponents are not enemies.

They are fellow citizens entrusted by voters to represent them.

The Granville Street Bridge Tells the Whole Story

And then there is the issue that, more than any other, exposes the moral bankruptcy of the Sim administration’s priorities.

Suicide-prevention barriers on the Granville Street Bridge.

For years, Vancouver has known that Granville Bridge is a suicide hotspot.

Health professionals know it.

First responders know it.

The Crisis Centre knows it.

Families know it.

And City Hall knows it.

The evidence for physical barriers is overwhelming. Vancouver’s own documentation has cited research associating bridge barriers with a 93 per cent reduction in suicide deaths.

There is also Vancouver’s own experience.

Barriers were installed on the Burrard Street Bridge in 2017.

There have been no known suicide deaths from the Burrard Street Bridge since.

Similar barriers were installed on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge in 2015.

Again, the evidence is striking.

Yet in March 2026, ABC Councillors voted to remove funding for Granville Bridge suicide-prevention barriers from the capital plan. VanRamblings subsequently documented that Vancouver had set aside $13.4 million for FIFA hospitality packages while the City continued to delay actual construction of the barriers.

Let us be absolutely clear.

The argument is not that FIFA is bad.

The argument is that a government that can find millions of dollars for international sporting hospitality ought to be able to find the political will and financial commitment necessary to protect people from dying at a known suicide hotspot.

Dr. Brandon Yau, Vancouver Coastal Health’s Medical Health Officer, described suicide deaths from the bridge as “preventable tragedies” and barriers as “critical, life-saving infrastructure.” Crisis Centre executive director Stacy Ashton has said, in substance, that the barriers work and save lives.

That is the moral test.

Not whether the project is convenient.

Not whether the Mayor gets good photographs.

Not whether FIFA executives are impressed.

Do we save lives?

A suicidal person standing on Granville Bridge does not care about FIFA.

Their family does not care about FIFA.

The police officers trying to talk them back from the edge do not care about FIFA.

The firefighters and paramedics who respond do not care about FIFA.

They care about whether that person lives.

And yet Ken Sim’s City Hall has demonstrated vastly greater urgency when the subject is a global sporting event.

That is not merely bad policy.

It is a question of values.

Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver Practice the Politics of Fear

And now, as the election approaches, ABC Vancouver has added another dimension to the politics of cruelty: fear.

The administration’s public-safety plebiscite, pushed through Council at a cost estimated at approximately $400,000 to $550,000, asks voters to weigh in on drug use and mental-health/addiction beds.

The questions are non-binding.

They do not themselves create a treatment bed.

They do not build a hospital.

They do not provide a mental-health worker.

They do not put a roof over anyone’s head.

They are, however, extraordinarily useful election-season political theatre.

The administration that had four years to govern is now asking voters whether they want the Mayor to govern.

That is not leadership.

That is campaigning.

What kind of city do we want?

This is the question VanRamblings posed in “Cruelty vs. Kindness.”

Politics is ultimately a moral choice.

A government can make life easier for people with less power.

Or it can make life harder.

It can expand dignity.

Or it can withdraw support.

It can build institutions that help renters.

Or close them.

It can protect low-wage workers.

Or abandon the living-wage standard.

It can protect people contemplating suicide.

Or delay.

It can disagree with political opponents.

Or attempt to destroy their reputations.

It can treat vulnerable people as human beings.

Or turn them into election props.

And it can govern.

Or campaign.

Ken Sim has shown Vancouver what his administration chooses.

Again and again.

And again.

This is why the comparison with Tom Campbell is not hyperbole.

Campbell’s Vancouver was an angry city.

Ken Sim’s Vancouver is increasingly an indifferent one.

Campbell fought the counterculture openly.

Sim’s administration too often appears to fight the people who have the least power to fight back.

Campbell’s police confronted the hippies of Gastown.

Sim’s political machine has made political capital out of the unhoused, the drug-dependent, renters, political opponents and people in crisis.

Campbell’s era was defined by confrontation.

Sim’s is defined by something colder:

the willingness to inflict pain, or simply not to care when pain is inflicted.

That is cruelty.

And cruelty should never be rewarded with another term in office.

Vancouver deserves better

The great lie of modern politics is that kindness is weakness.

It isn’t.

Kindness is recognizing that the renter facing eviction is not a statistic.

That the low-wage worker trying to live in Vancouver is not a disposable input in a procurement contract.

That the person standing on Granville Bridge is not a problem to be managed.

That a Councillor with whom you disagree is not your enemy.

That the unhoused person sleeping on a Vancouver sidewalk is still a human being.

That the people who disagree with you are still Vancouverites.

A Mayor’s job is not to punish those people.

It is to govern for them.

All of them.

The Ken Sim ABC Vancouver administration has had four years.

Four years is enough time to learn.

Enough time to correct course.

Enough time to demonstrate compassion.

Enough time to demonstrate leadership.

Instead, we have witnessed the dismantling of the Livable Wage Programme, the closing of the Renters Office, the attempted weakening of accountability mechanisms, the Mayor’s personal gym, the extraordinary conduct at Khatsalano Days, chronic questions about attendance and engagement, attacks on political opponents, the disgraceful Sean Orr episode, the abandonment of urgency on Granville Bridge suicide barriers, and an increasingly aggressive politics built around fear of the vulnerable.

There is a pattern here.

And patterns tell us more about governments than slogans ever will.

So, on October 17, Vancouverites have a choice.

Not merely between Ken Sim and another mayoral candidate.

Not merely between ABC Vancouver and another civic party.

We have a choice between two fundamentally different ideas of what government is supposed to be.

One says government exists to protect the vulnerable, strengthen communities, respect disagreement and reduce unnecessary suffering.

The other says government is about power, control, political advantage and winning the next election.

VanRamblings knows which Vancouver we want.

A Vancouver where government is measured not by the size of its FIFA hospitality budget, but by the number of people it helps.

A Vancouver where renters have a voice.

Where workers earn a living wage.

Where people in crisis are protected.

Where political opponents are debated rather than defamed.

Where the Mayor actually shows up.

Where City Hall belongs to the public — not to the Mayor’s gym.

And where kindness is not dismissed as weakness, but understood for what it really is:

the most basic responsibility of government.

Ken Sim has had his opportunity.

He has had four years.

He has shown Vancouver who he is and what kind of civic administration he has lead this past four years, and intends to lead for the next four years.

Now Vancouver gets to answer.

No more.

No more cruelty.

No more politics of division.

No more City Hall that turns its back on the people who need it most.

On October 17, Vancouver must turn the page.

Ken Sim must not be re-elected Mayor of Vancouver.