Due to extremely dry conditions the City of Vancouver is working to combat the risk of fires in Stanley Park by removing dead trees and has closed some trails for visitor safety. August 24, 2023 in Vancouver, B.C.Jackie Dives/The Globe and Mail
Vancouver will save $7-million a year by getting rid of Canada’s only elected urban park board and integrating its work into city hall, says a report released Thursday that the mayor says bolsters his plan to eliminate the 135-year-old institution.
The savings outlined in the report by city staff will come from a combination of cutting 10 to 20 staff positions from the 3,000 current park-board employees plus savings on reduced waiting times to build infrastructure projects. Mayor Ken Sim said the money would be plowed back into even better parks.
Mr. Sim argued his plan to eliminate the Park Board would ensure parks have more – not less – protection from any change in their use than they do now. He noted the city committee tasked with planning for the transition recommends 36 hectares of current park land be designated as permanent and that any change of use be authorized only with 100-per-cent agreement in a council vote. (Currently, it takes only a two-thirds vote to change a park’s use.)
Mr. Sim announced almost year ago that he would eliminate the Park Board and its elected representatives, despite no indication of such plans when he ran for election a year prior. Three Park Board commissioners, members of Mr. Sim’s team, quit his ABC party to fight to save the board. Commissioners have advised Park Board staff not to co-operate with any city efforts to plan a transition.
Park-board chair Brennan Bastyovanszky said Thursday after the city report was released that the estimate of $7-million in savings per year was dubious.
“There was a lot of nothingness in the detail. They left out the important parts, the elected park board is there to protect green space. They didn’t assess the quality of the parks. They used Toronto as one example and they have very poor public access to parks. Vancouver is idolized in North America as one of the number-one park systems in North America.”
To make the transition, the city needs the co-operation of the provincial government. Last year, Premier David Eby said he would comply with the city’s wishes, as long as Indigenous nations were consulted. During the recent provincial election campaign, though, the Premier said the issue wasn’t a top priority for his government.
Local Indigenous nations say their support for any changes to the Vancouver Charter to facilitate the Park Board’s abolition would hinge on them having a greater say in how city parks are governed.
The report released Thursday makes no reference to a changed role for Indigenous nations.
Mr. Sim said he doesn’t know what the province’s timeline is for making the needed legislation changes.
“It would be great if it could have been done two years ago,” Mr. Sim said. “But we have a great working relationship with the Premier’s office and we expect they will do what they said they would do.”
The mayor also ruled out Thursday holding a referendum on the topic when the city holds a required by-election in 2025 to replace Councillor Christine Boyle, recently elected as an NDP MLA.
“We were elected with an overwhelming majority,” he said, also noting that he and his councillors are “putting ourselves on the line and getting heat for this.”
Mr. Sim denied the issue is using up a lot of staff time and political capital with the province that could be better spent on Vancouver’s more pressing issues.
“We are focused on other things as well. We can talk about housing, we can talk about the Downtown Eastside, we can talk about Chinatown, we can talk about bringing incredible events to the city. This is in addition to.”
Special to The Globe and Mail