B.C. government will help Vancouver abolish elected park board in 'next legislative session,' Eby says

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's plan to dissolve the city's elected Board of Parks and Recreation has won the backing of the B.C. government, though it will still be months before provincial legislation allowing the change is introduced.

Premier David Eby said in a statement Friday that his government is "committed to advancing the dissolution of the Vancouver Park Board in the next legislative session."

That would mean sometime this fall, after the provincial election scheduled for Oct. 19, though Eby's statement suggests the timeline could be longer than that, noting that there are "some details" that still need to be addressed.

"We are confident they will be resolved in the coming months," the statement reads. "Once completed, we commit to advancing the requested Vancouver Charter changes to dissolve the Park Board in the next earliest legislative session."

Eby's statement does not elaborate on what those details are.

Sim welcomed Eby's announcement in his own statement Friday, saying he was "pleased" to learn of the province's commitment to dissolve the park board.

“This announcement welcomes a new era of parks and recreation in Vancouver and provides certainty to the City, our valued staff, and Vancouverites as a whole," Sim said.

"While we are disappointed that this transition will not be taking place this current legislative session, the premier’s commitment affords us additional time to collaborate with staff to ensure a smooth transition."

Sim's election promise 

Sim and his A Better City Vancouver party advocated for abolishing the park board before the 2022 municipal election. As the campaign period drew closer, that stance changed, with ABC running a full slate of candidates for the park board and winning a majority of the seats.

Even as he pledged to improve the park board during the campaign, Sim also hinted to CTV News that a move to abolish it was still a possibility.

"We will definitely go to the province and we will ask them to help us fix the elected park board and if that means getting rid of the elected park board and have them report to council, that is exactly what we will do," he said in an interview at the time.

In December, Sim and his majority on city council voted to move forward with abolition.

At the meeting where the vote was taken, more than 150 people signed up to speak. Most of them were opposed to dissolving the park board, which is the only elected body of its type in Canada.

Because the elected park board is a feature of the Vancouver Charter – the provincial legislation that provides a framework for the city's self-governance – the city needs the provincial government's help to eliminate it.

Despite this, Sim appointed a transition team in January to help oversee the dissolution of the park board, and has publicly touted the progress that team has been making. 

The premier, too, had praise for the city's efforts in his statement Friday.

"The province appreciates the enormous amount of work Mayor Sim and the City of Vancouver has done to move this forward," the statement reads.

"We value our relationship with the City of Vancouver and look forward to continuing to work productively together with Mayor Sim on all shared priorities, including housing, safe communities, and cost of living support so that everyone can build a good life here." 

Park board commissioners react

Green Party park board Commissioner Tom Digby called the premier's announcement "devastating news."

"We were thinking the premier was at least going to do consultations," he said.

While ABC won a majority on the park board during the last election, not all of the party's park board commissioners were on board with the plan to dissolve the body to which they had just been elected.

When Sim announced plans to ask the province to eliminate the park board, some commissioners left ABC to sit as independents.

Last month, the board voted 4-3 in favour of hiring legal counsel to review its options for stopping the mayor's dissolution plan.

Board Chair Brennan Bastyovanszky – one of the former ABC commissioners – had a more positive take on Friday's news.

“Part of it is I guess an element of relief,” he said, suggesting the premier’s plan to push the dissolution of the board to beyond the next provincial election buys time.

“There’s no reason to rush into this. So I appreciate the premier for taking a pause to the urgentness of the mayor’s motion.”

Scott Jensen, another former ABC commissioner, agreed.

“I’m pleased that the premier has taken the time to consider everything that’s been put in front of (the government) and understands that more work needs to be done,” he said.

As for a potential legal challenge, park board commissioners have met with their legal team and are working on a strategy to push back against the city and the province’s plan to dissolve the board.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Martin MacMahon