Over the past few months, as the federal election has been heating up, Vancouver鈥檚 Mayor Kennedy Stewart has done his best to distance himself from his very recent past in federal politics.
In his monthly media availability at city hall I鈥檝e heard it asked of him multiple times if he鈥檚 endorsing a candidate or a party.
His answer has always been that he鈥檚 鈥渕eeting with all of the leaders鈥� and that he鈥檚 going to let the electorate decide who is best to lead.
鈥淚鈥檝e already got my hotel room booked for October 21st鈥� is something he has said more than once, alluding to the fact that he hopes to get meetings with the newly-elected PM the moment they get voted in, so he can advocate for our city.
Every time I hear him say he鈥檚 not siding with any particular party or candidate I have to wonder if he thinks any of the reporters in the room actually believe what he鈥檚 saying.
Because it鈥檚 a lie.
It鈥檚 total bullshit, for a few reasons:
1. Stewart was out campaigning with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh only a few months ago. Your mayor literally went door-to-door with Jagmeet, encouraging residents to vote for Singh and the NDP in the by-election, so he could pick up a seat and take a run at being prime minister.
Endorsement? What endorsement? Can a man not wander the streets with a pal handing out flyers without getting pegged as a partisan politician? You people are so cynical!
2. The safe riding that Jagmeet helicoptered into to become the NDP MP for was the very same riding that Stewart was recently an NDP MP for, before he 鈥渂ailed鈥� on it to become mayor of our city. Stewart endorsed Jagmeet for the leadership back in 2017 when he was an MP.
It was a literal endorsement. If it wasn鈥檛 then I鈥檓 not Vancouver鈥檚 Stupidest Politics writer.
3. That the mayor鈥檚 from Oct. 16, issued on City of 麻豆传媒映画letterhead and sent out by communications staff whose salaries you pay, is a wild ride.
The title is 鈥淎ndrew Sheer would be worse than Stephen Harper", and it is so blindingly partisan that it hurt my eyes to look at it.
In it your mayor makes points about how, if elected, Scheer would 鈥渕ake housing less affordable for Vancouver,鈥� he would 鈥渒ill [the] SkyTrain to UBC,鈥� and 鈥渉alt our progress on the overdose crisis鈥�.
Regardless of whether or not you believe all of those things to be true, the fact that he issued the letter using city staff, and that he ends it by saying: 鈥淚 want to be clear, [I鈥檓] not telling people who to vote for鈥� is the hugest pile of B.S. this mayor has delivered during his time in office.
Oh, and since this is the Stupidest Politics Column in town I should probably point out that they spelled Scheer鈥檚 name wrong in the statement.
(Note: A corrected statement was sent out shortly after the initial one).
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
