If you want to build support in politics, there are few better ways than to buy it.
By coincidence, on the same day the provincial scene was rocked by a report on legislative officer largesse, Vancouver’s Kennedy Stewart chose to outline his latest charm offensive plan as an impotent independent mayor who cannot flourish without a majority of councillors in his corner.
His seductive scheme is simple: ply council with play money. Stewart proposes to increase the discretionary budget for councillors.
Not an inflationary increase, mind you – the way most of us deal with budgets in this day and age. Not a double-digit one, either. Not a doubling, tripling or quadrupling. No, it’s a fivefold hike, from the $6,000 that didn’t seem to imperil the initiative of predecessors to a $30,000 annual per-councillor slush fund.
Yes, let’s forget it’s 2019 and we’re about to hit economic headwinds, that the city is already unaffordable, our businesses are gasping on street after street, and we have been kicked in the slats with a 4.5% property tax hike.
The rationale is that the at-large system requires at-large money. If that’s the case, prove it. Stewart can’t. The best he can offer is that he’s had a few conversations with councillors. (Message to my boss: If at any time you want to come and ask if I need more funds, I’ll clear my calendar.)
Now, I’ve known a few councillors in my time, and can count on one set of index fingers those who could have wisely spent $30,000 each year to support their teeming reservoirs of ideas and initiatives. Mostly their ideas are nascent gestures that need refinement by the professional public servants that seem in no short supply at 12th and Cambie.
My memory might be faulty, but I cannot recall anyone in the election campaign arguing for more research money. And the previous council, not exactly paragons of frugality, didn’t even hint it might be a good idea.
It is tough to spend $30k, except on aides, so this could be an opportunity to reward a couple of pals with contracts that yield motions to nowhere and usurps what ought to be city staff functions.
Mainly, though, we should worry it is a side-door opportunity for political parties to pool the funds, ease the effort of raising their own money, and simply use yours. The three Greens are already musing about this – $90,000 would fuel their party needs well – and at last word the five-strong Non-Partisan Association hasn’t figured out whether to vote with the idea. But for them, $150,000 would be a godsend.
I can’t think of a more tone-deaf early-mandate idea, particularly the way in which it will be financed – through our city’s contingency funds, the ones we need when sudden stuff happens. These funds should be there when the proverbial hits the fan, not to make the proverbial hit the fan.
The mayor thinks there is such crisis in our councillor resourcing that the city should dip into contigencies this year and figure out what to do next year. If this is the kind of Stewart stewardship we can expect, then let’s collectively break into a cold sweat.
What we really needed after the election was a sweeping review of city finances, which require a decoder ring or a brown envelope of allegations to comprehend. If the election was a rebuke to a decade of Vision Vancouver, the result ought to have jarred the new council sufficiently to pore through the books and examine what liabilities lie ahead arising from their house of cards. Instead, we are getting business as usual, maybe worse.
Stewart narrowly won office with the endorsement of organized labour in the city, no different a special interest than had he won with the endorsement of big developers. He should perceive himself as being on notice to be measured, respectful and innovative in effectively managing our money.
But the truth is he needs five fellow travellers for anything he might propose, so a nice path to cooperation is a sluice of mad money.
Self-interests are the worst creatures of the political class, which is why political compensation needs to governed with independence—and by that, not meaning an independent mayor.
If the research needs are overbearing, then we should understand why and whether there are systemic measures that could also address them before writing cheques.
If the events in Victoria last week should teach Vancouver anything, it’s that any culture that feels entitled is bound to contribute to public cynicism and a systemic dysfunctionality.
Council should not wait for this proposal to live before cremating it this week.
Kirk LaPointe is editor-in-chief of Business in Vancouver and vice-president, editorial, of Glacier Media.
