We have a dream.
And in our dream, Burnaby city council becomes a willing partner in social development, working hand in hand with the new provincial government to help tackle some of the massive issues facing our city – starting with housing and homelessness.
In our dream, Burnaby city council stops pointing the finger at senior levels of government and starts saying, “How can we work together to make this better?”
For years and years, Burnaby city council’s – or, perhaps more specifically, Mayor Derek Corrigan’s – default position has been “Blame the Liberals.”
Anytime an uncomfortable question has been asked or an unpleasant issue has been raised, it’s been the default explanation for pretty much all criticism levelled at Burnaby.
“We’d love to do more, but that’s not a city responsibility.”
“We’d love to do more, but the provincial government has to come to the table.”
“We’d love to do more, but Christy Clark is the devil and as long as the devil reigns in Victoria, the forces of good shall never prevail.”
OK, maybe we made up that last one. But you get where we’re going with this.
The point is, it’s worked very well for our mayor – who thrives on being outspoken, confrontational and take-no-prisoners in his approach to discussion – to play “opposition” to the provincial government.
As the leader of one of B.C.’s largest cities, he has been well positioned to lead the charge against Clark and the forces of darkness.
Now, however, Corrigan is facing a far more difficult challenge.
How can he work cooperatively with Premier John Horgan – a leader whom Corrigan has long supported – and start acting like the left-leaning New Democrat he allegedly is?
How will Corrigan respond to requests for transitional housing for the homeless if his own buddy Horgan says, “Hey, great plan, let’s get working on this together”?
We’d like to think that a kinder, gentler Corrigan has been hiding under that bluster all these years and is just itching to get to work on social issues.
But we’ve gotta admit, it seems unlikely in the extreme.
