Yesterday was a banner day for BC politicians saying foolish things.
Sam Sullivan, the NPA councillor, claimed that a ward system in Vancouver would be illegal, because the people didn't get to vote on it in a referendum (this is the man who railed and screamed against the Olympics referendum). Yet the premier himself (and more on him later) has said that the City is not required to hold a referendum in order to implement a ward system. Then Sullivan went even further, claiming that under a ward system neither he nor COPE councillor Tim Louis could be elected because the constituency that supported them isn't concentrated in one area of the city.
To quote the Vancouver Sun:
Sullivan said he did not think that disabled people like himself and COPE Councillor Tim Louis -- both of whom use wheelchairs -- could be elected in a ward system, saying that an at-large system allows non-geographic communities to put their votes behind a particular councillor.
Louis responded that he is not afraid to run in a ward system and let people vote for him on the basis of his political beliefs, not because he is in a wheelchair.
Does Sullivan really think he was elected because the disabled people of Vancouver voted en bloc for him? That does a disservice not only to disabled people, but to Louis, the other residents of Vancouver, and even Sullivan himself.
The other politician making an ass of himself with regard to Vancouver politics yesterday was the Honourable Gordon Campbell himself.
Gordo was quoted in the other Izzy Asper Vancouver paper as saying that the city should kick the homeless out of Stanley Park.
Excuse me, but whose government has slashed social services and social housing so that these people have no place to go?
Thank goodness we have a sensible, compassionate city council and mayor in Larry Campbell (Gordo Campbell was once mayor himself, but no-one's accused him of being compassionate.) Larry Campbell is quoted in the same article as saying of the homeless that "we should have some compassion for them... I'd love for them to move, but I have a real problem with arresting people for being poor."
Larry Campbell, despite some missteps, is growing into the job of mayor and he's doing a damn good job of it. Earlier this week had a piece about the incipient opening of North America's first legal, civic-run safe injection site, something for which Campbell (the good one) has fought long and hard. Well done, Larry!
Posted by wetcoast at September 10, 2003 08:38 PM