Just when I thought that Mayor Ken Sim could not dig himself any deeper into a hole, he did!
On January 29, 2025, the mayor announced that effective immediately he would be boycotting all Metro Vancouver meetings, saying that “Metro Vancouver’s governance is broken” and that their “costs to taxpayers and Vancouverites are out of control. “
Mayor Sim’s announcement followed media reports about the exorbitant compensation received by municipal government representatives for attending Metro Vancouver meetings, including getting extra payments for all committee meetings. They receive this money on top of their regular salaries.
The total amounts received by some municipal politicians are truly scandalous. For example, Burnaby mayor Mike Hurley received about $393,075 in 2023. Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie got more than $362,000. Delta Mayor George Harvie received around $346,780. Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West earned $347,000.
For comparison, Premier David Eby earns $227,111.
This means that Vancouver will not have its mayor attending Metro Vancouver meetings. Perhaps not surprisingly, that may not make much difference as historically, Sim’s attendance record is low. He has not said if he will also decline his regular stipend.
There is no indication if the mayor’s alternate to the Metro Vancouver board, Brian Montague, and Vancouver’s Council’s other six representatives – that is, all the ABC members of Council — will also boycott. It seems that they will all continue to go to Metro meetings and to collect their extra payments.
So, how did the mayor occupy himself during the week of January 27th? He travelled to El Salvador in order to speak at a cryptocurrency conference! Presumably he went as part of his initiative to make Vancouver bitcoin-friendly. It seems to have escaped his notice that existing laws and the Vancouver Charter do not allow for the use of cryptocurrencies.
Evidently, the mayor has no time or appetite to contribute to solving Metro Vancouver’s governance problems but has more than enough time to travel internationally to attend a conference that has absolutely no relevance to the very real issues that face our region.
Once again, the mayor has found an excuse not to do his job.
It is time we evicted Mayor Ken Sim.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (February 9, 2025): 426.66ppm
One year ago (February 8, 2024): 425.60ppm
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Tim: This bitcoin stuff needs to be exposed. Should be in the headlines.