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Robertson: CPR is “bullying”; LaPointe: Vision has been “incompetent” on CP file

August 15th, 2014 · 174 Comments

So CPR sent out the bulldozers to take down the zucchini plants and raspberry bushes this week along its long-unused line, which apparently is now so critically in need of work that the clean-up couldn’t wait until, say, the end of the season. As someone on Twitter remarked, the PR in CPR sure doesn’t stand for public relations.

But at least the politicians are responding, with lots of heat, if no light.

First was the mayor with this statement.

Statement from Mayor Robertson on CP and Arbutus Corridor

“CP’s removal and destruction of long-standing structures along the Arbutus Corridor is completely unwarranted, and these actions are simply a bullying tactic. The City made a fair market offer to CP to buy the land, which they turned down. There is no business case to reactivate cargo trains along the Corridor, and the City’s right to control the zoning was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.

“The City offered to purchase the land at fair market value, which CP rejected. I wrote to the head of CP last month requesting a facilitated discussion to reach a long-term solution, which has been ignored. The actions by CP are counterproductive, unnecessary, and disrespectful.”

Then NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe with this statement.

STATEMENT BY KIRK LAPOINTE REGARDING CP RAIL’S ARBUTUS CORRIDOR PROPERTY

 The situation between the City of Vancouver and CP Rail concerning its Arbutus Corridor property once again emphasizes that Vancouver is a great city, badly run.

Gregor Robertson spends his time on sweeping pronouncements and commitments of tax dollars to issues outside the City’s jurisdiction, like the Aquarium, tankers and Granville Island ownership.

Meanwhile, he drops the ball on issues in its own back yard, such as the Arbutus Corridor negotiations with CP Rail. This week we saw the results of his failure to resolve this and it was upsetting for many.

I empathize with those who have put time and resources into creating and tending community gardens. They must now witness the dismantling of these gardens because the City failed to competently negotiate a commercial transaction with CP.

But it didn’t have to come to this.

We need an administration with the business acumen to finish these negotiations in a way that balances the needs and rights of the landowner with the City’s taxpayers and the affected community.

We also need far more transparency on this complex issue, which has important principles at its heart, such as private property rights. But openness is a foreign concept to this mayor. Consequently, the taxpaying public is in the dark, having to rely on media reports about the most fundamental aspects of the issue, such as the gap between CP and the City over the land’s value.

Let’s put this issue out in the open, see what solutions are on the table, wrap up negotiations and let communities, taxpayers and CP see a resolution. It’s gone on for too long.

 

 

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  • F.H.Leghorn

    @Jeff Leigh: OK, you reach back 14 years to place the blame on NPA for the Arbutus lands mess. Of course Vision has had a majority on Council for two terms now and has done nothing except kick the can down the road to some future Council. My dog could have done a better job than that.
    Since Vision has nothing substantive to show for six years of total domination at Council , there’s nothing left except demonizing their opponents.

  • rph

    A better story than someone writing letters to the editor, is Vancouver’s declaration that it wants to become a sanctuary city.

    How do we welcome immigrants without status without bending rules citizens have to adhere to? Want to register your child for school? You need a birth certificate (translated into English by a notary), and proof of status in Canada (for the parent as well). Not to mention proof of residency in Vancouver. Oh yah, immunization records.

    Will the COV instruct the VSB to ignore that? If not, what does sanctuary city even mean other than cheap politicking.

  • teririch

    @rph #152:

    It is politicking – nothing more, nothing less.

    Ask this question:

    When was the last time any non status immigrant was reported to CBS after attending a library or community centre?

    There are lots of immigrants with no papers in Canada – and most have more rights and support than those born here.

  • teririch

    @rph:

    From the Vancouver Province:

    Letters:

    When the city passed a recent bylaw restricting the use of the corridor, it set in motion several consequences. By lowering an owners’ property values so that you can buy it cheaper than market appears to be an abuse of power. Said bylaw also meant that those gardeners were committing illegal acts, as gardening is not permitted. That also meant that the owner could be fined for allowing such activities.

    So gardeners, you have the city to blame for what happened. That bylaw also forces CP to show that they are using the property as a transit use, which means that they must run trains on a regular basis. The first trains will be for crew training so the engineers can become familiar with the route. Lots of horn blowing at every intersection — now that will be annoying.

    To counter that, the city will pass a bylaw forbidding such use, so then the situation arises of silent trains meeting speeding vehicles — OOPS!

    I look forward to the next episode of this soap opera.

    Mike Coles, Burnaby

  • boohoo

    “So gardeners, you have the city to blame for what happened.”

    No, the blame is on those who trespass. Why would you blame the City for a private owner trespassing on another private owner’s land? For people who are so bent on personal responsibility it’s weird how quickly they deflect responsibility for something so obvious.

  • Chow

    Barnes@150: i would welcome stories on any of those, objectively written, which is tosay not your style. My only point was that where a letter writer has an obvious affiliation, it is customary and responsible to identify that affiliation. Even the Sun used to do it way back when.
    And whatever one’s political preferences, it says something, none of it good, when the press doesn’t cover a story about changes in one the major political parties less than 3 months before a civic election.
    Teririchardson, I do try to restrain myself and not respond to each of your more idiotic statements; there isn’t enough time in a day.
    However….your suggestion that undocumented residents have more rights and support than those born here is so beyond any semblance of truth that I almost upchucked my coffee. Are you sure that you and brillo-pad aren’t the same person?

  • Barnes Raider

    Yes Chow, a microscope on Rob MacDonald, rose coloured glasses for Vision. One is a private citizen and one has had control of City Hall, the PB and the SB for the last two terms. Same old thin skinned Vision sensibilities.

    Let’s face it, for many in the Vision council this might be there best gig ever, and they’re going to do and say whatever it takes to keep the pay and the perks. Indignation at anything perceived as a slight – and apparently an objective job review is seen as a slight – and intemperate name calling and dishonest attacks. Oh, pity us citizens who have to deal with the Vision PR machine in the coming months.

  • Jeff Leigh

    @FHL #151

    “OK, you reach back 14 years to place the blame on NPA for the Arbutus lands mess”

    You misunderstand. I don’t blame them for the ODP. I fully support the ODP that the NPA council passed in 2000. I think it was the right thing to do. If CP didn’t want to sell the lands in the interim, fine. At least they let people have gardens and walk there for 14 years. The corridor was protected for defined uses in the future. Now CP seems to see the upcoming election as a chance to pressure the current council and get money out of city taxpayers, of which I am one. In an attempt to jump on the bandwagon, people are pointing blame everywhere. I thought it was amusing that Mr. MacDonald, as a prominent member of the NPA (even if he did resign his executive position recently) would use this issue to attack the Vision party for apparently rezoning the corridor. At least he resigned from the NPA leadership, so Mr. LaPointe won’t have to withdraw from the race.

  • Chow

    I don’t know who is arguing not to keep the spotlight on Vision. Certainly, not me. However, i also believe that the spotlight should be on the party that has the best chance of defeating Vision and who controls them. In that regard, during the last election was it Armstrong or MacDonald who virtually single handedly bankrolled the NPA campaign. As such, it is vital that the spotlight be kept on him. After all, on the NPA Website , Armstrong tells us MacDonald will continue to contribute (what? his time, his money, his vitriol?).
    Mr. MacDonald comes from the far right and it is important that people know that, as well as what connection he will continue to have with the NPA. (I for one do not believe he has just walked away).
    In fact, let me share my theory with you,. MacDonald has resigned so Lapointe doesn’t have to and is now free to be a “private citizen” as you so touchingly describe him, and start firing away with all his ugliness. Just read his letter.
    Am I suggesting VV plays nice? Hardly. However this guy gives new meaning to the word ” nasty”. And as others have pointed out, he is not big on facts. Just sayin’.

  • Chris Keam

    “There are lots of immigrants with no papers in Canada – and most have more rights and support than those born here.”

    Provide some examples of these rights and supports that are unavailable to people born in Canada please.

  • Bill

    @rph #152

    “If not, what does sanctuary city even mean other than cheap politicking”

    It is even worse than that, it is a gratuitous venture into immigration policy that again will again just alienate the City more from the Federal government. Good luck to the Mayor when he is trying to pry some money from the senior levels of government for City initiatives.

  • In Response

    “Mr. MacDonald comes from the far right and it is important that people know that….”

    Seriously Chow?! With that line and the characterization of Mr. MacDonald as “nasty” you’ve shown your cards. “Far right” I’m assuming means to you anyone running a successful, large business, regardless of any other details.

    As it turns out, a quick scan through his company’s web site seems to suggest a focus on some nice real estate developments, including heritage restoration and retention, and more than anyone’s share of good works.

    It was his company that cleaned up the Britannia Beach Mine environmental mess, and donated 95% of the land, 9500 ac., to the Province. To date I haven’t seen any development of that land, and it’s been almost 15 years. Sounds like a far right, quick-buck artists to me.

    I also see 250 acres near Parksville donated to the Nature Trust of BC. And 450 Acres in Nanaimo kept mostly in an undeveloped state.

    I don’t see projects that stretch the boundaries of acceptable in Vancouver’s neighbourhoods, or that serve little purpose but to act as convenient safe depositories for overseas investors cash with a tremendous environmental impact while depriving Vancouver of living space.

    If each Party, Vision and the NPA, are to be known by the developers they keep company with I’ll take Mr. MacDonald over Ian Gillespie any day. Gillespie’s sale of Vancouver House in Asia, and it’s focus on the upper brackets of even the 1% speaks volumes about his lack of commitment to a livable Vancouver.

    Concord Pacific also back Vision and their failure to built a park, as promised, in False Creek N., on land they bought a generation ago and have made many hundreds of millions on, also speaks volume, particularly as that failure has been abetted and supported by Vision.

    What irks me, and an increasing number of Vancouverites, is how an agenda supporting these sorts of far-right developers who give nothing back and break contracts, social and actual, is being aggressively being pushed by Vision, but the rhetoric Vision use – “social justice, “greenest City,” etc. – is all that its supporters see. These super rich and influential developers get their way and little in the way of social justice or environmental goals get accomplished.

    Sounds like someone is getting used.

    As for the claim that MacDonald is “nasty,” I’ll guess that you’re referring to his letter to Gregor that Vision bizarrely choose to make public; a private letter in which MacDonald playfully pokes fun at an open secret, after Vision’s attack dogs had threatened MacDonald that they would make nasty personal attacks against him if he chose to run for office.

    I thought the letter was a nice bit of mocking of a guy who appeared to have transgressed (Gregor) yet desperately doesn’t want it public (it wouldn’t go over well with his best demographic, young women voters) by a guy who had been threatened that the very same claims would be levelled at him. I’ll guess the MacDonald is incredulous, as are many others that what is an open secret in many circles hasn’t yet been made public, but that his letter was a private affair in any event, and that it would take more than a little gall for Gregor to get on his hind legs and claim that the letter contains allegations that aren’t true.

    Have you ever met Mr. MacDonald or had indirect dealings with him? Thought not.

  • spartikus

    “Far right” I’m assuming means to you anyone running a successful, large business, regardless of any other details.

    Conversely, “Far Right” could be defined as someone who felt as late 2009 that the British Columbia New Democratic Party had been “taken over by a mixed bag of Marxist, Leninists, Trotskyites, Maoists and Castroites. “

  • In Response

    LOL…In the Tyee no less.

    I remember the corporate capital tax; a fool’s idea of economics if ever there was one.

    Well, MacDonald was right, BC was well enough positioned to skate through the 2008/2009 meltdown, relatively uneffected. Significant parts of the US still haven’t recovered. If history is any guide, we wouldn’t have been with an NDP gov in Victoria.

    Aren’t the BC NDP a quaint, anachronistic throwback; a somewhat provincial bunch of quacks stuck in college age fondness for all things far left? And don’t they mess things up everytime they get in power?

    One needn’t be far right to recognize them as such.

  • jenables

    Ah, in response, the bc liberals never cease to amaze me with the depths of their corruption. Now we only survived the recession because of the bc liberals??? Remember when BC milled lumber? I probably shouldn’t ask this question, but I will. What did the bcndp do that was on par with the financial destruction the liberals have brought in the last thirteen years?

  • rph

    In all fairness the “far left” are pretty quick to take up the mantle of corruption and largess as the recent snacking at the trough fiasco at the Portland Hotel Society demonstrated.

    Power corrupts on both sides. If the BC NDP party faced as little viable electable opposition as the BC Liberals have, then their reign would have many more examples of in power shenanigans.

  • In Response

    They’re all rotten janables, they’re fucking politicians!! Some are just more likely to screw up more quickly than others.

    And after, say, two terms, they all stink.

    Yes, I recall the pre-pine beattle lumber industry.

  • chow

    I’m curiouis, In Response, just because what he is alleged to have said in a speech to the real estate industry is quoted in teh Tyee, does that mean it was not said. I guess its National Post or nothing for you.
    And if they all politicians stink after two terms, what must that say about your provincial Liberals, now in their 4 th term. Where is that gas mask?

  • Threadkiller

    @In Response, #164:

    Use of the phrase “far left” in any connection with today’s NDP (or yesterday’s for that matter) qualifies as one mother of an oxymoron.

    If only there was some truth to it…

    As for Mr. MacDonald (#163), his wacko pronouncement reminds me of nothing so much as W.A.C. Bennett’s infamous warning delivered in his closing speech of the 1972 provincial election campaign. Emoting wildly in his trademark flamboyant rhetoric, he shouted: “Beware, my friends! The socialist hordes are at the gates!” The audience at the QE theatre burst into laughter. The old man’s magic had finally deserted him.

    The next day the first NDP majority government in BC history was elected. So all I can say in response to MacDonald is: Say it again, Robert J, as often as you like.

  • In Response

    The assumption that anyone votes consistently on one of the right, far-right, centre, left or far left (assuming we have those choices) is foreign to me. I vote for whover I think most capable and with the best platform in the circumstances. Well, having said that Harper and his reactionairy neo-cons will likely never get my vote and neither will a party made up of union reps and those who feed exclusively at the government trough.

    Evidently I’m not alone in this thinking.

    One of Vision’s biggest bag men, Bob Rennie, performs the same role for the provincial Liberals. And Vancouver West Side, a bastion of neo-cons in some minds, can’t get a federal or provincial conservative elected, ever, and has an NDP MLA in Point Grey.

    Yes, the NDP have tried to change, and perhaps some have, but moving to the centre just emphasizes their irrelevance to me. It was the split vote on the left that gave us the Harper government, and I’m not cool with that. There’s a side of me that thinks that the continued existence of the NDP is at least partly a result of an impractical vanity.

    Or is it too rigid an ideology?

    Well Threadkiller, Mr. MacDonald’s fun rhetoric didn’t much help the NDP, perhaps as it was said a little tounge in cheek. His letter to Gregor, oddly leaked by Vision, suggests a sense of humour (to all but the humourless).

    A 4th term for the provincial Libs? Well that just highlights the current irrelevance of the NDP doesn’t it?

  • Bill

    @In Response #170

    Let’s see now. You are going to vote “for whoever I think most capable and with the best platform in the circumstances” but you have already decided (without seeing their platform) that you will never vote for Harper or the NDP. Does that mean by default you are going to saddle the country with Justin Trudeau and the Liberals or are you planning to abstain?

  • In response

    My comment accurately reflects my voting Bill. And federally, Harper is hardly an unknown quantity and the NDP are clueless about economics. If the federal conservative ever get out from the clutches of what I consider extremists then I’ll reconsider them, and the NDP will still be clueless.

  • Bill

    @In response,

    Well, since you have ruled out Conservatives and NDP that really only leaves the Liberals (and Greens) or abstention, doesn’t it.

  • Keith

    @In response – the party with the best fiscal record in Canada is “clueless about economics” At least they can add and subtract.

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