October 2nd, 2022 | ALLAN RAY

Vancouver has a chance to fix itself

This coming municipal election offers voters a chance to control affordability and crime.

Vancouver voters elect their mayor and council on October 15th.

Vancouver has its long awaited municipal election around the corner and a solid choice is being offered to give voters an opportunity to clean up their rapidly deteriorating city. On October 15th, Vancouver can choose the same direction under a New Democrat socialist, or they can choose a direction toward stronger fiscal conservatism and crime management under ABC Vancouver and Ken Sim.

ABC stands for “A Better City”, something that many in Vancouver would like to see. The party was founded by members of Vancouver's business community and affiliates of the federal Conservative Party and is an offshoot of another conservative municipal party called NPA, or Non-Partisan Association. This year, the party has been making significant inroads with strong candidates like Lisa Dominato and Rebecca Bligh.

The party's mayoral candidate, Ken Sim, is not some random stranger with a minimal set of credentials. He has established two businesses in the metro area, one of which serves more than 200 communities across the area. His home-care business, Nurse Next Door, offers care for seniors in the comfort of their own homes. Ken's platform offers the same kind of ingenuity and proposes to shrink the cost of living, control crime and improve child care.

Vancouver is a city on the coast and is known as a liberal and socialist epicentre, but ABC has things in their platform to resolve issues that appeal to all of the city's many number of ideologies.

They promise to make childcare more affordable by creating 5,000 new spaces and making city land and property available, using existing fees to create more spaces and by harmonizing licensing processes. With childcare costs soaring in B.C., parents in Vancouver are looking for all the help they can get. ABC plans to work with all levels of government and business to develop more purpose-based rental units to ease the city's sky high prices and to increase sustainability, which should appeal to several ideological bents across the city.

For conservatives, ABC plans to make schools safer and to restore the honours system, which promotes excellence in the classroom. They also plan to control crime using several effective initiatives and to make it easier to obtain permits by reducing red tape.

Outsiders often assume Vancouver will vote left in every municipal election, but past election results have shown a desire for fiscal restraint and better policies among urban and suburban voters alike. In the 2018 municipal election, Ken Sim took in 28.16% of the vote compared to 28.71% taken in by Kennedy Stewart, the former New Democrat. Two other conservative parties, Yes Vancouver and Coalition Vancouver took 5% and 6.86%, respectively.

This time, as inflation, crime and affordability become bigger issues, Ken Sim and ABC may be the top choice for Vancouver voters across every spectrum.