Vancouver passes motion to ask province to amend charter, remove elected Park Board

Vancouver's municipal council has passed a motion aimed at removing the city's elected Park Board.

At a meeting last night, council passed a motion by Mayor Ken Sim to ask the province to amend the Vancouver Charter in order to abolish the Park Board.

The vote passed along party lines, with Sim and all seven ABC Vancouver councillors voting in favour of the motion.

Sim said previously while announcing the motion that the removal of the Park Board — the only one of its kind among Canadian cities — was "long overdue" since the system was "broken."

Three councillors — Green Party's Adriane Carr and Pete Fry, as well as OneCity's Christine Boyle — voted against the motion.

I worked w/ @PtFry to amend #Vancouver 2024 Budget to fund $1.1M of @ParkBoard requests to save $, boost revenues, speed permits…all consistent w/ what @KenSimCity says he wants. But ABC all voted no. They must have a more nefarious motive to kill Park Bd. #vanpoli #vangreens

— Adriane Carr (@AdrianeCarr) December 13, 2023

For those asking re Park Board vote.
Text (w/ALT) of my reasonable attempt to refer ABC's motion back to staff to do thoughtful intentional and democratic work w/ community & stakeholders, consider subject matter experts, MST, partners, AGO, legal status of unprotected parks. pic.twitter.com/arxt9EwuqS

— Pete Fry (@PtFry) December 14, 2023

How to political repression CityHall
🚫Increased use/abuse of closed meetings
🚫Public speakers reduced to 3 minutes
🚫Councillors can't ask questions of speakers
🚫Councillors can't ask q's of member motions
🚫Metal detectors, police, limited public access#Vanpoli @Vote4ABC https://t.co/kUfw0ouGG8

— Pete Fry (@PtFry) December 14, 2023

The amendment was defeated.

Vancouver deserves a thoughtful and considered vision for our parks, pools and public spaces.

Instead, ABC is barreling forward without a plan, towards a future for our parks that will be decided on by the Mayor, his office, and his friends. https://t.co/4RLGG7jfPG

— OneCity Vancouver (@OneCityVan) December 14, 2023

Boyle said in the post on social media platform X after the vote that the result was "disrespectful and undemocratic" and called the process a "ramming forward" of a move that ABC did not campaign on during last year's municipal election.