#VanPoli | Vote John Coupar for Vancouver City Council

#VanElxn 2026, Canada, Kareem Allam, Park Board, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Liberals, Vancouver Votes 2026,

In early October at the Advance Polls in this year’s Vancouver civic election, VanRamblings urges you to vote for the most honourable man we know, a former outstanding Park Board Chairperson and longtime Commissioner, a person who wants to get things done, a lifelong resident of our city who loves Vancouver more than anyone we know.

That’s John Coupar, a Vancouver Liberals candidate for Vancouver City Council, a must-elect to Council in 2026.

In 2010, John led the charge that saved the Bloedel Conservatory atop Queen Elizabeth Park. The video below expresses the history of the Conservatory, and why its preservation was of particular importance to John.

Without the intervention of a then apolitical John Coupar, who rallied Vancouverites to his cause, make no mistake there would be no Bloedel Conservatory today, a heritage landmark which has long played a vital role in our city as a biodiversity sanctuary, and a community educational centre. Sitting at the highest geographical point in the city, the Bloedel Conservatory offers year-round tropical refuge for residents and visitors alike. Thank you, John.

#VanPoli | Kareem Allam | Unifying Vancouver

#VanElxn 2026, #VanPoli Civic Politics, Canada, City Development Planning, Kareem Allam, Park Board, Vancouver, Vancouver Liberals, Vancouver Votes 2026, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

According to the last census, there are 662,248 citizens who call Vancouver home.

54.5% of Vancouver’s population, or 354,615 people, belong to one of Vancouver’s 201 visible-minority communities.

The Chinese community is by far Vancouver’s largest single ethnic/cultural-origin group, with 159,080 people — roughly one Vancouver resident in four. The latest census puts the Chinese population at 168,385, or 25.9% of the long-form population.

There are another 378,000 citizens in Vancouver whose ethnic origins are not part of the visible minority population: with the largest of these non-visible minority  populations represented by the English (84,370), Scottish (69,200) and Irish (65,695).

Taken together, those four origins account for more than 378,000 reported origins, although, again, many people report more than one origin.

According to the latest census, as above, Vancouver has 354,615 people identified by Statistics Canada as belonging to a visible-minority population, again (as reported above) representing 54.5% of Vancouver’s 662,248-person overall population.

The disparity in numbers between Vancouver’s Census Canadian population of  662,248 Vancouver citizens, and the 742,615 figure that is a combination of the visible and non-visible ethnic populations may be accounted for by the fact that many Vancouverites who reported out in the most recent Statistics Canada census identified as being members of more than one ethnic community.

Chinese residents accounted for 159,080; South Asians 44,850; Filipinos 38,605; Southeast Asians 20,585; Latin Americans 18,080; West Asians 12,100; Koreans 10,895; Japanese 10,990; and Black residents 8,515.

The chart below shows Vancouver’s visible minority populations by ethnic group, the Vancouver neighbourhoods where most reside, the population numbers, and the percentage of the population each community comprises within the City of Vancouver.

Rank Ethnic/cultural origin Population % of Vancouver
1 Chinese 159,080 24.02%
2 English 84,370 12.74%
3 Scottish 69,200 10.45%
4 Irish 65,695 9.92%
5 German 45,215 6.83%
6 Filipino 38,885 5.87%
7 Canadian 33,685 5.09%
8 French, n.o.s. 30,625 4.62%
9 Indian (India) 27,765 4.19%
10 British Isles, n.o.s. 21,545 3.25%
11 Italian 21,155 3.19%
12 Ukrainian 20,000 3.02%
13 Vietnamese 17,450 2.63%
14 Polish 15,900 2.40%
15 Russian 14,135 2.13%
16 Dutch 13,330 2.01%
17 Japanese 13,320 2.01%
18 European, n.o.s. 11,990 1.81%
19 Spanish 11,605 1.75%
20 Jewish 11,555 1.74%
21 Korean 11,470 1.73%
22 Asian, n.o.s. 11,330 1.71%
23 Caucasian (White), n.o.s. 11,105 1.68%
24 Norwegian 10,125 1.53%
25 Iranian 9,440 1.43%
26 Taiwanese 9,355 1.41%
27 Welsh 9,255 1.40%
28 Hong Konger 8,560 1.29%
29 Swedish 8,270 1.25%
30 Mexican 7,855 1.19%
31 American 7,565 1.14%
32 Portuguese 6,535 0.99%
33 Punjabi 6,100 0.92%
34 Hungarian 5,615 0.85%
35 Greek 5,475 0.83%
36 Danish 4,890 0.74%
37 Austrian 4,710 0.71%
38 French Canadian 4,070 0.61%
39 Croatian 3,580 0.54%
40 Persian 3,510 0.53%
41 Romanian 3,370 0.51%
42 Sikh 3,225 0.49%
43 Finnish 2,775 0.42%
44 Hindu 2,685 0.41%
45 African, n.o.s. 2,660 0.40%
46 Icelandic 2,525 0.38%
47 South Asian, n.o.s. 2,460 0.37%
48 Turkish 2,350 0.35%
49 Belgian 2,160 0.33%
50 Eastern European, n.o.s. 2,065 0.31%

In 2022, turnout at the polls in the last civic election, 36.3% of eligible Vancouver voters cast a ballot at the polls during the last municipal election.

Looking specifically at Vancouver civic elections using the City’s/BC CivicInfo’s reported turnout among eligible or registered voters, the trend is quite clear: turnout rose sharply from 2011 to 2014, fell in 2018, and fell again in 2022.

Election Ballots cast Eligible/registered voters Turnout
2022 171,494 472,665 registered 36.3%
2018 176,450 448,322 estimated eligible 39.4%
2014 181,707 429,390 estimated eligible 43.4%
2011 144,823 — 35.0%

In 2022, The City of Vancouver’s official final results report 171,494 ballots cast from 472,665 registered voters, producing a 36.3% turnout. The City’s subsequent election review confirms the 36.3% figure.

If you’re looking at this in the context of the 2026 Vancouver election, the really interesting question is what the turnout would look like if members of the city’s 201 visible minority ethnic/cultural communities voted at anything approaching the participation rates of the broader electorate. That could materially change the electoral math.

That is the subject matter of today’s VanRamblings post: in 2026, what would the election outcome in the City of Vancouver look like were members of the alienated, disenfranchised visible minority population of our city to cast their ballot at the advance polls on October 3rd, 7th, 10th and 13th, and on Election Day, Saturday, October 17th?

Which is not to say that Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals have not reached out to members and Vancouver citizens in all 264 distinct ethnic communities, as can be seen in the chart above, from persons whose heritage hails from Great Britain / the British Isles / Scotland / Wales / and Ireland. Not to mention, France, the western European countries, Poland and the other countries in the Eastern Bloc, as well as citizens who lives originated in South America, Australia,  and across the globe.

Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals want  your vote next month!

East Vancouver Voter Turnout in 2022

Defined by the City of Vancouver local areas east of Ontario Street, where most of the visible minority ethnic populations reside — Strathcona, Grandview-Woodland, Hastings-Sunrise, Downtown Eastside, Mount Pleasant East, Kensington-Cedar Cottage, Renfrew-Collingwood, Riley Park East, Sunset, and Victoria-Fraserview — voter turnout, on average, was anywhere from 22% to 28%, with some polls reporting voter participation, ranging from 38% to 42%.

The list of Vancouver political candidates drawn from minority communities seeking elected office in Vancouver in 2026, by party affiliation, was compiled by the Coalition Against Bigotry-Pacific

Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals are working towards getting out the vote on Vancouver’s east side, and in south Vancouver, setting a new record for voter participation in these neighbourhoods, to give every community a voice at Vancouver City Hall. That is the solemn commitment the Vancouver Liberals are making to the citizens of Vancouver in the 2026 municipal election, as they reach out to members of the 264 distinct ethnic communities who live across Vancouver, to young people, to seniors, to folks who are members of the New Democratic Party, the Conservatives, the Green Party, and more.

West Side of Vancouver Turnout in 2022

The lowest participation rate on Vancouver’s West Side occurred in Fairview and Marpole, where voter turnout drops to 31%–35%. This reflects lower homeownership rates and a higher proportion of transient renters compared to the single-family enclaves further west.

As reported in The Georgia Straight, based on data provided by the City of Vancouver, in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election, the single highest voter participation percentage on the West Side recorded occurred in Shaughnessy and Dunbar-Southlands, peaking at 52%–55% on average in each Vancouver municipal election since 2011.

In 2022, a full 63.7% of eligible voters failed to cast a ballot in that year’s Vancouver municipal election.

What would happen if a Vancouver municipal party, and a candidate for Mayor of the City of Vancouver, set out 15 months ago to meet with representatives of the alienated and disenfranchised voters in these communities, specifically on Vancouver’s East Side, meeting with members of each of these 201 visible minority communities who, traditionally, have not voted in Vancouver’s civic elections?

Well, that is exactly what Kareem Allam, the Vancouver Liberals Mayoral candidate in the 2026 Vancouver municipal election set out to do 15 months ago.

Over the course of the past 457 days, Kareem Allam and his Vancouver Liberals campaign staff have met with representatives of these alienated, disenfranchised 201 visible minority communities, in their homes and at their community gatherings, and have built a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) army of more the 2,000 Vancouver citizens — across all 264 distinct ethnic communities — who have committed to Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals that each will get 10 or more members of their nuclear and extended families, as well as their friends, neighbours and work colleagues who constitute members of their community, to the polls to cast a ballot for Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals.

Which means that in 2026, Vancouver could see the highest turnout / voter participation rate ever in a Vancouver civic election, emerging as the difference maker in 2026 that will thrust Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals into civic power at Vancouver City Hall, post this year’s October 17th Vancouver municipal election.

In 2015, in the Canadian federal election, 17,711,983 Canadian voters out of a total of  25,939,742 eligible voters — or 68.3% of eligible Canadian voters cast a ballot in that critical federal election — thrust Justin Trudeau into office as the 43rd Prime Minister of Canada, and the Liberal Party of Canada into comfortable majority government status, dramatically defeating Stephen Harper and the Conservatives after 10 years in power.

Average percentage voter turnout over Harper’s 10 years in power was 58.8%.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were elected to 184 seats in Parliament in 2015, while Stephen Harper’s Conservatives secured only 99 seats, 67 fewer seats than when the Conservatives won 166 seats in 2011 and Stephen Harper won a majority government.

According to Research Co., Angus Reid and other polling companies, 62.7% of Vancouver voters want change.

Vancouver Liberals | The most ethnically and politically diverse group of candidates in Vancouver

Change. VanRamblings believes, as was the case in the 2015 federal election, that is exactly what we’re going to get come the evening of Saturday, October 17, when the percentage of eligible voter participation rate in this year’s Vancouver municipal election will rise from the 36.3% turnout rate in 2022, to more than a record 45% voter participation rate in the 2026 Vancouver civic election — based on a radically increased turnout of previously alienated and disenfranchised voters in Vancouver’s visible minority population, who will flood to the polls to elect a Vancouver unity government of civic reconciliation, thrusting Kareem Allam into the Mayor’s office and electing a majority Vancouver Liberals civic government at Vancouver City Hall come the evening of Saturday, October 17, a responsible and responsive, activist civic administration, delivering services for the people of Vancouver, while keeping taxes low.

Vancouver, then, may look forward to a Kareem Allam-led “let’s get ‘er done” Vancouver Liberals civic administration serving the interests of all of us who call Vancouver home, a Kareem Allam-led government delivering for us, holding power and gaining the respect of Vancouver residents in every one of Vancouver’s 23 neighbourhoods through until Vancouver’s next municipal election in 2030 — and, perhaps, beyond.

 

#VIFF2026 | Galas and Special Presentations. Pt. 2

Arts Friday, Cinema, Film Festivals, Pop Culture, Vancouver, VIFF 2026, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If the first instalment of VanRamblings’ look at the 45th Vancouver International Film Festival was about the sheer breadth of cinema arriving in Vancouver, Galas & Special Presentations is where the festival’s glamour, ambition and awards-season muscle really begin to show.

This is the section for the films that have already made noise somewhere else — at Cannes, Telluride, Venice — or at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals. It is where filmmakers with Oscars, Palme d’Ors, Golden Globes and cinematic credibility share the screen with first-time directors whose careers may be about to explode.

And there is an extraordinary amount of talent here.

Pedro Almodóvar returns with Bitter Christmas. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi follows his Oscar-winning Drive My Car with the three-hour All of a Sudden. Paweł Pawlikowski, whose Ida won the Oscar  for Best Foreign Language Film and whose Cold War earned three Oscar nominations, arrives with Fatherland. And Andrey Zvyagintsev — director of Leviathan and Loveless — returns after a lengthy absence with Minotaur, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes 2026.

Then there is James Gray’s Paper Tiger, starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller; Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky, the true story behind the making of Rocky; and Bassam Tariq’s ferocious Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, starring two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali.

And finally there is Club Kid, the movie that arrived at Cannes unknown and promptly became one of the festival’s genuine discoveries. Jordan Firstman’s exuberant feature debut was embraced as a surprisingly tender story of redemption, parenthood and queer millennial life. VIFF itself calls it a “wondrous triumph at Cannes.”

What makes this year’s Galas and Special Presentations programme particularly exciting is the way Vancouver sits almost perfectly in the middle of the international festival calendar. Several of these films have already survived Cannes. Some have just passed through Telluride or Venice. Others are opening or playing at TIFF as you read this. Several will move on to New York later this month.

In other words, VIFF 45 isn’t merely showing movies.

It is showing us the movies that the rest of the world is already talking about.

Club Kid — Jordan Firstman

If there is one film in this section that feels tailor-made for the festival moment, it is Club Kid. Jordan Firstman writes, directs and stars as Peter, a washed-up New York party promoter whose hedonistic existence is abruptly interrupted when the 10-year-old son he never knew he had arrives in his life following the death of the boy’s mother. Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva and newcomer Reggie Absolom co-star.

Firstman arrives as a genuine cinematic wild card. A social-media phenomenon during the pandemic, he appeared in Sebastián Silva’s Rotting in the Sun and more recently in I Love LA. Club Kid is his feature directing début, shot on 35mm on a relatively tight budget.

Cannes responded enthusiastically, with Vogue calling it a rare bright spot in a notably serious competition and praising its emotional heft. It was nominated for the Caméra d’Or and Queer Palm, and subsequently played Telluride — hardly a bad place to begin an Oscar-season journey.

The film is also playing TIFF and will screen at the New York Film Festival in October. If there is a breakout indie here, this may be it.

Minotaur — Andrey Zvyagintsev

Few directors have returned to the international stage with quite the force of Andrey Zvyagintsev. Minotaur is his first film in a decade, his first made outside Russia, a politically charged drama about corruption, violence and moral collapse during wartime Russia.

The Cannes reaction was formidable: Minotaur won the Grand Prix, the festival’s second-highest prize. Zvyagintsev is hardly an unknown quantity. The Return won the Golden Lion at Venice; Leviathan won Cannes’ Best Screenplay and received an Oscar nomination; Loveless won Cannes’ Jury Prize and also received an Academy Award nomination.

This is serious awards-season territory. The film also appeared at Telluride and is part of the New York Film Festival’s 2026 Main Slate.

Fatherland — Paweł Pawlikowski

Pawlikowski’s Fatherland is another Cannes heavyweight. Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler portray Erika and Thomas Mann as father and daughter travelling across post-war Germany in 1949, confronting a divided country and an even more fractured family.

The film won Pawlikowski the Cannes Best Director prize, shared with another filmmaker, continuing a remarkable run that includes Ida and Cold War.

Hüller — Oscar-nominated for Anatomy of a Fall — gives the film another awards-season calling card. Fatherland screened at Telluride and will play New York’s festival.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother — Bassam Tariq

Mahershala Ali plays a devout hitman whose wife’s sudden death thrusts him into single parenthood while putting him on a collision course with a far-right religious leader, played by John Cho. Giancarlo Esposito also stars.

It is an audacious follow-up for Bassam Tariq, whose Mogul Mowgli won the International Critics Prize at Berlin and earned a BAFTA nomination. His documentary Ghosts of Sugar Land also won the Sundance Short Film Jury Prize.

The film is a TIFF Special Presentation, giving it an important early North American awards platform, and Tariq is receiving TIFF’s Rising Talent Award.

Ali already owns two Oscars, this is one of VIFF’s clearest potential acting-season titles.

I Play Rocky — Peter Farrelly

Peter Farrelly, the Oscar-winning director of Green Book, turns to the  true story of how an unknown Sylvester Stallone fought to write, star in and get Rocky made.

Anthony Ippolito plays Stallone, with Stephan James, AnnaSophia Robb and Matt Dillon among the supporting cast. Amazon MGM describes it as the story of Stallone fighting to bring his screenplay to the screen — and insisting that he play Rocky himself.

The film had its world première at TIFF, making Toronto its first major awards-season test. And with the Academy’s new casting category now part of the Oscar landscape, the casting alone gives I Play Rocky an intriguing awards hook. Early TIFF previews have already singled out Ippolito’s uncanny resemblance to the young Stallone.

Paper Tiger — James Gray

James Gray returns to the crime territory of Little Odessa and We Own the Night with Paper Tiger, a 1986-set New York thriller about two brothers who become entangled with the Russian mafia.

The brothers are played by Adam Driver and Miles Teller, with Scarlett Johansson as Hester Pearl.

Gray has returned to the Cannes competition five times, and Paper Tiger received its world premiere there before becoming the Opening Night film of the 64th New York Film Festival on September 25. Film at Lincoln Center calls it a “career-best achievement.”

That is an extraordinary endorsement. With Driver, Johansson and Teller in the cast, Paper Tiger deserves to be watched closely when Oscar nominations begin to take shape.

All of a Sudden — Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

At 196 minutes, All of a Sudden is not exactly a casual evening at the movies. But Hamaguchi has earned the right to ask audiences for patience.

The director of Drive My Car — which won the 2021 Cannes Screenplay prize and became an Oscar Best Picture nominee — turns here to a French care-home director and a Japanese theatre director battling cancer, exploring mortality, dignity, friendship and the possibility of humane care.

At Cannes, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared the Best Actress prize. Critics were largely enthusiastic, although some found the film overly meditative. It currently carries a remarkably strong critical profile.

The film is playing TIFF and will also screen in the New York Film Festival.

Bitter Christmas — Pedro Almodóvar

And then there is Pedro Almodóvar — which is almost enough said.

His latest film is an elaborate film-within-a-film meditation on grief, artistic betrayal, memory and the uneasy relationship between fiction and reality. Bárbara Lennie and Leonardo Sbaraglia lead the cast, with the story moving between an actress’s life and the filmmaker who is transforming that life into a screenplay.

At Cannes, Bitter Christmas won the Soundtrack Award. Critics were divided on its intricate, self-referential construction, although the film enjoyed a strong  reception.

The film is a TIFF Special Presentation and will receive its U.S. première in New York.

Whether it becomes an Oscar player is harder to predict. But with Almodóvar, Bárbara Lennie, Sbaraglia and five decades of cinematic history behind it, Bitter Christmas is precisely the sort of film that demands to be seen before the awards conversation is over.

C’mon back next Friday for the third installment of VIFF 45’s Galas and Special Presentations film programme.

#VanPoli | COPE | Restoring Funding to the Vancouver Public Library

#VanElxn 2026, BC Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2026, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Chloe Leslie (@intheknow_withchlo)

Vancouver’s Libraries Are Closing.
Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver Had Money for FIFA. Enough Said.

Want to know what Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver administration thinks is essential? Look at what it is willing to spend money on — and what it is willing to let disappear.

For FIFA, there was $13.4 million.

For hospitality packages, suites and lounges surrounding the 2026 World Cup, Vancouver City Hall found the money. The City says the packages were purchased as assets that could be resold to offset World Cup costs. Fine. Let’s accept that explanation.

But ask Ken Sim’s administration to keep neighbourhood libraries open seven days a week and suddenly we are talking about budgets, constraints and difficult choices.

Apparently, in ABC Vancouver’s vision of a world-class city, FIFA deserves a suite while Vancouver’s children can wait outside the library on Monday.

That isn’t a budgetary footnote.

It is a statement of priorities.

And Vancouver voters should remember it come voting day October 17, 2026.

Ten Vancouver Public Library branches are closed on Mondays.

Other branches have reduced hours. The Vancouver Public Library Board has made clear that restoring Monday service would require additional funding, and COPE Councillor Sean Orr has repeatedly pushed City Council to restore the lost hours and move toward seven-day-a-week library service.

Orr calls libraries “vital community hubs.”

He is right.

In fact, he may be understating their importance.

A public library is one of the few places left in Vancouver where you can walk through a door without being expected to spend money.

Think about that.

Vancouver is increasingly a city of private spaces. Coffee shops want you to buy coffee. Restaurants want you to buy food. Entertainment venues want your admission fee. Commercial workspaces want your membership.

The public library wants nothing from you except that you come in.

You can read.

You can study.

You can use a computer.

You can access the Internet.

You can borrow books.

You can attend a programme.

You can bring your child to story time.

You can sit quietly.

And you don’t have to buy anything.

That is what public means.

For young families, libraries are an essential piece of the social infrastructure of a city.

Children’s story time at the Britannia Public Library on Vancouver’s east side

In a city where housing, childcare, food and virtually every form of recreation are becoming more expensive, the library offers parents something increasingly rare: a place where their children can learn, play and discover without another bill arriving at the end.

For children growing up in small apartments, the library can provide something their homes cannot — space to read, study and concentrate.

For teenagers, it can be a safe place after school.

For students, it can be a quiet place to work.

For newcomers, it can be a gateway to language learning, information and civic life.

And for seniors, the library can be much more than a place to borrow books.

It can be a place to go.

A place to meet people.

A place to use technology.

A place to read newspapers.

A place to participate in community life.

For an isolated senior, that can be enormously important.

And yet this is the public service Ken Sim & ABC have allowed to become less accessible.

COPE Council candidate Chloe Leslie has argued that Vancouver must be a city that works for ordinary residents rather than simply for those who can afford it.

The library debate is a perfect illustration of that principle.

Because when you reduce library hours, you don’t inconvenience everyone equally.

A wealthy professional with a home office, high-speed internet, a private collection of books and the ability to drive across the city can shrug.

A single parent working irregular hours cannot.

A senior without a car cannot.

A teenager whose home isn’t conducive to studying cannot.

A newcomer without reliable internet cannot.

A person experiencing poverty cannot.

Cuts to public services are never merely cuts. They determine who gets access.

And that’s why the FIFA comparison matters.

This is not about suggesting that the City literally handed Ken Sim’s friends $13.4 million in tickets. It didn’t. The World Cup expenditure involved hospitality packages purchased through the tournament’s official hospitality provider, with the intention of recovering costs through resale.

But that doesn’t change the fundamental political question.

When ABC wants something badly enough, the money appears.

When the administration wants Vancouver to shine on the international stage, millions can be committed.

But when residents ask for the doors of their neighbourhood libraries to remain open?

Suddenly there are constraints.

Apparently Vancouver can afford to host the world.

It just can’t afford to keep the library open on Monday.

That is not leadership.

It is a question of priorities.

And it is a question Vancouver voters should answer this fall.

Mayor Ken Sim has repeatedly presented himself as the Mayor of a modern, ambitious, internationally recognized Vancouver.

Wonderful.

But a world-class city isn’t defined by FIFA hospitality suites.

It is defined by the quality of life of the people who live there.

A genuinely world-class city makes sure a child can access a book regardless of family income.

It makes sure seniors have places to gather.

It makes sure newcomers can learn.

It makes sure students can study.

It protects public spaces where people aren’t required to consume.

And it keeps those spaces open when people actually need them.

Seven days a week.

Sean Orr has put that principle before City Council.

Chloe Leslie has made equitable public services part of her campaign.

Now every candidate seeking a seat at City Hall should be asked the same question:

Will you vote to restore Vancouver’s lost library hours and make seven-day-a-week service the standard across the city?

No slogans.

No vague promises.

No “when finances improve.”

Yes or no.

Because the library is not a luxury.

It is one of the foundations of a civilized city.

And on October 17, Vancouver voters will have an opportunity to decide whether Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver’s priorities reflect the city they want to live in.

If you believe Vancouver should be a city where public institutions are strengthened rather than diminished, where children and seniors matter as much as FIFA, where public space remains public and where access to knowledge isn’t determined by your income, then the choice is clear.

Vancouver doesn’t need another four years of ABC’s version of “world-class.”

It needs a City Hall that understands the meaning of the word public.

On October 17, vote ABC Vancouver out.

And then open the library doors.

Seven days a week.