Vancouver City Councillor
Big money may continue to influence local elections in B.C., says a former city-council candidate. Pete Fry of the Green Party of Vancouver claims that this is due to a loophole in legislation that was passed by the province last month regarding campaign financing.
The best part of political campaigns is meeting people and reconnecting with our city’s neighbourhoods.
But it’s bittersweet.
Too many folk are being pushed out. People are living on the street. Increasingly our city is becoming more about speculative investment and less about people who live and work here.
I love my job as a Vancouver city councillor. But I’d get a lot more done and the city would be better off if Pete Fry were to join me at the council table.
Dynamics were different at city hall when I was elected as Vancouver’s first Green councillor in 2011. The two NPA councillors—Affleck and Ball—were willing to second my motions even if they didn’t vote for them, just to ensure they got publicly debated. Vision councillors, who often tried to dissuade me from even making motions, occassionally seconded one, then basically quashed it by referring it to staff for review.
Party candidate Pete Fry is hoping to join Green Party councillor Adriane Carr on Vancouver’s city council. rabble.ca spoke with Fry to find out how a second Green Party member would change the dynamics on city council. This interview has been edited and condensed.
I’m running to be your city councillor, because when I talk to Vancouverites, they tell me they are frustrated – they feel like the city is failing them. Failing them on housing. Failing them on homelessness. People feel that there’s special treatment for a special group of developers; that too many decisions get made behind closed doors. Public trust is broken.