Author: Daniel Fontaine

$17,336.50. That’s how much it cost Metro Vancouver taxpayers to send the Chair of Metro Vancouver to attend the 2023 Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors Forum. Keep in mind, that’s for just his airfare! He also attended the conference with two other civic politicians who sit on the Metro Vancouver board.

Now Metro Vancouver Chair Mayor George Harvie is asking taxpayers to pay for his next junket to Amsterdam before he is removed in that role on July 1st. Media are reporting this ticket for this trip is over $5,000. This is on top of the $20K+ taxpayers shelled out to send Mr. Harvie to Singapore.

How should taxpayers react when they see Metro Vancouver directors flying all over the world when the costs for mega projects they are responsible for are ballooning out of control?

The wastewater treatment plant in North Vancouver has gone from $700M to almost $4B in cost. The Iona wastewater treatment plant is now reportedly pegged at $12B and climbing in cost at a rate of $1B very six months.

In this episode we dig a bit deeper into what exactly is happening at Metro Vancouver regarding travel expenses and more. In “The Way I See It” we ask whether it’s time for our provincial politicians to step in and propose some reforms to provide for more accountability at this unelected and in many ways unaccountable governing body.

Listen to several interviews which aired on CKNW and Global TV with hosts Jas Johal and Jill Bennett as well as reporter Catherine Urquhart. Our upcoming events segment also touches on New Westminster’s Hyack Parade and the Heritage Home Tour.

If you liked this episode, be sure to spread the word by telling friends and family to listen for themselves!

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In Episode 27 of For the Record, we cover a number of topics and issues of interest to New West residents and beyond. We start off the podcast by discussing a number of motions that are making their way through New West city council.

Have you noticed limited access to the City’s waterfront lately due to a lack of working elevators? A motion will be coming to Council asking that we start keeping track of how many days our residents lose access to one or both elevators at the same time on our waterfront. What more can be done to ensure at least one of them is working at all times?

Special guest Coun. Paul Minhas responds to accusations that he shouldn’t have moved a motion to appoint a new chair for one of the City’s committees due to the fact he didn’t attend any of its meetings this year. You might be surprised to hear what he has to say in response to his critics.

A motion will be coming forward soon requesting the Mayor no longer hold his State of the City address in locations that prohibit access to our youth. We discuss whether it was appropriate to hold this important event in a private pay-to-access venue when other civic officials do this in publicly-owned venues or city hall. By doing so, that affords the Mayor’s council colleagues the opportunity to respond!

A motion just got passed which will help to make New West city hall more open and transparent. You’ll get to hear what the motion was all about and why it got unanimous support.

Is it time for a public inquiry into the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant multi-billion dollar cost overrun? A motion will be coming forward soon asking for New West’s rep (Mayor Patrick Johnstone) on the Board to demand more openness and transparency regarding how we got into this financial mess.

What does the future of our sports and recreation programs and infrastructure look like in New West over the coming decades? City council got to participate in an interesting workshop where the elected officials were asked for their opinion.

The topic of Ryall Park’s artificial turf field and Queensborough featured prominently along with a few other items that have been on the minds of local amateur and recreational sport enthusiasts. You’ll get to hear a few excerpts from the discussion that took place in council chamber.

“The Way I See It” focuses this week on New West making it on to the NDP Government’s “Naughty List”. That’s the list of BC cities that are not doing enough to build housing fast enough. Is this really the right approach? Is this too much stick and not enough carrot? Why did the Province of BC not put any new $$ on the table as an incentive?

Finally, we have a bit of fun discussing Canucks on Columbia and whether our favourite NHL team will make it to the next round. In that regard Coun. Paul Minhas makes a bold prediction, now will it come true?

All this and much more on For the Record! Be sure to let family and friends know to follow us if you like what you hear. That’s one of the reasons our audience keeps growing each and every week!

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In this week’s edition of For the Record, we cover off a number of interesting issues making news in the Royal City.

A motion coming to city council later this month regarding decriminalization is sure to trigger a debate. It has already generated some media interest and you can listen to an interesting head-to-head discussion on CKNW’s Mike Smyth Show featuring Garth Mullins of VANDU (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users) and yours truly. The Jill Bennett Show on CKNW also had a segment on this topic as well as the Canucks on Columbia event proposal.

New Westminster’s record on planting new trees and our overall tree canopy are also discussed this week. How have we been doing when compared to other Metro Vancouver cities when it comes to our tree canopy? You might be surprised to find out!

The Mayor also held his annual State of the City address at a private adults only venue. Anyone under 19 was not permitted, nor were individuals who couldn’t afford the ticket price or had no identification. Was this the right place to deliver this critical public address?

Councillor Paul Minhas makes an appearance for our regular ‘Council Roundup” as we review some of the major topics discussed in the chamber this week.

The focus of “The Way I See It” opinion piece is Metro Vancouver Chair Greg Harvie. He is also the Mayor of Delta and this week he was provided with termination notice from his council. They are revoking his appointment to Metro Vancouver which means that effective July 1st he will no longer be the chair. During that local debate he indicated he needed to stay on a few more weeks to fulfill his duties which included an all expense paid trip to Amsterdam. Will Metro Vancouver still allow him to take that trip given that he’ll be stepping down as chair soon?

It’s a packed podcast with lots of great information. If you enjoy it, be sure to tell family, friends and colleagues! Remember, this podcast is available on all major platforms including Spotify, Amazon, Apple an Google Podcasts.

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