Opinion: Some novel ideas for Vancouver's mayor and City Council

Max Lindenthaler/Shutterstock | Ken Sim/ABC Vancouver

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Penny Gurstein, PhD, who is Professor Emeritus at the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia.

In recent interviews, Mayor Ken Sim emphatically stated that he wants to improve Vancouver City Hall and make “things better, more transparent, more focused.”

He goes on to say about those who object, “This is what happens when you try to change a system. The system uses its old tools and tricks to stop change. Some councillors would rather grandstand in the media versus getting the job done to improve City Hall.”

Taking him at his word, if good governance is the goal, then how can principles and practices that ensure accountability, transparency, fairness, and effective organizational oversight be adhered to when many of Vancouver’s citizens, as well as some ABC elected officials, are questioning the mayor and ABC councillors’ governance practices?

How can the mayor and City Council learn to work together for the betterment of the city?

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Here is a novel idea: how about getting a better understanding of what governance and policymaking entail in a democratic society?

Let’s start with accountability.

Why not listen to City staff and citizens beyond those who voted for you? Why not acknowledge your mistakes instead of blaming others? While you’re at it, in the interest of transparency, why not stop making arbitrary decisions within the ABC caucus without the background to support them and without the knowledge of the non-ABC councillors?

What about fairness? Is the decision made in May 2023 to refund developers $3.8 million in already collected empty home taxes even-handed? As these funds were intended to build affordable housing for citizens struggling to find any housing, the optics are not good.

How is turning a boardroom at City Hall into a private gym for the mayor showing effective organizational oversight? What message does it send to staff?

What about learning to be respectful of differences of opinion within City Council and in your ABC party? That is what democracy is about. Live with it.

If making changes to be more effective in governance seems too daunting, then why don’t you just suspend yourselves until a third-party review is done of your performance, just as you are proposing for the Integrity Commissioner? And before your suspension is lifted, why not make it a requirement that the mayor and City Council be tested on basic governance principles? Again, too daunting?

The citizens of Vancouver have entrusted you with governing our city. Get over it. Or, continue with your course of action, and then see what happens at the next election.

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