Who will Speak Truth to Power* in Vancouver’s By-election?
CC#150—Only one party has the history and commitment without compromise
There is only one issue in this by-election, and only one party that will champion it
At the end of my recent discussions[1] with my son about my belief that the only issue in the forthcoming by-election is the desperate need for open communications between government and the governed, he asked:
“Who can best restore open communications between government and the governed?”
Addressing that question honestly requires that I first declare that I am a member of the municipal political party TEAM for a Livable Vancouver. TEAM failed to elect a Councillor or Mayor in the 2022 municipal election, where an electorate desperate to be done with Kennedy Stewart’s mis-government swung en masse to the well-funded[2] ABC brand. ABC fund raised for four years, while the new TEAM was only funded by individual voter donations in the year preceding the election.
As we head into the April 5, 2025 by-election, the field of candidates for two available Councillor positions is still quite empty, but that should change soon. What do we know so far about the parties and their candidates?
OneCity, the party of Christine Boyle, who resigned when elected to the provincial legislature, is first out of the gate and has selected their single candidate, who has declared her steadfast support for Boyle’s record. Boyle voted in favour of both the Vancouver Plan and the Broadway Plan.
COPE holds their nomination meeting early next week. Although shut out of the last election, sources indicate COPE will only run a single candidate, in an apparent move to work with OneCity to not split the so-called progressive vote.
The Greens have indicated their intention is to select one candidate by February 5th. The second Council by-election seat became vacant when long-time Green Councillor Adriane Carr decided recently to step down. The Greens voted in favour of the Vancouver Plan and the Broadway Plan—in fact, Carr indicated in an exit interview that she considered the Vancouver Plan to be her proudest achievement. The two Green Councillors did vote in favour of a rate-of-change policy recommended by city staff that would have limited Broadway Plan projects to five per year, which was defeated—there are currently more than 100 projects in the Broadway Plan pipeline.
ABC is widely expected to run two candidates but has not confirmed its intentions as yet. ABC’s brand is by now well known. Many see this by-election as a referendum about their performance to the halfway point of their mandate.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver will nominate two candidates this weekend. Then-Councillor Colleen Hardwick voted against both the Vancouver Plan and Broadway Plan. TEAM has recently organized Pause the Plan, a grass roots effort to pause implementation of the Broadway Plan until key issues are addressed, including: unclear provisions for demovicted tenants; proliferation of proposals far from transit; absence of any rate-of-change restraints on development; and lack of neighbourhood consultation ahead of the ABC Council “turbocharging” the Broadway Plan, increasing potential development by up to 50%.
Who doesn’t want to hear from the governed?
How can we be sure the incumbent majority ABC does not wish to hear from its citizens? The starkest illustration may be that the city management who are running the by-election have eliminated half of the voting places. Find where to vote here.
Why does it matter?
ABC will still hold the majority of Council positions after this by-election, so one might ask, “Why does this even matter?”
One answer to that question is illustrated by what happened when then-Councillor Colleen Hardwick moved a motion at Council some years ago to conduct a plebiscite regarding a potential 2030 Olympics bid. The motion failed because there was no seconder as required by the rules of order, possibly because Hardwick was accused of being a racist for daring to ask to “follow the money.” Had there been a seconder, such as a second TEAM Councillor, there would have at least been a debate on the motion.
If there is no two-seat opposition party after the by-election, then any motion brought by a non-ABC Councillor may well die for lack of a seconder. And when debate dies, democracy dies and open communication between government and the governed dies.
So expect ABC and others to attack TEAM for proposing two Councillors—any tactic to sideline the only party clearly committed to open communications between government and governed.
Regardless who you support, please VOTE in what may be our last chance to salvage democracy in the city where we love to live.
*The phrase “Speak Truth to Power” is usually attributed to 1942 writings by Black American Quaker Bayard Rustin.
The post above is 800 words, almost 50% more than the three minutes that Vancouver City Council now permits for public presentations at its meetings.
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Brian Palmquist writes on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam people. He is a Vancouver-based architect, building envelope and building code consultant and LEED Accredited Professional (the first green building system). He is semi-retired, still teaching, writing and consulting a bit, but not beholden to any client or city hall. These conversations mix real discussion with research and observations based on a 50-year career including the planning, design and construction of almost every type and scale of project. He is the author of the Amazon best seller and AIBC Construction Administration course text, “An Architect’s Guide to Construction.” A glutton for punishment, he recently started writing a book about how we can Embrace, Enhance and Evolve the places we love to live.
[1] See City Conversations #145 through 149.
[2] Leading up to the 2022 civic election, ABC received contributions well in excess of what is permitted by legislation, agreed they had done so and apparently refunded the excess. To date Elections BC has taken no further action against ABC. By comparison, another party in the 2022 municipal election that collected, then returned more than what is allowed by law was prohibited from running in the 2026 municipal election.
Three folks have unsubscribed to CCs since I published this. Wonder why? Perhaps my TEAM credentials? Thanks to others for reading.