Sid Chow Tan: Vote for an affordable Vancouver for all
I am proud to contest for a COPE (Coalition of Progressive Electors) seat at Vancouver city hall. COPE has developed our policy transparently with meaningful input from grassroots organizations, landowners, tenants, and party members. Our democracy and city hall are now sullied by parties taking excessive mega-developer and corporate money. COPE has the integrity to refuse such funding, beholden only to the good people of Vancouver. We encourage voters to take back our city.
My faith in this big beautiful land began in 1964. At age 14, I became a Canadian in a general amnesty granted by the federal government for “paper sons and daughters.” My faith was again fulfilled in 1972 when, after hiring a lawyer and collecting signatures, our family was successful in gaining a ministerial compassionate permit for family reunification. Then I was a University of Calgary student fulfilling my grandparents’ hopes to unite me with my biological father, mother, brother, and five sisters in a better life. My life is akin to winning life’s lottery.
China-born and Canadian-made—that’s me. A life shaped by racist laws and promise of bettering. I had no choice. Not yet capable of walking, my late grandmother carried me to Canada as her baby “paper son” to join her husband. Later, these paternal grandparents secured falsified papers to bring my adopted brother Richard, really my cousin once removed, to Canada. He and I, from childhood to our teens, lived in fear of being deported until we received citizenship.
My grandparents, who were both illiterate in English and Chinese, knew the family’s future hinged on Richard and I learning the customs and laws of Canada. They had courage, wisdom, and foresight beyond my understanding. Their answer for me for any government official who inquired: “You were small when you came and know nothing.”
My late grandfather, Norman Chow Gim Tan, taught me the meaning of “Your money is no good here.” His comment was instructive and has informed my life. My grandparents owned a small business which morphed from a café to a grocery store in Battleford, Saskatchewan. He was a fine cook and bakery chef who often took on catering for extra money. To those he favoured for whatever reason, it meant he would ask little or no payment for his services. He loved cooking good food.
As word of his food prowess grew, many asked him to make special dishes and cater. From this, I learned another meaning of his comment. No matter the amount of money, Grandfather would never knowingly serve those who were racist and drew his ire. Racism is no longer tolerated but how you get your money and spend it tells much about an individual and businesses. More so with political parties. It must never be money above all.
We are a species of ideas, words, and action. The democracy we Vancouverites cherish requires us to vote. We will choose this November 15 who governs our city the next four years. Democracy, fairness, and social justice are big ideas often articulated and acted upon in words, art, music, and especially politics.
Get informed and vote for the candidates you feel will best serve you. I believe it begins with voting COPE and sweeping out the developer and corporate-funded parties from our city hall. COPE is the only party seeking a majority without taking developer and corporate money while receiving a small amount of union money.
Unfortunately, many will not vote. Even worse, many will vote without being well informed. This is sad as Remembrance Day has just passed. We know many Canadians fought and died for the right to vote. My grandfather was denied this right and duty the first 25 years of his life in Canada. Vancouverites should view voting as a duty. My grandparents always did their duty.
Three decades ago, my grandfather had already passed on when I became aware of the Chinese head tax and exclusion redress movement. I asked my grandmother about getting involved or not. She advised me not to, being afraid the green coats (immigration officials wore green then) would knock on our door in the middle of the night, take me away, tie me up, and throw me in the river. She asked, “Then where would the family be?”
My grandmother’s fear of governments, both Chinese and Canadian, is not unfounded. In Canada, racist laws impoverished her husband and separated them for the first 25 years of their marriage. Grandfather sent money to China to support the family. Eventually, they bought a farm that was confiscated in 1949 by the Communist Party government. This, and the repeal of Chinese exclusion in Canada, made my grandfather’s decision to relocate the family here. For this I thank the Communists!
Fortunately, we live in a democracy with rule of law. It is important Vancouverites come out and vote. It is fair to say all do care about this city and its diverse communities. We care about members of our community who are marginalized and mistreated. Who suffer poverty and discrimination. The idea is to build a city so everyone can live in dignity.
Please consider voting for Meena Wong for mayor, Sid Chow Tan—Chow Tan is my legal surname—and the full COPE team for city council and school and park boards for an affordable Vancouver for all. Thank you and be well and strong.
Comments
11 Comments
bobo
Nov 13, 2014 at 12:23pm
I certainly plan to vote for an affordable Vancouver. I plan to vote for Kirk LaPointe.
Beatriz Osorio
Nov 13, 2014 at 3:12pm
The Georgia Straight said voting for your candidate Ms Meena Wong is a vote for Kirk Lapoint, it also said her 30 dollars a month transit pass plan is in another words a scam, why would you want to write in a paper that endorses Vision Vancouver and sees COPE as mostly divisive, irrelevant and yet splitting presence. I think Richard is right and instead of throwing a senseless number of inexperienced and unknown candidates COPE should first and foremost create a base, as in much needed social movement and then think about running candidates and no the other way around, it goes against any political strategy I ever heard . The fact is that this election is about more lies, tragic comic apologies , narcisism, greed, and unfounded promises that nowhere is to find the answer of how in hell are they going to be financed, get ready for more bike lanes and privatization of everything .
Jordan Tan
Nov 13, 2014 at 7:54pm
Our politics would benefit from people and parties who set good examples for democracy, problem solving and making better of opportunities. Not only can we find progressive answers to some of what bedevils our quality of life, but in some ways we must. We cannot only seek challenges we choose yet we can make use of challenges we face. In my opinion City Hall is the place for Sid Chow Tan, my father, and for COPE as a progressive grassroots party with such actual roots in labour and unions since conception, in comparison to what are essentially top down parties selling stability and being organized.
I would counsel voters to look beyond their surface and even deeply held convictions, prejudices and preconceptions and ask themselves whether they in good conscience can tell themselves and believe that they have not directly avoided, denied or in some willful or less than willful way deviated from some or many truths they do hold in their own life and system of values that they would discard for convenience, or some other reason, allowing a connection of a statement of not voting for my father to those felt convictions and not to what has been avoided.
So in the Georgia Straight, wellspring of progressive thought, I consider my father's candidacy and his statement above, to be very promising and praiseworthy contestations of an election that, above all else, seeks out high quality city governance.
Sid Chow Tan 周明輝
Nov 13, 2014 at 8:25pm
@Beatriz
The Georgia Straight offered a space to candidates and I accepted. It is advertorial media. Having contributed pieces prior, I felt it would reach an audience to assist my election campaign. Charlie Smith, who I've known for nearly twenty years, is a media colleague. He and the Straight have been fair and mostly helpful to campaigns and struggles I have engaged in.
I disagree with what Charlie wrote about the dollar-a-day transit pass and made comment on the blog. I also disagree with their selections for the upcoming civic election. I voted for Meena Wong and the COPE candidates.
My feeling is it was an ownership decision. You could say this commentary is my way of refuting their choices. I have no control over its content beyond what I write. The Straight is not perfect but better than most sole advertorial publications. I am pleased they printed my commentary.
In a more subversive vein, a read of Sun Tzu's The Art of War would show I did precisely what is required here. If you consider The Georgia Straight the "enemy" then I have commandeered and used its resources against it views. However, I don't consider it the enemy. In my opinion, the Straight is the best weekly independent entertainment advertorial in Metro Vancouver in which to amplify my ideas and words.
I note you read it.
Ummmmmm...
Nov 13, 2014 at 9:44pm
...do Kirk and Gregor and all the other candidates get to write their own "comment" piece for the Straight as unpaid advertising for their election bid? Yeah...didn't think so. Chalk this up to yet another reason I won't be voting for any COPE candidates.
OMG
Nov 14, 2014 at 7:44am
Couldn't resist bringing up the head tax eh Sid? "...for all" my ass. I want an inclusive multicultural Vancouver and we aren't going to get it from an obsessed, angry, old Asian guy. Sid Tan is the last person in the world I would vote for.
MD
Nov 14, 2014 at 8:03am
bobo
I certainly plan to vote for an affordable Vancouver. I plan to vote for Kirk LaPointe.
The default position of most on the political right who like to lecture others on finance yet couldn't find the public accounts on line, let alone read or understand them
Perhaps you would like to explain how decreasing the supply of housing through restricting density development in this city, and not increasing the supply of low income housing will make it more affordable?
Oh hell, who I am kidding.
You don't care about affordability, you probably only care about driving your property value up, and that is something restricting supply will do.
Georgiacurves
Nov 14, 2014 at 8:35am
This paper has done a disservice to COPE by not endorsing any of their candidates and keeping to the party line of helping Vision with their plans to continue the transformation of all of Vancouver into a Hong Kong style concrete jungle. COPE is the only one of the main three parties that does not accept developers' largesse. But when your main advertisers are developers, I guess you need to toe the party line and support the powers-that-be.
Miranda Nelson
Nov 14, 2014 at 9:55am
@Ummmmmm...
We contacted every candidate and every party to submit commentaries. Neither Gregor nor Kirk submitted one.
If you check back through our municipal election coverage, you can find all of the candidate commentaries that were submitted, which do include pieces from both Vision and NPA candidates: http://www.straight.com/news/municipal-election
Thanks Miranda
Nov 14, 2014 at 11:16am
I appreciate you pointing out my error. Glad to know the Straight wasn't showing bias. One suggestion, it's not really a comment piece of it is all slanted to one candidate.