#VanPoli | Vancouver City Council, Park Board and School Board Inaugurals

#VanElxn 2022, #VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2022, , , ,

Today is the first day of the rest of the lives of overwhelmingly popular Mayor-elect Ken Sim, his new Councillor-elects, ABC (A Better City) Vancouver’s Brian Montague, Mike Klassen, Peter Meiszner, and Lenny Zhou, and former and oh-so-triumphant and returning Vancouver City Councillors, ABC’s lovingly re-elected City Councillors, Sarah Kirby-Yung — who topped the polls, yay, Sarah! — the ever-so-outstanding Lisa Dominato and Rebecca Bligh, the wonderfully humane Green Party of Vancouver’s Adriane Carr and Pete Fry, and OneCity Vancouver’s ‘hope of the left’ Christine Boyle, all eleven of whom will be sworn into office at 1:15pm on this, what is supposed to be, sunny Monday afternoon, where there will be glad tidings within the luxuriously comfortable and City-owned Orpheum Theatre.

Monday afternoon’s festivities are an ‘invite only’ affair. Although OneCity Vancouver Councillor Christine Boyle posted two charitable invitations to us, we opted to accept Councillor-elect Mike Klassen’s kind invitation — we have been friends for, I believe, 29 years this year, was present at his wedding, and for the birth of his daughter, helped Michael (we call him Michael) collect his election signs the day after the 2011 Vancouver municipal election when he came so achingly close to being elected to Vancouver City Council that year … so, it seems fitting that VanRamblings would be present — along with his wife Stacey, and Michael’s entire family — for this most august of occasions in Mike Klassen’s life.

The link to the live stream of the City of Vancouver Councillor Inauguration Ceremony will be available at …

https://vancouver.ca/your-government/inaugural-speeches.aspx 

or on the City of Vancouver Facebook page … City of Vancouver Facebook page

Vancouver citizens are invited to the Vancouver Park Board’s Inaugural Ceremony, where the seven newly-elected Park Board Commissioners will take the oath of office. This event — unlike regular Park Board meetings — will not be live streamed, so if you want to see Vancouver’s Park Board Commissioners be sworn into office, you’ll have to attend at …

Date: Monday, November 7, 2022
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: VanDusen Botanical Garden
5251 Oak Street
Vancouver, BC V6M 4H1

The full meeting agenda is available at: https://parkboardmeetings.vancouver.ca/2022/20221107/index.htm

There’s a 30-70 chance that VanRamblings will attend the Park Board Inaugural, because we love the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, we love Vancouver’s Board of Parks and Recreation, it’s probable that there’ll be a surfeit of past Park Board Commissioners on hand (and, you guessed it, we love our past Park Board Commissioners) — and we expect the event will be drama free … although in these times of disapprobation, you never know what protesters might have in mind to disrupt this otherwise celebratory event, in this most inviting of settings.

Against our better judgement, VanRamblings will attend tonight’s Vancouver Board of Education Inaugural, which will be held in the School Board’s regular meeting Board Room. Mostly, we’ll be attending this (could be, sadly, contentious) Inaugural to support our friend, re-elected trustee Christopher Richardson — let us say it again, the finest man we know — a former Vancouver School Board Chairperson, and someone we think will well serve the interests of children enrolled in the Vancouver school district — particularly those children with learning difficulties — with honour, unswerving dedication and unparalleled distinction.

Of course, VanRamblings will be delighted to see past Vancouver Board of Education Chairperson, Dr. Janet Fraser — who, as we’ve written previously, as Chairperson always conducts a clinic on how to run a meeting fairly and judiciously — and her Green Party of Vancouver trustee colleague, Lois Chan-Pedley, as well as OneCity Vancouver’s Jennifer Reddy, and her new best friend, COPE’s Suzie Mah, the latter of whom we’re looking forward to seeing being sworn in, and sharing some cake and a (non-alcoholic) beverage with afterwards, in the cafeteria.

Of course, VanRamblings will invite Christopher over to share the celebration with us — after all, Ms. Mah and Mr. Richardson will be professional colleagues for the next four years, and getting together around food often proves propitious, indeed.

Date: Monday, November 7, 2022
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Vancouver School Board offices
1580 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6J 5K8

It would seem that VanRamblings has returned to publishing. We have a great deal to say, to write and record in the coming days and weeks. See you back here soon!

#VanElxn2022 | 2022 Civic Election Wrap-Up, Part 1

#VanElxn 2022, #VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2022, , , , ,

Vancouver voters ovewhelmingly elected a new, centrist, common sense municipal government, at Vancouver City Hall, Park Board and School on Saturday night, electing ABC Vancouver’s Mayor-elect Ken Sim with highest vote total in the city’s history, with 85,732 Vancouver citizens having cast a vote for Mayor-elect Sim.

All seven ABC Vancouver Council candidates — including Sarah Kirby-Yung, who topped the polls, along with her Council colleagues Lisa Dominato and Rebecca Bligh, elected to a 2nd term on Vancouver City Council — now includes, ABC Vancouver Councillor-elects Brian Montague, Mike Klassen, Peter Meiszner and Lenny Zhou, all of whom will be sworn into office on Monday, November 7th.

Joining the ABC Vancouver majority on Council, three returning City Councillors, who barely squeaked into office: the Green Party’s Adriane Carr, elected with a paltry 41,831 votes, a full 20,562 votes behind Councillor-elect Zhou. For the first time in Vancouver municipal electoral history a Councillor was elected to civic government with less than 40,000 votes: that would be OneCity Vancouver’s Christine Boyle, garnering only 38,465 votes — 6,990 fewer votes than were cast for her in 2018.  Councillor Pete Fry — along with Sarah Kirby-Yung, the best communicator on Council, was elected to a 2nd term on Council, dropping from a second place finish in 2018, having garnered  61,806 votes first time out, dropping almost out of sight in 2022 with a miserly 37,270 votes — for a jaw-dropping loss of 24,536 votes.

VanRamblings will take pains to remind our readers that in our State of the Race column published on Wednesday, October 12th, we predicted — or at least held out the possibility of — a sweep of Council by candidates running for office at City Hall with ABC Vancouver, missing out only on naming Councillor-elect Lenny Zhou.

  • ABC Vancouver sweeps the election, running on their common sense platform, with  prominent Vancouverites Chip Wilson and the Rocky Mountaineer’s Peter Armstrong supporting the party’s bid to assume city government —  with a panoply of financial backers contributing enough money, so that ABC could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on television, radio, social media and ethnic press advertising to ensure a Ken Sim victory on Saturday night —  are running ABC Vancouver Council candidates, incumbents Sarah Kirby-Yung — who we predict will top the polls — Rebecca Bligh and Lisa Dominato, who’ll be joined by “newcomers” Mike Klassen — a rock solid lock to be elected to Council — and fellow ABC Vancouver Council candidates, Peter Meiszner, Brian Montague and Lenny Zhou. The icing on the cake for ABC: when Peter Armstrong left the Non-Partisan Association, he had the NPA voter and membership lists in his possession. In addition, we understand that — as is the case with Mayor Kennedy Stewart and his Forward Together team, who the BC NDP are pulling out all the stops to re-elect Mr. Stewart — Kevin Falcon’s B.C. Liberal party is only too happy to turn over the party’s provincial membership and voters list to the ABC Vancouver campaign — which lists don’t count for much on Vancouver’s east side, but make a world of difference on getting out the vote on Vancouver’s west side.

VanRamblings will address the lack of generosity in 2nd term Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle’s tweet, published the day after the election. Believe us when we write that it wasn’t all that long ago that VanRamblings was quite as partisan as the good Ms. Christine Boyle: left, good; right, evil. Not a great construct we’ve come to believe, counter-productive, and dehumanizing, if truth be told.

Better not to demonize those who hold centrist views — in civic government that means: keeping tax increases low, prioritizing core spending initiatives, laser focusing on creating a safe, clean city, while ensuring the provision of services for citizens that includes timely snow removal, regular garbage pickup, maintenance of the transportation system that includes the filling of potholes, maintaining Vancouver’s water distribution and sewage systems, and processing applications at City Hall in a timely manner, all to serve the interests of Vancouver citizens.

Truth to tell, there’s not a right-winger among the elected ABC Vancouver Councillor-elects. Sarah Kirby-Yung is, by far, the most progressive Councillor at Vancouver City Hall, closely followed by Lisa Dominato, the author of British Columbia’s SOGI 123 programme — that helps educators make schools inclusive and safe for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities (SOGI) — and Rebecca Bligh, long a leading light and fighter within the LGBTQ2+ community.

As we wrote last week, Councillor-elect Mike Klassen is …

“Fair-minded, possessed of an umatched personal and professional integrity, and as a former première civic affairs columnist with the Vancouver Courier newspaper — his writing possessed of an integrity, a heart and a humanity that spoke both to his professionalism as a journalist, and to how Mike has always brought himself to the world.

In his work as a vice-president with the B.C. Home Care Providers Association, Mike Klassen gained a rapport with members of the New Democratic Party caucus that is second-to-none, each member of that caucus having come to respect Mike as someone who gets things done, someone with whom it is easy to work towards change for the better, someone who does his homework, and someone who is non-partisan in the interests of better serving the needs of British Columbians.”

Now, we’ll give you that VanRamblings, at this point in time, doesn’t know a great deal about Peter Meiszner — as it happens, though, Peter played an invaluable role in VanRamblings’ coverage of #VanElxn2022, offering needed advice and succour to us, as a writer and journalist, interacting with us always with heart, humanity and respect — Brian Montague and Lenny Zhou. Give us time, though.

And, no, ABC Vancouver Councillor-elects will not be bulldozing the tent encampments along East Hastings, but have committed to working with the provincial and federal governments that would see those currently housed in tents along East Hastings housed in comfy one-bedroom apartments, and the tents removed.

On election night, Mayor-elect Ken Sim told the Daily Hive’s Kenneth Chan that ABC Vancouver fully intends to implement their 94-point platform plan over their first 100 days in office, tackling crime and public safety issues, as the new majority Council commits to hiring 100 police officers and 100 mental health nurses, expanding the existing Car 87/88 programme of pairing a police officer and mental health nurse in an unmarked vehicle for non-emergency mental health calls.

ABC Vancouver will also target help for Chinatown’s ailing business sector, while supporting the neighbourhood’s cultural organizations, and its residents.

Despite facing increasingly frequent instances of violent attacks, property damage, theft, public disorder issues, and other incidents that are anti-Asian in nature, the Chinatown community’s pleas for effective help went unheeded by the Kennedy Stewart administration, which largely ignored the problem.

Says ABC Vancouver Mayor-elect Ken Sim in his interview with The Daily Hive …

“We will take a very pragmatic approach to all the challenges and opportunities that are presented to us, and adopt a science-based approach, while meeting and consulting with healthcare providers and professionals, teachers, parents —  just about anyone can contribute to a solution to the problems Vancouverites have faced in recent years. Quite simply, we’ll  make better decisions, decisions that serve the interests of the community.”

Having read the above, do you have the impression ABC Vancouver is right wing?

VanRamblings believes that referring to the ABC Vancouver Councillor-elect team as “right wing” is not only dismissive and dehumanizing, it’s just plain, dead wrong.

Cyclists ride on a separated bike lane in Stanley Park

What VanRamblings could not possibly have predicted was that ABC Vancouver would sweep both Vancouver School Board, and Vancouver Park Board.

Vancouver’s incoming ABC Vancouver Park Board Commissioner-elect majority are laying out priorities for their next four years in office.

“At the end of the fall we’re going to remove the temporary bike lane and restore full car access to the park. But then we’re going to spend the winter to come up with an engineered solution to maintain access to both bikes and cars,” Commissioner-Elect Laura Christensen told Global News.”

Park Board Commissioner-Elect Scott Jensen  told CKNW’s Jill Bennett that the lane removal will coincide with the arrival of winter weather, expected to result in fewer cyclists. The plan would involve re-opening vehicle access to Beach Avenue. and a return to a “pre-pandemic Stanley Park configuration” over the winter.

Going forward, Jensen said the Board will look at “areas where we can provide a protected permanent bike lane so that cyclists who choose to use the interior bike route will be able to have areas where they will have that protection.”

“We talked a lot to cyclists, and the ongoing message  we heard was that cycling up the hill from the bottom portion of the the roadway up to Prospect Point was an area of concern where they felt that was necessary to have a divided protected lane,” he said.

Jensen told CKNW that whatever solution the Board delivers will prioritize access to parking lots and the needs of businesses in the park.

The new Park Board will also move to make the city’s pilot project allowing alcohol in some parks permanent, and launch a new pilot looking at the city’s beaches.

As to the most contentious issue facing the Park Board Commissioner-elects, Christensen said the new majority would take a measured approach.

“The B.C. Supreme Court has been very clear that people have the right to camp in parks when there is no housing available, and we have no plans to evict them at this time,” she said. “However, in the meantime we’d like to increase maintenance and safety in the park, increasing cleanup, garbage pickup, things like that. “And we’ll be working with our ABC majority on council to provide housing options in the future, so that’s housing options with wraparound services and support.”

Vancouver’s new park commissioners will be officially sworn in on Nov. 7.

In a discussion with ABC Vancouver Board of Education trustee-elect, and a former Chairperson at Vancouver School Board, Christopher Richardson, last evening, VanRamblings was told that ABC Vancouver’s school trustee-elects have not, as yet, met to discuss implementation of the Board’s “new priorities”, but as Mayor-elect Ken Sim told the media yesterday, one School Board priority under an ABC Vancouver administration will include the return of the police liaison programme.

The successful police liaison programme — which ran for some ran for 50 years in Vancouver secondary schools — was cut last year by the current and outgoing Board. Mayor-elect Sim was passionate in his defense of the Vancouver School district’s police liaison programme which, as he told the press, kept students like him out of the clutches of the gangs who all but ran secondary schools across the Vancouver school district when he was growing up.

Another ABC Vancouver priority for implementation by the new Board, Mr. Richardson believes: re-instatement of the Honours programmes in Vancouver schools, cut by the current and outgoing Board last year in an attempt to provide lowest-common-denominator “equity” for students enrolled in Vancouver secondary schools. In cutting the Honours programmes in Vancouver secondary schools, the Board may have been well-intentioned in the taking of the decision to cut the Honours programme but were, VanRamblings believes, wrongheaded to deny secondary school students enrolled in the Vancouver school district access to such educational opportunities as the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme, that seeks to “provide an internationally acceptable university admissions qualification suitable for the growing mobile population of young people whose parents were part of the world of diplomacy, international and multinational organizations” by offering standardized courses and assessments for students aged 16 to 19. The IB programme is but one of the invaluable Honours programmes (such as the Honours Math programme at Templeton Secondary School) that were cut by the current and outgoing Vancouver Board of Education last year.

#BCPoli2022 | Prediction: David Eby To Become 37th British Columbia Premier

BC Politics, Politics, , ,

At some point on Wednesday, October 19th, former British Columbia NDP Finance Minister Elizabeth Cull, who is overseeing the leadership race that will select the next leader of British Columbia’s New Democratic Party, will make a decision as to whether to allow Anjali Appadurai to run for the party’s leadership.

VanRamblings believes Ms. Cull will deny Ms. Appadurai’s controversial bid to become the next leader of the British Columbia’s New Democratic Party, and as the party currently leads government in Victoria, our province’s 37th Premier select.

From the outset, Ms. Appadurai’s application to a B.C. New Democratic Party leadership contender has been fraught with controversy.


Atiya Jaffar (left) and Anjali Appadurai. Jaffar volunteered to pay membership fees for the prospective BC NDP leadership contender, while on an Instagram live event hosted by Ms. Appadurai. Ms. Appadurai and supporter Jaffar have been under internal investigation for alleged vote buying. Photo: Instagram

“It’s a handful of people that get to decide who our next premier is,” Jaffar told viewers. “Message me if you need the $10, because I’m happy to provide that for you.”

Section 255 of the Elections Act states that an individual or organization must not give, pay, lend or induce an individual to vote for or against a particular candidate. Sept. 4th was the deadline to sign-up new members to decide whether Appadurai or frontrunner David Eby should replace outgoing Premier, John Horgan, this fall.

Jaffar is the senior digital specialist at 350.org, a U.S.-based environmental charity that organizes anti-oil and gas pipeline protests.

Jaffar was integral in the Shut Down Canada campaign in the first quarter of 2020, employing social media platforms to promote illegal blockades at the Port of Vancouver, Deltaport, the Granville Bridge and on CP Rail tracks in East Vancouver. Ms. Jaffar was also involved in the 2020 sit-in at Eby’s Point Grey riding office.

The Dogwood Initiative — a non-profit public interest group based in Victoria, British Columbia — is currently under investigation by Elections BC over whether its use of resources to run a membership drive for Appadurai is an improper in-kind donation. Elections BC has yet to rule on whether the Dogwood Initiative has improperly interfered in the BC NDP leadership race.

“For those who support political parties other than the BC NDP but still want to have a say in this race, you could choose to pause your membership and return after you cast your vote,” wrote Dogwood campaigns manager Alexandra Woodsworth.

“It’s also worth noting that parties don’t share membership lists with one another and there is no penalty for an overlap in your membership as you switch back and forth between parties.”

Anjali Appadurai shared the article on various social media platforms.

From the time Ms. Appadurai announced her bid to become the next — unelected — Premier of the province of British Columbia, Appadurai has criticized a panoply of government policies, declaring David Eby as an establishment candidate.

David Eby, whose roots are in legal advocacy on behalf of homeless and underhoused residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, was appointed British Columbia’s Attorney General in 2017, when the BC New Democrats formed government. Mr. Eby is credited with cleaning up the mess at ICBC, and the money laundering crisis, launching the Cullen Commission (Commission of Inquiry Into Money Laundering in British Columbia), in May 2019. Since the November 2020 B.C. election, Mr. Eby has also acted as British Columbia Minister Responsible for Housing.

Neither camp has released specific numbers, but sources believe Appadurai’s campaign recruited about 11,000 members, perhaps twice as many as was the case with Eby. The party is believed to have had roughly 11,000 members entering the leadership campaign — although the latter 11,000 membership figure is in dispute, as the BC NDP earlier this year required party members to re-apply for provincial NDP membership, separate from the federal party. This reporter was advised that at campaign outset, the party had only 6,000 active members — which, if the case, would give Appadurai an insurmountable lead in the leadership race.

From marching on the picket lines with members of the BCGEU, when union members were picketing and on strike seeking a new contract — settled by the government at 13½% over three years — to announcing that her government would implement a 25% across the board pay increase for nurses, just as the BC Nurses Union was successfully settling their contract with the government, Ms. Appadurai has challenged British Columbia New Democratic Party government orthodoxy, and the actual functioning of the government that she purports to want to lead.

Anjali Appadurai has stated that she would cancel the Site C dam project — near completion, and said to be completed in 2024 — cancel the Trans Mountain pipeline project, and eliminate government subsidies of the LNG project in the North of our province — proposing to shut the project down entirely, should she become the leader of the provincial NDP — while also, with the stroke of a pen, eliminating the British Columbia government’s subsidy of the province’s fossil fuel industry.

If such action were to be taken by an Anjali Appadurai-led B.C. government — a government which was not elected to a majority in 2020 proposing the policies Ms. Appadurai espouses — thousands of workers in the north would be thrown out of work, including members of the 60 Indigenous bands who are currently working on the Site C, LNG and Trans Mountain pipeline projects, never mind the multi-billion dollar breach of contract law suits that would be filed in B.C. Courts.

The above written, VanRamblings is hardly a supporter of the Site C dam project, nor are we particularly thrilled with the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline, not to mention that we believe that the LNG project portends not only environmental degradation, but given the number of earthquakes up north in recent weeks and a months, disaster and tragedy for those who live in the North.

So, why then are we seeming to oppose Anjali Appadurai’s bid to lead the British Columbia New Democratic Party? The answer: realpolitik, defined as “politics based on practical and pragmatic factors rather than on moral, theoretical, ideological or ethical objectives, commonly known as the politics of reality.”

Here’s the bottom line: Anjali Appardurai has not secured the support of one sitting BC NDP MLA elected to government and sitting in the Legislature in Victoria, while David Eby has the bold support of 48 members of the New Democratic Party caucus, out of 57 elected NDP, the 9 other MLAs prevented from weighing in, so as to avoid a conflict of interest (think: the Premier, Deputy Premier, Speaker of the House & Deputy Speakers, and the government house whip, and others).

Why would Anjali Appadurai want to lead a party that doesn’t want her, doesn’t agree with her policy orientation, would pass a motion of non-confidence in her, and refuse to seat her as Premier, if she achieved the majority support of “party members”, in what many believe would be a hostile takeover of the party?

If Ms. Appadurai is truly a supporter of the BC NDP, as she states, why would she risk throwing the party, the government and the province into chaos were she to win the B.C. New Democratic Party’s leadership race, the inevitable end result of which would be the rejection of her leadership by members of the BC NDP caucus?

There is precedence, recent precedence, for a political party rejecting the application of a leadership hopeful.  For instance …

  • Aaron Gunn whose bid to become leader of the B.C. Liberal party was soundly rejected for espousing views that “we believe are inconsistent with the Liberal party’s commitment to reconciliation, diversity and acceptance of all people in B.C.”
  • Patrick Brown, whose recent bid to lead the federal Conservative party was rejected by the Tory party committee charged with running the leadership race, who unanimously disqualified the one time leader of the Ontario Conservative Party, current Brampton Mayor, and Conservative Party leadership hopeful.

The party decides.

VanRamblings believes that late Wednesday morning, or early in the afternoon, Elizabeth Cull will announce that Anjali Appadurai’s application to enter the BC NDP leadership race has been rejected. Ms. Cull will explain why. The decision as to whether to accept or reject Ms. Appardurai’s application is entirely a matter for the party to decide. The party has decided; it is now up to Elizabeth Cull to carry out the wishes of members of the Executive Council of the BC NDP, and of all the members of the BC NDP caucus — lest the province be thrown into political chaos.

Time for John Horgan to step down, and David Eby to step forward to become British Columbia’s 37th Premier, and get on with the job of governing our province.

Be Kind, Be Gentle, and Act With Compassion and Love

BC Politics, Politics, VanRamblings, ,

VanRamblings had originally intended to publish a debrief of Vancouver’s 2022 civic election today, but arising from some untoward chatter online, a few very good friends who care about the writer of this blog have advised us to take a break for a least a day, and take the time to enjoy a walk along Spanish Banks, a cycle around the city, and a meal out with friends — so, that’s what we’re gonna do.

Tuesday, VanRamblings will weigh in on the provincial NDP leadership race — almost certain to make at least some people unhappy, but when is that not the case with what some read on VanRamblings? Many people appreciate the writing; others would wish this blog forever deleted. Alas. We seem to live in a troubled world.

Wednesday, VanRamblings will weigh in on Vancouver’s civic election, and what the meaning may be for the citizenry of Vancouver, our province and our country.

Thursday, we may or may not publish — but probably will.

We’re going to take a three week break from posting, and will commence posting to VanRamblings again in the week of November 7th, the date when our newly-elected and returning Vancouver City Councillor will be sworn in at their Inauguration Ceremony at The Orpheum Theatre, and both the new crop of electeds at the Vancouver School Board (swearing in at the VSB Board Room, followed by cake and beverages in the cafeteria), and at Park Board — swearing in at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens — both events at 7pm.

Commencing on Monday, November 7th, VanRamblings will publish two to three times a week, covering everything municipal, provincial and federal politics, to tech — our new iPhone 14 Pro Max will be arriving soon —  to new music (or music we love), and also intend to recommence writing Stories of a Life. We’re intent on covering myriad other subject matter that piques our interest, as well.

Autumn is on its way very soon.

 

Sunny, warm, almost summer-like weather will soon give way to chillier and wetter days, and more time inside the warmth of our homes. VanRamblings will be your steady companion through the coming days, weeks and months.

As per last year, our plan is to continue writing through the end of the year. After that we may, or may not, take a break. At this point, given everything that’s going on in the world around us, we’ll probably slog on, if only to exorcise our detractors.

For now: be kind, be gentle, and act with compassion and love, always.