Absence of Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson turns council discussion on opioid crisis into a gong show

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      So where’s the mayor?

      Vancouver councillor George Affleck wanted to know why Mayor Gregor Robertson is absent from the initial morning deliberations of council Wednesday (February 8).

      Affleck, who is with the opposition Non-Partisan Association (NPA), asked the question because he felt that Vision Vancouver allies of the mayor were revising council’s agenda because they do not have the required number of votes.

      Councillors were deliberating on a staff recommendation to allocate funds to address the ongoing drug overdose crisis in the city, when Vision councillor Andrea Reimer suggested deferring the matter for a later time.

      According to Reimer, a member of the public who was supposed to speak on the matter isn’t yet around, so another agenda item should be taken up instead.

      That got Affleck raising questions about why the agenda is being changed all of a sudden when councillors are already discussion the item.

      “I’m challenged by this flip-flopping,” Affleck said.

      As he noted, the allocation of funds through a grant requires a two-thirds vote.

      That means a vote of 8-3 to approve the measure, which in the absence of Robertson from the chamber at the time may not happen.

      For a bit of background, Affleck and his two NPA colleagues Elizabeth Ball and Melissa De Genova voted in December last year against an additional 0.5 percent property tax to fund the city’s response to the drug overdose crisis.

      Supporting the tax increase were Robertson and his Vision allies, plus Green councillor Adrianne Carr, for a total of eight votes versus the NPA’s three votes.

      Going to back to this morning’s council meeting, Affleck noted that there were only 10 councillors present, with no Robertson around.

      Responding to Affleck, Vision councillor Raymond Louie said that the NPA councillor is already assuming that the requisite 8-3 vote will not be achieved in order to allocate $220,000 on peer-based initiatives to address overdose impacts in single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels and shelters.

      Louie also said that Affleck’s NPA colleague Melissa De Genova has also been going in and out of the chambers during the meeting.

      Defending Affleck, NPA councillor Elizabeth Ball stood up to remind Louie and other councillors not to “impugn motives” on other councillors.

      “This is juvenile,” the soft-spoken Ball said.

      Louie countered that he was concerned about Affleck’s “vote counting” even though no votes had been cast.

      The NPA’s De Genova also spoke and said that Louie has impugned Affleck.

      De Genova also recalled that in a past meeting that Reimer chaired, Reimer made one member of the public wait for hours before that person can speak on a matter being taken up by council.

      Vision councillor Heather Deal, who was chairing the meeting, called for a stop in the arguments.

      A vote was called to change the agenda. All six Vision councillors plus Carr of the Greens voted in favour. With only three votes, the NPA lost. Another agenda item, which deals with energy efficiency updates to building bylaws, was taken up.

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