One Month Later
Ken Sim has now been in office for one month, and it’s as easy as ABC to see this is a right-wing municipal government. Whatever centrist packaging they put on it, this doesn’t come as a huge surprise, since they came to power with the backing of the Vancouver Police Union and many of the city’s super-rich like billionaire Chip Wilson.
At City Council, the Vancouver Police Department is asking for more money than ever - an 11% increase from last year’s bloated police budget. This will mean cuts to vital City services and/or privatization of public spaces and services, as Sim has hinted at while musing about libraries generating more revenue.
At School Board, the right-wing majority voted to put police back in schools despite studies showing the threats this poses to Black, Indigenous and other racialized students. Trustee Christopher Richardson, who is in a blatant conflict-of-interest and shouldn’t even be eligible to sit as a school trustee, cast the deciding vote to put police back in schools. Our council candidate Sean Orr spoke to the Board to urge them to consider a data-based approach on the school-to-prison pipeline. Speaking of protecting kids in schools, our VSB candidate Dr. Karina Zeidler and VOTE Socialist as a party continue to urge the restoration of basic public health measures, including proper ventilation and mask mandates in schools and other indoor public settings such as transit.
Finally, at Park Board, which less than a year ago Sim was promising to abolish altogether, ABC commissioners have voted to rip out the protected bike and roll lane around Stanley Park. Advocates have correctly argued that “the move needlessly endangers vulnerable road users and will not reduce vehicle congestion.”
For more post-election reflection and analysis, we urge you to check out Sean’s recent column here.
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