2014 Mayor Gregor Robertson & City Councillor Inaugural, Creekside Community Centre
This upcoming, Monday, November 5th, Vancouver’s newly-elected Mayor and City Councillors will be sworn into office for a four-year term, as will their civic elected counterparts, the seven Park Board Commissioners, and nine new Board of Education Trustees with the Vancouver School Board.
Monday, October 29th were the last meetings of the now past term for all three elected bodies. Tears were shed at School Board for OneCity Vancouver’s Carrie Bercic, the conscience of the Board this past year, and the only incumbent Trustee not to be re-elected.
At a subdued Park Board meeting on Monday night, outgoing Commissioner Catherine Evans thanked the public for placing their faith in her to represent them around the Park Board table this past four years. And at Vancouver City Council, it was a happy-sad day, which saw several Councillors leaving City Hall — when now retired NPA City Councillor George Affleck left City Hall to head home, a surprise party was waiting for him.
Newly-elected Vancouver School Board trustees take office at their 2017 inauguration, a moving part of which involved an indigenous ceremony wishing the new trustees well.
The School Board inaugural will be a low-key affair open to the public, set to take place this upcoming Monday, November 5th at 7pm, in the large Board room (pictured above), situated within the VSB offices at 1580 West Broadway. The new and returning Trustees will be sworn into office by Secretary-Treasurer, J. David Green, with friends, family and the general public seated in the gallery; after the inaugural, a brief reception will be held in the cafeteria, with small pieces of cake available to the public.
2014 Park Board Inaugural for newly-elected Commissioners, at Van Dusen Gardens
The Park Board inaugural will also be a low key, open to the public affair, set to take place next Monday evening, November 5th at 7pm, at VanDusen Botanical Gardens, with seven new Commissioners set to be sworn in, with family, friends and the public — including VanRamblings and a couple of friends who will be present with us — seated in the room in the far southwest corner of the Van Dusen building. Afterwards, given that any “snacks” are paid for with taxpayer’s dollar, there’ll be canapés available - but if you don’t get in to grab one right away, they’ll be gone.
At neither of the School or Park Board inaugurals will wine be available.
Mayor and Council will be sworn in as part of an invitation only, private affair. One Councillor with whom we spoke was told he could invite 10 guests. Another Councillor has invited 15 of her friends and supporters. All totaled, as in the photo at the top of today’s column, anywhere from 180 – 200 specially invited guests will be present at this inaugural ceremony.
As we say, this inaugural is a private affair, not open to the public.
When Justin Trudeau was sworn into office as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 4, 2015, along with members of his new Cabinet the event, although the inaugural was special invitation only, from start to finish, from the time Justin Trudeau stepped off the bus heading toward Rideau Hall for the inaugural ceremony for his new government, the entire event was broadcast live on all of Canada’s broadcast networks. Hardly, then, a hidden-away-from-the-public event.
When John Horgan’s government was sworn in to office on Tuesday, July 18th, 2017, the incoming government broke precedent by inviting the public to attend the inaugural ceremony — more than 7,000 British Columbians, including VanRamblings and a coterie of friends — the Legislature wide open to the public throughout the day, with Premier John Horgan cheerfully trumpeting, “This is the people’s building!” And so it is.
Note. Christy Clark’s inaugural in 2013 was private affair held in the Legislature, peopled mostly with developers and financial backers of both hers and the B.C. Liberal party’s campaign for office.
In 2008, 2011 and 2014, when the newly-elected Mayor and City Councillors were sworn into office, the press went to town on the private, invitation only City Hall inaugural ceremony, a private affair not open to the public (or “the rabble” as some Councillors liked to say — the sounds of “get those smelly plebes away from us, we don’t want anything to do with them” could be heard ringing through the air).
The press were only too happy to report that $74,000, $85,000 and $96,000 was spent in respective Vision Vancouver inaugurals on the private, closed door, not open to the public inaugural events, “a party at taxpayer expense” could read in our local newspapers, or viewed as the lead item on the evening news, that lustrous inaugural night.
On October 20th, only 12 short days ago, 38% of Vancouver’s voting public voted for change. Gosh. VanRamblings wonders if that call for change maybe, could have, might have meant a low-key inaugural for Mayor and Council that would be, y’know, open to the “rabble”, oh we mean … public.
Ain’t gonna be happening in 2018, VanRamblings is here to report.
Two weeks from now, when some enterprising civic affairs reporter - our money’s on CBC civic affairs reporter Justin McElroy - the most important new voice covering civic politics in our city in a generation - or that old (young?) curmudgeon, the Vancouver Courier’s Mike Howell, or maybe freelance curmudgeon, Bob Mackin - receives the reply to his FOI request, only to discover that City Council’s 2018 inaugural has set taxpayers back only $102,000 (what with inflation and all) — well, gosh, galldarnit, gee, shucks, there’ll be whoop-de-dooin’ galore in the media, Global TV’s Chris Gailus with a big shit eatin’ grin on his face as he reports out on “the bunch of spendthrifts just elected as Mayor and City Council in Vancouver” — he might have said “autocratic spendthrifts”, but GlobalBC News Director Jill Krop doesn’t go in for that kind of rhetorical malarkey.
A Prescription to Open Mayor & Council Inaugural To the Public
VanRamblings readers have asked that we publish an update, respecting how — either four years from now, or later this month or next — the Inaugural celebration of the investiture of the new Mayor and Council might be made open to the public.
The “solution”? Open up City Hall, in much the same way the provincial government opened the B.C. Legislature to the public for the inaugural of their new government. Perhaps on a Saturday (this year), or on a Monday after the Vancouver municipal election in 2022, hold the celebration at City Hall, opening up the main floor of City Hall, the cafeteria in the basement, and the third floor where the Mayor and Councillors offices are located, as well as Council chambers, and allow the public access to all of these areas.
Of course, security will be required, and Mayor and Council will have to be on hand throughout the day of celebration that could begin at 11am and conclude at 8pm — with City Hall left open for the day.
Mayor and Councillors would mingle with the public, as Cabinet ministers did at the NDP inaugural — what a great opportunity to get to know who it is Mayor and Council are serving. Chances are, too, that for many of the attendees, this might be the first time they’ve actually visited City Hall.
An empowered public. A Mayor and Councillor meeting the public in a celebratory, party-like atmosphere. Sounds good to us — and to Mayor & Council, too, we bet. After all, who doesn’t like a party?
The cost for the day’s festivities, apart from cakes and perhaps a few canapés available in the cafeteria, minimal and for a good cause — Mayor and Council could even employ the celebratory event as a fundraiser for an agreed upon charitable foundation.
Winners all around, an invested and respected public, an opportunity to open up City Hall as “the people’s building”, and an engaged and delightful and delighted Mayor and Councillor contingent.
Over to you Mayor and newly-elected and returning City Councillors.
Okay. Let’s take a brief break for just a moment.
Is VanRamblings accusing our incoming Mayor and City Councillors of anything? No we are not. Let us repeat that, and expand on the idea: VanRamblings continues to believe, save one of the elected Councillors (who, in the early days, is proving to be just as unhinged as we thought s/he might be) that we have elected the strongest and most progressive Mayor and City Council in a generation, dating back as far as 1972.
Although we’ll get heck for writing the following, we’ll say it anyway: we love every cotton pickin’ one of our new Councillors, and Mayor, too, and believe all that they will do in the weeks, months and years to come will be beneficial to the public interest.
All we’re sayin is: it’s the optics, kids. It’s always about the optics.
Why court, or be seen to court, a controversy not of your own making, when it was the outgoing Mayor and Council, and City Hall staff who made the decision to plow ahead with a private inaugural ceremony?
And, let’s get real here for a moment: who in heck wants to come onto Council, which one of our current newbie Councillor-elects wants to start making demands, even before they take office (well, so far there’s been one!) for what on the surface appears to be a picayune issue, hardly on the radar of our newly-electeds?
Heck, as we say above, the Councillor-elects haven’t even been sworn into office yet, and are hardly in any position to be making demands.
We have elected eight novice Vancouver City Councillors, five on the left side of the spectrum including an independent mayor & electeds from 4 different parties. So far, there’s been no caucusing going on among them.
Nope, let’s be clear: there ain’t no finger pointin’ going on here.
Just a word to the wise, a reminder: we live in a democracy, Mayor and Council are elected to serve the public interest, and when on the first day in office the public is excluded, kept away from participating in the celebratory Councillor inaugural they voted into office, a poor, anti-democratic “tone” is set from the outset. All we’re here to say is, it ain’t a very good look.
Top, l-r: Michael Wiebe, Christine Boyle, Jean Swanson, Colleen Hardwick, Pete Fry
B (l-r:) Adriane Carr, Melissa De Genova, Lisa Dominato, Rebecca Bligh, Sarah Kirby-Yung
Mayor and Council are comprised of 9 rookies. When, as is the case at the moment & over the course of the past 10 days, they’re being overwhelmed with input from city staff and well-wishers (and bothersome cranks like VanRamblings), it’s amazing that any of the newly-elected officials at City Hall are keeping their sanity. VanRamblings is proud of each and every one of those persons voters elected into office, and we remain confident that, together, they’re going to do an outstanding job serving the public interest.
At 9am next Monday morning, November 5th, 2018, our newly-elected Mayor and Council will spend the morning having their pictures taken, separately and as a group, and be shown their new offices. The inaugural ceremony takes place in the afternoon, at a location we won’t disclose.
Then Councillors are going to have to fasten their seat belts …
Tuesday, November 5th at 9am, all day until 4:30pm, and every weekday that week and the next week, from 9am til 4:30pm, all the way through until Friday, November 16th, our newly electeds will be oriented to their new jobs, meeting department heads and staff, shown their way around all of the buildings where work takes place to serve citizens’ interests, shown all the secret corridors (and elevators), concluding with an all day “lecture” on meeting procedure and decorum.
Then they’ll be ready to get down to business.
