Vancouver mayor strikes subdued tone at annual State of the City luncheon

Addressing the business community, Mayor Ken Sim acknowledged that some of his campaign promises are still unfulfilled.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim was once again the star attraction at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s annual State of the City luncheon where he addressed members of the region’s business community.

Taking questions from GVBOT CEO Bridgitte Anderson, Sim’s tone was more subdued than each of the past two years when he also attended the function.

“OK, I’m going to do the traditional politician thing,” Sim began in response to Anderson’s first question.

The first-term mayor used to eschew the label of politician – but two-and-a-half years after sweeping into power with a majority on council for his A Better City Vancouver party, there are signs the term is starting to fit.

He’s urging patience on some of his campaign promises – such as delivering building permits for new single-family homes in three weeks.

Sim acknowledges it still takes an average of 33 weeks to get those permits, down from 44 weeks when he was elected.

“I think people overestimate what can happen in one year, but they seriously underestimate what can happen in 10. And I’m not saying they have to wait 10,” Sim said about the slow progress on that promise.

He also told the crowd he’s having trouble getting the feds to return his calls to discuss crime, street disorder and issues plaguing the Downtown Eastside.

“And so, excuse my language but that’s bullshit,” Sim said, expressing his frustration.

Green Party Coun. Pete Fry, a city hall veteran, is not surprised to learn governing has proven to be more difficult than campaigning for the ruling party.

“Yeah, I mean welcome to the job, right?” Fry said. “This is in essence what every mayor before him has complained about, that we get a lot of downloading from senior governments, from the provincial government, from the federal government.”

Anderson told CTV News the region’s business community is looking to city hall for solutions to ease the pain of potential tariffs being threatened by the Trump administration in the United States.

“I think it’s really important for the mayor to lay out his vision on how that will happen,” Anderson said. “I was really pleased that city council had the unanimous motion recently talking about streamlining permitting and making it easier for businesses to operate.”

Vancouverites head to the polls in an April byelection to fill two vacant council seats.

“We want a united city. And by that, I mean, it’s easy to win an election by pitting people against each other,” Sim said.

His ABC Party is expected to name candidates on Thursday.

Regardless of who runs under the ABC banner, many will see the byelection as a referendum, or mid-term performance review, of the job Sim has done since taking over the mayor’s office.