Park board commissioners are split on Mayor Ken Sim’s move to begin the process to abolish the seven-member board, which includes six of his own ABC Vancouver party members.
Three ABC commissioners — Angela Haer, Jas Virdi and Marie-Claire Howard — attended a city hall news conference Wednesday where Sim confirmed media reports that he wants to dissolve the board.
“I am actually feeling really good,” Howard told reporters. “We were elected democratically to look after the parks and recreation facilities of Vancouver. And I fundamentally believe the decision that we're making today is the right one for the people of Vancouver.”
At the same time, ABC commissioner Laura Christensen posted a message Wednesday morning on the X social media platform saying she and fellow ABC commissioners Scott Jensen and Brennan Bastyovanszky “have been removed from ABC.”
Christensen’s message included a screen shot of an email received from Trevor Ford, the mayor’s chief of staff, two hours before Sim’s news conference.
It said: “We will move forward with the park board transition team without you three as you have chosen not support the mayor on the folding of the park board. I thank you for your service to date, and I wish you the best of luck going forward. There is no need for any of you to attend the press conference this morning, nor attend any future transitional planning meetings around the park board, as well.”
A second post from Christensen indicated it was “the first communication I’ve had from the party on this topic and I have never been asked my opinion on folding the PB.”
As Glacier Media reported prior to the news conference, Sim told reporters he will introduce a motion at the Dec. 13 council meeting that seeks to abolish the board.
For his move to be successful, Sim has to first get approval from council — which he will likely get because his party holds the majority — before having the provincial government amend the Vancouver Charter.
Sim said his office has been in discussions with the province about his wish.
“We have a pretty positive working relationship with the province, they've been great partners,” he said. “And it's been our experience that they want to do what's best for the City of Vancouver.”
The B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs said in an email Wednesday that “this is a decision for Vancouver city council. We will take the necessary steps to implement the decision of their elected city council.”
'It's not about the people'
The mayor said his decision was not a criticism of the seven park board commissioners, which include Green Party member Tom Digby.
“We're talking about a structural issue here,” he said. “We committed to the public that we're going to try to fix it. We had elected a supermajority in that chamber. We can't fix it. It's not about the people. It's about the structure, and no amount of tinkering with that current structure is going to fix it.”
Some examples he provided including the facade of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre falling off, a jurisdictional dispute over a water pipe at Spanish Banks and issues related to getting the Stanley Park train operating for the holiday season.
His goal, he said, is to align the management structure for parks and recreation services under one agency, which would be city council. He pointed out that’s “how it's done in literally every single city across North America,” with the exception of Minneapolis.
“And I'm assuming the reason for that is every other city in North America has figured out that this just doesn't work,” he said, claiming his move “will yield millions of dollars” in savings.
“This change will ensure that our parks and recreation facilities finally get the care and attention that they deserve, that they can be restored to the gems that they once were."
'Council's fault'
Bastyovanszky said he learned of Sim’s decision via ABC colleague Christensen’s post on X.
“It’s a bad thing for the city — it’s an erosion of democracy,” he said. “You've got these elected officials that are being removed from office without any discussion in some sort of backroom-like deal just so the mayor can centralize power.”
He said the premise Sim is basing the board’s abolition on is false — and that the reason parks, facilities and other services need more work is because city council hasn’t properly funded the park board.
“The park board is underfunded by $20 million, which is actually council's fault,” Bastyovanszky said.
“For them to cut funding over the last couple of years for our infrastructure and then say, ‘Oh, it's not working’…it's just a continuation of that erosion of the separation that has been in place between parks and city for 135 years.”
He said Sim and councillors were elected largely to tackle the housing crisis and address public safety.
“For them to not be successful at making the progress that they thought they would in the first year to then come on to try and take on parks — so they have at least some good news stories — is just disingenuous,” he said.
Bastyovanszky said he, Christensen and Jensen will now serve as independent commissioners and plan to be on the job until the 2026 election.
At the Dec. 11 park board meeting, he and the non-ABC commissioners will direct staff to send a letter to council and Premier David Eby to dismiss or oppose the mayor’s wish to abolish the board.
He also plans to be one of the many speakers expected at the Dec. 13 council meeting to oppose the mayor’s move and is encouraging others in the city to do the same.
