Tag Archives: #vanpoli

VanElxn2022 | Women Transforming Cities | University Women’s Club

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On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, the University Women’s Club of Vancouver hosted a Women Transforming Cities gathering of women representing all 10 parties offering candidates for office in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election.

As has long been the case — given that the UWC has held this event every civic election for decades — the Women Transforming Cities event proved lively, moving and informative, with great and provocative grassroots organizing going on right before the audience’s appreciative eyes and ears — thanks in the main to COPE Vancouver candidates for Council, the entirely tremendous Nancy Trigueros and Tanya Webking, and the Green Party of Vancouver’s Stephanie Smith.

VanRamblings wants to live in the workers’ paradise for all that Ms. Trigueros, Ms. Webking and Ms. Smith espouse, conceive of, insist on, and will realize for all of us.

As always, TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver’s Mayoral candidate, Colleen Hardwick, was heartbreakingly brilliant. Watch & listen to the video — you’ll see for yourself.

Meanwhile, Ms. Hardwick’s TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver’s colleague and candidate for Vancouver City Council, Cleta Brown — a former president of the University Women’s Club of Vancouver  — simply outdid herself …

… bringing her wealth of knowledge having earned degrees in biology and law, culminating in a Masters of Laws from the London School of Economics, and her work in the non-profit and charitable sector, as President of the Board of Directors of MOSAIC; Vice-President on the Board of LEAF — the Women’s Legal, Education and Action Fund, Canada’s leading women’s legal champion at the Supreme Court of Canada protecting women’s constitutional rights; and as a Board Director with the Vancouver YWCA, the BC Kidney Foundation and a Director with the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Did we mention that Ms. Brown is also Secretary of the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir Society?

Whoops, forgot to mention that Cleta Brown was an investigator and general counsel for the Ombudsman Office of BC, and worked as a Crown Prosecutor in the Provincial Courts, and was an alternate Chairperson on the Review Board of BC.

Does the word accomplished resonate with you? Does the phrase must-elect to Vancouver City Council, mark your ballot for Cleta Brown also resonate with you?

VanRamblings must say that we — not to mention, the entire audience present for the UWC forum — had their socks knocked off upon hearing each and every one of the women speakers present for the Women Transforming Cities event.

Arezo Zarrabian, Non-Partisan Association (NPA) a must-elect candidate for Vancouver City Council

You know who our favourite speaker of the evening was?

Arezo Zarrabian. You’ll see why when you watch and listen to her introducing herself to those gathered this past Wednesday evening at Hycroft Manor. What do you think the chances are that Ms. Zarrabian will emerge on VanRamblings’ Council endorsement ballot, to be published on Wednesday, October 12th?


Stephanie Smith, Green Party of Vancouver — a must-elect candidate for Vancouver City Council

You can read more this upcoming Wednesday about Ms. Zarrabian, and another one of VanRamblings’ very favourite candidates in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election —  the Green Party of Vancouver’s Stephanie Smith — both of whom are bright beyond all measure, possessed of uncommon wit and compassion, mean well for our city, and understand you and the concerns of your life, and are absolute MUST-ELECTS to Vancouver City Council, on Saturday, October 15th.

Another standout at the Women Transforming Cities event was Ms. Smith’s Green Party of Vancouver colleague and fellow candidate for Vancouver City Council, Dr. Devyani Singh, whose energy and passion is nothing less than infectious. May we say, as well, that those in attendance at the Last Candidate Standing event held on Saturday, absolutely fell in love with Dr. Devyani Singh, as well they might have!

VanRamblings must say, as well, that we were pretty knocked out by Vision Vancouver’s Honieh Barzegari and Lesli Boldt. VanRamblings has been following Ms. Boldt’s career for years — safe to say that you can colour us mightily impressed. What a thrill it’s been for us to meet her on the campaign trail — please forgive us for saying so, but kind of a dream fulfilled for us.

And wouldn’t it be lovely and appropriate and overdue to elect two accomplished Middle Eastern women to Vancouver City Council, in the form of Iranian compatriots, the outstanding Honieh Barzegari and Arezo Zarrabian? Necessary, we’d say.

You know who else knocks us out? Incumbent Vancouver City Councillors Lisa Dominato and Rebecca Bligh, who on occasion we are afforded the great pleasure and privilege of speaking with. On a Council where, sometimes, egos have run rampant — much to the chagrin of voters, from what we’ve heard —  Ms. Dominato and Ms. Bligh have always kept their feet planted firmly on the ground, while giving new and salutary meaning to the word humility. Yes, yes, it’s true — Rebecca Bligh and Lisa Dominato consider themselves servants of the people, servants of the public interest. Imagine that. Miracles do happen in Vancouver civic politics.

And last, but by no means least, one of our favourite people in the world — and accomplished beyond all measure — Morgane Oger, a former Vice President of the BC NDP, Ms. Oger fights tirelessly for human rights, and is recognized across Canada as a champion of LGBTQ rights and representation. Morgane Oger is a powerful voice for safer communities and transformative government.

Accompanying Ms. Oger to the Women Transforming Cities event was her Progress Vancouver colleague and fellow candidate for Vancouver City Council, Asha Hayer, a third-generation Vancouverite and a sixth-generation Indo-Canadian woman, who knows Vancouver is founded on the strength of its diversity. Listen to what Ms. Hayer has to say about why she got into the run for civic office in 2022.

All and all, a very good night was had in our city at the not-to-be missed campaign event of the election season, the University Women’s Club of Vancouver hosted Women Transforming Cities event, with women candidates representing all 10 civic parties offering candidates in the Vancouver civic election.

#VanElxn2022 | Andrew Johns’ Coastal Front Election Pundit Panel

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Above, a pundit panel gathered by Coastal Front’s Andrew Johns, featuring …

  • The eminence gris / the doyenne of Vancouver civic affairs reporting, Frances Bula — who has covered the civic scene dating back to 1994, first for the Vancouver Sun (where she worked for 20 years), and since then for The Globe and Mail,  as a “stringer”. For awhile now, Ms. Bula has written for Vancouver Magazine, where she is a featured columnist. In addition, Frances Bula is a past Chair of the Journalism Department at Langara College, where she continues to teach, and is also an adjunct professor in the School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia. Phew, we know — where does she get all that energy, and just how many hours are there in a day that affords Ms. Bula the opportunity to be such a productive citizen, and invaluable member of our community? Fortunately (or is that, unfortunately) the no-nothings, the disrespectfuls, the “basket of deplorables” in our community gain much pleasure in their meaningless lives by deriding the incredibly humane Ms. Bula online, and sometimes in her appearances on panels, unlike the one above.
  • Then there’s the first of the two good guys: multi-term Non-Partisan Association (NPA) — when Vancouver’s oldest municipal party was a functioning civic party, a party mostly beloved by Vancouver citizens — Vancouver City Councillor, George Affleck. At one time an on-air host with the CBC and, for many years the CEO of Curve Communications, a successful full service digital marketing agency, Mr. Affleck is the president and CEO of the agency. Politics: between 2011 & 2018, Mr. Affleck served as a Councillor at Vancouver City Hall. Yes, we’re talking accomplished. Did we mention that he’s a bright guy, a kind guy, an engaging guy, and a politically adept fellow, possessed of a wry sense of humour? Well, he is, as well as many more good things.
  • That handsome, erudite fellow of good cheer, and much élan — by far the hardest working, best researched and most humanely engaging “podcaster” in British Columbia — we have the multi-talented and engaging Mo Amir. Possessed of a Bachelor of Business Administration, and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Simon Fraser University, Mr. Amir launched the This is VANCOLOUR podcast in 2018, as an exploration of culture and politics in Vancouver and B.C. — and what a massive hit this ‘must listen to’ (and now, must-watch on CHEK-TV) podcast has become.

You couldn’t ask for a better informed, more engaging, more erudite and — when you get right down to it — more non-partisan panel of civic election pundits than the accomplished Frances “don’t try to put one over on me” Bula, George “hey, let’s get real … you can’t be serious” Affleck, and Mo “I may appear affable, but I’m not going to let you get away with a darned thing” Amir. So, that’s what we’re presenting for your edification today — where the 2022 Vancouver civic election campaign is at, how the Mayoral candidates and the civic parties they’re running with are faring, and predictions as to how this whole meshuggeneh election will turn out!

#VanElxn2022 | Mayoral All-Candidates Forum | False Creek at Creekside

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False Creek Residents Association Vancouver Mayoral All-Candidates forum, held on Wednesday, September 21st, 2022 at the Creekside Community Centre, located in the heart of the Olympic Village

On Wednesday evening, the False Creek Residents Association — you know, one of those residents associations Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle insistently derides as an “extra legal” form of government, that by their very existence challenges the elected officials who sit within Vancouver City Hall’s Council chambers — held a Mayoral all-candidates forum, where the turnout was tremendous and, as you will see, those present, and now you, can learn about: Non-Partisan Association (NPA) Mayoral candidate Fred Harding, TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver’s Colleen Hardwick, Progress Vancouver‘s Mark Marissen, and ABC’s (A Better City) Ken Sim.

Judge for yourself while watching the 21-minute video above, but from VanRamblings’ perspective, we thought all of the Mayoral candidates presented well, as passionate and informed advocates for the citizens of Vancouver.

For us, ABC Mayoral candidate Ken Sim proved somewhat of a surprise — thus far, Mr. Sim has missed all but one Mayoral forum — as he appeared self-assured and self-confident, familiar with and convincing on the issues of most concern to Vancouver voters in 2022.

NPA Mayoral candidate Fred Harding was his usual articulate self, a superior public speaker and commanding presence, who focused on the core issue of his campaign for the Mayor’s suite — public safety, so as to alleviate the concerns of all Vancouver residents. Progress Vancouver’s Mark Marissen was his usual avuncular and impassioned self, looking ever inch the Mayoral candidate for whom Vancouver voters will cast their ballot next month, on Election Day.

Without wishing to sound too partisan, VanRamblings believes that TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver’s Mayoral candidate, current Vancouver City Councillor Colleen Hardwick, won the night, so utterly informed was she about the minutiae of government, what it takes to be a successful Mayor, so compelling was she in her presentation of what Vancouver could be — what it must be — if Vancouver is to thrive, and continue as home to the cultural, ethnic and demographic dynamic that we know Vancouver to be, what we risk losing should voters cast their ballot for anyone other than Colleen Hardwick and her TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver.

Take a gander at the video above. See if you don’t agree with our assessment.

There is an upcoming Mayoral all-candidates forum where the near invisible, hiding out (or, so it would seem) current Mayor in absentia, Edward Charles Kennedy Stewart is bound to attend … which is this Saturday morning’s Chinatown Mayoral all-candidates town hall — a failure to show would exhibit such an egregious lack of respect for Vancouver’s Chinese community that his absence could very well be interpreted as a declaration that he is throwing in the towel, that he doesn’t want to continue to be Vancouver’s Mayor.

Not to mention, failure to show at a Mayoral debate moderated by the doyenne of Vancouver civic affairs reporting could very well have the uncompromising Ms. Bula writing the Mayor’s political obituary, as early as this Saturday afternoon.

#VanElxn2022 | In 2022, Donate To The Vancouver Civic Party of Your Choice

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Here we are, just a tad more than three weeks away from Vancouver’s most consequential election in 50 years.

As a friend was saying to us at lunch yesterday, “No one wants towers built across our city. We want livable neighbourhoods, parks and recreation centres, schools and plazas, restaurants like this one where you can sit on the patio in the middle of the day and enjoy an afternoon repast with a friend. Towers? No thank you!”

Political campaigns rely on volunteers to go door knocking, work in the party’s telephone room, participate in burmashaves — that’s when you see a bunch of folks holding and waving campaign signs at you, when you’re heading off to work, or coming home — staff the campaign office, and work to secure the donations that campaigns for office require to create campaign literature, lawn signs, pay for the office, and fund the myriad aspects of a civic political campaign for candidates working towards being elected to one of Vancouver’s three civic bodies: Vancouver City Council, Vancouver Park Board, and Vancouver School Board.

As we have seen in recent days, there are those Vancouver civic parties who are well-funded by the billionaire developers in our city, who would presume to build 3,000 towers across the city if their civic parties gain office at Vancouver City Hall: ABC (A Better City), Forward Together (the Mayor’s party) OneCity Vancouver, Progress Vancouver and Vision Vancouver — which held power at Vancouver City Hall, from 2008 to 2018 — and the troubled Vancouver Non-Partisan Association.


Incumbent COPE Vancouver Park Board Commissioner, Gwen Giesbrecht, hosted a fundraiser / birthday party for herself and her friends — and COPE —  on Saturday, September 17, at Riddim & Spice.

Then there are those Vancouver civic parties who mean good for our city, do not take real estate developer donations, and are seeking to represent you, not the billionaire real estate developers who would seek to destroy the city we love.

Those Vancouver civic parties who mean well, who need donations from you …

The 2022 Vancouver municipal election is critical to our collective future, and the choices to be made are stark: give the city away to the greed of developers and those developer-funded civic parties who are more than eager to sell us out.

Or support — and donate to — the Vancouver civic parties who mean well for our city (you can see those party’s names listed above), and their working class candidates of integrity who are seeking office in this year’s civic election.

 

 

Or, run the very real risk of destroying the future of the city you love, the treed neighbourhood where you live, the neighbourhood park just down the street, or the nearby community recreation centre, and the lush, green home that our city has been for decades — and may be no more should you not cast your ballot wisely — the city where your children and your grandchildren play, where your neighbours, friends and colleagues gather for picnics, or to play tennis or pickleball, rugby, or soccer, or who enjoy a friendly pick up game of hacky-sack, or baseball.

Just kiss the city of Vancouver you love and have loved for so long, good-bye … because that’s what’s at stake in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election should you not donate, and go to work for, and put up campaign signs for the Vancouver civic parties and their candidates of integrity, who mean well for the future of our city.