Mayoral candidates debate in Chinatown
In a Vancouver mayoral debate in Chinatown Thursday night, candidates discussed tough issues around workforce exclusion among Chinese immigrants, and inclusiveness.
Sitting Mayor Gregor Robertson says the city has made progress and no longer has a “majority culture.” [I laugh]
But issues important to other residents of the city also prevailed, like transportation and affordable housing.
Another hot topic was homelessness, which Robertson admits is hard to eradicate.
“It’s not acceptable for anyone to be forced to sleep outside, we had some early success years, we went from 811 people down to 154 people sleeping on our streets in the first three years, and we’ve had a setback these last two years.”
His NPA rival-Kirk LaPointe called Robertson’s promise to end street homelessness “broken and empty” and said he would tackle the issue realistically.
“It is shameful when a city actually does the same thing provides another broken , empty promise, so as mayor I say I’m not going to lie to you, I’m going to be realistic.”
COPE’s Meena Wong also had some harsh words for Vision Vancouver.
“Homelessness issue is not resolved but doubled under Gregor’s watch actually, and why? Because, people have been renovicted out of their homes.”
Robertson countered with criticism of LaPointe’s support for Chevron’s corporate donation to the school board- which it rejected.
“This position around Chevron funding is yet another example of the confusion in the NPA, I think it’s crucial that there is absolutely no corporate influence in the classroom.”
LaPointe again called on Vision to release a list of campaign contributors and donations, which the NPA promises to do by Friday, November 7th.
Earlier in the day Vision released a statement pledging to release its donor list this weekend.
The crowd topped two hundred, and was hosted by SUCCESS, a multicultural not for profit.
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