OneCity Vancouver nominate their city council candidate, as left-leaning parties try to avoid vote splitting

Good morning, 

Nate with you today. I’m a fan of dry January. I think it’s a great way to reset and sober up for many people, after boozing through the holidays. It’s also made much easier by the prevalence of tasty non-alcoholic options, and industry which seems to have exploded over the past couple years. 

While that kind of dry January is predictable, we’ve all been experiencing another type of drought that’s far less common.  With a couple of days left, we’re sitting at just over 33 mm of rain this month. The next lowest total for a January in the past 10 years? Just under 100 mm in 2017. You’ve actually got to go back to 1985 to find a drier first month of year, according to CityNews. 

I’ve been really enjoying the reprieve from grey skies and rain — even feeling a bit sunburnt on my face these days. However, those dried-out stats may be a wash as it looks like there’s a significant amount of rain and snow on the horizon, starting tomorrow. But just like limiting your alcohol intake, the sun can do wonderful things for your mood and your health, and it’s still beneficial even if it doesn’t quite last all month. I’ll cheers to that!

In today’s newsletter, we’ve got some early coverage of the city council by-election and some solid arts events and exhibitions to put on your calendar. 

Let’s get to it!

— Nate Lewis, Vancity Lookout

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

WEATHER

Wednesday: 6 🌡️ 1 | ☀️

Thursday: 2 🌡️ 2 | 🌧️

Friday: 3 🌡️ 1 | 🌧️

NUMBERS OF THE DAY

🚌 $663 million: The total amount TransLink will receive from the federal government over 10 years, starting in 2026. The money is specifically for upgrades, repairs, and improvements, not for operating costs. TransLink is still facing a projected annual operating cost shortfall of $600 million beginning in 2026. [Urbanized]

🎦 200: The number of new public surveillance cameras the city plans to deploy for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [TheBreaker]

📈 $15 million: The increase in non-tax revenues for the City of Vancouver in 2024, compared to the previous year. That comes from various sources, including the sponsorship and naming rights program, and the leasing or building of market rental housing on city-owned land, according to a staff report. [COV]

BY-ELECTION

OneCity Vancouver nominate their city council candidate, as left-leaning parties try to avoid vote splitting

What happened: Lucy Maloney has officially been announced as OneCity Vancouver’s candidate for city councillor in the upcoming municipal by-election on April 5th. 

Background: Maloney, who hails from Australia and has lived all over the world, has a professional background as a public sector environmental lawyer. Maloney also holds an MBA and worked in the private sector for several years. 

Since moving here in 2017, Maloney has become well-known in Vancouver through her road safety advocacy and numerous media appearances as a spokesperson for a number of organizations. For transparency, this reporter has had numerous interactions with Maloney over the years while writing for the West End Journal, some of which is linked below.

• Prominent among those organizations are Love the Lane, a group Maloney created that advocated for a permanent separated bike lane on Stanley Park Drive, Vision Zero Vancouver, a transportation safety group working to eliminate death and serious injury on Metro Vancouver roads, and several roles with Parent Advisory Councils at a school and district level, highlighted by her volunteer work on the Comox School Street project. 

What we heard: In an exclusive Q&A with Vancity Lookout we sent to our Insider members yesterday, Maloney described how her advocacy work led to this point of running for city government. 

“Because I was always out on the street talking to people in the school community, people knew they could come to me with their problems to get them solved. Being right out there, face-to-face with my community, really helped me listen to people's concerns, and try to find a way of solving those problems.

“I just gradually worked harder and harder to talk directly to the elected officials across school board, park board, council to advocate for change. Soon it started taking up my whole time because my kids are getting more independent now they're older and I've got more capacity.

“Over time, I've come to the realization that the most effective way I can work to make things better is to run for council,” Maloney said.

• While her expertise lies in transportation and climate change, the number one issue for Vancouver is housing, Maloney said, adding she’s also hearing lots of concerns about affordability and safety.  

The party: Maloney is seeking to become just the second OneCity candidate to win a council seat. OneCity, a progressive municipal political party founded in 2014, successfully elected former city councillor Christine Boyle in 2018 and 2022. Maloney said she’s been inspired by Boyle, adding Boyle has been helpful and enthusiastic about Maloney’s candidacy. 

• “I was so impressed with Christine Boyle on council. I just agreed with her on so many decisions. Her votes, her actions on council, the motions she moved, and the way she listens to people, helped me to realize that OneCity is my political home,” Maloney said.

After being elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Little Mountain in the fall 2024 provincial election, Boyle took a leave of absence and eventually resigned her council position. The April 5th by-election is being held to fill two seats on city council – Boyle’s former council seat and the seat of longtime Green Party of Vancouver councillor Adriane Carr, who resigned in mid-January. 

• Dive deeper: You can read The Tyee’s recent Q&A with Carr on her city hall career here.

Other candidates: The other civic parties have yet to announce their candidates. The Greens, The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), and Team For A Liveable Vancouver have all said they’ll hold their respective nomination meetings amongst their members between Feb. 1st and 5th. 

• ABC Vancouver told Vancity Lookout that decisions regarding their nomination process will be made in the coming weeks. 

Election tactics: Some of Vancouver’s progressive or left-leaning parties, including the Greens and OneCity, are nominating just one candidate, rather than two each, in an effort to not split the vote amongst left-leaning electors. COPE said they plan to run at least one candidate, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

• Sean Orr, who previously ran for city council with the VOTE Socialist party in 2022, said he’d be seeking the COPE nomination. 

History lesson: It’s not the first time Vancouver’s left-of-centre parties have agreed to limit candidates to avoid vote splitting.  In 2018, the Vancouver District and Labour Council negotiated agreements with five parties – including the Greens, OneCity, and COPE – in an attempt to limit vote splitting in the 2018 municipal election. Collectively, the three parties got five councillors elected out of nine candidates. 

• That decision came on the heels of the 2017 byelection, when the right-leaning NPA’s Hector Bremner won with about 28% of votes, with three left-leaning candidates, Jean Swanson (Independent), Pete Fry (Green), and Judy Graves (OneCity), splitting around 55% of the vote. 

After running 13 candidates in 2022 and only electing three councillors, it seems the Greens, OneCity, and COPE are returning to some of the lessons and successes of their electoral strategies in 2017 and 2018. 

What it means: On its face, the results of the by-election won’t change the fact that the ABC Party currently has an overwhelming majority on council, plus an additional vote available from Mayor Ken Sim. The resignations of Boyle and Carr means that, currently, Green councillor Pete Fry is alone on council amongst seven ABC councillors.

However, the bigger factor on that front will be whether ABC councillors remain united. In a consequential and controversial vote in November 2024 regarding a gas policy, ABC councillors Peter Meiszner, Lisa Dominato, and Rebecca Bligh broke from their colleagues to vote down the ABC-led initiative. The vote, a 5-5 tie (meaning it was defeated) with Boyle absent and already on leave, demonstrated the ABC majority was not rock solid when it came to voting as a group.

• Speaking to the signs of discord amongst the majority, there was also the awkward optics of the now-infamous “wild west of f**king procedure” moment — an argument between ABC councillors Bligh, Mike Klassen, and Sarah Kirby-Yung, highlighted by Kirby-Yung swearing at her colleagues and Mayor Sim wandering out of a back room, looking shocked, during an October 2024 council meeting. 

So while two other non-ABC councillors joining Fry in the minority opposition wouldn’t flip that equation – ABC would, on paper, enjoy the same majority they had at the beginning of their term – those two additional free votes could make it effective or worthwhile for other ABC councillors to vote their conscience on certain issues.

Conversely, if voters were to elect one or two more ABC councillors, the bolstered majority would have an easier time whipping votes and overcoming any dissension or tensions within their party. 

DREAM HOME

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THE AGENDA

🫀 Vancouver School Board trustees unanimously voted to install automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in Vancouver schools by September 2025. This comes after a group of Point Grey Secondary students – who had a classmate die of cardiac arrest in 2022 due to the lack of an AED – campaigned for the devices to be put in. The slow action on the VSB’s part seems to be due to uncertainty over who would pay the bill for the devices. Now, the VSB plans to lobby the province for the funding. [Vancouver Sun]   

🪧 Vancouver-based climate activist Zain Haq was deported to his home country of Pakistan last weekend. Haq – who participated in hunger strikes and was arrested several times as part of climate actions – was an integral organizer in various climate advocacy groups, including Extinction Rebellion’s Vancouver chapter, Save Old Growth, and at SFU where he was a student. Haq’s deportation was carried out after a permanent residency application was denied and the federal immigration department said they couldn’t locate his temporary resident permit. Haq’s lawyer alleges “mistakes, if not some impropriety,” in how the case was handled. [The Narwhal, CBC] 

🍻 Park board staff are recommending commissioners approve the Alcohol on Beaches summer program on a permanent basis at seven beaches, starting this year. The park board has been running the program on a pilot basis for the past two summers. The report notes the program is contingent on support from the VPD, and on money being available to cover operating costs. Commissioners will vote on the report at the Feb. 3rd board meeting. [Park board] 

👀 Canucks president Jim Rutherford has confirmed the long-rumoured rift between star players Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller. More importantly, Rutherford says the drama has impacted the whole team and he doesn’t see a way forward with the current group of players. Trade rumours have been swirling around Pettersson and Miller for weeks, but it’s often difficult to get good value back when trading top players with big contracts. [CBC]

Outside Vancouver 

🏔️ A 21-year-old snowboarder who went missing at Cypress Mountain Resort on Friday has been found dead in a gully near the resort after an extensive search by local ski patrol and North Shore Rescue. Police did not say when the body was found but that the man was pronounced dead at the scene. [City News]

👋 Sonia Furstenau, the BC Green Party leader, is stepping down after she lost her position as an MLA in the fall election. Furstenau – first elected in 2017 –  was the leader of the provincial Greens for four years. West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jeremy Valeriote will serve as interim leader. [CTV]

💸 Metro Vancouver is looking into their spending practices and a possible creep of scope in the organization. Their Regional Cultural Committee – which gives donations to arts and culture groups – is coming under the microscope. In 2024, the committee gave out $300,000 in grants over two meetings, but also paid committee members a total of $11,000 for their time. Critics say these grants should be done by a different level of government and emphasize that a majority of the grants are going to Vancouver-based organizations. [Global]

🚐 A new targeted STI testing initiative is trying to fill a gap in services after a similar program that had been running for 15 years in the Lower Mainland shutdown this summer. The new mobile clinic is aiming to serve immigrant and migrant women who do sex work, but face barriers in accessing STI testing. There’s also the BCCDC’s GetCheckedOnline program which facilitates free, anonymous STI testing for anyone who needs it. [The Tyee]

ARTS GUIDE

Performance

PuSH Performing Arts Festival is in full swing until Feb 9th. This weekend, you can catch SEEING DOUBLE ($40 for one show, $70 for both), a spooky double feature that will confound the senses, or have an extravagant afternoon at the Dune Wars Kiki Ball ($15).  

The City of Others, a powerful dance and live music performance, explores how cities can be transformed from places of prejudice and loneliness to ones of collective belonging. Afro-Columbian dance company Sankofa Danzafro will be in Vancouver for three shows over two days, Feb. 21st and 22nd. Tickets $35+

Movies 

If you ever wanted to know more about that famous talent Liza Mennelli, you can catch LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story at VIFF starting this weekend. I for one had no idea her mother was Judy Garland! Tickets $16

It’s a David Lynch tribute at the Rio over the next week, with screenings of Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and an encore of Mulholland Drive. Yesterday’s Mulholland Drive screening sold out, so be sure to grab your tickets ($18) ahead of time.

On Feb. 8th, the Vancouver Tenants Union is hosting a screening of Hookers on Davie, a 1984 documentary following the lives of sex workers in the West End. The screening is an eviction defense fundraiser and will also include an art raffle with prizes from local artists. More info 

Art

Starting Feb. 1st, the Bill Reid Gallery will be exhibiting the work of Haida artist Kihl ‘Yahda, Christian White. A full-time artist since he was 17, the exhibit will feature carvings, inlay work, and jewellery from across White’s 50-year career. Tickets $13

If you’re able to make the journey, the Richmond Art Gallery is presenting two new exhibits, reflecting on the psychological impact of climate change, and the ubiquity of plastic in our daily lives. The exhibits will be around until March 23rd, with admission by donation.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

A lone Vancouver Special that remained to be demolished on a site across the street from Charles Tupper Secondary, near Fraser and King Edward. These sorts of large residential development sites seem to be increasingly cropping up around the city.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• This Cascadian train service hit all-time highs last year, carrying nearly a million passengers in 2024. [Urbanized] 

• Someone has been posting fake notices for a real parking survey in one East Van neighbourhood. [VIA]

• That’s one casual coyote enjoying a snack in an unexpected spot. [Reddit]

• City contractors made a surprising find during construction of a new street plaza in the West End. [Urbanized]

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VANCOUVER GUESSER

A great spot to tee off from! Whether it’s for pitch and putt or disc golf, this place has you covered. Do you know the name of this Vancouver park? Reply to this email with the correct answer to be featured in Friday’s newsletter!