New Vancouver mayor tempers expectations in first State of the City address
In his first major speech as Vancouver mayor, Ken Sim delivered a State of the City address at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Thursday.
Sim played to the pro-business crowd by starting off riffing about the city being “open for business” on his watch.
"The next four years are going to be about awakening the giants of Vancouver industry,” he told the crowd of more than a thousand.
But while pumping the tires on commerce, he cautioned it will take time to see results on some of his election pledges.
Pressed during a news conference after the speech, Sim could not give a timeline for when we could see the first hires of his promised 100 new police officers and 100 mental health nurses – or when he expects the full complement to be on the street.
“More to come on that. But for the actual dates, these situations are pretty dynamic and they do take time,” he said.
He also said that he still hasn’t been able to secure funding commitments from other levels of government to pay for the new nurses and police officers.
“We’re going to be bold and we’re going to fund the hiring of a hundred mental health nurses, and if and when the program shows success we will go back to the province and show them an operational case for why they should be funding it,” he said, before acknowledging City of Vancouver taxpayers will be on the hook for hiring, training and paying the 100 mental health professionals.
Green Party Councillor Pete Fry attended the luncheon along with his other council colleagues.
"I'm disappointed but not surprised to hear that nobody's stepping up to the plate to actually backstop this commitment,” Fry said after Sim’s speech.
“It is widely out of the scope of the municipal government to fund mental health nurses."
Sim also touched on his promise to speed up the permit process for new construction in the city, saying he would be looking at ways to get more housing stock approved more quickly – even if that meant changing the criteria used for approvals.
“Vancouver does not have a shadow crisis. Vancouver does not have a view cone crisis. In Vancouver we have a housing crisis,” he told the crowd, which included some prominent developers.
Asked by CTV News if that meant he and his A Better City Vancouver council colleagues, who hold a voting majority, might change the city’s View Cone Policy – which restricts building heights in certain areas to protect mountain views – Sim wouldn’t rule it out.
"We'll look at everything and if it makes sense, we're amenable to adjusting our policy on it,” he said.
Throughout his speech, Sim urged patience as he and ABC implement their policies, saying there are no quick fixes for the issues facing the city.
"You know, 'It's easier to campaign than to govern' is, for sure, a cliché that often fits,” said CTV political analyst George Affleck, a former councillor himself. “I think what we heard today were big ideas with some specifics but not a lot of specifics."
As he takes charge, Sim will soon find out just how patient – or impatient – the electorate can be.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Tropical fish stolen from Beachburg, Ont. restaurant found and returned
Ontario Provincial Police have landed a suspect following a fishy theft in Beachburg, Ont.
U.S. FAA launches investigation into unauthorized personnel in cockpit of Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto
The U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a video that appears to show unauthorized personnel in the cockpit of a charted Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto.