Earlier this week, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. co-hosted what was billed as a Pre-Election Town Hall featuring five mayoral candidates at Temple Sholom on Oak Street. It was moderated by Global News Hour anchor Sophie Lui and attended by (in no particular order) Ken Sim (A Better City); Kennedy Stewart (Forward Together); Mark Marissen (Progress Vancouver); Fred Harding, Non Partisan Association (NPA); and Colleen Hardwick (TEAM For a Livable Vancouver).
I mention "in no particular order" since when the panelists were seated it appeared to my eye that there was a certain order until one Twitter follower pointed out they were simply in alphabetical order!
(Which reminds me. September 16th will be an important date for Vancouver mayoral, council, and Park Board candidates since that is when the random order of candidates will be decided. As many will recall, in 2018, Vancouver did away with alphabetical listing of candidates, in response to a motion by then Councillor Andrea Reimer. As noted in a statement on the city's website "Research has shown many voters are more likely to vote for those listed first on a ballot, meaning that candidates at the top of an alphabetical list are perceived to have an advantage over those lower down."
I like to think I played a small part in this change since I often wrote about the 'unfair advantage' those candidates whose names with A, B, and C had when there was a long list of candidates.
(Not surprisingly, George Afleck, Suzanne Anton, Elizabeth Ball and Kim Capri always disagreed with this.)
In another column I suggested that multiple ballots should be printed which allowed every candidate to have their name on top on some of the ballots. While I realized this might be impractical, the city did agree to randomize the order of candidates' names.
As can be seen from this photo, the topics for debate (or discussion as hoped by the moderator), reflected the interests of the organizing agencies, and were quite different than what might have been selected by the Board of Trade or many other organizations.
The audience: The room was not full, and many in attendance appeared to be exceptionally loud hand clappers representing each of the various parties. While there may have been media coverage in the next day's Global News Hour and in Chinese community media, I could not find any print accounts of the event.
That may be because it was oftentimes a very dull and boring affair. While the topics were important, there was considerable overlap, and as a result some candidates repeated the same answers for many of the questions. One candidate seemed offer the same response to every question!
While I hesitate to summarize what was said, I will offer the following general observations.
Mayor Stewart demonstrated a much greater understanding of the powers and authority of the different levels of government than some of the candidates. When accused of planning a mobility/congestion tax, he pointed out that it was not within the city's powers to impose this. When asked if he supported the concept, he said he did not. In fact, each candidate said they opposed it.
Ken Sim is a very nice guy. But often when he spoke, I was reminded that there are two types of fairy tales. One begins "Once upon a time". The other begins "When I am elected". Or in Ken Sim's case "When I am elected with an ABC council majority." He consistently told the audience what many wanted to hear, and a majority of the crowd was most appreciative. However, he needs to either stop telling people they will be getting permits in three days or explain how this is going to be achieved. Because it can't be.
Colleen Hardwick is also very knowledgeable about municipal politics since other than the mayor, she is the only candidate with council experience. Colleen is very articulate, and while she may not always tell people what they want to hear, she speaks with authority. I often agree with her perspective on things. I think she's right that there are far too many rezonings in the city so that the city can generate significant Community Amenity Contributions from developers. However, I do not agree with her belief that there is adequate zoned capacity in the city and therefore don't need more rezonings. Yes, there is a lot of capacity above the single-storey retail buildings along many arterials, but that's not what we need. Hopefully, the Vancouver Plan will address this by creating more opportunities for different types of housing.
Mark Marissen also speaks with authority. He has a good voice, is articulate, and as a longstanding political strategist understands government. However, (and he won't like this), as telling from the more recent polls, he is not going to win.
Furthermore, as was the case in the 2018 mayoral election, he will be splitting the vote. No, he wasn't a candidate in that election, but he was behind Hector Bremner. As a Daily Hive article from last February titled: Opinion: Congratulations Kennedy Stewart on winning 2022 mayoral re-election correctly noted, had Marissen's candidate Hector Bremner not been running in the 2018 mayoral race, Ken Sim would have won. I am sure I am not alone believing Mark's candidacy this time will further split the vote increasing the likelihood of a victory for the mayor.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-municipal-election-2022
This brings me to Fred Harding. When the NPA announced he would be its last-minute 'fill-in' mayoral candidate, I questioned on Twitter why the party would do something so stupid. Fred Harding ran in the last election for another party and came in sixth with 5,640 votes. I suspect he'll get more votes this time around since running for the NPA is usually worth a fair number of votes.
While he appears to be a very self-assured individual and speaks with authority, as a former policeman he offers a very narrow 'law and order' perspective on municipal politics. While he won't win, he too could help Kennedy Stewart win.
There are more mayoral debates scheduled between now and election day. Hopefully there will be more informed discussion on what is needed to address the current problems in the city. I'd like to hear how the candidates would engender greater civic pride, since I think this has disappeared over the last decade. Colleen Hardwick's focus on creating stronger neighbourhood planning could be a step in the right direction.
While the city can't solve the horrific problems of the Downtown Eastside on its own, there is much more that can and should be done. What kind of leadership will each offer.
I hope there will be more discussion on what the city can realistically do to address housing affordability. As Ken Sim correctly noted, approval times need to be reduced for projects. But as the mayor correctly noted, the key is to get support from the province and federal government. And there's no doubt he has been successful doing this. (If he's re-elected, I just hope the Empty Home Tax program will be revised to be more reasonable and equitable, especially if it is going to be increased to 5%.)
So if you missed this debate, don't worry. You didn't miss a lot. But do try and attend some of the next ones. There's one on September 19th.
https://coalitionvan.org/posts/2022-08-24-mayoral-candidate-forum-19-sept/
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