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Vancouver’s Libraries Are Closing.
Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver Had Money for FIFA. Enough Said.
Want to know what Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver administration thinks is essential? Look at what it is willing to spend money on — and what it is willing to let disappear.
For FIFA, there was $13.4 million.
For hospitality packages, suites and lounges surrounding the 2026 World Cup, Vancouver City Hall found the money. The City says the packages were purchased as assets that could be resold to offset World Cup costs. Fine. Let’s accept that explanation.
But ask Ken Sim’s administration to keep neighbourhood libraries open seven days a week and suddenly we are talking about budgets, constraints and difficult choices.
Apparently, in ABC Vancouver’s vision of a world-class city, FIFA deserves a suite while Vancouver’s children can wait outside the library on Monday.
That isn’t a budgetary footnote.
It is a statement of priorities.
And Vancouver voters should remember it come voting day October 17, 2026.
Ten Vancouver Public Library branches are closed on Mondays.
Other branches have reduced hours. The Vancouver Public Library Board has made clear that restoring Monday service would require additional funding, and COPE Councillor Sean Orr has repeatedly pushed City Council to restore the lost hours and move toward seven-day-a-week library service.
Orr calls libraries “vital community hubs.”
He is right.
In fact, he may be understating their importance.
A public library is one of the few places left in Vancouver where you can walk through a door without being expected to spend money.
Think about that.
Vancouver is increasingly a city of private spaces. Coffee shops want you to buy coffee. Restaurants want you to buy food. Entertainment venues want your admission fee. Commercial workspaces want your membership.
The public library wants nothing from you except that you come in.
You can read.
You can study.
You can use a computer.
You can access the Internet.
You can borrow books.
You can attend a programme.
You can bring your child to story time.
You can sit quietly.
And you don’t have to buy anything.
That is what public means.
For young families, libraries are an essential piece of the social infrastructure of a city.
Children’s story time at the Britannia Public Library on Vancouver’s east side
In a city where housing, childcare, food and virtually every form of recreation are becoming more expensive, the library offers parents something increasingly rare: a place where their children can learn, play and discover without another bill arriving at the end.
For children growing up in small apartments, the library can provide something their homes cannot — space to read, study and concentrate.
For teenagers, it can be a safe place after school.
For students, it can be a quiet place to work.
For newcomers, it can be a gateway to language learning, information and civic life.
And for seniors, the library can be much more than a place to borrow books.
It can be a place to go.
A place to meet people.
A place to use technology.
A place to read newspapers.
A place to participate in community life.
For an isolated senior, that can be enormously important.
And yet this is the public service Ken Sim & ABC have allowed to become less accessible.
COPE Council candidate Chloe Leslie has argued that Vancouver must be a city that works for ordinary residents rather than simply for those who can afford it.
The library debate is a perfect illustration of that principle.
Because when you reduce library hours, you don’t inconvenience everyone equally.
A wealthy professional with a home office, high-speed internet, a private collection of books and the ability to drive across the city can shrug.
A single parent working irregular hours cannot.
A senior without a car cannot.
A teenager whose home isn’t conducive to studying cannot.
A newcomer without reliable internet cannot.
A person experiencing poverty cannot.
Cuts to public services are never merely cuts. They determine who gets access.
And that’s why the FIFA comparison matters.
This is not about suggesting that the City literally handed Ken Sim’s friends $13.4 million in tickets. It didn’t. The World Cup expenditure involved hospitality packages purchased through the tournament’s official hospitality provider, with the intention of recovering costs through resale.
But that doesn’t change the fundamental political question.
When ABC wants something badly enough, the money appears.
When the administration wants Vancouver to shine on the international stage, millions can be committed.
But when residents ask for the doors of their neighbourhood libraries to remain open?
Suddenly there are constraints.
Apparently Vancouver can afford to host the world.
It just can’t afford to keep the library open on Monday.
That is not leadership.
It is a question of priorities.
And it is a question Vancouver voters should answer this fall.
Mayor Ken Sim has repeatedly presented himself as the Mayor of a modern, ambitious, internationally recognized Vancouver.
Wonderful.
But a world-class city isn’t defined by FIFA hospitality suites.
It is defined by the quality of life of the people who live there.
A genuinely world-class city makes sure a child can access a book regardless of family income.
It makes sure seniors have places to gather.
It makes sure newcomers can learn.
It makes sure students can study.
It protects public spaces where people aren’t required to consume.
And it keeps those spaces open when people actually need them.
Seven days a week.
Sean Orr has put that principle before City Council.
Chloe Leslie has made equitable public services part of her campaign.
Now every candidate seeking a seat at City Hall should be asked the same question:
Will you vote to restore Vancouver’s lost library hours and make seven-day-a-week service the standard across the city?
No slogans.
No vague promises.
No “when finances improve.”
Yes or no.
Because the library is not a luxury.
It is one of the foundations of a civilized city.
And on October 17, Vancouver voters will have an opportunity to decide whether Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver’s priorities reflect the city they want to live in.
If you believe Vancouver should be a city where public institutions are strengthened rather than diminished, where children and seniors matter as much as FIFA, where public space remains public and where access to knowledge isn’t determined by your income, then the choice is clear.
Vancouver doesn’t need another four years of ABC’s version of “world-class.”
It needs a City Hall that understands the meaning of the word public.
On October 17, vote ABC Vancouver out.
And then open the library doors.
Seven days a week.
