Vancouver raised community advocate Pete Fry was acclaimed Wednesday night as the Green Party candidate in the Oct. 14 city council byelection.
Fry is no stranger to election campaigns; he ran for council in 2014 and also for the provincial Green Party in the 2016 byelection in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, coming in second to the NDP’s Melanie Mark and garnering 26 per cent of the vote.
Fry said the number-one issue facing the city right now is housing.
“I think it’s obviously time for a new deal on housing,” he said, adding that housing has become too much of a commodity and the city isn’t building enough of the right kind.
“We’ve commodified housing to the extent that we’ve become completely dependent on luxury housing.”
A longtime resident of East Vancouver, Fry has volunteered and led actions on various issues in the community — housing, land use, heritage retention, traffic management and the removal of the viaducts. He is a former chair of the Strathcona Residents’ Association and was a committee member on the city’s Downtown East Side local area planning process.
“Fundamentally, I see people as our priority,” he said. “That means a new deal for housing and who we are building our city for. That means putting public interests first, transparency, fairness and cleaning up city hall… That also means supporting local business and employment.”
Fry said he has heard from some developers that certain insiders get preferential treatment at city hall.
“No more empty platitudes or passing the buck, no more cushy backroom deals with interests that seek to commodify our city,” he said. “We need to send a message to the big developer parties Vision and the NPA. It’s time for a change.”
The Oct. 14 byelection was scheduled to fill the seat left vacant after Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs resigned in July to become Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff.
Judy Graves, a well-known advocate for the homeless, was first out of the gate to announce her intention to run, although she still has to win the OneCity Party nomination. (The meeting is Aug. 27.)
Jean Swanson, a long-time social justice advocate, announced her run as an independent earlier this month.
Fry said he doesn’t see any potential for vote splitting between the three left-of-centre candidates, adding that he thinks both Swanson’s and Grave’s campaigns are focused on more narrow population bases.
“It’s not just about housing, it’s about city building,” he said.
Last week, NPA park board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Young announced she would be vying for her party’s nomination. Hector Bremner and Robert McDowell, a former NPA candidate and campaign manager for Coun. George Affleck, have also announced their intensions to run for the NPA nomination.
So far, no one from the Vision side has thrown their hat into the ring.
Sitting Green Party councillor Adriane Carr garnered more votes than any other council candidate in the 2014 election. Fry said adding a second Green Party councillor to the mix would bring a little bit more balance to city council.
Meggs’ departure leaves Vision with six seats around the council table, including Mayor Gregor Robertson, to the NPA’s three and the Greens’ single seat.
“Right now, Adriane Carr needs a second vote to second her motions,” Fry said.
jkerr@vancourier.com
@JessicaEKerr
