Vancouver

Photo taken July 2023. Some festival was happening on the other side of the lake.

There is no end in sight to the job action of bus operations supervisors for Metro Vancouver’s public transit system.

Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) says the union representing 180 bus operations supervisors is asking for a 25% wage increase for their members over three years.

During a press conference this morning, CMBC spokesperson Mike Killeen said the union’s expectations for the wage increase are “not realistic,” and that this is the “sticking point” in the negotiations.

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right by Siwash Rock

Fair wages, excessive workloads among main issues behind job action, says union president

Metro Vancouver transit workers represented by CUPE Local 4500 have begun job action on Saturday.

More than 180 transit supervisors overseeing everything from engineering to maintenance within the Metro Vancouver transit system have started refusing overtime as of 8 a.m. Saturday.

The union says the job action, which followed a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday, comes as a last resort as talks with their employer, the Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC), broke down. The last collective agreement expired in October 2022.

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Picture taken October 2023.

Beginning today, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has deployed 85 officers with body cams.

The VPD has released more info on how the body cams will be used, including that the cams aren’t expected to be turned on at all times.

The six-month pilot will include officers from the VPD Traffic Section, the downtown core, and East Vancouver. The trial results will guide a broader potential deployment of body-worn cameras for all officers.

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There could be disruptions to Metro Vancouver’s bus services as early as the morning of Saturday, January 6.

The union representing 180 bus operations supervisors — employees of TransLink subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) — has provided a 72-hour strike notice, effective 8 am on Wednesday.

The notice was served by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4500 late Tuesday evening after what the union describes was a “long day of mediation with no progress.” Veteran mediator Vince Ready is assisting with reaching an agreement between both sides.

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Naomi Arbabi's suspension 'necessary to protect the public,' Law Society of B.C. says.

Arbabi identified herself in the claim as "i, a woman" and said the case would be tried in the "naomi arbabi court."

As part of her lawsuit, Arbabi said her claim was "based on law of the land, and not a complaint based on legal codes acts or statutes" and asked for compensation equal to $1,000 a day for every day the glass divider has been in place.

I walked past him regularly and enjoyed the artistic touch he brought to my days, so kudos to whoever made him. (Picture is mine, the sculpture is not.)

Picture taken Mid-September 2023, when the weather was balmy and days were decently long...

Vancouverites have had a little over a year to get to know Mayor Ken Sim and his A Better City Vancouver party, who currently hold a majority on city council.

They’ve delivered some campaign promises (100 cops, but not 100 nurses). Plus some goodies that have excited locals, like the return of the Stanley Park miniature train.

They’ve also made strong moves that came swiftly and suddenly. In April, the city and the Vancouver Police Department conducted a “street sweep” of homeless residents on Hastings Street that cost over half a million dollars. Most recently, Sim and ABC councillors have rushed to permanently dissolve the city’s 135-year-old elected park board, a surprise decision that has created a rift with the party’s own commissioners who sit on that board.

These actions have offered some insight into the first-time mayor of a brand new political party, one that swept into power last year with messaging on public safety and a savvy campaign that ran a full-ish slate of candidates amidst a confusing crowd of contenders.

However, the curveballs — including property tax hikes from a mayor who previously criticized such a thing — leave many questions remaining about what the city might look like in the next three years under the ABC government.

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Bit of a test, not sure if the size will be changed after uploading...

A Metro Vancouver social enterprise combating hunger and food waste is seeking community support to stay open as rising costs threaten to shutter its operations.

Langley-based ReFeed Farm partners with grocery stores, food retailers, manufacturers and restaurants to rescue food headed for the landfill.

Founder Stuart Lilley says the farm's circular model meant it used all 11 million pounds of discarded food it rescued last year, sending one million pounds to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and saving an estimated 10 million pounds of carbon emissions.

"We support food banks, we support the food industry and yeah, the demands are there, but the resources to be able to sustain it, aren't," Lilley told CBC News on Saturday.

Mayor Ken Sim has vowed to put an end to the elected body, and Blyth and eight other former commissioners have shown up to support the four park board commissioners who are fighting to keep it. Three of those commissioners are from Sim’s own ABC party, making this an especially bitter conflict.

Vancouver is the only city in Canada with an elected park board, and there’s been a continuing discussion about whether it’s necessary to have an elected board or if the responsibilities should be folded into city council to save resources and money.

But while Sim included a promise to get rid of the elected park board in 2018, when he lost to Kennedy Stewart, it wasn’t in the ABC platform when he ran and won in 2022.

The B.C. Coroners Service (BCCS) issued a public safety warning Wednesday amid "a recent increase in deaths caused by toxic drugs."

The service says the number of toxic drug deaths has risen faster than expected since October when it warned the province was on track to surpass its previous grim record for the number of toxic drug deaths in a year.

The BCCS says preliminary numbers indicate toxic drugs are suspected in more than 200 deaths in November and the province has averaged about seven toxic drug deaths per day for the past seven weeks.

Vancouver Park Board commissioners heard a sobering presentation this week over severe problems the city's largest outdoor pool is facing due to its age and storm-related damage.

While they await the results of a feasibility study over the future Kitsilano pool, commissioners heard Monday night that the facility was leaking 30,000 litres of water an hour due to cracks and breaks in recirculation pipes.

"It is not a typo. It's a hard number to wrap your head around," said Matthew Halverson, a facilities manager with the city.