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A portrait of Philip Owen from the early years

October 1st, 2021 · No Comments

Former mayor Philip Owen died today. Many, many memories of him. Here’s a very early profile I did of him at the Vancouver Sun in 1996. It’s close to midnight and, on the third floor at Vancouver city hall, the lighted windows are going dark, one by one. The man walking through the council offices […]

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Adjust your clocks: Vancouver changes council meeting times

January 16th, 2012 · 16 Comments

The last time Vancouver changed its council schedule was back in the 80s, when Gordon Campbell decided that evening council meetings were a blight, keeping everyone around until beyond midnight. He moved council meetings to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and introduced a new rule that only allowed speakers at committee meetings (held on Thursdays during the […]

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HST will be shadow at annual municipal politician get-together

September 26th, 2010 · 2 Comments

The usual topics will be debated at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention this week, ranging from the Canada-goose problem to a looming RCMP contract that could boost policing costs for almost every city and town in the province. But, as several municipal politicians told me this weekend, the biggest topic is one that […]

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Major housing announcement this morning to provide almost 1,000 units

May 25th, 2010 · 17 Comments

The announcement is at 10 and here’s what I know so far, which was in the Globe this morning

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Olympics bid a bad idea, 40 per cent in B.C. still say

March 11th, 2010 · 23 Comments

Here’s a news item that will cheer up some on this site: B.C. continues to lead the way, even in post-Games euphoria, in disapproving of hosting the Olympics.

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Ex-Vision board member quits party over Robertson’s Campbell remarks

June 1st, 2009 · 22 Comments

Sean Holman has a doozy of a story in today’s Globe. Sean has a copy of an e-mail from former board member Mike Bruce, announcing he is quitting the party and urging others to do the same, because of the mayor’s silence on explaining to party members why he made comments during the campaign appearing […]

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What Gregor has to say about Gordon Campbell now

April 16th, 2009 · 14 Comments

I notice that other media keep reporting on what people around Gregor have to say about the mayor’s enthusiastic introduction of Gordon Campbell a couple of weeks ago (previous story here). You know, the introduction that would have gone unnoticed if the province weren’t on the brink of an election and if people weren’t looking […]

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Province buys housing units for the homeless all over B.C.

January 30th, 2009 · 8 Comments

Another fun morning in another unheated brick building being renovated, with the housing crowd in the province as everyone gathered at the St. Helen’s hotel on Granville Street. That was to hear the premier and Housing Minister Rich Coleman announced they had bought 601 new units around the province in 15 buildings, all as part […]

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Province buys another big whack of housing for the homeless

January 30th, 2009 · 4 Comments

Off to the 9:30 press conference this morning, where the premier and Housing Minister Rich Coleman are about to announce another big end-of-year buy of residential hotels and older apartment buildings for the third year in a row. All part of the plan to secure this private stock so it can be used for housing […]

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Three wishes for the next three years

December 30th, 2008 · 2 Comments

In my end-of-year, end-of-election-season post for my CTV blog, I look at the challenges all these new councils face and my fondest hopes for what they will and won’t do as they tackle those challenges. Also, links to a couple of previous posts here and here that you may have missed.

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