Can we cope with COPE?

Editorial

This week, new city councils were sworn in all over British Columbia. The results of last month's municipal elections offer a range of lessons for those who analyze such things, but nowhere was the message of change more dramatic than in Vancouver, where the left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors swamped the long-standing Non-Partisan Association government, exactly reversing the nine-two majority the NPA had held going into the election.

Issues of specific concern to the Jewish community were not at the fore of the election in Vancouver. The blighted Downtown Eastside is a concern for all residents of the city, as are a range of other issues addressed during the campaign, but there were no monumental problems that rallied the Jewish community.

Over at least the next three years, however, the Jewish community will be dealing with a very different city government. Whether it is a synagogue requesting a building permit, a communal agency asking for some form of city support or something less tangible, such as moral support for Israel in a time of crisis, we have a whole raft of new faces around the council chamber to familiarize ourselves with.

The former mayor, Philip Owen, had a close relationship with members of the Jewish community and in support of community agencies and causes. He is a strong and vocal supporter of Israel who has promised to visit the Jewish state again after he retires from office. Other members of the NPA came to know the Jewish community well.

Can we expect to develop good relationships with the new crowd? That depends as much on us as it does on them.

Most of the new city councillors, as well as Mayor Larry Campbell, were elected for the very first time last month. As capable as each new official may be in a range of areas, they each face a steep learning curve in adjusting to their roles representing this beautiful and beautifully diverse city. The relationships they form with individuals and agencies in the various communities that make up the city will have a tremendous impact on their decisions over the next few years.

Campbell got off to a pleasant start, being warmly welcomed Sunday – the day before he was sworn in as mayor – at the annual menorah lighting and solidarity rally for Israel at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Fred Bass, one of only two COPE councillors with council experience, comes from a Jewish background, though he has not been deeply involved in the community. Tim Stevenson, another new councillor, is a United Church minister with a long history in the ecumenical movement, reaching out from the Christian community to the Jewish community and other religious groups. Stevenson also teaches comparative religions at Langara College.

But there are some clouds on the horizon. Two of the new councillors, David Cadman and Anne Roberts, signed a petition earlier this year criticizing Israeli policy and, at least tacitly, supporting the Canada-Palestine Network. In an interview with the Bulletin at the time, Cadman expressed surprise that what he viewed as an expression of concern for a stateless people was viewed by some in the Jewish community as being anti-Israel.

This may reflect a degree of naivete rather than ill will. We should not prejudge any of the newly elected officials, being sure to keep the doors to discussion open. Like other communities and individuals with a vested interest in decisions made at Vancouver city council, the Jewish community should reach out a hand of friendship, encouragement and, if necessary, education, to the councillors who are facing a massive new portfolio of unfamiliar issues.

The Bulletin has pointed out in past editorials the irrational and hypocritical tendency among some Canadian leftists to choose sides with Israel's enemies, rather than supporting the only country in the Middle East that reflects their stated ideals of women's emancipation, respect for religious minorities, statutory equality for gays and lesbians, democracy, free collective bargaining, judicial due process and ... you get the point.

However, the new group of left-leaning elected officials in Vancouver should be given the chance to prove themselves. The leaders of the Jewish community already have some significant ties to the new leaders of Vancouver and those channels should be strengthened. We must give all the new officials the benefit of the doubt and make explicit efforts to build mutual trust and support. To do otherwise would be at our own peril.

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