BC government signals it will green light Vancouver Park Board abolition

Vancouver Park Board

Just under 17 hours after the Vancouver City Council’s decision to abolish the Vancouver Park Board, the Government of British Columbia has indicated it supports the highly controversial move in principle.

In a statement issued at 2:30 pm Thursday, Anne Kang, the BC minister of municipal affairs, says the provincial government will “respect the decision of Vancouver City Council on the future of the Park Board.”

However, the finer details of the transition and the required legislative amendments to the Vancouver Charter still need to be hammered out, emphasized Kang.

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In order to proceed, the City of Vancouver needs to provide the provincial government with a transition plan to address a range of considerations, such as First Nations consultation, parkland ownership, and the future of the existing Park Board workers.

“The Ministry of Municipal Affairs will begin work with the city to move forward on this significant change to governance in Vancouver. There are a number of items that need to be addressed, including land ownership and the future of the workers at the park board, and we need to make sure First Nations are consulted. We are asking the City of Vancouver to provide the Province with a transition plan to address these considerations so we can move forward together,” continues her statement.

Shortly after the release of Kang’s statement Thursday afternoon, the Mayor’s Office issued a statement thanking the provincial government for supporting City Council’s decision.

“I want to thank Minister Anne Kang for providing a path forward on our decision to fold in the Park Board,” said Mayor Ken Sim in a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized.

“I know that, with the support of the provincial government to change our Charter, we can enhance our ability to deliver essential park and recreation services, protect our green spaces, and build a more vibrant city for all. I am committed to a transparent and collaborative transition process to bring forward a new era for Vancouver’s parks.”

In an 8-3 vote along party lines, just before 10 pm on Wednesday, after hearing from public speakers and debate, City Council approved Mayor Ken Sim’s member motion to formally request the provincial government to amend the Vancouver Charter relating to the requirement to remove the need for a separately elected body overseeing the parks and recreation system.

On Monday evening, the newly recalibrated majority in the Park Board approved an urgent member motion to indicate to the provincial government their opposition to the Mayor’s plan, but this measure now appears to be symbolic in value, with the provincial government placing weight on City Council’s recommendation instead. In the process, Sim’s ABC party lost its majority in the Park Board, with three commissioners now choosing to sit as independents for the remainder of the term.

As stipulated in the Mayor’s approved motion, a new “Parks and Recreation Transition Working Group” will be created to “facilitate the smooth transition of responsibility for park and recreation services,” with the transition team comprised of the Mayor, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, two City councillors appointed by the Mayor, a current Park Board commissioner appointed by the Mayor, and up to six members of the public appointed by the Mayor. This group will have a time-limited mandate of six months to conduct their work.

With provincial backing on the general direction of the Mayor’s abolition move, this appears to spell the end of the separately elected entity overseeing Vancouver’s parks and recreation system. Similar to the systems that exist for the vast majority of municipal governments, the Park Board’s responsibilities would be transferred to the Mayor and City Council for governance and to City departments for operations.

If the provincial government finalizes the legislative amendments to the Vancouver Charter, this would be one of the most consequential changes to the governance system of the municipal government since Vancouver’s incorporation in 1886.

The Park Board was created in 1888 to oversee Stanley Park before the incremental expansion of its mandate to its present-day jurisdiction and responsibilities spanning 250 public parks and beaches, the VanDusen Botanical Garden, the Bloedel Conservatory, six golf courses, and 24 community and recreational centres, including facilities with swimming pools, ice rinks, and fitness gyms.

The Mayor believes the changes will bring greater accountability to the decisions made for the parks and recreation system, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies and the outcomes of operations and maintenance, but these claims have been challenged by some community centre associations, over two dozen former Park Board commissioners, the three sitting opposition City councillors, and others against the move.

Wednesday’s City Council meeting saw over 160 public speakers, with the vast majority voicing their opposition, and calling the move undemocratic and rushed. Sim first announced his proposal last week.

“I personally approached this meeting with a very open mind,” said Sim during the meeting. “I wanted to be convinced, I wanted someone to convince me, that every single city except for Minneapolis and Cultus Lake got it wrong,” which is a reference to the Vancouver Park Board being just one of two separately elected entities overseeing parks and recreation system in Canada and the United States.

“The overwhelming reasons for the arguments for keeping an elected Park Board are based on tradition in the past. And while we should celebrate tradition in the past, that is not a reason to keep the elected Park Board.”

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