When the provincial NDP were elected in 2017, one of their first orders of business was a very positive change to campaign financing at the municipal level. Within months, they passed legislation prohibiting donations to municipal political parties from corporations and unions, and banning individual donations over $1,200. Vancouver’s two developer-friendly municipal parties — Vision…
Category: Vancouver
When you’re up against the odds: How Cuba’s July 26 celebration can inspire us all today
A few days ago, I, along with supporters of Cuba around the world and Cubans themselves celebrated July 26. What’s so special about July 26? Let me tell you. I think you’ll enjoy the story, mainly because it’s so relevant today, when a lot of us, especially young people, are determined to make what seems…
Let’s take a page from Joe’s bold, green, economic plan to recover post-pandemic
Centuries ago, I sat on the board of Vancouver City Savings Credit Union. Toward the end of my tenure, in the mid-1990s, we provided a significant amount of seed money to help get a brand-new, left-wing version of the Fraser Institute off and running. It’s called the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives — an independent,…
Real solutions exist to homeless encampments: Look to the ’70s, and Portland’s Right to Dream Too
Nobody won at Tuesday night’s Vancouver Park Board meeting addressing the city’s latest and biggest homeless encampment in Strathcona Park. After two onerous nights of debate — in which nearly 100 speakers outlined their sympathy for the homeless park dwellers; for the board itself, having to deal with such a thorny issue; and for Strathcona…
Svend Robinson’s SFU appointment is a breath of fresh air
On Tuesday, I learned that my hero, Svend Robinson, has been appointed as the new J. S. Woodsworth Resident Scholar for the 2020–21 academic year at Simon Fraser University. It’s such a fitting appointment: James S. Woodsworth was a pioneer of Canada’s progressive social movement. A Member of Parliament and a founder of the social-democratic…
Broadway corridor: The lesser of two evils
As you may be aware, TransLink will soon be building the first phase of an underground SkyTrain line along the Broadway corridor from the Commercial-Broadway station to Arbutus. If Vancouver city council has its way, by 2030 the new line will extend all the way to UBC at a cost estimated as high as $3.8…
No justice; no peace; no racist police
From Beverly Hills to Brooklyn, America is burning. The gruesome police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has understandably reignited the fear, anger and concern about centuries of systemic racism — not just in the U.S. but also here at home in Canada, where racism has been embedded in society all the way back to…