 Vancouver mayor talks up real (and metaphorical) bridge building with other municipalities | | |  | | | One of the most interesting things Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said this week in his “State of the City” address had very little to do with his city.
“I do want to note that Vancouver is not an island,” he said at the end of his speech. “Our city is surrounded by 23 municipalities that share co-governance on many critical parts of our region’s infrastructure. And for too long, Vancouver has been absolutely silent on the challenges facing our region.”
Technically, it’s 20 municipalities (plus a number of First Nations that Vancouver shares different governance arrangements with depending on the issue), but the point is the same: only a quarter of people living in Metro Vancouver live in the City of Vancouver, but the soft power of the biggest city has considerable sway on regional issues.
Former mayor Kennedy Stewart primarily used that sway to lobby higher levels of government on safe supply while forming an alliance with former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum on transportation issues.
But there were few fans of Doug McCallum among other mayors. Many of them didn’t see safe supply as an issue in their communities. And they found Vancouver’s overall attitude to be somewhat introverted and selfish — which, to be fair to Stewart, has been a somewhat regular criticism of Vancouver from suburban municipalities for several decades.
It was part of the reason that when Vancouver Coun. Lisa Dominato put her name forward to be vice-chair of Metro Vancouver in November. She lost to Anmore Mayor John McEwen, despite Vancouver having many more votes and influence than McEwen’s village of 2,400 people.
Put simply, the rest of Metro Vancouver hasn’t been particularly interested in Vancouver’s attempts to play a leadership role in the region. And it may be why Sim was so keen to extend an olive branch in his speech.
"Let me be very clear: Vancouver is to be there to lend a hand,” he said, later telling Metro Matters that he supported a rapid transit line across the Burrard Inlet to the North Shore being built ahead of the UBC extension if that was the will of other mayors in the region.
It’s a sign of support that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“There are lots of opportunities for a big city like Vancouver to have discussions with [higher levels] of government away from the table,” said North Vancouver District Mayor Mike Little.
“Most of us medium-sized municipalities, our best opportunity to communicate our priorities is at the transit table … so having large municipalities advocating for North Shore priorities is very much appreciated.”
It may be cynical realpolitik, and when push comes to shove, we’ll see whether Sim’s actions match his rhetoric.
But for the moment, it’s both literal and metaphorical bridge-building. | | |  | | | 1. TransLink | | | Speaking of TransLink! It’s not just a North Shore rapid transit line being debated these days — it’s the fundamental question of how the transportation authority will raise $20 billion for the improvements it wants to make over the next decade. Mayors are aware it will take a lot of work but are adamant that with gas tax revenue declining, an overhaul of the funding equation is badly needed.
Read more | | |  | | | 2. Vancouver | It was at Sim’s Board of Trade speech that he said Vancouver needed to regain its “swagger,” which media across the city — Metro Matters included — latched onto. At the same time, Sim also talked about substantive policies that were going to change, including the city’s 25-cent cup fee, discussed increasing housing supply, and heavily indicated that conversations around the city’s view-cone policies were now on the table.
Read more in the Daily Hive | | | |  | | | 3. Surrey | Like a reality TV show, the provincial government will make its decision on which police force will move on and which one will go home … right after this next commercial. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the saga will extend another month due to his ministry needing more information, much to the frustration of Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke. But the thing about being a mayor is there's not a heck of a lot you can do if a minister of the province disagrees with you. Read more | | | | | |  | | | 4. Saanich | It’s always interesting what types of local council motions become provincial news, and in the last week, it was a lobbying motion in Saanich that would have precisely no short-term impact on anyone. The debate about tying traffic fine amounts to income sparked a fair bit of conversation for obvious reasons — even if, in the end, it never got voted on for a lack of a seconder.
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forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this 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. | | | |
