Vancouver is not 'hell on earth': Mayor pushes back against criticism
Vancouver’s new mayor is defending the city after some controversial and harsh criticism laid out by a federal politician.
Earlier this week while addressing B.C.’s response to the ongoing toxic drug death crisis, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre depicted Vancouver as “hell on earth.”
He made the comments shortly after B.C. became the first province in the country to decriminalize possession of up to 2.5 grams of some illicit drugs, including cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and fentanyl. That means anyone caught with that amount or less for personal use won’t get arrested or charged. It’s part of a three-year pilot project as the province struggles to contain the toxic drug crisis, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives in recent years.
Ken Sim, who like Premier David Eby did not mention Poilievre by name, had this to say while speaking one-on-one with CityNews Vancouver.
“I’ll make comments on the comments. I don’t think Vancouver is hell on earth. I think Vancouver is an amazing city and we have so much going for us,” says Sim. “Do we have some challenges? Absolutely. Are we addressing them? Absolutely.”
He, like Eby, feels this is a step in the right direction and reminds everyone, people aren’t just using and dying on the Downtown Eastside — they’re dying everywhere.
“When it comes to decriminalization… what I want to share with the public is we have a poison drug crisis and it’s not just focused on the Downtown Eastside. There are people literally dying of poisoned drugs in living rooms in Kerrisdale and Champlain Heights and the first step we need to do is focus on keeping people alive. Is it the magic bullet that solves everything? Absolutely not, there are so many other things we have to do but this is an important first step and we support it.”
He acknowledges not everyone is on board with the drug changes but is hopeful the pilot project will have a positive effect on the crisis.
“These aren’t easy decisions, but people are literally dying of poisoned drugs, and we have to change the way we think, and one way is if you have a clean, safe supply. I can tell you one thing, what we were doing in the past wasn’t working, so if we expect to have any changes but we do the same thing over and over again, we will not have any positive progress.”
Where are the 100 new officers and nurses?
One of Sim’s biggest campaign promises during last fall’s municipal election was around public safety and hiring 100 new police officers and 100 new mental health nurses.
About three months into his tenure, it hasn’t happened, but he says they’re close and an update is coming in the next few weeks.
“We’ve already approved the budget for it, so the budget isn’t an issue. It’s really about onboarding,” says Sim, who didn’t reveal a timeline but says they’re working as quickly as they can.
He says once it’s all said and done, it’ll cost about $10 million dollars every year to operate both the new officers and nurses.
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“If you’re in an inflationary environment, it may be a little bit more. But in the context of what we’re trying to achieve, we’ve identified public safety as a huge issue and empathetic care to the people who need it and so these aren’t costs, these are investments. If we don’t do them, we will have the challenges we currently have and probably worse.”
Sim feels things have improved in recent months when it comes to public safety, including businesses being broken into, street disorder, and random assaults.
He admits there are still a lot of challenges but claims neighbourhood by neighbourhood, city hall is working on it — pointing to a recent investment to help clean up Chinatown, where he says people are feeling better about it and attitudes are changing.
“When it comes to the encampments on Hastings Street, I think we were at about 170-180 tents and that number is closer to 100 now and it’s going down and we’re doing it in an empathetic way.
“So, things are getting better, but I do also want to qualify that statement with we still have a lot of work to do and there will be ups and downs. We will face other challenges going forward and it may make things a little worse but it’s a long-term process that we’re focused on.”
Sim, also paid a visit to Drex on Jack 96.9 Thursday and chatted about housing affordability. He reiterated his plan to prioritize new home development while moving away from restrictions.
“There’s a shadow that gets cast on the corner of a building for like two days, we don’t have to stop the building, it’s like, ‘Why don’t we experiment? Why don’t we try this?'”
He’s also planning to eliminate the 25-cent fee that’s currently applied to disposable cups within the city.
“I’m an environmentalist like everyone else in this city. That’s why we live here. We’re deeply concerned about the environment and personally, we run a carbon-neutral family and it’s very important to us. This tax, this fee on the cup, it doesn’t go toward the environment — it’s not effective.
“So, as an environmentalist, I think it’s a waste of time, it harms businesses, and it makes our city less affordable.”
In the short time since taking office, talking to CityNews Sim says the support for he and his party has been overwhelming and they’re open to the criticism they get while listening and learning from it.
Sim, who says he likes to go by just “Ken,” says one mandate of his that will always remain in place is hearing from people.
“Absolutely, I truly believe it. We love diversity and diversity of thought actually makes us stronger. If everyone agreed with us all the time, we’re in an echo chamber and that’s not healthy.”
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