A group representing 17 Vancouver community centre associations has requested Premier David Eby reconsider his commitment to follow through with Mayor Ken Sim’s wish to abolish the elected park board.
The Association Presidents Group (APG) issued a news release March 10 in response to Eby’s statement last Friday in which he said he was “committed to advancing the dissolution” of the board in the next legislative session.
The group said neither the City of Vancouver nor the B.C. government has the mandate to abolish the seven-member board, which was elected by voters in the October 2022 civic election.
“The APG believes Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s attempt to abolish the elected Vancouver park board is undemocratic,” the release said. “We do not believe [seven] city councillors [and the mayor] can decide to abolish the park board elected by thousands of Vancouver citizens in October 2022.”
The seven councillors, in this case, was the ABC Vancouver contingent who voted with Sim at a Dec. 13 council meeting to begin the steps to abolish the board. Sim’s move to bring parks and recreation under city council’s control requires amendments to the Vancouver Charter, which only the provincial government can do.
Eby has been clear that this work is not his government’s top priority, which was supported in his statement Friday that confirmed Charter changes won’t be done in the current sitting of the legislature, which ends in May.
A spokesperson for the premier’s office clarified Monday that the next session of the legislature will not occur until after the Oct. 19 provincial election. A session could happen before the end of the year, but would be more likely to occur in 2025.
The premier’s commitment, of courses, also hinges on the NDP getting re-elected.
'Very heavy agenda'
Jerry Fast, president of the Kitsilano Community Centre Association, said he wasn’t surprised the requested changes won’t be dealt with in the spring. He cited a Zoom meeting that he and West Point Grey Community Centre Association president Elizabeth Murphy recently had with the premier.
“They have a very heavy agenda,” Fast said Monday. “And it's a shortened session of 10 weeks leading up to the election. So we weren't that surprised to hear that he was not going to move on it until after the election.”
In that meeting, Fast said, he and Murphy urged Eby to reconsider following through with Sim’s wish but the premier did not commit to blocking the mayor’s request. Fast and other APG members also met with Sim in February.
Fast said the group was offered a position on the transition team working on dissolving the board. He said the group refused the mayor’s invitation “because we don't accept that he has a mandate to do what he's doing in the first place.”
The proper way to determine whether Vancouverites want an elected park board is for the mayor to specifically state in his 2026 re-election campaign that he wants to eliminate the board, he said.
“Mayor Sim and his ABC party ran on a platform of retaining the park board and they elected six commissioners out of seven to the park board,” Fast said. “And three of those are so upset about his decision to renege on his promise to keep the park board that they are now sitting as independents.”
'Irreparable damage'
Former ABC commissioners Brennan Bastyovanszky, Laura Christensen and Scott Jensen have pushed back against the mayor’s plan since Sim announced his decision in December 2023.
Bastyovanszky told Glacier Media Friday that he was “pleased” with Eby’s decision to not make Charter changes in the spring session, saying it gives him and others opposed to Sim’s move more time to continue their fight for the board to stay.
“The changes the mayor is proposing will very likely do irreparable damage to the parks and recreation in Vancouver, and the public absolutely deserves transparency around that,” Bastyovanszky said.
Although the ABC-majority council supports the move to abolish the board, Fast wondered how council could add parks and recreation to its workload — and questioned how citizens' concerns now addressed by commissioners would be prioritized at city hall.
“It's not that we have anything against [council], but it's just a question of how much priority will be given to parks and recreation versus solely other issues that they have to deal with,” he said.
'Testy' times
Fast acknowledged some “testy” times with previous commissioners but said that shouldn't be a reason to wipe out the board. He said there is now a 10-year joint operating agreement in place with 17 community centre associations that has clearly outlined the roles of the board and associations.
“We like the structure,” he said of an elected board.
The mayor, meanwhile, said in a statement Friday that he was disappointed Eby’s government won’t approve the requested amendment changes to the Charter in the current session of the legislature.
At the same time, Sim said the premier’s “dedication to making the necessary changes to the Vancouver Charter in the next earliest legislative session ensures our parks and recreation facilities can serve our community to their fullest potential.”
Sim has described the elected board as a product of a “broken system,” which he said is not working in the best interests of citizens.
The mayor has pointed to a leaky Kitsilano pool, the facade of the Aquatic Centre falling off, a jurisdictional dispute over a water pipe at Spanish Banks and the need for him to seek money from donors to get the Stanley Park train operating for the holidays.
Critics have pointed out that assets managed by the board are owned by the city.
Sim has also claimed the shift in governance will save “millions of dollars,” although he has yet to provide reporters a breakdown of where the savings would come from and whether there would be job loss.
