The ultimate piece of the puzzle in Vancouver’s upcoming municipal byeleciton fell into place Friday, as ABC Vancouver named its two candidates for the competition.
Mayor Ken Sim’s get together, which already holds a powerful majority on council, introduced Vancouver Police Union president Ralph Kaisers and tech startup chief Jamie Stein as their candidates for the 2 open seats.
“Ralph has devoted his profession to serving the residents of Vancouver … he has seen first hand what it takes to make our metropolis a safer place to be,” Sim mentioned.
“(Jamie) is aware of what it takes to have companies and communities thrive and he is called an individual who will get issues performed.”
Stein was working as BC United’s candidate for Vancouver-Langara within the 2024 provincial election, earlier than the get together imploded in August.
“It’s an honour to affix others who share my dedication to making a safer and extra affluent future for our metropolis,” he mentioned.
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Kaisers, a police sergeant, joined the VPD in 1992 and has served with the union since 2011.
“Public security isn’t just about enforcement. It’s about prevention, compassion and constructing a metropolis the place everybody can thrive,” he mentioned.
Kaisers was named in a 2023 report from the Workplace of the Police Grievance Commissioner into the beating demise of Myles Grey throughout an arrest by Vancouver police in 2015.
The report alleges Kaisers and different police union leaders have been current that day, and counselled the arresting officers to not take notes.
He was requested Thursday if he instructed officers to not take notes or cooperate with the investigation.
“That’s an excellent query and the humorous factor is I used to be not current that day at that incident. I didn’t instruct any of our members as to what they need to or ought to or not do on the time of the incident,” Kaisers mentioned.
Kaisers has taken a depart of absence from his job as the top of the union, which endorsed Sim for mayor in 2022.
“There are numerous issues across the separation of policing and politics and I feel that line appears to be blurred with ABC — it’s, I feel, trigger for concern given … that Ralph Kaisers as head of the VPU endorsed Mayor Sim and ABC again in 2022,” Vancouver Inexperienced Coun. Pete Fry instructed World Information.
“This does set a precedent I feel that people ought to be a bit bit cautious of.”
Coun. Rebecca Bligh, who was ejected from ABC final week and now sits as an impartial, mentioned the town’s focus ought to be on the price of residing, affordability and the economic system.
“These are insurance policies the place the mayor and myself have disagreed so it’s an essential election as a result of we’d like various voices across the desk.”
The Vancouver Inexperienced Get together and OneCity Vancouver have every named one candidate to run within the byelection, in an settlement with one another aimed toward not splitting the progressive vote. TEAM for a Livable Vancouver is working two candidates, whereas COPE is working one.
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