December 06, 2021
VANCOUVER (December 6, 2021): TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Association has been successfully registered with Elections BC as an elector organization in Vancouver and the Vancouver School District. This new TEAM was inspired by the legacy of The Electors’ Action Movement, the community-focused civic party of the late 1960s and 1970s.
TEAM’s newly elected Board of Directors has selected Bruce MacGregor as President, Elizabeth Murphy as Vice President and Sal Robinson as Secretary.
“TEAM is committed to being as democratic inside the organization as we are in fielding candidates for City Hall, School Board and Park Board,” explained MacGregor. “Unlike other municipal parties in Vancouver, we will not be anointing anyone. All of our candidates will be chosen by our members through an open and democratic process. If we genuinely believe in democracy, then it has to apply to ourselves just as much as we want it to apply at Vancouver’s City Hall, School Board and Park Board.”
The new civic party’s members elected the nine-member Board of Directors and approved 12 policy directions at an inaugural Annual General Meeting on Sunday, Nov. 28th.
Councillor Colleen Hardwick, who has joined TEAM, said the AGM is the latest step on the party’s path toward winning a majority in the 2022 civic election.
Hardwick said she decided in 2021 that the only way to “turn the ship around” at our broken City Hall would be to elect at least six like-minded people in 2022, who will pull together to reset and fix the City after years of its ignoring residents and core services.
That led to the incorporation in 2021 of the Team for a Livable Vancouver Association, with five interim board members. At the AGM, the interim board was replaced by a new board, split into three groups serving one-, two- or three-year terms.
“We are collectively excited to see a new round of people stepping up to provide leadership and direction to our new TEAM and take on future campaign responsibilities,” said Hardwick.
TEAM’s next steps will be increasing the membership at the neighbourhood level, fundraising, and early in 2022, an “open and transparent nomination process” to choose candidates for the next election.
“We need to assemble a dream team of serious candidates who put residents first,” added Hardwick.
The party will run candidates for Mayor, Council, and the School and Park boards, with the goal of winning a majority on each so they can work cooperatively for the good of every Vancouverite.
Members at the AGM, held at the Anza Club, also approved the party’s policy directions. These are summaries of policies that 12 committees have been developing for months and were refined at a policy conference on Oct. 24th.
“TEAM is grounded in policy,” said Hardwick. “I always say that policy is the best honesty.”
The policies deal with issues including affordable housing, public safety, neighbourhood representation, financial management, climate change, economic development, reconciliation, and transportation. The directions emphasize new approaches to providing affordable housing, placing neighbourhoods at the centre of civic decision-making, and responsible management of taxpayer dollars.
Hardwick said the policy directions provide a sense of direction and will be fleshed out in the weeks and months to come.
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