Tag Archives: team for a livable vancouver

#VanPoli | Lakewood Terrace Housing Co-op 2026 Mayoral Debate

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L-R, 2026 Vancouver Mayoral candidates: Colleen Hardwick, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver; Rebecca Bligh, Vote Vancouver; William Azaroff, OneCity Vancouver; Stephanie Allen (standing), The Coalition of Vancouver Electors (COPE); Kareem Allam, Vancouver Liberals; Pete Fry, Green Party of Vancouver.

On Saturday, July 25th, Lakewood Terrace Housing Co-op held a Mayoral Debate.

The main issue before those gathered in the Co-op’s Common Room: housing.

An overflow crowd of Vancouverites attended the July 25 Mayoral debate at Lakewood Co-op

The first speaker of the afternoon was Colleen Hardwick, representing TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, under whose banner she was unanimously endorsed as the party’s standard bearer.


Colleen Hardwick, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver

As per usual, Ms. Hardwick was heartbreakingly articulate in her presentation, with a solid command of the housing issue — a critical tenet of TEAM’s platform document and, in reality, the raison d’être of the civic party — as Ms. Hardwick argued housing co-ops represent the best answer to the provision of affordable housing in Vancouver, and across the vast land we call Canada.

Sadly, as articulate as Ms. Hardwick is on a myriad of civic issues, as we have written previously, she is an imperfect messenger for TEAM’s various policy proposals. There is about Ms. Hardwick a meanness of character, a distinct lack of joy, or as a friend said recently “an offputting sharpness that would make it difficult, if not impossible for me to cast my ballot for her as our city’s next Mayor.”

Ms. Hardwick comes into the campaign with “baggage” — not the least of the concerns expressed by many her lack of a general appreciation of the “trans issue” — which translates into a utter lack of respect (never mind support) for the too often marginalized members of the trans community, that while a central tenet of the platform of right-of-centre B.C. Conservative Party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, hardly seems resonant with the views of the majority population of Vancouverites who will go to the polls this October.

Transphobia. The bane of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick’s existence, an issue likely to dog her second Mayoral bid.


Adrienne Smith, transgender human rights activist

The following is a quote by Adrienne Smith, a prominent Vancouver-based transgender human rights activist, social justice lawyer, and litigation director at the Catherine White Holman Wellness Clinic.

“The chair of the City’s own LGBTQ advisory committee was asked in open Council by Councillor Hardwick, after their submission, what their sex assignment was at birth. This is an incredibly invasive, inappropriate question. I’m going to give Councillor. Hardwick the benefit of the doubt that she learned something, but I’m still angry about that specific question.”

“Certainly, she’s had time to familiarize herself with some of the elements of contemporary transphobia and focusing on people’s sex assignment. Asking the Chair of the LGBTQ advisory committee about their surgical status, interrogating whether their gender identity is valid, is a central feature of transphobia.”


Andrea Reimer, former Vancouver City Councillor

Anti-reconciliation acknowledgment commentary by Colleen Hardwick.

Andrea Reimer, who sat on Council from 2008 to 2018 with Vision Vancouver, tweeted that her heart hurts and her head is angry over Councillor Colleen Hardwick’s vote against receiving a City report written by Katelyn Crabtree, the City’s Manager of Indigenous relations, and a specialist in Indigenous law.

“In 9 years of purposeful work in reconciliation, we achieved 100% unanimous votes on every single item brought forward,” Reimer says. “There was a lot of tough work — all of it involved land and money, because that’s what colonialism is all about.”

Councillor Hardwick also voted against City Manager Sadhu Johnston’s recommendation that Council direct staff to include in its Reconciliation Report an analysis of the status of  Vancouver’s reconciliation commitments — as well as recommendations for building on these commitments, as Ms. Hardwick openly questioned whether it is appropriate for the local level of government to “spend taxpayers’ money on reconciliation,” or if the issue  is the responsibility of senior levels of government. Ms. Hardwick also expressed her opposition to Council opening their meetings with a reconciliation acknowledgement, as recommended by Murray Sinclair, the author of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Report.

Rebecca Bligh, Vote Vancouver, and William Azaroff, OneCity Vancouver

   
Vote Vancouver’s Rebecca Bligh; and OneCity Vancouver’s Mayoral candidate William Azaroff

We are combining both Vote Vancouver  Mayoral candidate and sitting Vancouver City Councillor Rebecca Bligh, and OneCity Vancouver Mayoral candidate William Azaroff together given their polling numbers, at present, are in the basement, and the likelihood that either Mayoral candidate ascending to the Mayor’s office would seem remote, at best.

Rebecca Bligh. We are befuddled that the two term Vancouver City Councillor — and recent President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which represents the interests of Canadian cities vis-a-vis the federal government — is polling at a mere 0.5%. Wrenchingly articulate on the issue of housing during the course of the debate at the Lakewood Terrace Housing Co-operative Mayoral forum held on the afternoon of Saturday, July 25th, there was no Mayoral candidate addressing those gathered who argued as articulately and well for the construction of housing co-ops on City-owned / Crown land on a 99-year leasehold basis that afternoon than Councillor Bligh.

“To provide safety and truly affordable homes for struggling families who reside across all 23 of the neighbourhoods that comprise the city we all love.”

Yet, Councillor Bligh finds herself mired at dead last in support by those polled by the Pallas Data polling company. We’re confused.


Click on the link for further insight into the Pallas Data civic poll conducted on July 30, 2026

Subsequent to the meeting, as Councillor Pete Fry and VanRamblings were walking towards East Broadway and Commercial Drive, Councillor Fry wondered aloud as to why Councillor Bligh had come forward to seek the Mayor’s Chair, when from all reports she is polling terribly, and the chance that she might be Vancouver’s next Mayor would seem, at best, remote if not an impossibility, the two of us agreeing that in putting her name forward as a Mayoral candidate, Ms. Bligh was simply “bowing out of politics with grace.”

William Azaroff. OneCity Vancouver’s Mayoral candidate, endorsed by the Vancouver & District Labour Council, given his fiscal history working for the Vancity Credit Union, and since 2019, the CEO of Brightside Homes, a non-profit which builds affordable housing, Mr. Azaroff would seem to be a first-rate candidate for Vancouver Mayor. Not so, according to the Pallas Data polling company, and certainly not so if the response he received from those gathered for the forum on that Saturday afternoon is any indication.

Mr. Azaroff was hardly afforded an opportunity to speak, as each time he opened his mouth, he was heckled by one or another member of the audience, who questioned him as to why Brightside Homes so readily evicted their tenants on the thinnest possible evidence, and why Brightside — given so many of the tenants are vulnerable seniors — made it near impossible for residents to install air conditioners to mitigate the effects of Vancouver’s hot weather.

On a side note, if there is one candidate running for Mayor in 2026 that a surfeit of members of COPE, the Coalition of Progressive Electors are vehemently opposed, it would be the poor, woebegone Mr. Azaroff.

Polling at 2.3% — yep, seems just about right.

COPE, the Coalition of Progressive Elector’s Mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen (standing)

Quite simply, Stephanie Allen (standing, addressing the audience) walked away with the debate on that somewhat chilly, overcast Saturday afternoon, by far the most dynamic and engaging speaker of the afternoon, a charismatic presence at the front of the room, and the long sought saviour of COPE — the too often confused Coalition of Progressive Electors  …

A personal aside: Just what the hell is COPE Councillor Sean Orr doing when he floats the idea of bringing back the Villages Plan in the next term of Council … whose side is he on, anyway? … developers, or the community who spoke up so vehemently against the developer-initiated Villages Plan designed to enrich themselves at the expense of those of us who live in one of the 14 Vancouver neighbourhoods designated as “density friendly”, Councillor Orr seemingly ignoring the wishes of the hundreds of folks, the Vancouver residents who turned up to address Council on why the Villages Plan constituted non-consultative, top down, autocratic city planning, that utterly failed to take into consideration the wishes of the residents who have long called these neighbourhoods home, where we raise our families …

We don’t mean to be unduly harsh in our criticism of COPE Councillor Sean Orr, who has stepped up to the plate, put in the hours, making himself available to the public in every neighbourhood across our city after being elected as the top candidate voters cast a ballot for in the April 5, 2025 by-election, securing 34,448 votes, the highest among all the candidates running for Vancouver City Council.

Not to mention, the utter ugliness of the allegation made by Mayor Ken Sim about Councillor Orr, that Mr. Orr had distributed illegal drugs on the DTES over the December 2025 holiday season, an utterly specious and unfounded allegation, given that in reality Councillor Orr was visiting friends and family on the Sunshine Coast when he, according to Mayor Sim, allegedly was distributing drugs. Having spoken with Councillor Orr about the matter, we are quite aware that Sean was emotionally devastated by the allegation made by Mayor Sim, that sought to damage Mr. Orr’s hard earned reputation for integrity.

All said, thank goodness that COPE Mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen is the most knowledgeable Mayoral candidate on the issue of affordable housing, given her past role as the respected Vice President of BC Housing, who brings herself forward as the democratic socialist candidate in the 2026 Vancouver civic election, with a strong a commitment to the democratic participation of Vancouver residents on the issues that dominate their lives, and her long held belief that democratic socialism is the only true cure for the ills that impact the alienated and disenfranchised majority population of Vancouver, who for so long have been locked out of decision-making at Vancouver City Hall, as one autocratic civic administration after another assumed power at City Hall.

Make no mistake, a Stephanie Allen-led City — ably aided by Shawn Vulliez, who we expect would be her outstanding Chief of Staff — is committed to the democratic participation of the residents of Vancouver on the decisions taken at Vancouver City Hall that impact their lives, no autocrat she, but rather a democrat, and a democratic socialist of the first order.


Kareem Allam, Vancouver Liberals Mayoral candidate

Kareem Allam, Vancouver Liberals.

In a word, tepid.

One of the worst presentations by a candidate for office that we’ve witnessed over the course of our lifetime. When members of the audience repeatedly demanded that Mr. Allam “speak up, we can’t hear you,” you know there’s trouble in his candidacy for Mayor that must be addressed before the current Vancouver municipal election truly gets underway next month.

The above said, although to some extent for us “the bloom is off the rose” in respect of Mr. Allam’s Mayoral candidacy, our continuing and heartfelt belief that Kareem Allam would make the best Mayor of Vancouver the residents of our city would experience in a generation, as the only action-oriented candidate for Mayor who has a plan of action for change that will transform civic governance which truly represents the interests of all of us who call Vancouver home, both Kareem Allam and Stephanie Allen have our full-throated support as the two of them fight tooth and nail to become Vancouver’s next Mayor.

Mr. Allam has to recognize he’s the candidate, not a behind-the-scenes campaign manager, who must up his game if he is to become Vancouver Mayor.

At one point in the afternoon, Kareem mentioned — in passing, while addressing those gathered at the Lakewood Terrace Co-op — that he was the only Mayoral candidate who “grew up living in a housing co-operative”, after which he let his statement lie dormant, seemingly without meaning, as he addressed a crowd consisting mostly of housing co-op members !!! … before moving on to discuss his, for this crowd anyway, his utterly irrelevant personal family history, rather than waxing poetic on the salutary role living in a housing co-op afforded him, the sense of community imbued living in a housing co-operative, where opportunity was afforded him that might not otherwise be available to an immigrant family attempting to make a new life for themselves in Metro Vancouver.


Councillor Pete Fry, Green Party of Vancouver

Pete Fry is the status quo candidate, the avuncular and well-regarded opposition to the corrupt ABC Vancouver civic administration that has ruled Vancouver for the past four interminable years, under the unsteady thumb of an often too absent Mayor Ken Sim.

Were Pete to become Mayor — mark my words, we’d soon be referring to him as Mayor Pete — there is little doubt he’d bring back the Renter’s Office, and in time would re-instate the Livable Wage Programme at Vancouver City Hall that the Sim administration jettisoned early in their term of office.

Mayor Pete wouldn’t look to get much done, rather he’d be a caretaker — a sane and caring caretaker, unlike the current incumbent — of the Mayor’s office. An upside? A Mayor Pete would be much more available to the public than any Mayor in Vancouver’s recent history, a kind of Mayoral energizer bunny, who would be everywhere in the public weal throughout the entirety of his term in office.

VanRamblings harbours a concern that Emily Lowan, the current democratic socialist leader of the Green Party of British Columbia — who has endorsed Stephanie Smith for Council, the accomplished and sophisticated ‘woman of the people’ who is running under the Green banner for the second time (we’ll be endorsing Stephanie, whose voice and presence we need on Council) — would not endorse Pete Fry in a month of Sundays.

Maybe that’s what the citizens of Vancouver want: someone they know, someone they trust who won’t upset the apple cart, but dedicate himself to taking care of the basics (garbage pick up, recycling, road  maintenance. etc.) while keeping taxes down.

Although, we’re not so sure.

Research Co. and Angus Reid have recently published polling asking  Vancouver voters what they want. The answer according to 56% of those polled: change, significant and even radical change, not the status quo.

Change is in the air.

Pete Fry, for all that he’s a good guy would not in any way, shape or form be the Mayoral candidate of change for whom a majority of Vancouver voters would seem to wish to cast their ballot as the next leader of our beloved city, come this early autumn October. Or, so it would seem this early in the 2026 campaign for Vancouver municipal office.

On Thursday, VanRamblings’ intends to publish a thoughtful, reflective column on what the three serious-minded candidates to become Vancouver’s next Mayor — that would be COPE’s Stephanie Allen, the Vancouver Liberals’ Kareem Allam, and the Green Party of Vancouver’s Pete Fry — would mean for those of us who live in Vancouver, and call our respective neighbourhoods and our city, home.

 

Vancouver 2026: The Shape of the Next Civic Showdown

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On October 17, 2026, Vancouver voters will head to the polls for the city’s 42nd municipal election. With the once-dominant ABC Vancouver now floundering, and new forces surging from both the centre and the left, next year’s election campaign promises to be one of the most competitive — and transformative — in decades.

The Collapse of ABC Vancouver

In 2022, Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver swept all three levels of municipal governance — Mayor, City Council, Park Board, and School Board — in an historic rout. Four years later, that landslide looks like an aberration, the result of voter fatigue with the now moribund Vision Vancouver and a desire for change.

Since then, however, the Sim administration has struggled. Public dissatisfaction with his handling of homelessness, public safety, and affordability has steadily grown. Community groups accuse Sim of being unresponsive; critics inside City Hall describe an administration consumed with internal squabbles. By 2026, Sim’s brand has soured to the point where many observers believe his party faces the same fate as the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) before it: political extinction.

Few expect ABC Vancouver to elect more than one or two Councillors — if that — while Sim’s re-election prospects appear dim. His fate seems sealed: destined, as one longtime watcher quipped, “for the scrap heap of civic history.”

The Rise of the Vancouver Liberals

Into this vacuum steps Kareem Allam, the political strategist best known for his work on high-profile campaigns across the province, and federally. With deep connections to federal and provincial networks, Allam has quietly built a formidable war chest and, earlier this year, formally launched the Vancouver Liberals.

Armed with deep pockets, disciplined messaging, and a polished campaign operation, the Vancouver Liberals are poised to make a splash in their first municipal contest. Allam himself has already announced his intention to run for Mayor. Though untested on the ballot, he enters the race with credibility as a strategist, access to resources, and the ability to tap into moderate, disillusioned ABC voters.

The question is whether Allam can translate money and machinery into broad support in a city still wary of political rebranding. His pitch — competence, pragmatism, and fiscal responsibility — will resonate with centrist homeowners and business interests. The Vancouver Liberals will likely emerge as a significant force on Council and could very well win the mayoralty if progressive forces split the vote.

The Green Party of Vancouver

The Greens enter 2026 with only one sitting Councillor, Pete Fry, who has proven durable and personable. Fry’s strength lies in his grassroots connections and ability to appear pragmatic rather than ideological. He will almost certainly hold his seat.

But the Greens face the perennial challenge of being seen as a single-issue party. With climate concerns real but overshadowed by affordability and housing, their ceiling remains low. Expect one or two seats at most, unless they can expand their message to broader urban issues.

COPE’s Resurgence

The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), long a marginal presence, has been reinvigorated by activist energy. The April 2025 by-election was a turning point: Sean Orr, poverty and housing activist, topped the polls, proving that unapologetic left-wing politics still have a constituency in Vancouver.

Orr’s victory has galvanized COPE’s base, particularly among renters, young voters, and those frustrated with market-driven housing policy. If COPE can harness that momentum, they could secure multiple seats on Council for the first time in a generation.

OneCity’s Momentum

Meanwhile, OneCity Vancouver has built a reputation as the progressive party best positioned to compete citywide. The April by-election was a breakthrough: Lucy Maloney scored a resounding victory, finishing just behind Orr, cementing OneCity’s profile.

With a strong organization, a message rooted in housing reform, and credibility among progressive professionals, OneCity is poised to expand its presence. They are likely to elect several Councillors, and could, in the right alignment of votes, mount a credible mayoral challenge in future cycles.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver

If 2022 was disappointing for TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, 2026 may be decisive. The party, rooted in nostalgia for the TEAM brand of the 1970s, ran a distant third four years ago and failed to elect anyone. Their anti-development messaging resonates in pockets of the west side, but increasingly feels out of step with a city desperate for housing solutions.

TEAM’s leader, Colleen Hardwick, will once again run for mayor. Though she brings name recognition and experience, her prospects remain dim. Without a breakthrough, TEAM risks irrelevance.

The Mayoral Race

With Ken Sim floundering and Colleen Hardwick confined to a narrow base, the Mayoral contest appears to be shaping into a four-way showdown between Ken Sim, Kareem Allam, Rebecca Bligh, Colleen Hardwick and the progressive forces aligned with COPE and OneCity.

  • Ken Sim (ABC Vancouver): The incumbent’s approval ratings have cratered. Re-election is highly unlikely.

  • Colleen Hardwick (TEAM): Hardwick will keep TEAM visible, but her chances of victory remain minimal.

  • Kareem Allam (Vancouver Liberals): A brilliant strategist with money and momentum, Allam could emerge as the leading challenger to Sim. His appeal to centrists and disillusioned moderates makes him a real contender.

  • Rebecca Bligh (Independent/possible Vancouver Liberals ally): The two-term Councillor has yet to formally declare, but her active fundraising signals intent. Bligh’s profile is strong: current two-term president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, respected within Vancouver, with cross-partisan appeal. If she enters, she could fracture the centrist vote — or, if aligned with Allam, form a powerhouse ticket.

A Fragmented Future

The 2026 election is shaping up to be less about a single dominant party and more about a fragmented Council, with multiple blocs competing for influence. COPE and OneCity on the left, the Vancouver Liberals in the centre, and the Greens straddling the middle will likely form the core of the next council. ABC and TEAM, once serious players, appear destined for the margins.

The mayoralty will hinge on whether progressives can consolidate behind a single candidate or whether the vote splinters. If divided, Allam and the Vancouver Liberals may well capture the Mayor’s chair, ushering in a new centrist era. If united, the left has a chance to seize city hall.

Either way, October 17, 2026, will mark a turning point. The Sim era is over; what comes next is still unwritten.

An Important Note

Today’s VanRamblings’ column was created entirely by Open AI’s ChatGPT artificial intelligence engine, in response to the instruction: write a 900 word column on the 2026 Vancouver municipal election, and the 5 parties seeking office that intend to run candidates for Vancouver City Council. In addition, write about the candidates for Vancouver Mayor, and what you believe their prospects will be come 2026.

#VanPoli | ABC Vancouver Popularity Plummets, OneCity + Greens Rise

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In the 2022 Vancouver municipal election, the upstart ABC Vancouver civic party — a creation of founder / financier Peter Armstrong — came out of nowhere to secure an overwhelming victory at the polls, securing 34.5% of the vote, with the Greens trailing at 11.24%, and OneCity Vancouver managing 9.79% in voter popularity.

How ABC Vancouver’s fortunes have changed only 15 turbulent months later.


Saturday, October 15, 2022 | ABC Vancouver wins the Mayor’s chair, electing eight City Councillors

Let us count the ways in which ABC Vancouver has lost popularity with the public.

  • ABC Vancouver’s first budget raised property taxes by a whopping, unprecedented 10.7% (triple that for small business), alienating huge portions of the public;
  • ABC Vancouver jettisoned the City’s Livable Wage Programme, which pays the employees of suppliers of goods and services to the city approximately $24-an-hour;
  • ABC Vancouver shuttered the City’s Rental Office, telling the public that the monies it took to run the Rental Office would be transferred to TRAC, the Tenant Resources and Advisory Centre, and would move TRAC into new offices on Howe Street downtown.

    Surprise    , surprise, TRAC has not moved into the new offices that had been promised, which three years on remains under construction, and in addition, has yet to receive one red cent from the City. You gotta love “conservatives”: they lie like we breathe;
  • On December 13, 2023,  Vancouver’s rookie Mayor, Ken Sim, announced that his ABC Vancouver City Council would abolish the cherished 135-year-old Vancouver Park Board,  with an application to the province to change the Vancouver Charter to facilitate an undemocratic, unmandated, appalling change in City governance.

In 2022, a paltry 36.3% of eligible voters turned out at the polls to elect a new Vancouver City Council, School Board and Park Board — which means that the vast majority of Vancouver voters … 63.7% … stayed home, and couldn’t be bothered to, either, inform themselves of the issues in the last Vancouver municipal election, or take an hour or less to attend at their local polling station to cast their ballot.


Global BC newscasters Chris Gailus and Sophie Liu host B.C.’s top-rated suppertime news programme

Numeris (formerly the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement) is Canada’s audience measurement organization, tracks our country’s highly fragmented and increasingly complex media landscape, as it attempts to bring clarity and an understanding of audience behaviours and insights to an evolving cross-media landscape.

According to Numeris, only 18% of British Columbians tune in to watch news programmes on Global BC, CTV Vancouver, CBC Vancouver and CityNews, and their local affiliates’ news programmes. Where, then, do British Columbians get their news, if 82% of B.C. adults don’t get their news from television news programmes?

Newspapers remain a popular deliverer of the news for people age 35 and older.

The findings of a study held in Canada between October 2022 and September 2023 revealed that 32% of Canadians only read print newspapers on a weekly basis, whereas 6% read newspapers via computer only. For those persons between the ages of 35 and 49 across all regions in Canada, only 23.89% of persons in that age bracket read, watch or listen to the news once a week or more.

A growing number of people selectively avoid news stories, such as the war between Israel and Gaza, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living issue.

Thirty-eight per cent of those surveyed actively avoid the news, up from 29% in 2021, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Around 36% — particularly those under age 35 — say that the news lowers their mood.

“Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organizations put what’s best for society ahead of their own commercial interest,” writes Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, in a Reuters report based on an online survey of 93,432 people, conducted in 46 markets across Canada.


Gen Z (1997-2012) and Millennials (1980-1996) acquire news, predominately, from their Tik Tok app

Younger audiences, those under 45, are increasingly accessing the news via platforms such as TikTok, or from their friends, and have a weak connection to online or conventional media. Forty percent of that age group uses TikTok daily, with 15% saying they use it to find, discuss or share news.

What is the context and meaning of the preceding information, and its impact on Vancouver politics, the current fight to preserve Vancouver’s Board of Parks and Recreation, and the re-election chances of ABC Vancouver come 2026?

Where Vision Vancouver’s success in their ten years at the helm of politics in Vancouver was dependent on three groups who consistently turned out in droves to support the party at election time …

  • Unions. Vision Vancouver set the wage scale agenda during their time in power,  not just locally, but in municipalities across British Columbia and beyond, in the public sector where it moved the provincial government off its 1-1-1 agenda, and by extension in the private sector, the union vote in the City of Vancouver, loyal and consistently good for 45,000 votes at the polls in strong support for Vision Vancouver;
  • The active transportation lobby (think: Hub Cycling), who are committed to bike lanes and a healthy, environmentally friendly and livable city, with fit, cycling Millennials turning out in droves to re-elect Vision Vancouver at election time; and …
  • The 2SLGBTQIA community, whose support Vision Vancouver worked tirelessly to gain and maintain, and for whom it could depend on at least 20,000 votes at the polls — as was the case with the bike lobby — in the 2008, 2011 and 2014 civic elections.

ABC Vancouver has no natural constituency in our decidedly progressive, left-of-centre, NDP-voting city on the far shores of western Canada.

The 2022 Vancouver municipal election was a “kick the bums out” election, with dismayed, disgruntled and disquieted Vancouverites sick-and-tired of a lazy, do-nothing, whiny Kennedy Stewart administration, which had non-productive relations provincially with John Horgan’s NDP government, federally with Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada, and in 2022 with the Vancouver electorate.

As we say, ABC has no natural constituency in the voting Vancouver electorate, their election to civic government in 2022 a blip on the political radar, and consequent from a dissatisfaction among the electorate with the previous administration, a well-run campaign by master electoral tactician and motivator, Kareem Mahmoud Abbas Allam, and bucketfuls of money from Rocky Mountaineer tourism founder Peter Armstrong, and Lululemon lifestyle founding promoter, Chip Wilson.

Well, Mr. Allam is gone now — having pulled away from ABC Vancouver one year ago —  the powers that be at The Vancouver Club and Terminal City out for blood and set to do all in their power to oppose the re-election of Ken Sim and company, not to mention a significant and engaged majority of the 36.3% of Vancouver voters who turned up at the polls in 2022 also out for blood, alienated beyond all measure with the autocratic, anti-democratic administration of Ken Sim and his crew of “we’ll go along to get along, and do whatever” ABC Vancouver lickspittles.

The Sword of Damocles hangs ominously and precariously over the heads of the “certain to be one term” ABC Vancouver administration at Vancouver City Hall, the arbitrary and unilateral move to eliminate Vancouver’s cherished Park Board — which over the past 135 years has given the citizens of our province a world class parks and recreation system — the final straw, as engaged Vancouverites in high dudgeon, certain to work towards not the elimination of the Vancouver Park Board, but the elimination of the “they know the cost of everything, and the value of nothing” ABC Vancouver civic party from the political landscape of our city.

#VanElxn2022 | VanRamblings’ Vancouver Park Board Endorsements

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Do you want your parks and recreation system back, from the virtue-signalers and the do-gooders, who these past four years have promoted the notion that Vancouver’s parks system belongs to the influx of homeless newcomers, coming to our city for drugs, and free accommodation in our parks?

Children playing in parks, parks that are free of needles and crack pipes, human feces and detritus of every description — hey, that’s like so 1999. Parks aren’t meant for families in 2022, parks are no longer the green space, the backyards for the 56% of renters and 25% of condominium owners in our city, for whom parks in the past have provided rest, relaxation, solace, fresh air, comfy benches to sit on, and even some recreational activities, like tennis, soccer and pickleball. No siree, Bob — Vancouver parks now belong to the homeless folks visiting from Halifax or Edmonton, Québec City, or who have made their way up into Canada from the U.S.

Are you living under the delusion our Vancouver parks belong to you, to your family, your friends and your neighbours? Do you have no heart?

The homeless need a place to live. Parks are great, and none better than Vancouver’s parks, lush and green, with all those trees for cover.

However, If you believe the Vancouver citizens who elect 7 Park Board Commissioners to office every four years, that those Commissioners are meant to be stewards of Vancouver’s  parks and recreation system, then we’re here to tell you — as good-hearted as these folks might be — you’re certainly not going to want to vote for candidates for the Greens, ABC Vancouver, Vision Vancouver or OneCity Vancouver — because as socially-conscious as candidates from those parties may be, their kindness extends only to the homeless, not to you or your family, and certainly not to the children for whom Vancouver is home.

When it comes to children in our city, that well-intentioned crew could give a good galldarn about your children — better to learn the hard lesson now that life is tough, and sometimes we have to sacrifice playing on that slide or in the sandbox, to serve the interests of the “greater good” — in this case, the steady influx of homeless arriving in our city from across Canada, and in some cases the U.S., central and South America, and even Europe and the Far East.

Above you see the five Park Board candidates, plus an alternate, VanRamblings endorses in 2022 — that would be TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver’s incumbent Park Board Commissioner, Tricia Barker, her TEAM running mates Kumi Kimura, Kathleen Larsen and Michelle Mollineaux, plus the NPA’s Park Board candidate, Dave Pasin, and TEAM alternate, James Buckson — who believe Vancouver’s parks are for everyone, including the homeless who courts have ruled may, if there is no other shelter available, tent overnight in the parks across our city, but only if these woebegone citizens vacate the park by 7 a.m., in order that families and the general public may enjoy our parks system.

But that’s doesn’t happen, does it? Instead, Vancouver’s lush, green parks have become semi-permanent homes for those who arrive on our shores daily.

Long story short, before VanRamblings relates a story that informs our writing today, and why it is we think it is critical you cast your ballot for the TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver candidates for Park Board, plus the NPA’s Dave Pasin …

  • Tricia Barker, a fine, upstanding, incumbent Park Board Commissioner, a seniors’ wellness professional, who these past four years has championed the interests of our seniors and persons with disabilities communities, and as a practicing Tibetan Buddhist whose motto is “pick happy” enjoys walks through Vancouver’s parks system each and every day. Tricia takes her job as a steward of Vancouver’s parks and recreation system seriously, takes her job as an advocate for you and your family seriously, has worked with Vancouver City Council to increase funding to our parks and recreation system, worked with the Queen of Pools-in-Parks in our city, Margery Duda, towards ensuring that there will be wading pools for children in every neighbourhood, and outdoor swimming pools in neighbourhoods across the city. Chances are should Vancouver voters elect Tricia Barker to a second term on Park Board, come December the indefatigable Tricia Barker will be elected Park Board Chairperson by her colleagues, for 2023. We think that scenario is just a little bit of heaven for Vancouver citizens, for families and for children;

  • Kumi Kimura, for some while now has held the job as senior manager at the Musqueam Golf Course, so we’re here to tell you that Kumi knows the value of exceptional recreational facilities: they have shaped her upbringing and her career. As is the case with many of us, Kumi Kimura has spent hours, days, weeks, months and years enjoying every aspect of Vancouver’s abundant parks and recreation system, and was one of the first to acquire a OneCard when they became available. A secret? Kumi knows just about everyone in the city. Walk down the street, enter a room, and folks rush over to greet Kumi, and wrap their arms around her in a hug. Maybe 15 years working in Vancouver’s hospitality industry where she’s met thousands upon thousands of people, means that if you’re a good person — and make no mistake, Kumi Kimura is a very good person — affection from those you’ve met and worked with in the past results in the kind of good will Ms. Kimura engenders. Why would Kumi Kimura make a superb Park Board Commissioner, apart from the fact that she’s heartbreakingly bright, knows Vancouver’s parks and recreation system backwards, forward and inside out, and has years of experience in governance? Gosh, we just answered our own question, didn’t we? Tricia Barker and Kumi Kimura are a team, running for Park Board with TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver. Please save a vote for Kumi Kimura — you’ll be so very, very glad you did;

  • Kathleen Larsen. The incoming elected Park Board needs to hit the ground running, needs to re-assert Commissioner control and Commissioner priorities that serve your interests. What does that take? For a start, a sophisticated understanding of how decisions are made at the Park Board table, how one must conduct oneself at Park Board to get things done, years (decades) of experience in governance, in meeting and achieving goals that make a difference for the better in the lives of working people, families and children, seniors and persons within our disabilities community. Read these parts of Kathleen Larsen’s bio … “Kathleen has worked as a Community and Heritage Planner in the Lower Mainland for 27 years, and possesses a first-rate knowledge of local government legislation, planning processes, urban design and heritage conservation and preservation.” Save a vote, prioritize Kathleen Larsen as the candidate for Vancouver Park Board for whom you’ll mark you ballot when you cast your vote. We promise that come post-election you’ll be very, very glad you did;

  • Michelle Mollineaux has operated within British Columbia politics for years, generally working in the background as a campaign manager, as well as working within all levels of governmental bureaucracy to achieve the best outcomes for all British Columbians and, in recent years, for the citizens of Vancouver. Now, it’s time for Michelle to make her début as a front-and-centre public servant. As an immigrant and a “soccer mom,” Michelle’s understanding of the importance of sports and recreation is second to none. Working to transform and reclaim Vancouver Park Board as a functioning parks and recreation system that best serves the interests of all of us who call Vancouver home is Michelle Mollineaux’s primary goal, as she will focus her energies on upgrading our aging community centres, sports facilities and fields. Working tirelessly to keep Vancouver parks, and the city of Vancouver green and safe for everyone, Michelle — a dynamic and action-oriented member of the TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver slate of Park Board candidates — promises to do better, will do better, and will be ready from Day One to get to work on your behalf to ensure that community pools will be built, water parks will be open in the summer, and Vancouver’s many, many parks will be open to everyone to enjoy. Save a vote for Michelle Mollineaux. You’ll be darn glad you did.

  • Dave Pasin, we believe, is our brother from another mother. Dave is someone VanRamblings has known for a great long while. In recent weeks, we have spoken frequently about the current election cycle, and commiserated about the state of parks and the city — in this very confusing, and dare we say, contentious election, so any solace Dave could offer is good by us. Of all the candidates who’ve come forward to offer themselves up for public service, when it comes to Vancouver’s parks and recreation system, Dave Pasin is among the crème de la crème of candidates for Vancouver Park Board in 2022, given his years of service as a member of the Board of Directors for, at various times, the West End Community Centre, the Hillcrest Community Centre, and the Dunbar Community Centre. The every second Monday Park Board meetings at 1111 Beach Avenue has, for many years, acted as a second home for the affable Dave Pasin, so often does he present to the Board on the need for more community pools, increased support for our community recreation centres, and ensuring reduced-rate Leisure Pass access to our public recreation centres — particularly for seniors living on a fixed income, and Vancouver’s indigent population, but also for families and children who are doing their best to keep fit. Dave Pasin has pioneered an innovative all access programme for children, youth, teens and seniors, first at the West End Community Centre, and more recently at the Hillcrest Community Centre. Dave Pasin has told VanRamblings that he  looks forward to the opportunity to work with TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver‘s slate of candidates, to reclaim Vancouver’s parks for everyone. VanRamblings strongly encourages you to save a vote for Dave Pasin.

Andrea Pinochet-Escudero thinks she’s going to lose. Let’s prove her wrong. Yeah, sure, Andrea’s running with Vote Socialist, and you’re not a socialist — if you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around the notion of voting for a socialist, think humanist instead, because Andrea Pinochet-Escudero is certainly that, and more. Why would you cast a vote for Ms. Pinochet-Escudero, you ask? The answer to that question is simple: because you care about the city, and Andrea Pinochet-Escudero means well for our city. Ms. Pinochet-Escudero isn’t one of those virtue-signaling, holier-than-thou champagne socialists, given to the big lie. As the mother of two young boys, who just happens to be married to the great hope of our future, Derrick O’Keefe (who came within a hair’s breadth of winning a seat on Council in 2018), in 2022, Ms. Pinochet-Escudero has emerged as the Park Board candidate who advocated most for the construction of community pools, more so than was the case with any other Park Board candidate this year. COPE’s incumbent Park Board Commissioner, Gwen Giesbrecht — we’re endorsing her next — needs a seconder for her motions around the Park Board table, as Andrea will require of Gwen: that can only be achieved if you cast your ballot for the true HUMANIST socialists running for Park Board this election cycle — Andrea Pinochet-Escudero and Gwen Giesbrecht, who together will bring compassion, warmth of character, heart, unending intelligence, and a commitment to the democratic process to their role as Park Board Commissioners, and make no mistake, both Andrea and Gwen will be YOUR non-partisan voice at the Park Board table. VanRamblings urges you to please, please, please save two spots on your ballot, and fill in that oblong shape next to the names of Andrea Pinochet-Escudero and Gwen Giesbrecht. We promise: you’ll be glad you did.

Gwen Giesbrecht. VanRamblings has known Gwen Giesbrecht for 30 years, and all through those years when she sat as Chairperson of the Britannia Community Centre. When VanRamblings was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2016, Gwen played a pivotal role in helping put into perspective what was going on in our life in 2016 through 2017 — as did Vancouver School Board trustee, Allan Wong (who we’re also endorsing), who played a similar role to that of Gwen. In some measure, we believe we’re here today because of the kindness, the advice, the solace and support of both Gwen and Allan. Now, a bit about Gwen: We love strong women of principle and conscience. Women don’t come stronger — and full of good will, strong will and cheer, and more principled than Gwen Giesbrecht. For the past four years, as an incumbent Park Board Commissioner, Gwen has acted as the democrat on Park Board, for the first couple of years taking the role of Park Board Committee Chairperson — that’s the part of the meeting where the public is provided with an opportunity to present to our elected Park Board Commissioners on issues of concern to Vancouver’s good citizens, who couldn’t have asked for a fairer and more democratically-inclined Chair than proved to be the case with Gwen Giesbrecht. Going forward, VanRamblings sees Gwen as the tough, informed, no-nonsense conscience of Vancouver Park Board. VanRamblings is endorsing Andrea Pinochet-Escudero (who we love!), at least in part, so that Gwen might have a seconder for motions she places before the Board for consideration. Make no mistake: we NEED Gwen Giesbrecht on Park Board for the next four years (and Andrea, too!). Although Gwen’s a team player, woebetide the Commissioner who steps out of line … Gwen will be on them like maple syrup on pancakes.

The rationale for Endorsing the 7 Park Board candidates identified above

For much of VanRamblings’ adult life we have worked in and around the Downtown Eastside, and on Vancouver’s east side, in the neighbourhoods where we were raised, which we called home all the years we were growing up.

Over the years, VanRamblings has taught Grade 5 at Admiral Seymour Elementary, worked as a summer relief social worker out of both the Strathcona and Grandview Woodland Ministry of Human Resources offices (now called the Ministry of Children and Family Development), as well as taken on work as a Family Support Worker or Family Counselor, with various east side social agencies.

Dating back to 1996, VanRamblings was assigned by both the Pacific Regional Offices of Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as liaison for the Downtown Eastside, and areas east. In recent years, we worked as an Outreach worker with the Lookout Housing Aid Society.

Much of our work involved working with families who lived in one of the many buildings within the Raymur Place housing project, now called Stamps Place.

A few years back, for a two-year period VanRamblings worked with children in crisis who lived in the Stamps Place neighbourhood, mostly boys and girls aged ten to twelve. The children were tender-hearted but angry, having been expelled from one school after another, and when we worked with them were tended to by ‘special needs’ educational assistants, and psychologists.

As such, VanRamblings’ experience in the area is extensive, given that our work involved one-to-one work with families in need, and more often than not — given our background as an educator — work with children in crisis, children — more often than not, girls, exploited or on the verge of being exploited by their parents, neighbourhood teenage boys, and area pimps.

Many of the children resident in Stamps Place have only one safe space where they might find respite from the misery of their lives: parks, in this case Strathcona Park, as Strathcona Park is located nearby Stamps Place.

In 2018, Vancouver voters elected a majority COPE / Green Party contingent as Park Board Commissioners, who responded to Vancouver’s burgeoning homelessness crisis — caused in the main by an influx of a new homeless population arriving in Vancouver from the Prairies, Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes — by opening up our parks system to tent encampments, not just in Strathcona and Oppenheimer parks, but in all parks located across Vancouver.

The impact of opening our parks to those who do not have a home — an issue the Courts have said is allowable, with the proviso this homeless population vacate the park no later than 7 a.m., a provision rarely if ever enforced. Thus many parks across our city have become home to a drug addicted, untreated mentally ill population, where crack pipes, needles, feces and detritus have taken over many of Vancouver’s parks, including children’s play areas.

For the 56% of Vancouver residents who are renters, and the 25% of Vancouver’s population who are condominium owners, Vancouver’s parks are residents green spaces, their de facto backyards, providing a place of solace in the open air, surrounded by trees and grass, a place of rest, recreation and reflection, not to mention playgrounds for their young and not-so-young children.

With tender hearts and compassion, five of our current Vancouver Park Board Commissioners over these past four years — COPE’s Gwen Giesbrecht, Vision Vancouver’s John Irwin and Stuart Mackinnon, and the Green Party of Vancouver’s Camil Dumont and Dave Demers — rather than act as stewards of Vancouver’s parks and recreation system, and given that all three levels of government — municipal, provincial and federal — have failed to provide homes for Vancouver’s ever-increasing homeless population, out of good will and conscience, turned over many of Vancouver parks to our homeless population.

There is no question that Ms. Giesbrecht, Mr. Irwin, Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. Dumont, and Mr. Demers in making Vancouver parks available as home to Vancouver’s homeless population  acted with humanity and good faith.

However, in turning Vancouver’s parks system into homeless encampments, the 81% of Vancouver’s population for whom our parks are a place of rest, relaxation, solace and recreation, all out in the open air, and a place where their children might play in safety … well, let’s face it, in the main throughout our city, that is no longer the case for most Vancouver residents. Vancouver’s parks have, cruelly, become a haven for those in need of care and shelter.

Back to Stamps Place. As we wrote above, for many years we worked with young children, mostly girls, who were exploited by their parents, older boys and pimps, as sources of income for the exploiters, and as sexual playthings — let us remind you, we’re talking about 10, 11 and 12-year-old girls.

The ONLY safe place for the girls who live at Stamps Place, apart from the time they spend in school, is Strathcona Park, because at Strathcona Park there are safe and protective eyes on them always, the park not open to the pimps, the girls’ parents or the teenage boys who mean to exploit these young girls. Parents, pimps and teenage boys on the prowl enter Strathcona Park at their peril.

As such, for a brief period each day snuggled securely within Strathcona Park these young girls are provided with the opportunity to simply be what we would wish for all young children: preteen girls full of joy and the wonderment of life, out playing with their friends in the open air, in a place that promises safety, a sense of awe.

From September 2019 through until April 30th 2021 — nearly two years — Strathcona Park was “home” to a homeless population where homeless residents engaged in property theft, vandalism, a place where rape, violent assaults and fires were not uncommon. The Strathcona Park encampment was itself a hot spot for homicides, sexual and violent assaults, drug trafficking, and stolen goods, where there will multiple incidents of fires.

For VanRamblings, the tragedy of the Strathcona Park encampment was that for a period of some 20 months, exploited young girls no longer had a place of safety where they could meet with their friends, a place of respite where they could rest and get away from their lives, if only for an hour or two.

To VanRamblings that is a human tragedy. Young girls exploited, with nowhere to go, with no one to turn to, as a homeless population “took over” their park, their place of refuge, the only safe place in their neighbourhood where they would not be exploited, gone. A human tragedy involving not just vulnerable young girls, but the hundreds of children enrolled at Admiral Seymour Elementary and Strathcona elementary schools — who, for 20 months, had no place to go, no place of solace, no place to play outside with their friends.

VanRamblings believes we cannot allow this human tragedy to continue, we cannot allow further homeless park encampments to deny our children the same opportunities with which we were provided growing up.

Thus today, VanRamblings endorses the full slate of the very fine TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver candidates for Park Board, as well as Dave Pasin, along with COPE’s Gwen Giesbrecht and Vote Socialist’s Andrea Pinochet-Escudero, who might act as the conscience on the 2022 – 2016 Vancouver Park Board.

We urge you to vote wisely, and in the interests of all Vancouver citizens, and most particularly for all the children in our city, who live across every neighbourhood in Vancouver, who require ready and safe access to our parks.