By: Jonah Lazar, Staff Writer
Following the public outcry over the lack of transparency in the budget reshuffling — that will see about 400 Vancouverites lose their jobs in favour of lowering property taxes for the wealthy — mayor of Vancouver Ken Sim is once again in hot water. Vancouver city councillor, Sean Orr, has formally filed a defamation suit against Sim for spreading baseless accusations that he handed out “illegal drugs” in the streets of Vancouver.
Sim made these comments at a Chinese-language media briefing in early February, when he claimed that Orr had been handing out “illegal drugs” in the streets of Vancouver on Christmas Day. A Better City, or ABC, councillor Lenny Zhou made similar comments weeks later on Chinese social media platform WeChat. The ABC party currently holds a majority in Vancouver’s city council, and is the party of mayor Sim. Orr, who has become one of the most outspoken critics of Sim and ABC, vehemently denied these accusations, labelling them “ridiculous” and “defamatory.” Orr had also pointed out that he wasn’t in Vancouver at the time.
Orr’s disgust with these comments is well founded. A wholly fabricated public statement such as this coming from the mayor should not be brushed aside; it is an accusation of a very serious crime. This attack has significant ramifications for the public perception of the councillor. This fearmongering is a strategy straight out of the playbook of the MAGA movement south of the border, and is done to gain popular support by portraying Orr as a dangerous individual. Sim’s fabrications and Zhou’s subsequent translation to Mandarin make it seem as though they are deliberately misleading the Chinese Canadian voter base in Vancouver as we approach the October municipal election.
This latest stunt is yet another slap in the face in what is becoming a pattern of apathetic, selfish behaviour from Vancouver’s mayor. In his tumultuous three years at the helm, Sim’s behaviour has been a routine point of contention. Some noteworthy scandals to date include Sim missing over a third of council votes in his first year in office, secretly converting a city hall boardroom into a personal gym, and several code of conduct violations for repeated clashes with councillors and city officials. His declaration of October 3 as Chip Wilson Day celebrates the racist and fatphobic founder of Lululemon and is but a footnote in his long list of self-serving actions.
Being the mayor of Vancouver is a privilege which necessitates a certain amount of professionalism in conduct, and Sim has repeatedly floundered under these expectations.
His continual lapses in judgment do nothing more to prove that he is staunchly out of touch with many Vancouverites. As we are approaching the municipal elections in October, it is crucial that citizens of Vancouver bear in mind the inappropriate actions of the incumbent mayor when casting their ballots.
