Commentary

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi swooped into Vancouver this week to lure tech workers to his city from ours. He spent some time talking onstage, holding meetings and generally being more affable and accessible than his departing counterpart.

Next month, Vancouver will have a new mayor and council after a historic election. Eight of the 10 councillors will be women, and three of them will represent the Green Party. The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) elected five members.

Human capital has become the critical success factor for companies and jurisdictions in promoting their economic well-being. Productivity, innovation and competitiveness will flounder without bold action on this policy front.

A ten-spot of semi-early thoughts on Vancouver’s election results: 1) It was pretentious for the provincial NDP to claim its electoral finance reforms drove big money from municipal politics; it was still there, only slightly better hidden.

Economic optimists continue to discount any imminent recurrence of the 2008 financial crisis and recession; however, economic realists are far less positive about the long-term vitality of global finances.

The municipal campaign was truly draining and frustrating to watch: too many choices, too many new people to assess, too little time to sort it through.

There is nothing more fundamental to democracy than free elections and the rules by which our legislative representatives are chosen.

For the past decade, surveys have consistently showed that Canadians, and British Columbians, support legalizing marijuana.

Big-picture campaign bromides aside, what mayoral candidates dare not address in any meaningful way is the state of local government finances.

This much is clear: we need China. China needs us. We can figure out why; we have some difficulty with the how. The economic benefits of a bond are clear, as are the perils of ignoring it. Let’s stagger for a moment in statistics.