Dysfunction in civic politics is not solely the realm of the maelstrom that has come to define civic politics in Vancouver, on both the right and the left.
As is the case in municipalities across the province, Burnaby civic parties will soon choose which candidates they will run for office in this upcoming October’s municipal election. The choice for Mayor in Burnaby, the municipality right next door to Vancouver, should have been any easy one — but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be, if what sources close to the reigning Burnaby Citizens Association tell VanRamblings, comes to pass.
As may be seen in the 2014 Burnaby municipal election graphic above, the Burnaby Citizens Association — the civic party backed by the provincial NDP, and the New Westminster & District Labour Council (NDLC) — swept to victory at the polls, defeating the upstart Burnaby First Coalition (BFC), a ragtag collection of centre-right candidates bent on defeating Mayor Derek Corrigan, and his raging band of socialists. Much to the chagrin of the BFC, though, the candidates running with the Burnaby Citizens Association (BCA) once again stormed the gates of Burnaby City Hall, as they had done in each and every Burnaby municipal election in the previous 20 years.
In 2014, then, a rough and ready Derek Corrigan was elected to an unprecedented fifth consecutive term as the once-and-forever bibulous for power Mayor of river-and-sea-rise Burnaby, where Burnaby citizens could show open affection, kiss and hold hands, where “banning behaviours that hinted at sex or sexuality, even including a chaste bridal kiss or walking hand in hand would hurt public decorum and lead to further violence,” or so said Burnaby mayoral aspirant, Sylvia Gung — would not come to pass. As may be seen in the graphic above, Mayor Corrigan eked out a tiny victory, defeating the good Ms. Gung, 28,133 votes to her satisfying 372 votes.
And the angels wept.
Wistful Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan contemplates a sixth-term run for office
As far back as October 2016, Derek Corrigan was ruminating on the decision as to whether he might wish to run for a sixth term of office as Burnaby’s Mayor, with rumours swirling about the mayor’s political future when his wife, then NDP MLA Kathy Corrigan, decided she would retire from provincial politics at the end of her term in 2017 …
“At this stage I would be leaning toward running again,” he told the Burnaby NOW when asked about his future. “I’m really going to have to have a hard look at it as I get closer to the election date. You sign up for a four-year term and you want to be able to give it everything it needs,” he said, noting he would be 71 years old at the end of another term.
Most folks on the left in Burnaby read Derek Corrigan’s statement above as he might not run again, that he’d be 71 years of age at the end of another term, that he was considering his options — with glee. Hallelujah!
Welcome news for many Burnaby citizens, not just on the right of the political spectrum, but on the social justice left, the news received with feelings of near euphoria, mixed with deep sighs of relief, by members of the Burnaby NDP constituency associations, the New Westminster & District Labour Council, and the long put-upon residents of Metrotown South and their hardy representatives, the Alliance Against Displacement.
Said a source closely-tied to New Westminster & District Labour Council …
“Four thousand Burnaby residents have been, or soon will be, evicted from their low-rise rental apartment buildings south of Metrotown. Displacing 4000 people — what kind of progressive party does that? And what arrangements has Burnaby Council made to address that displacement? None. Because, as you know, because it’s Burnaby, low-income residents are just not welcome.”
In 2018, progressive elements in Burnaby’s NDP constituency associations, activist Burnaby social justice groups, the Alliance Against Displacement as lead by Ivan Drury, and the New Westminster & District Labour Council — the latter, a longtime supporter and funder of the Burnaby Citizens Association, which had often taken Board positions on the BCA, helping to set and direct policy, fund-raise and set up the electoral machinery in each Burnaby civic election — in this electoral year are saying enough is enough.
In a comment dripping with sarcasm, a member of the Burnaby Citizens Association Board of Directors, in a telephone conversation with VanRamblings, averred …
“You know, there’s no homelessness in Burnaby. No homeless anywhere. Derek Corrigan says it’s true, so it must be true, don’t you think?”
In a legendary 2013 interview, Corrigan told Burnaby NOW reporter Chris Bryan that he didn’t want homeless shelters in Burnaby …
“The people in shelters (of which Vancouver has dozens and most cities in the Metro Vancouver region have at least one, Bryan writes) are by and large beyond hope,” Corrigan said. “They’re either addicted, seriously mentally ill, or habitual criminals. Some live in rooms crammed with junk floor-to-ceiling, and many rooms are infested with bugs. Many are the type of folks who, if they found you dying on the sidewalk would pull out your gold fillings. Are these the kind of people Burnaby residents want living in their neighbourhood”, he asked.
“The people (in shelters) are the impossible to house, so addicted that all they worry about is the opportunity to feed their addiction, whether it’s alcohol, drugs or anything else.”
Phew! Corrigan’s words may have appeal for the less socially-conscious members of the federal Conservative Party, and various right-wing elements in our society — but for a party largely financed by the New Westminster & District Labour Council, in 2018 Corrigan’s regressive attitude to the more vulnerable citizens who reside in our region, is not only off-putting, it is viewed as mean, heartless and completely and utterly unacceptable by a broad swath of labour and social justice activists.
As a consequence of the continued intransigence of Mayor Derek Corrigan to move forward on the affordable housing file in Burnaby, and his continuing refusal to even consider allowing homeless shelters as transition facilities to house those in need, has resulted in a decision by the New Westminster & District Labour Council not to support Derek Corrigan for a sixth-term of office as Burnaby Mayor …
“The NWDLC has chosen a progressive candidate, a young labour activist, who will become the Burnaby Citizens Association’s mayoral candidate in 2018. We know that longtime members of Council wanted to vye for the Mayor’s job, with our endorsement. We feel, given the support many on Council have offered the Mayor, that it is time for a new broom to sweep in, someone who will bring about substantive change at the municipal level in Burnaby, someone with whom our provincial NDP can work with.
Derek Corrigan will not get access to the $600,000 the Burnaby Citizens Association has raised; the NWDLC members of the BCA Board will see to that. All of this will unfold towards the end of the month. Negotiations are ongoing with the Mayor to convince him to step down. If he doesn’t accede to the wishes of the NWDLC, and the many social justice groups in Burnaby, should he decide to run, Corrigan will find that he’ll be running a shoestring operation bereft of the support of labour, and the new and more progressive BCA candidates who will run for office, and we are confident will be elected on Saturday, October 22nd.”
And here you thought that in the sleepy, mall-laden bedroom communities of the Metro Vancouver region all was well, and the world was unfolding as it is meant to, where peace & harmony would reign forever & ever & ever.
As it still might — just not with Derek Corrigan as the mayor of Burnaby.
For VanRamblings’ complete coverage of #VancouverVotes2018, and related activity across Metro Vancouver, click on this link. VanRamblings continues to publish civic election coverage Monday thru Thursday and will do so through the end of June, at which point our civic election coverage may be reduced to thrice weekly, with full near daily coverage of the upcoming civic election to resume again in September, through until election day, Saturday, October 20th — complemented by coverage of the upcoming and glorious, 37th annual Vancouver International Film Festival.
All of which leaves our Friday VanRamblings to ‘arts coverage’ — this week focusing on the upcoming programme at the must-attend Vancity Theatre — with Saturdays given over to Stories of a Life — which, if you want to know who’s behind this blog, will provide you with insight and narrative — and on Sundays … who knows? See ya back here tomorrow, and always!
