 | Saturday, January 15, 2022
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | Still unclear whether there will be any major challengers to the left of Kennedy Stewart for re-election | | |  | | | What does Vancouver councillor Jean Swanson think of Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart?
“I like some of the stuff Kennedy does, he’s good on safe supply, but some of the things I’m not so happy with, so I’m keeping my options open,” she said.
Swanson announced Thursday that she would seek re-election to council, saying she was proud of the work she’s done to advocate for affordable housing, racial and Indigenous justice, and climate action. But she was coy on whether she wanted to see the current mayor re-elected as well.
That’s in part because the former NDP MP has disagreed with her on many occasions: Stewart voted against many of her motions or amendments, or even barred them from being debated, on the grounds that they’re not feasible or legal under the Vancouver Charter.
And on affordable housing, Swanson has been the second most likely councillor to vote against market rental or non-market rental proposals, arguing it could gentrify neighbourhoods and that the city could push developers to lower proposed rents more.
In other words, her vision for city hall — and that of COPE, Vancouver’s oldest and most consistently left-wing party — doesn’t happen most of the time.
Which is why she’s hoping more like-minded colleagues get elected with her in October.
“Hopefully with a strong progressive council, we can lead and show how we need to change the way we live in a way that’s just and fair for everyone,” she said, announcing her support for COPE running enough candidates to potentially get a majority in council.
COPE is expected to determine in April whether they're putting up a challenger against Stewart. Vision Vancouver will make a similar announcement, likely in March or April. And the Green Party could also still put up a mayoral candidate.
Those will be big dominos to fall in this election cycle. So far, all of the new political parties and mayoral candidates have attacked Stewart from the right — arguing the city has too much crime, or too much red tape, or acts too much on issues outside its jurisdiction.
But there are those that believe Vancouver's actions on homelessness, climate action and reconciliation haven’t matched the city’s rhetoric, and want the city to go further.
Whether they will have a candidate in this election to challenge Stewart is yet to be determined. | | |  | | | | | It’s important to remember that Statistics Canada will be putting out data from last year’s census within the next month, so these estimates might move a little when they become official.
That being said, there are a lot of interesting local political observations you can make with these preliminary numbers.
First, Surrey isn’t just growing rapidly by raw numbers, but also by percentage. It’s now conceivable it could eclipse Vancouver in population by the end of this decade. Second, the lowest increases in population are in Port Moody and North Vancouver District, both of which elected mayors in 2018 that promised to slow down growth. If all you care about is delivering on campaign promises, you’d be pretty pleased!
And finally, look at all the municipalities with the highest growth. Surrey, the Township of Langley and Maple Ridge are very big, but the City of North Vancouver, New Westminster and Langley City are among the smallest in the region.
When it comes to how quickly or slowly different parts of the region are growing, political culture matters much more than geography. | | |  | | | 1. Homelessness | | | In a further sign that a lot of municipalities are feeling some local conflict over questions of homelessness, mental health and alleged street disorder, members of the B.C. Urban Mayors Caucus have begun a campaign asking for the province to provide more housing and funding support for people with overlapping mental health, substance use, trauma and acquired brain injury issues.
Read more | | |  | | | 2. Victoria | There may not be a councillor in B.C. that attracts as much attention and vitriol as Victoria’s Ben Isitt, but usually the controversies don’t lead to anything other than the same debates about his advocacy efforts that have existed for years. This time though, he’s been formally reprimanded by the city for breaching privacy rules based on newsletters he sent last year.
Read more in the Times Colonist | | | |  | | | 3. Langford | The suburban municipality has been quickly growing for decades, and a lot of that is credited to (or blamed on) the lack of bureaucracy and regulation compared to virtually every other urban area in the province. To wit: the other 12 municipalities in the Capital Regional District have a tree protection bylaw, while Langford council just rejected one this week. Read more in the Saanich News | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
