Democracy Watch

The News Collective unpacks City Council's approval of its $1.5 billion 2019 budget on Tuesday, December 18th. On this episode of Democracy Watch, the collective reviews the debate, amendments and political divisions that surfaced at council on Tuesday, with a focus on the budget's new 4.5% property tax rate.

On Wednesday, a motion passed in City Hall titled, “A Proposed Alternative to Provincial Encroachment on the City of Vancouver’s Municipal Tax Base.” This motion, tabled by NPA Councillor Rebecca Bligh, calls for council to send a letter to the provincial government to retract a “School Tax” on properties valued over three million dollars. Some were surprised to see all three Green City Councillors vote alongside the NPA in favour of this motion. On this episode you'll hear an interview with Councillor Pete Fry, explaining why he voted for this motion and how he feels that vote has been misunderstood by the public.

After that, the News Collective discusses some civic matters including Council's upcoming vote on the 2019 city budget, Councillor Boyle's proposed Land Value Capture Tax and the provincial government's recently released Rental Housing Task Force Recommendations.

After back-to-work legislation ends a postal strike in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, we discuss the legalities around the "right to strike" in B.C. After that we feature original reporting on a motion put forward by Councillor Jean Swanson, titled “Protecting tenants from renovictions and aggressive buyouts.” The motion — which aims to enhance renter rights — passed unanimously on Tuesday, December 4th, but with significant amendments. The passed motion was interpreted as both a victory and a compromise by Swanson and Vancouver Tenants Union activists.

In light of recent anti-SOGI sentiments expressed by a handful of Vancouver Christian organizations, News Collective member Christina Song interviews UBC PhD candidate, Zaraí Toledo Orozco, on the similarities between Christian groups in Latin America and those in British Columbia, who oppose LGBTQ rights.

In otter news, we hear a special "news-drama" report on Chinatown’s otter at large. This wily river otter has made international headlines after eating the 11 of the 14 resident koi in a Chinatown's Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. In this piece we hear from #TeamKoi and #TeamOtter.

The show starts with a look into Christopher Cheung's recent reporting for the Tyee which broke down metro Vancouver's low, middle and high income neighbourhoods by ethnicity, education and immigration status using data from our 2016 census. The show then turns to B.C.'s electoral reform referendum. We hear from both pro proportional representation and anti proportional representation sides of the debate, with only a week until ballots must be received by Elections BC.

CiTR's News Collective reports on a rally in support of two renter/social housing motions put forward by Councillor Jean Swanson on November 14th. At the rally, low income speakers and activists say they have experienced profiling by security at City Hall. The show then features a story on community television, with a look at the documentary archives of Sid Chow Tan and with comment from Geoff Scott of Tricities TV.

The News Collective Speaks with Research Co president Mario Canseco about what Vancouver voters are willing to change in order to increase voter turn out. Democracy Watch then features a skit-explainer on proportional representation and which versions are being made available to British Columbians in our current provincial referendum.

Five days after Vancouver's 2018 municipal election, the News Collective gets response to the city's new council from University of Calgary political scientist Jack Lucas and former city hall reporter Frances Bula.

This is the last show before B.C.'s municipal elections! With two days to go, Democracy Watch interviews the two UBC students who are running for Vancouver City Council as independents. The show also presents a continued report on Vancouver's expanded mobile voting services and a new look the Vancouver Tenants Union's newly published Renter Report Card. As a special addition to our Vancouver coverage, Democracy Watch also presents an overview of Richmond's big municipal election issues, with perspective from Malcolm Brodie, Judie Schneider and Kerry Starchuk.

Today’s show starts out with an examination of the effects of polling on Vancouver’s 2018 Election with UBC political science professor Richard Johnston.

We then have an interview with Tamara Levy of the UBC School of Law. She talks with the News Collective about the frequency of wrongful convictions in Canada in honour National Wrongful Conviction Day, which took place last week on October 2nd.

Lastly, we have a report on the City’s new initiative to increase voter turnout through more accessible voting options. Reporters Samuel Jones and Linden Wong bring us a report from a couple mobile voting sites that opened this week and we hear how helpful they are to folks with limited mobility or who face mental health or drug addiction related barriers.