Jim Evans introduced Gordon Price, who is an expert on how the city works having been a six term Vancouver City Councillor, a Business in Vancouver civic issues columnist, and a former director of the city program at SFU.
The big question: Who will the next mayor and council will be? Gordon just doesn’t know.
In the past, it has been simpler based on the assumption where 2 or at most 3 worthy candidates were in the race. This time around there are lots of parties running, with correspondingly lots of candidate. The media are not covering any of it in depth making it hard to get to know the platforms and their relative differences and strengths.
What are the most important issues? Housing affordability and growth are certainly important but won’t be deterministic as there really isn’t much to distinguish between parties. A lot has already been done. May not be aware of it, but a lot has been done.
There are at least two huge advances, the Broadway plan & high rises on Arbutus. It’s not clear yet whether Vancouverites are ready to accept the premise the mayor has been running on – all communities should be treated equally. There is an underlined assumption that we as a society don’t want to differentiate ourselves on social class. If a neighbourhood feels that they are being treated as other neighbourhoods they don’t want to be associated with, then it will be a tough sell.
One must always be careful when a politician uses first person plurals, we/us. We need to understand Canada as a whole, not just Vancouver. When Gordon moved to Vancouver, Canada was 96% of white ethnicity. It is now 52% of colour.
When trying to strategize politically. It’s difficult. In the absence of large mainstream media to provide the conversations. Predictions are difficult. It will only be after the results are in that we will see the perception of who we are.
There is the main issue of growth. Considering the underlying assumption that, since the 70s, cities are shaped by the transportation technology which, with increasing ease of movement, encourages and allows for increasing growth.
It is difficult to change the comfort we have in the character of our communities. For the most part, we want it to remain intact thus making it very difficult to implement change. What’s an acceptable rate of change? Many are used to a very low of rate of change. Small changes create quite a stir. The rate of change will affect a politician more than anything. What is the grand bargain going to be to handle the scale of growth needed.
The Broadway plan includes that existing renters will be accommodated first after being displaced while construction happens.
Whether that becomes the determinate issue of this election – then it will be Stewart or Harwood who will see what is desired.
Whether the generational change that we see, i.e., those priced out of the market, will vote as a block may be the deciding factor.
The 2nd big issue, a good old Canadian classic, is peace and order in government. An example was Trudeau’s decision, what he did, with the emergency act was to establish the expectation that Canada will respond.
When Kennedy said about the police force being systematically racist, not once but twice, was jaw dropping.
Now we hear ambiguous phrases bantered about, such as “mental health support”. What does that mean exactly? There are programs and organizations have done wonderful work on the eastside. There is still a lot to be done, but we need to recognize the progress made. “Safe supply” is another phrase that’s ambiguous. Though Gordon doesn’t think this will play in the upcoming election.
Finally, there is tax load and mandates. What do you get for your taxes? Police, libraries, water… The city is well run, it’s not a corrupt government. Citizens take for granted a lot of things, e.g., water, showing a trust.
Mandates – how much a city can take on. Infrastructure and basic services are okay and well-run. There is no responsibility for the open-ended entitlement programs such as mental health services.
To sum up – housing will be part of the conversation but will not differentiate. The main issue now will be random attacks on the street. If that’s the case then Kennedy may pay for his past comments and not having the support of the police.
The strongest hope is that as the People of Vancouver, we can find our way to mutually respectful communities.
