The federal Green Party under Elizabeth May made history last week when they scored a major victory in the Nanaimo by-election with the election of Paul Manly. This was great news for all of us, but especially Green supporters as it effectively doubles the number of Green MPs in Ottawa to two! Finally, Elizabeth May…
Category: People Power
The community delivers the best solutions
The Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts will be no more in just a few short years. This has the potential to very positively reshape Northeast False Creek and Vancouver’s first neighbourhood — Strathcona. One of the biggest issues city planners and Vancouver city council will have to wrestle with when the viaducts go down is what…
March 15 student strikes for climate action — join the rally as an ally!
I am very inspired by Greta Thunberg. She’s the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist who sat, alone, on the cobblestones of the Swedish parliament one Friday last August, demanding action on climate change. She’s sat there almost every Friday since — in rain, sun, ice and snow — inspiring a worldwide movement of student action. Last…
Unanimous vote on Vancouver tenants’ rights is a game changer
On Tuesday, December 4, COPE Councillor Jean Swanson tenants’ protection motion finally came before city council for a vote. In the week leading up to the vote, more than 300 tenants spoke eloquently to council about the need for protection when landlords decide to renovict them. See my last blog (Secure tenants make for a…
Secure renters make for a better Vancouver
COPE Councillor Jean Swanson’s motion [PDF] to give tenants protection from landlords during renovations was referred to committee at city hall November 27 so that members of the public would have an opportunity to speak to it. The motion proposes immediate changes to the city’s Relocation and Protection Policy. There are a number of changes,…
A no-brainer: Support pro rep!
One voting opportunity has just finished — our municipal election — and another is underway — the referendum on our provincial electoral system. Elections BC mailed voting packages to everyone on the voters list just a few days ago. The mail-in ballot asks us to choose between 2 different electoral systems: the current first-past-the-post (FPTP)…
The COPE election victory in context
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — COPE is back! Last Saturday was election day and for the first time since 2011, COPE had candidates elected not just to Vancouver’s city council, where Jean Swanson came in fourth, but also to the city’s school board, with Barb Parrott, and park board, with…