The City of Vancouver is “pausing” work to abolish its elected park board.
It comes after the provincial legislature ended its spring session without amending the Vancouver Charter, a key legal step necessary to move forward with Mayor Ken Sim’s plan to scrap the Vancouver Park Board.
According to an “all staff” message circulated Friday by deputy city manager Sandra Singh, “operational planning towards a governance transition will pause until we learn more.”
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“The provincial government has reaffirmed its commitment to at a future date enact these legislative changes and we will share any further indication of regarding potential timing when we receive that information,” the memo adds.
Vancouver green park commissioner Tom Digby, who opposes the transition, hailed the pause as a victory, posting on social media that “135 years of local democracy survives.”
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Sim announced his plan to eliminate the park board in December 2023, after initially campaigning in the municipal election to keep it and fix it.
Sim has subsequently said scrapping the board would save the city $7 million per year and streamline a variety of city tasks from permitting to maintenance.
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Last spring, Premier David Eby signalled the government was “committed” to making the changes after the 2024 provincial election, should he be re-elected.
But a year later, he said action on amending the Vancouver Charter was a “casualty” of a slow-moving legislature overwhelmed with rookie MLAs.
Abolishing the park board has proven controversial, with opposition from the BC Conservatives and from a majority of sitting parks commissioners, three of whom were elected under Sim’s ABC slate but broke with the mayor over his parks plan.
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