The Courier hosted the first mayoral debate of the civic election campaign Oct. 21 at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre. Mayor Gregor Robertson, who is seeking re-election, faced off against his main challenger, the NPA's Suzanne Anton, who is a city councillor. The Courier captured the hour-long debate on video and it can be viewed on our website, along with the opening and closing statements from Robertson and Anton and a seven-minute open exchange between the candidates.
The following is an edited version of the debate.
Courier to Robertson: A city report released Oct. 14 said only 37 per cent of people living in four social housing buildings on city property were previously homeless. You said you were surprised by this. How is it that when your top campaign priority in 2008 was decreasing homelessness, you had no idea about the numbers until the report was released?
Robertson: We don't micromanage all of the details, particularly when it's a provincial body that's responsible. But we were able to get that information and raise concerns that we want to see people who are homeless served by these sites. Now we're in a dialogue with B.C. Housing to make sure that all of those units do go and serve homeless people ultimately because that's key to our 10-year goal of homelessness and affordable housing in our city.
Courier to Anton: One of the first acts of the Vision 麻豆传媒映画government in 2008 was to get rid of city manager Judy Rogers and replace her with Penny Ballem. At the time, you said you were "mad as a hornet" about this and called it a purely political appointment. If elected mayor, will you get rid of Ballem and replace her with someone to suit the NPA's agenda?
Anton: It would be really inappropriate of me to talk about staff or human resources during the course of an election campaign. I'm not going to do that but I will just reiterate my general principle that staff-the civil service-needs to revert to the independent civil service. I'm going to lift the gag order on staff. They've been gagged. This openness and transparency is a complete sham under this mayor. Reporters used to be able to phone staff who had written a report and talk to them about it. Now they can't even talk to [reporters] anymore because the message is control. That was completely unnecessary. Openness, transparency are fundamental to my new administration.
Courier to Robertson: Police Chief Jim Chu announced Oct.19 that the Occupy 麻豆传媒映画protest was costing the police so much money that there is a danger the VPD will run a deficit this year. How long are you prepared to allow the protesters to stay there and how much is this costing taxpayers?
Robertson: People have the right to protest. 麻豆传媒映画has a long history of protest and that's part of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada but we have to make sure that does not impact the downtown, that it does not have any public health or safety risk associated with it and absolutely that there is no violence. So we're watching it closely on a day-to-day basis as are almost a thousand cities around the world right now.
Courier to Anton: In April of this year, you voted with the rest of council to not allow Paragon Gaming to expand its Edgewater casino to a site adjacent to B.C. Place Stadium. But before you cast your vote, you said in council chambers that you would have allowed 1,200 slots as part of Edgewater's move, which is an expansion of gambling. If elected mayor, will you allow the expansion of gambling in Vancouver?
Anton: I stand by my vote if there is public support-the two things that were decided by council unanimously. If those two conditions are met, I am willing to consider an application. There are two conditions, though: public support and security of operations. That was a unanimous vote by council, don't forget.
Courier: Both of your political parties have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations in the past decade. Many of those donors, particularly prominent developers, have gone before council to get various plans approved. Why have neither of you ever recused yourself from a vote when a donor is before council?
Robertson: When we're in public hearing, we obviously have an open mind whatever the project is and we vote based on the merits and the impact and the input of citizens coming to the public hearing and sending in their opinions. The political process happens independently of that through the [political] parties, the donations that take place all are managed by the parties themselves. I, frankly, keep a distance from that and my duties as mayor focus on a rigorous public hearing process, hearing the merits of a project and ensuring that people have a voice in that process.
Anton: I do separate myself from knowing where those donations are coming from because I don't want to have that-I don't even want the thought in my head let alone the perception in other people's heads that you may be influenced by that.
Courier to both candidates: The average price of a home in 麻豆传媒映画hovers around the $1 million mark. What is your plan to make 麻豆传媒映画more affordable for the average person or family who wants to live in the city?
Robertson: It's going to be very difficult for my kids to be able to afford to live here in Vancouver. So we have put a real focus on looking at the low and middle-income portion of the housing continuum here. The majority of Vancouverites rent and we have had a dearth of rental housing built in this city in decades since the federal government took tax incentives off the table. So we've actually-thanks to our Short Term Incentives for Rental [program]-given some incentives [to developers] to get people working and building rental housing and creating a new supply. We have seen over 500 units come into play on the rental housing side and about 500 more that are in the pipeline. That's using the city's toolbox and relaxing parking and taking steps that are proactive to get rental housing built. We've seen the first co-op housing in the city in a decade. We have approved laneway housing, which will be a new supply of affordable family housing, as well.
Anton: The only way to have true affordability is to have a good supply of housing coming on stream. You cannot buy your way into affordability. And that's what the STIR program does. Some STIR projects are OK but many of them are pouring tax dollars into developers' pockets to build rental housing. I'm not going to pour it back into rental housing back into developers' pockets. No subsidies for developers for rental housing. Let's let the market take care of that and let's let city hall let the marketplace be more efficient.
From reader Amy Lam: Ms. Anton, you seem like an intelligent person, so why did you feel the need to use a relentless, negative attack campaign against your opponent? Would it not serve you better just to present all the things that you can do for the City of Vancouver?
Anton: I have made a few negative comments today and we will have a very positive platform. We have a great, positive platform and you've certainly heard many parts of it. Let me mention one: The streetcar. I love the streetcar, people love streetcars. They're great for green because they're electric. Clean electricity from B.C. and they're great for development along the lines of the streetcar. If you want a streetcar, vote NPA because Vision has no interest in a streetcar. I'm going to get the Broadway line built. For the other team it's an either/or. For me, it's not. I like to dream of what we can do in Vancouver, that's why I supported the Olympics, the Canada Line, the convention centre, the stadium.
From reader Jon O'Grady to Robertson: Over the past decade annual property tax increases have regularly been more than twice the rate of inflation. Are you concerned about this and, if so, what will you do to bring spending increases in line with inflation?
Robertson: We have actually brought spending into line over these past three years. The last two years we've had property tax increases at or below two per cent, the lowest in the region this last year, which is a dramatic improvement from past years. We understand the pinch on 麻豆传媒映画taxpayers and we have focused on efficiency at city hall. We came into office and put in place a 麻豆传媒映画services review to go through all of the functions of the city and find efficiency.
To both from reader Caroline Adderson: A demolition permit was filed for the historic Legg residence, one of but three remaining grand estate homes of the 19th century and a building on the city's "A" heritage register. A proposal in the spring, which would have preserved and restored the Legg residence in exchange for permission to build a 17-storey tower on site, was rejected by council. What is your policy on heritage preservation? Can we count on you to protect the buildings on the heritage registry for future generations?
Anton: Obviously heritage is key in 麻豆传媒映画and I think we can go further in 麻豆传媒映画protecting our heritage buildings. One of the things that is in the news right now is the demolition of schools and it's time that the city started taking a stronger position on those heritage schools. They're beautiful buildings, they're all around the city. I feel very proud to have supported a number of heritage renovations. The Legg residence, council-the rest of council-chose not to vote on it. We should have voted on it that day and we didn't. They put it off and now I gather the house is being torn down. It's most unfortunate. The city has had a long-standing policy of supporting heritage. It's costly but it's important.
Robertson: We protected heritage throughout the city in this term through the public hearing process in many instances. In the West End, the Legg residence specifically, there was a huge amount of concern about the changes on that site and not only the tower but a giant tulip tree that is on site that is very important to the neighbourhood and the heritage house. And in some of these situations it is a very difficult decision to figure out what can be saved and what can be protected and what has to be given and built on that site to pay for it. The city does go a long way to protect heritage and allocating resources through development but there are obviously limits to that. We have to be very mindful of working with the neighbours to make the right decision.
The election is Nov. 19.
