Vancouver

Let's stop with the nonsense here about restaurants not be able to find staff in BC. Just pay them a decent and liveable wage.

So is it a done deal that Robertson will be running for the federal Liberals next election - maybe in Vancouver Centre?

Even with council by-election victory, it's far too early for the NPA to crack open the Champagne

Much of the media coverage has focused on the woes of Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver, even though it elected exactly the same number of politicians as the NPA.

The reality is the results still showed deep mistrust for both Vision Vancouver and the NPA.

Bremner, a public-relations executive, only captured 27.83 percent of the council votes. He collected just 13,372 votes, which was lower than 16 of the 19 school board candidates.

Three NPA school board candidates, including former trustee Christopher Richardson, were defeated.

Two of them received fewer votes than the lowest-ranking Vision Vancouver candidate and one was even below the only COPE candidate.

This hardly ranks as a major success, given the effort that the NPA exerted in painting its Vision school-board opponents as bullies.

NPA fared better in the past

The last time the NPA had only two trustees on the Vancouver school board was after the Vision Vancouver landslide of 2008.

In the 2011 and 2014 elections, the NPA elected more trustees.

So while the NPA might feel it's on the rebound with four members on Vancouver city council, the foundation remains weak.

Part of the problem for the NPA has been that its base on the West Side of Vancouver is producing a smaller percentage of the overall votes as it did in the party's heyday of the late 1980s and 1990s.

The rising number of landed immigrants (who can't vote) and the lack of densification in the NPA's prime areas, like Southlands, Dunbar, and Shaughnessy, have given the party a disadvantage in general elections.

In recent years, there's been greater densification on the East Side and, to a lesser extent, in the West End. This adds up to a growing number of homeowners in Grandview-Woodland, Kensington-Cedar Cottage, Hastings-Sunrise, and other East Side neighbourhoods where many voters tend to dislike the NPA.

It's a simple formula: more citizen-residents add up to more votes.

Cooperation could stymie NPA

While it's clear from yesterday's by-election that voters' love affair with Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver is fading, it remains unclear where their support may go in the 2018 general election.

This time around, many voted for independent Jean Swanson, Green candidate Pete Fry, and OneCity's Judy Graves. But it's conceivable that they may vote more strategically next time to prevent the NPA from seizing power.

If Vision Vancouver, for example, were to run a short slate of council candidates, perhaps the Greens and OneCity would be amenable to also running short slates so as to concentrate their vote. 

Five Vision candidates, three Greens, and two OneCity council candidates, for instance, would likely be enough to keep the NPA from taking control of council, which has 11 members including the mayor.

The three parties could all endorse the Vision mayoral candidate—whether that's Robertson, Andrea Reimer, or Raymond Louie—as being preferable to anyone running for the NPA.

The Greens might really get behind a Reimer mayoral bid, given that she was first elected as a Green trustee, if she ran as a unity candidate rather than having the name "Vision Vancouver" after her name.

The NPA might then be kept from gaining a majority even if Jean Swanson were to run as an independent, Mary Jean Dunsdon ran as the marijuana candidate, and COPE ran a slate of candidates.

Swanson would likely get elected under this scenario, but she would be loath to support the aims of NPA politicians, particularly if Reimer took a left turn.

As things appear today, the only way the NPA can get a large number of council candidates elected is if there's sufficient vote splitting. This was the lesson of the 2017 council by-election.

And you can be sure that the Vision, Green, and OneCity brain trusts will learn from this experience and avoid leaving themselves vulnerable in the same way in 2018.

https://www.straight.com/news/981546/even-council-election-victory-its-f...

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/10/17/Byelection-Results-Should-Worry-All-Parties/

Devon Rowcliffe shared a link.

16 October at 15:46

Bill Tieleman shows why first-past-the-post is a flawed voting system: it causes vote-splitting and bullies voters into strategic voting. Less than 30% of Vancouver voters wanted this right-wing councillor candidate elected, yet he won.

Crowded Field on Left Could Hand Wins to NPA Saturday | The Tyee

Vision, Greens, COPE, One City set to split vote, giving NPA edge in school board, council races.

THETYEE.CA

Maybe Patti Bacchus will  be Vision Vancouver's mayoralty candidate  in next year's Vancouver Council elections

Patti Bacchus calls on Chilliwack trustee to resign after he slams allowing kids to change their gender

https://www.straight.com/life/985466/patti-bacchus-calls-chilliwack-trus...

With Coun. Andrea Reimer leaving, why not just shut down Vision Vancouver?

https://www.straight.com/news/986281/coun-andrea-reimer-leaving-why-not-...

BC Ferries are shut down due to strong winds 

Unless you are part of the 1% or already own a house you are totally screwed

Jobs are going begging now, many are not being filled, as workers cannot afford to live here any more.

Vancouver condo rush sparks local and foreign flipping frenzy

https://www.reuters.com/article/canada-housing-vancouver/vancouver-condo...

https://www.straight.com/news/998426/why-george-affleck-rodney-dangerfield-vancouver-politics

http://business.financialpost.com/real-estate/vancouver-considers-banning-foreign-buyers-amid-perfect-storm-in-housing-market

http://thebreaker.news/news/shocker-at-npa-board-election/

 Vancouver School Board menorah mistake leads to a Christmas sorry

• GETTY

The Vancouver School Board (VSB) made international headlines this week over a holiday-decoration dispute after its top leaders’ fumbled response made matters worse, not better.

It’s a shame, because the last time the VSB made international news was in 2014 when I was interviewed on the BBC and the Al Jazeera news networks about the VSB’s ground-breaking, progressive, and inclusive sexual-orientation and gender-identity policy. This time, unfortunately, it was for allowing Christmas trees and wreaths in an elementary school while refusing to let two 11-year-olds bring in menorahs or other Hanukkah decorations.

I was stunned by such a blatant violation of the VSB policy, which states that the board “is committed to developing and supporting an environment that affirms, respects, reflects, and celebrates the racial, ethno-cultural, and religious diversity of our society”.

As a former VSB chair and spokesperson, I expected a swift public response apologizing for the mistake, including a commitment to enforce board policy, an assurance that it wouldn’t happen again, and praise and thanks for the two students who spoke out on the issue.  

Grade 6 students deserve an A for leadership; VSB gets a fail

Those students—Maya Sontz and Rebecca Weinberg—both deserve an A for leadership, while the VSB administrators and board get a failing grade for a response that seemed to make the offense worse, not better, for several distressing days.

In case you haven’t been following the saga of how General Gordon elementary on Vancouver’s West Side became an international news story for all the wrong reasons, here’s what played out last week.

The school was decorated with Christmas trees, wreaths, and other Christmas-themed decorations. A winter concert was scheduled, featuring holiday songs about Santa and a reindeer named Rudolph. Maya and Rebecca asked if they could bring in some Hanukkah-themed decorations, and Maya’s mom asked the school principal to include some Hanukkah songs during the school concert, which was to take place duringHanukkah.

The principal said “No.”

“I would really like to feel represented”

I got wind of this via a CTV news report in which Rebecca said, "I have nothing against Christmas. I just think they should add more Hanukkah and other religions. I would really like to feel represented."

The ridiculous rationale for turning down the girls’ perfectly reasonable request, according to news coverage, was that the principal declared Christmas trees and other Christmas-themed decorations and songs to be cultural, while Hanukkah-themed decorations and songs were religious, and thus not allowed under the VSB policy.

I know. Bizarre and, quite frankly, ignorant and shocking.

People make some really bad judgement calls. Even school principals. I get that. That’s when someone up the school board food chain steps in and shows leadership and deals with it promptly and properly. Except this time, they didn’t.

Instead of the board chair, Janet Fraser, stepping in immediately with the response I outlined above, which is what I would’ve done, she sent VSB associate superintendent Nancy Brennan to respond to CTV. Associate superintendents are senior managers who are well paid to be leaders with, you know, good judgement.

Given the opportunity to apologize and assure the public that VSB policy would be upheld and the Gordon mistake would not be repeated, Brennan doubled down on the principal’s decision, telling CTV: “How individual schools treat cultural and religious symbols is ultimately up to them.

"I'm no expert in terms of cultural symbols and representations, so I wouldn't want to be making those decisions at the district level for schools in terms of what's appropriate or not," Brennan—one of the district’s highest-paid senior officials—added.

Wrong. Completely wrong. It is senior managers’ job to ensure that board policies are followed at the school level. The board makes policies to ensure that it is not left up to individuals at the school level to make ignorant decisions like allowing Christmas decorations while excluding Hanukkah ones. And for the love of Christmas and/or Hanukkah, you don’t need to be an expert to know what a Christmas tree represents.

It didn’t end there, unfortunately. With public outrage growing and Facebook groups buzzing, the VSB put out a mealy-mouthed December 8 statement quoting John Lewis, the interim superintendent, who is Brennan’s boss. He didn’t do much better. Neither did board chair Janet Fraser, who chimed in and brushed the matter off as “an unfortunate misunderstanding”. Neither apologized and neither made it clear that Hanukkah and decorations would be welcome alongside the Christmas ones.

Parents and the public were unimpressed, to say the least

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) weighed in on December 9 with a widely shared and commented-on Facebook post saying: “On Thursday evening, we were troubled to learn that a Vancouver school had not allowed Hanukkah decorations and songs in neither the school nor the school's Christmas concert. We are incredibly proud of the two grade six students who voiced their objections and—when unsuccessful at the school level—took their efforts public.

“CIJA immediately contacted the Vancouver School Board and provincial government officials to clarify their positions and express our concerns. These officials confirmed that diversity and inclusion are enshrined in their policies.

“However, policies are meaningless if they are not implemented,” the CIJA statement added. “We continue to work with officials to seek a resolution. We are hopeful this can be achieved within the next few days.”

On Sunday (December 10), Fraser gave it another try and issued a wordy statement that finally got around to apologizing by the third paragraph: “The VBE sincerely regrets any practices at General Gordon Elementary that have negatively impacted a sense of inclusion and representation for students and parents within our school community. As Chairperson, I apologize on behalf of the Board to the students and their families who did not feel welcomed and included at their school. We acknowledge that in the interpretation and implementation of our policies, there has been confusion about what is permitted as part of upcoming winter celebrations, including Hanukkah.”

Better, but not soon enough to prevent the whole sorry story making headlines halfway around the world, giving the VSB a black eye that could have been prevented by some timely common sense from the VSB leadership ranks.

That wasn’t the end of it. On Tuesday (December 12) of this week, Fraser issued another wordy and awkward statement that finally got around to apologizing to Rebecca and Maya and giving them the thanks they should have had immediately after going public.

Wrong message from the VSB

This is all also a shame, because during the eight years I served on the board, I had many conversations with Jewish parents and those from other faiths who struggled with the decision about sending their kids to public schools. Many supported public education in principle but were concerned that their kids would feel excluded because of their cultural and religious practices. I’d assure them VSB schools embraced and practised religious and cultural inclusion and that strong policies were in place to ensure and guarantee that.

I was proud—and still am—of the VSB’s reputation as a leader in progressive policy and for its diverse, inclusive schools. I believed that if an individual employee failed to abide by board policies, that would quickly be addressed and resolved and students and parents would feel safe knowing they wouldn’t have to fight battles like this on their own. Now I’m not so sure. An incident like this wouldn’t have been handled so poorly in my day at the VSB, and I hope it doesn’t again, but the multilevel missteps don’t inspire confidence in the current leadership.

https://www.straight.com/news/1008466/patti-bacchus-vancouver-school-boa...

How much real estate do foreigner investors really own? Statscan got it wrong

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/how-much-real-estate-do-foreigne...

https://www.straight.com/news/1026461/jennifer-reddy-trustees-get-failing-grade-not-naming-school-after-alexander-won-cumyow

Vancity Theatre is a charming venue

https://www.viff.org/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=FFF93AA2-664C-4666-B74A-81A04D55E2A9&menu_id=D4C0CC40-2261-446E-A840-9D6667C617DA&sToken=1%2Cb70b57f2%2C5bc1f862%2CF3364763-F476-43F4-B9FA-5814D2C489D7%2CUxGJzdvkMvPRrprDxjfthmuNVBk%3D