Progressive 2018 Vancouver City Council Endorsement Ballot
The names of the candidates in the 2018 Vancouver civic election at all three levels of governance in the city of Vancouver, those persons of character and integrity whose names are listed above on the VanRamblings progressive endorsement ballot are, we believe, the best choices for Vancouver residents to vote for to govern our city over the next four years.
We are in the midst of a housing crisis in Vancouver, from which no relief seems at hand. When your cast your ballot for the 10 Councillor candidates whose names you find above, you give yourself, your family, your friends and your neighbours the best possible opportunity to address the issue of affordability in our city, while at the same time addressing issues of social inequity and injustice. Each candidate selected by VanRamblings represent the most accomplished candidates on the 2018 Vancouver Councillor ballot.
Today, VanRamblings will — for your consideration — provide you with insight into who the 10 candidates we have selected are, their work in the community, and why it is that — if you believe it is long past the time to address the social and economic ills of our city — you must vote for each and every one of the 10 candidates selected for Vancouver City Council.
Candidates names are listed in the order on the randomized ballot.
2. BOYLE, Christine — a generational candidate for Vancouver City Council
As we have written numerous times, Christine Boyle is the single most important candidate for you to vote for in the 2018 Vancouver civic election. Quite simply, without Christine Boyle’s negotiation & interpersonal skills, and her ability to work not just across party lines but with any person of conscience who means well for our city, and the necessary choice you must make to cast a vote for Ms. Boyle, take heart that she will provide the citizens of Vancouver with the singular opportunity, as she works with others on Council, to cure the social ills that have long plagued our city.
Watch and listen to the video above, and see if you don’t come away believing as we do that Christine Boyle represents not simply a necessary choice to elect to Vancouver City Council in 2018, but perhaps the most transformative candidacy for Vancouver City Council in a generation.
This upcoming Thursday, VanRamblings will publish a full-throated endorsement of Christine Boyle’s candidacy, listing her many accomplishments, while providing a rationale for our endorsement of the most transcendent candidate for Council we have witnessed in our lifetime.
7. FRY, Pete — a must, must, must-elect to Vancouver City Council
This past week, VanRamblings published an expressive and necessary endorsement of the Green Party of Vancouver’s Pete Fry, a candidate for Vancouver City Council who, along with his Green Party colleagues, and Christine Boyle and Derrick O’Keefe (see below) — Pete, Christine and Derrick representing the historic trinity of change candidates in the 2018 Vancouver civic election — are, we would suggest, the must-elects for City Council in 2018, if we are to preserve the livability of our city.
VanRamblings has known Pete Fry for a good long time.
Quite simply, there is no finer person of our acquaintance, no better candidate for office, no more informed and passionate a citizen, no greater an urban life philosopher and inspiring community activist (think Jane Jacobs) in the city of Vancouver than Pete Fry, who is an absolutely necessary candidate for you to vote for in the current municipal election.
If those of us who live in Vancouver are to have any chance at all of building the affordable housing we need and making ours a more just city, it is Pete Fry — working with his Green Party colleagues, and Christine Boyle and Derrick O’Keefe, and Mr. O’Keefe’s COPE colleagues — who will, working together, deliver on the promise of building the city we need.
16. ROBERTS, Anne — a seasoned pro who knows how to get things done
Awhile back, a veteran civic affairs reporter expressed concern to VanRamblings that, “it’s going to take the new Councillors a year and a half to even find where the washrooms are,” which means with at least an unprecedented seven new Councillors elected to Vancouver City Council on Saturday, October 20th, in order to get anything done, it will be incumbent on the seasoned City Councillors — Anne Roberts sat as a ‘can do’ COPE Councillor of conscience on Vancouver City Council from 2002 – 2005 — to actually ‘get things done’, while her Council colleagues find their feet.
Ms. Roberts’ moral voice of probity, and the lessons she learned while in power in civic government at the start of the millennium will be central to the success of the newly-elected City Council, if anything at all is to be achieved in the next two years. Anne Roberts knows how to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s, knows the power structure at City Hall like the back of her hand, and knows how to consult, to formulate policy and legislation, to make a difference. Anne Roberts is destined to be an invaluable resource to her newly-elected colleagues, who in working together to bring much-needed change for the better to our city will be instrumental to, and a key figure in, the realization of the just and affordable city we all want & need.
40. KIRBY-YUNG, Sarah — a generational democratic candidate
Sarah Kirby-Yung launching Holiday Heights at the Bloedel Conservatory, at QE Park
VanRamblings’ favourite elected official this past four years, Sarah Kirby-Yung, as we wrote earlier this week on our blog, and as quoted by our friend & outdoor pools advocate, Margery Duda, can be described thusly:
I agree with Raymond Tomlin on this quote from his VanRamblings blog today: “Sarah Kirby-Yung — the most important, action-oriented, democratic Park Board Chairperson in living memory — is on a mission to reform how right-of-centre parties respond to the needs & expectations of the electorate. Sarah Kirby-Yung is a once in a lifetime candidate.”
Says Margery, “Sarah Kirby-Yung has been a champion at Park Board this last term.”
You know how there are no more whales and dolphins in captivity at the Aquarium? Well, that’d be due to Sarah Kirby-Yung during her tenure as Park Board Chairperson, going against her own party policy, calling for, and holding, an extensive public consultation, and arising from that consultation, working with Park Board General Manager Malcolm Bromley to find a way to have Park Board ban cetaceans in captivity.
Mr. Bromley and Commissioner Kirby-Yung discovered an obscure 1902 Park Board bylaw that would empower Park Board to prevent the importation of more whales and dolphins into Stanley Park. Subsequent work was needed to convince her Park Board colleagues that the 7 elected Park Board Commissioners had a moral obligation to act on the wishes of the public, and enact a by-law giving Park Board jurisdiction that would, in practice, ban cetaceans in captivity in Stanley Park.
Around these parts, we call that democracy in action, and responsible civic government. Ms. Kirby-Yung’s achievements while in office are legion.
Please, please save a vote for Sarah Kirby-Yung — you’ll be glad you did!
45. SWANSON, Jean — the conscience of the next Vancouver City Council
VanRamblings hardly needs to introduce you to Vancouver’s pre-eminent social justice advocate, and Order of Canada recipient. Decades of activism in the Downtown Eastside has also earned Jean the People’s Order of BC.
On the next City Council — and you can take it to the credit union that Jean will be elected to Council this upcoming Saturday — Jean Swanson will emerge as, and be, the conscience of Council. VanRamblings wants that, Jean’s colleagues and fellow activists want that, and perhaps the most important constituency of all in the 2018 Vancouver civic election, voters, want that. There’ll be celebrating aplenty Saturday night when we can call our friend, “Councillor Swanson” — long overdue and absolutely necessary.
55. MCDOWELL, Rob — your diplomatic, collaborative ‘can do’ City Councillor
Rob McDowell, independent candidate for Vancouver City Council, was the first person VanRamblings endorsed in this campaign, which we did on Monday, October 1st. We urge you to read our endorsement, and allow yourself an opportunity to get to know the finest, bright, kindest, most thoughtful, brilliant democrat and friend and humanitarian difference maker its has been our privilege to meet and work with.
VanRamblings believes the citizenry will fall head over heels in love with two Councillors in this next term of office: Christine Boyle & Rob McDowell — both of whom are the smartest folks we’ve ever met, down to earth, kind, generous of spirit, action-oriented activists of conscience. Some of you, and some of the candidates we’re endorsing today, aren’t all that familiar with Rob McDowell. But, boy oh boy, when Rob’s Council mates and the citizens of Vancouver get to know Rob McDowell, and watch him bring legislation to the floor of Council chambers that will change your life for the better, in innumerable ways, a love affair will break out with Rob McDowell.
And, let us tell you: that’s just how it should be & we guarantee, it will be!
59. O’KEEFE, Derrick — in Vancouver, the activist voice of a generation
Derrick O’Keefe is one of the members of the historic trinity of must-elect candidates in the 2018 Vancouver civic election — the other two members? Christine Boyle and Pete Fry, of course, about whom we write above.
All three are young, action-oriented, activist go-getters of conscience, who working in concert and collaboratively together with their civic party colleagues will build the affordable housing we need; engage in a reconciliation process with our indigenous peoples (we are, after all, living on stolen land); build on our city’s greenest action plan; fight racism, intolerance, xenophobia, and discrimination while building a city that belongs to all of us, and not just a wealth elite; work to end homelessness; create new parks and renew our existing community centres, while properly funding Vancouver’s underfunded by Vision Vancouver for 10 years parks and recreation system; and develop a real solution to the opioid crisis that has plagued our city for the past three years. And that’s just for a start!
Did we mention that all three are committed to lowering property taxes for small business owners (while getting corporate business to pay their fair share), reining in the city budget while re-aligning the city’s spending priorities, properly supporting and funding our arts community (and not picking ‘favourites’ as an administration we won’t name has done for 10 years), consulting and working together with citizens in all of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods to build the city we need, but do so in a manner that respects the wishes of residents in all 23 neighbourhoods across our city.
This past Friday, VanRamblings formally endorsed Derrick O’Keefe for Vancouver City Council. We urge you to read more about our town’s Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, John Sewell, Kshama Sawant, and Ben Isitt.
65. YAN, Brandon — the activist voice of diversity on Vancouver City Council
Have you noticed that most of the endorsement lists you run across on social media, or friends share with you — and this, woefully, applies to VanRamblings’ endorsement list, as well — are missing representation from members of our gender variant and LBGT communities, our indigenous peoples community, and Vancouver’s majority Asian or ethnic populations?
One would think that we’re living in the 1950s.
Brandon Yan’s lived experience as a gay man, and as an activist member of Vancouver’s Chinese population, is not the experience of any other one of the candidates VanRamblings is endorsing today. We’re not engaging in identity politics here, we’re just saying that there’s something very wrong when out and proud voices, and a voice to represent Vancouver’s diverse Asian population, not to mention young people, may be missing from the next City Council. We don’t want that to happen — and neither should you.
VanRamblings formally endorsed Brandon Yan on October 5th. When we did so, we focused on Brandons’s education (a Masters in Urban Studies from SFU); his quiet life in Kitsilano with his partner Sam, and their dogs; Brandon’s work as the Education Director for Out on Screen, and with youth; and his work on transportation issues at Surrey City Hall.
VanRamblings did not ask, nor did we explore to the extent we should have, Brandon Yan’s lived experience, as a person of colour and a gay man, and how his lived experience informs his bid for Vancouver City Council.
The 2018 Vancouver municipal election has been “unusual” for two reasons — and, here, we’re not referring to the surfeit of under-qualified candidates seeking office this very strange and off-putting election year.
Rather, we’re referring to what we perceive and have experienced as the viciously and openly racist and openly misogynist conduct of those trolling our social media feeds — in fact, a related law suit will be filed today. Our Sunday column was initially meant to explore this ugly 2018 Vancouver civic election phenomenon — we wrote that column, but we chickened out, and instead wrote and published an entirely new ‘upbeat’ column.
After the election, VanRamblings will write about this hideous racist / misogynist phenomenon that has plagued the 2018 Vancouver civic election, lead for the most part by white, mostly older, and often prominent men within our community — who just damn well oughta know better.
If you’re thinking, “Oh, Brandon Yan. No, I’m not going to vote for him. He’s with OneCity, and I’ve “heard” terrible things about him.” Yeah, really? We would ask that you closely examine your motives for denying Brandon Yan his agency in this year’s civic election. We’re willing to bet that when you look inwards, you will be both embarrassed and mightily ashamed.
VanRamblings? We have already cast a vote for Brandon Yan — and did so with clear eyes, and a full heart. Because we knew that by filling in the oval opposite Brandon Yan’s name we couldn’t lose — and neither will you.
66. CARR, Adriane | 68. WIEBE, Michael — electoral locks for City Council
If you don’t know who Adriane Carr is, if you’re unaware that she topped the polls in in 2014, besting her closest competitor by more than 10,000 votes, if you’re unaware that Adriane Carr is Vancouver’s most beloved civic politician, who for the past 7 years on Vancouver City Council has been our champion at City Hall, and in the governance of our city, who will top the polls again in 2018 — well, there’s just not that much we can tell you.
Either you love the city you live in, and are aware of the critical role Adriane Carr has played in championing the democratic engagement of the citizens of Vancouver, how she has been your voice on Vancouver City Council, or maybe you’ve never heard of Adriane Carr, or simply have some passing notion about her contribution to the livability of our city.
In which case, we would ask that you do a little research on your own. A Google search of Ms. Carr’s name is a good place to start. If you haven’t attended an all candidates meeting, there are still a few left. Best of all, I think: drop into the office one day this week, where you’ll find campaign manager Ryan Clayton and the Green Party’s superb Director of Communications, Alex Brunke (who is a woman, by the way), and we’re willing to bet that they’d make arrangements for you to speak to and meet with her — heck, you’ll probably find Adriane in the back room collating bunches of flyers to give to the volunteers (of which you could become one) for the canvassing of Vancouver neighbourhoods.
There’s no finer endeavour than being involved in an election campaign.
You can read all about Michael Wiebe on the Green Party of Vancouver website, where you can watch all of the videos Mr. Wiebe has made during the course of this election campaign, and where you’ll read all about Michael’s (we refer to Mr. Wiebe by his first name because we, and everyone he meets, find him to be friendly, open, welcoming and engaging, often the first words out of Michael’s mouth being, “Call me Michael. How can I help you? Do you have any questions can I answer for you.”
That’s Michael Wiebe: open, friendly, hard-working, dedicated to the greater good, a superb and accomplished Chairperson of the Vancouver Park Board throughout 2017, respected by his peers and those with whom he works who are more than twice his age — heck, you’ve probably noticed, Michael is a ‘young person’. Michael Wiebe: an old soul in a young person’s body, wise beyond his years, with a brilliant mind and warm spirit.
If you visit the Green Party website, you’ll read that Michael Wiebe created the Art House Society, playing a critical role in saving The Rio Theatre, that he owns the eight ½ restaurant lounge at 153 E. 8th Avenue, that he’s President of the Mt. Pleasant Business Improvement Association, and that he sits on the Persons with Disabilities Advisory / the Indigenous Peoples Advisory / and the LGBT2+/TGV2S committees at Vancouver City Hall.
That Michael Wiebe: a laggard, I tell you. There are 24 hours in a day, and he’s busy 20 hours of each day on his community involvements and his thriving small business. Heck, he’s young; Michael doesn’t need any sleep.
All joshing aside, Michael has emerged as a Kennedy-esque star during the course of this election campaign, articulate, passionate, informed, possessed of deep and abiding insights into all the issues candidates are facing in this election, absolutely dedicated to resolving our city’s affordable housing crisis, while working on a climate justice plan (and preparing Vancouver for the inevitable and challenging results of our climate change crisis) — and all of the issues that are of concern to you, and to him.
Michael Wiebe is a difference maker. We are proud to write that we enthusiastically endorse his candidacy for Vancouver City Council, and if those of you who are reading today’s VanRamblings get out to the advance polls, or vote this upcoming Saturday, your vote could very well lift Michael Wiebe onto Vancouver City Council, his true home while working for us.
VanRamblings endorsed Shauna Sylvester for Mayor way back on September 18th. We enthusiastically endorse Shauna for Mayor.
VanRamblings’ School Board endorsement rationale is available here.
VanRamblings’ Park Board endorsement rationale may be found here.
VanRamblings’ all women slate for Council may be found here.
