Shame on you Gregor Robertson! (and how you have dealt with Occupy Vancouver)
I am greatly disappointed by how some Canadian Mayors are treating the Occupy movement. While you might expect forceful evictions from Peter Kelly (Mayor of Halifax, Conservative) or Joe Fontana (Mayor of London, Liberal) - I am shocked at how Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson (former BC NDP MLA) has treated Occupy Vancouver and plans to shut it down (while most other Canadian municipalities with Occupy Protests just plan on letting it play out with the hopes it dies with the coming winter).
Mr. Robertson will learn you cannot try and play both sides of the fence and win. He could have reached some compromise with regards to an alternative site or concessions on issues like fire-starting from the occupiers. I believe it will cost him the election, as many on the left will stay home. Unfortunately for Vancouverites, they'll end up with a Conservative mayor.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/gregor-rob...
I'm all for free speech but I do think that addressing the state of the tent city from a health and safety perspective is still prudent.
As much as the Occupiers will say that they do not accept the legitimacy of any level of government on the site... What if an incident occurs that clearly (even more clearly than an OD) derives from a failure to follow safety protocols, such as an explosion, an uncontrollable fire, an infectious outbreak from crowded or unsanitary conditions, or so forth? I'm sure even the Occupiers would then be happy to say that the municipal government had abdicated its health and safety responsibilities.
If it were not so close to an election, I would say that taking it to court is really quite an acceptable strategy. Air out the concerns in a courtroom forum rather than charging the site in riot gear. But the optics are pretty bad.
Hi Orangutan, welcome to babble. We already have an Occupy Vancouver thread open (the second of two, actually). So why don't we continue this discussion there.