The first guest to appear on For the Record is Councillor Paul Minhas. During the podcast Minhas and Fontaine have a look back at their first year on Council and discuss some of the key issues that have generated debate and discussion.
Some of the topics included the removal of the Royal City moniker, train whistle cessation, the Snow Summit, pay hikes for municipal politicians, the new citizens assembly and much more. This podcast is available on all major platforms or you can also listen to it by clicking on the image below.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to sit in front of my laptop and bang off a blog post. There are many reasons why, but they mainly boil down to a lack of time and a hectic life that just never seems to permit me the time to write as much as I used to.
What’s been keeping me busy? Primarily it’s the establishment of MICHIFCO, my consulting firm. I’ve been able to secure some amazing new clients, primarily in the health sector.
To be clear, as a consultant, you want to be busy! So having more clients than you can take on is a good thing. But on the other hand, it’s also a trade off in terms of the time I now have to draft blog posts or do other recreational activities.
In addition to my consulting practice, a significant number of hours each week are dedicated to public service in my role as a city councillor. I’ve really been enjoying this over the last 10 months and have had some amazing interactions with constituents and local business owners throughout the city.
It’s also been wonderful to watch a newly elected Board of Directors for the New West Progressives take this political organization to the next level. They’ve all been a pleasure to work with!
The reason I am referencing how hectic life has become is because this will be my last blog post – at least for the foreseeable future.
In case you haven’t noticed, the number of people reading blogs has gone down over the years. Our world is rapidly changing and ‘lengthy’ 600 wordcount blog posts – even about the most interesting of topics – simply doesn’t generate the level of interest they used to in previous years.
People have pivoted and prefer to get their information in more bit-sized chunks from social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and X. A growing number of people have also switched their information consumption habits and now listen to podcasts – including me.
A podcast is great information all condensed and packaged up for you to appreciate when you have the time to do so. Whether you’re at the gym or on the road, podcasts have become an ever increasingly popular way to communicate to people.
That’s why I’m pleased to announce that while my blog is retiring, I’m planning on launching a new political podcast this fall focusing on the issue of municipal affairs in New West and throughout our Metro Vancouver region.
Not only do I aim to make it interesting and thought-provoking, I want it to include a number of guests who will join me to discuss emerging topics of the day.
Most of all, I want it to be informative and engaging and provide a different perspective on urban politics. That means I plan to invite guests who don’t always think like me, nor share the same political beliefs!
On that note, I now formally sign off from this blog and begin work to launch a new chapter this Fall. That said, I still plan to upload all of my podcasts to this site which will remain active. I also plan to make my podcasts available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other popular platforms.
I very much look forward to engaging with you – via my new podcast – in the near future! Stay tuned for more news on that front soon.
On May 7th both Councillor Paul Minhas and I quietly recognized our first six months as city councillors. There was no big gathering planned as we didn’t think it was time to celebrate given our city is still facing so many serious issues. Rather, we took a moment to reflect on how things have gone with a half year now in the rear window.
It’s been so long that District Labour Council endorsed politicians (aka Community First) have held every seat on Council, it’s definitely taken some adjusting to having two New West Progressives (NWP) opposition councillors sitting on the front bench.
Over the past six months, both Councillor Minhas and I have not wasted any time trying to make changes at city hall. We heard loud and clear from the public during last fall’s election they didn’t want the next four years to be more ‘business as usual’.
A visit to the E-Comm 911 center in Vancouver
Despite the fact Coun. Minhas and I hold only two votes, we’ve been able to bring forward a number of significant motions and helped to begin changing the political dynamics at our city.
One of our goals is to give hope to people who have stopped voting because they’ve been convinced by Community First supporters the election is a ‘forgone conclusion’. How often have you heard someone in New West say ‘why bother voting, I know who is going to win’? The reality is the fewer people that vote, the more often Community First will win a majority.
In the past six months we’ve continued to make a big dent in that flawed and self-serving political narrative. As you can see from the last civic election, in less than five years after establishing the New West Progressives, we already secured two council seats and one seat on the school board. By all accounts, this is nothing short of a major political victory.
Attending a morning networking breakfast hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce
I have no doubt we will secure a majority on council in 2026 and we’ll elect a new Mayor and council that truly will put the community’s interests first.
We’ve already started to fundraise and have elected a board of directors that is comprised of a strong, diverse group of people committed to making another major political breakthrough in 2026.
The amount of positive phone calls, emails, and supportive comments ‘on the street’ both Coun. Minhas and I have received is nothing short of overwhelming. The best thing of all is MOST of these people didn’t vote in the last election – but they most certainly plan to do so in the next.
Attending the Bevies and Bites fundraiser to raise funds for Don’t Go Hungry: A Food Support Program
They tell us they like the fact we’re trying to keep costs in check at city hall by attempting to develop an operating budget with a 3.95% tax increase rather than a 6.4% increase passed by Community First last month (we voted against).
Voters are happy we tried to freeze electrical utility rates and tried to temporarily suspend the Climate Action Tax put on your utility bills. By the way, Community First collected just shy of $2M in 2022 with their Climate Tax – which ironically is taxing a completely carbon free fuel – hydro electric power! They are also imposing these types of taxes on low and middle income New Westies who can least afford it during these inflationary times!
We received lots of positive feedback when we tried to prevent Council spending almost $500K on a new mushroom wall and insect farm at Queen’s Park to replace the petting zoo. The residents of Queensborough also applauded us when we fought to include a new artificial turf field in our capital plan.
The City’s Samson V museum is shrink wrapped and covered in pigeon poo and urine
I also personally received a lot of support when I called for a regional snow summit in order to determine exactly what happened when so many people were trapped in their vehicles for up to 12 hours in a minor snowstorm! To date, it remains a mystery as no snow summit was ever held.
The residents of Connaught Heights also showed up in droves when I hosted a community forum in April regarding densifying the neighbourhood. They told me they have been waiting for decades to move forward with the development of a new master plan.
Minhas and I have also held a number of Councillor Cafes in every neighbourhood and invited the public to attend. They have been a huge hit and residents have told us to keep them going this fall – which I’m pleased to announce we will.
One of the many interviews I did related to the Snow Summit concept
We also held a special edition of our Councillor Cafe with our business community. It was a great opportunity to hear directly from them regarding what more city hall can do to support the business climate and generate more economic activity throughout the city.
I was also pleased with our efforts to begin revitalizing the City’s waterfront by moving the Samson V museum into drydock and converting that public space to moorage for pleasure craft. Unfortunately, the initiative got shot down 5-2 and the Samson is still covered in shrink wrap and coated in pigeon poo and urine (see image above taken on May 12, 2023).
A motion I introduced last week triggered the biggest public reaction so far. It called upon Council to endorse a Party on the Pattullo – and it passed unanimously (but not without a bit of last minute wordsmithing from my political opponents). We now await word from TransLink and the Province of BC to see if they are amenable to the idea.
The last six months have also been spent agreeing with my Community First colleagues on a wide range of issues including the approval of new affordable and missing middle housing projects across the city. We’ve also supported a number of initiatives that will facilitate more equity, diversity and inclusion at city hall.
Sadly, both Minhas and I were unable to vote in favour of the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan as it does not reflect the goals, objectives and vision of all seven members of Council. By way of example, when we moved even a simple amendment during a public meeting to include a commitment to incorporate the 22nd Street SkyTrain station planning, it was voted down 5-2.
No doubt I’m missing a dozen other initiatives we have brought forward for discussion over the last six months. But as you can see, while there may only be two of us on Council, your New West Progressives reps are doing everything we can to make a positive difference – and by all accounts, it looks like we have.
