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Disussion points in VanMag on BC by-election running for Vancouver – Mount Pleasant Read More

As Greens, how we treat our planet and its inhabitants reflect our fundamental values.
As a Green MLA, I will fight to push those values into provincial decisions and lend my voice to those who have none.

An Endangered Species Act for B.C.
Currently, our conservation efforts here in B.C. are woefully inadequate, and reflect a last-century mindset towards resource extraction and the environment. Our current provincial Wildlife Act is too weak — B.C. has the greatest biodiversity in the country, yet we have no stand-alone law to protect endangered wildlife. Along with Alberta, B.C. stands alone as the only province without an Endangered Species Act. Limited federal protection applies to only 210 of the approximately 1900 species of flora and fauna at risk in our province. As MLA I will join biologists, ecologists, and environmentalists in calling for an Endangered Species Act for B.C.

In our province, interference from industry has weakened protection for species at risk, while habitat destruction and irresponsible resource extraction has led us to the point that we are struggling to protect critically threatened populations like the Southern Selkirk caribou herd.

The price for our mismanagement of the South Selkirk? Wolf packs in the area will be slaughtered by aerial gunning, neck snares and poison. The caribou survival is far from guaranteed though, as their herbivorous diet destroyed by logging won’t recover anytime soon. A failure on all counts, that deserves a more proactive method of wildlife management and environmental stewardship.

Compassionate Conservation
As MLA, I will champion the emerging school of wildlife and habitat management known as Compassionate Conservation — ostensibly a program that offers less cruelty and more protection to wildlife than our practices currently afford. Compassionate Conservation recognizes the value of animals beyond just resources to exploit or control, as well as our own role in climate Read More

On Tuesday (February 2), voters in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant will head to the polls and mandate a big change for our riding.

The big change coming to Vancouver-Mount Pleasant isn’t just the replacing of Jenny Kwan’s 20-year career as MLA since she stepped aside six months ago.

The big change will be electing me as Vancouver’s first Green MLA, and sending a strong signal that East Van is ready to do things differently.

There are other changes coming like the removal of the viaducts, the relocation of St. Paul’s Hospital, Broadway Subway, eastern expansion of downtown Vancouver, vanishing Chinatown, or even the ever-increasing property values that threaten to displace many long-time residents.

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development has come at the expense of housing affordability and led to extreme property speculation, even in advance of actual city re-zonings. It is critical that the Broadway Subway development is not a trigger for massive displacement, and that transit-oriented development is concurrent with senior government investments in publicly owned housing stock.

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— NDP’s Mark dreams of minister role, while Greens’ Fry keen to surprise in long-orange riding.

Active in civic politics, Fry won 47,000 votes when he ran for city council in 2014. Not quite enough to win a seat, but he noted he was the top vote-getter in the Strathcona, Mount Pleasant and Britannia neighbourhoods, all of which are within Vancouver-Mount Pleasant. “I know I have solid support in this riding,” he said.

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Currently, MSP premiums are charged to anyone who lives in B.C. for six months or longer and requires them to pay monthly premiums for health care coverage. If you earn $30,000 a year in British Columbia, you are paying the same rate for MSP Premiums as someone who is earning $3,000,000 a year, making MSP premiums a regressive tax on British Columbians.

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I’ve lived in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant for close to thirty years, and in Strathcona/Chinatown for most of that time. It’s my home, and an area I’m very fond of —of course, a lot of Vancouverites and visitors are fond of Chinatown, and it represents an important aspect of our city’s history. Forged among the bitter memories of institutional racism and head tax, Chinatown represents the fortitude and perseverance of the pioneers who helped build our city and province.

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The holiday season is well upon us, and this weekend marks “Super Saturday”—the busiest shopping day of the year and the last Saturday (December 19) before Christmas.

If you’re like me and leave gift shopping to the last minute, the thought of a crowded mall on the weekend before Christmas is enough to make your skin crawl. Thankfully, I don’t even have to leave East Van, let alone venture into a mall (okay, maybe Kingsgate Mall), and my last-minute shopping is way more impactful because I buy local.

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Today, December 3rd marks the International Day of Disabled Persons (first declared by the United Nations in 1992). On that note – it seems appropriate to talk about disabilities and accessibility in B.C.

It’s impossible to talk about accessibility barriers in this province without first talking about disability rates. There are two different qualifications: Persons With Disability (PWD) and Persons with Persistent and Multiple Barriers to employment (PPMB). PWD is a semi-permanent designation, and a single PWD can receive up to $906.42/month. A single PPMB can receive a maximum of $657.92 and must reapply every two years. There are potential additional supplements available for nutritional, diet, transportation, and crisis needs at the Ministry’s discretion. Both benefits are inclusive of a maximum shelter expenditure of $375/month.

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What might the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement mean here in the City of Vancouver? — with the notion of foreign investment already a hot-button issue in Vancouver real estate and unaffordability; what might the TPP and its extrajudicial Investor State Dispute Settlement process mean for local land use? What about the TransMountain pipeline and our aspiration to be the Greenest City. How about buy local programs? There is much we don’t know yet about the 6,000 page trade agreement released just three weeks ago — but already US cities like San Francisco, Seattle and New York have voiced their opposition to the deal. Should Vancouver follow their lead?

[Today at Vancouver City Council, I spoke in support of Green councillor Adriane Carr’s motion “Opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement”. With unanimous cross-partisan support, the motion was referred to staff for study with instructions to report back before the item is ratified by the House of Commons. The following is a transcript of my presentation to council and staff]

I’m here to speak in support of the motion to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement.

My opposition to the TPP is not a blanket condemnation of the idea of trade agreements in general, and I recognize that the facilitation of trans Pacific trade through Port Metro Vancouver is significant economic engine for our City and region.

Further I want to acknowledge that the TPP may yield some larger benefits to environmental concerns if it leads to greenhouse gas and atmospheric pollution reductions particularly in developing nations like China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

HOWEVER

I think there is much that we don’t know about the TPP, a global plan with potential significant local impact, impacts that may work against our own interests here in the City of Vancouver. Read More

John Colebourn, The Province:

Longtime social activist and Strathcona resident Pete Fry is officially running for the Green Party in the upcoming provincial byelection in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

Premier Christy Clark has until early January to call the byelection, necessitated by the resignation of longtime NDP MLA Jenny Kwan.

Kwan ran successfully for the NDP in the recent federal election in Vancouver East, a riding held by the NDP’s Libby Davies since 1997.

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“We haven’t had an MLA since July, and that’s certainly one of the things that’s resonating with people on the doorstep,” Fry told the Straight in a recent phone interview.

Last August, Gail Yvonne Sparrow ruminated about taking another stab at Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

In 2001, the former Musqueam Nation chief ran for the B.C. Liberals in this provincial constituency, and delivered a decent challenge to Jenny Kwan of the B.C. NDP.

Kwan stepped down as MLA on July 8 this year so she could run for the federal NDP in Vancouver East in the October 19 election, which she won.

So back in August, Sparrow told the Straight by phone that she’s thinking of representing the B.C. Liberal party again: “I did come in close, and I know I could do a good job.”

This month, she was asked about her plans, and it turns out that she’s going to take a pass.

According to Sparrow, she gave it a thought and decided it’s not a good proposition to take on the NDP stronghold.

“It’s going to take a miracle to win it,” Sparrow told the Straightin a new phone interview.

B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark has until January 2016 to call a by-election in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

In April this year, provincial Greens nominated Pete Fry as their candidate in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant. About three months later, B.C. New Democrats picked Melanie Mark.

“We haven’t had an MLA since July, and that’s certainly one of the things that’s resonating with people on the doorstep,” Fry told the Straight in a recent phone interview.

Fry hasn’t heard about who the B.C. Liberals will run.

Meantime, the long-time Mount Pleasant resident continues to reach out to voters. Fry said: “I’ve been speaking to a lot of people and getting a lot of support, Read More