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  • Adriane Carr, longtime Vancouver city councillor, resigns. Here's what it means

Adriane Carr, longtime Vancouver city councillor, resigns. Here's what it means

The longtime city councillor, Green Party leader, and advocate is leaving her position due to her dissatisfaction with Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority, plans to spend more time with family.

What happened: The Green Party’s Adriane Carr has resigned from city council. Carr, who served as a city councillor since 2011, was the longest-standing representative on council prior to her resignation on Wednesday. 

“I've come to the conclusion that on the issues that really drive me, that drove me to run for office, and have been predominant issues in my life, particularly around sustainability and the health of this planet, I can't make much progress,” Carr explained during a lengthy press conference, adding that she’s lost trust and confidence in Mayor Ken Sim. “Incidents that occurred recently in camera meetings were the tipping point in my decision,” Carr said, but could not share more given the privacy requirements that govern those meetings. 

Background: In early December, Carr said she was seriously considering stepping down from her position, in part due to her frustration at being marginalized by the current ABC-majority council, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

That included Carr being removed by Mayor Sim from Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors and their Zero Emissions Innovation Centre in December 2024. That was part of a bigger move by Mayor Sim to have Metro Van board appointments, and the roles of deputy mayor, acting mayor, and duty council, held only by ABC caucus members. 

  • Normally these roles are shared between councillors, regardless of party, though the majority Vision Vancouver council of the mid-2010’s also tinkered with that tradition, according to Dan Fumano in the Sun. 

Carr said she would not have left the role early, if it were not for the fact city hall is already scheduling a byelection, at a cost of approximately $2 million, to fill newly-minted MLA Christine Boyle’s vacant seat. Carr said it’s important to her that the decision won’t cost taxpayers any extra money, as her vacant council seat can now be added to that ballot. 

Carr, a mother of two and grandmother to three, also cited her desire to spend more time with family as part of her reasoning for stepping down.

  • “Time with them is very precious to me, and I know this decision puts a smile on their faces,” Carr said during Wednesday’s press conference.

A long career: Born in Vancouver in the early 1950s, Carr grew up in East Van, Burnaby and the Kootenays. Carr completed both her undergrad and masters in urban geography at UBC, publishing a thesis in 1980 that explored the role of citizen groups in shaping the Kitsilano neighbourhood.  

  • During her dozen-year career as a teacher at Langara College, Carr co-founded the Green Party of BC in 1983, running in that year’s provincial election as the party’s first leader.

Carr’s lengthy political resume with the Green Party includes running three times in provincial elections and twice federally in the early 2000s. For five of those years she served as the leader of the BC Greens, and spent another five years as the deputy leader for the Green Party of Canada. 

Carr’s long career of public advocacy and service finally resulted in her being elected to public office in 2011, when she narrowly won a council seat by a mere 90 votes. She went on to win four consecutive civic elections between 2011 and 2022, twice coming at the top of the polls.  

Legacy: Two key crises – around climate and housing – drove Carr’s desire to be elected, she said at Wednesday’s press conference. Among the long list of motions she created and supported, Carr pointed to her motions that require staff to analyze the costs of inaction, as well as action, on climate initiatives. 

“Sometimes [we] look at money towards climate change and think, ‘Oh, that's too much.’ But if you understand when you don't act, if you don't mitigate… the costs are going to be so much greater,” she said. 

Carr also highlighted her pride in the Vancouver Plan, spurred by her 2018 motion, which is a long-term, city-wide land use plan that gives residents “the ability to make decisions at the local level around the kind of neighborhood they want,” Carr said.  

  • In the early aughts, Carr was also a major proponent for electoral reform, campaigning for proportional representation in the province. Thanks in part to her work, a vote on electoral reform was included on the ballot during the 2005 election, but narrowly failed.  

Kevin Dale McKeown (who, disclaimer, I work with at the West End Journal) is a friend, neighbour, and former colleague of Carr’s. 

“I've always done what I could to support Adriane in her career, because I know her to be an intelligent, sincere and hard working representative,” McKeown told Vancity Lookout. 

  • McKeown was recruited off the street by Carr to be the media manager in B.C. for the Green Party during the 2009 federal election, and subsequently spent some time on the board of directors for the Green Party of Vancouver. 

McKeown described how Carr is always out at local gatherings, listening to constituents. “She goes to community meetings. She goes to community events. She doesn't just make a cameo appearance. She's there at the Green Party booth or kiosk, meeting people, listening to people. She is a great listener,” he said. 

What it means: In the here and now, Carr’s resignation means city council is losing a seasoned politician and her many decades of experience. That won’t be easily replaced, particularly if it’s a first-time councillor who fills her seat. 

  • Asked what the next councillors should expect on the job, Carr emphasized how, for someone new, it takes a lot just to learn the ropes. “You need the time to really understand what the job is. It's not just coming in and writing a few motions​​… don’t expect that you can immediately make a difference,” Carr cautioned.

It also means Coun. Pete Fry now stands alone as the only non-ABC member on council – until the by-election at least – further diminishing opposition to the ruling party. That will likely make it easier for Sim and ABC to consolidate power and advance their priorities in the city and across the region, with now two fewer opposition councillors at city hall. 

  • The bigger factor on that front will be whether ABC councillors remain united, with councillors Peter Meiszner, Lisa Dominato, and Rebecca Bligh occasionally dissenting on their ABC colleagues’ motions, like on the gas ban debate.   

Sim did not respond to Carr’s claims that the decisions and practices of the ABC-majority, such as their practice of introducing surprise amendments and not listening to alternative opinions, are not in line with good governance or the best interests of the city. 

  • When reached for comment about Carr’s resignation and statements, the Mayor’s Office directed Vancity Lookout to a brief statement posted by Sim on X. 

The upcoming byelection: It won’t have an immediate practical impact on the balance of power on city council, with the ABC Party continuing to hold the majority regardless of the outcome. However, the results will serve as a bellwether for how Vancouverites perceive the work and governance style of ABC under Mayor Ken Sim.  

Carr explained that she and Christine Boyle decided their parties, Green and OneCity, “should not compete, but instead collaborate, in the byelection, so that there won’t be such an overwhelming number of choices,” among progressive candidates. 

  • In the 2017 byelection, the NPA’s Hector Bremner won with about 28% of votes, with three progressives, Jean Swanson, Pete Fry, and Judy Graves, splitting 55% of the vote. 

It still has to be confirmed by city council, but it looks like the byelection date will be April 5th, according to VIA. Carr noted that byelections have a notoriously low turnout, and is strongly encouraging voters to be active in the spring election. 

Looking forward: Carr said she’ll continue working to create social change in some capacity, but doesn’t know what form that will take quite yet. For now, she’s going to prioritize writing a book with Paul George, her husband of 40 years who co-founded the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, about their experiences as lifelong environmental advocates.