So Mayor Gregor Robertson and his council got sworn in Monday.
Sadly, George Chow was not among those taking the oath.
Thats because he decided not to seek re-election after serving two terms as a Vision Vancouver councillor.
I say sadly because Chow was the one councillor I probably featured more than any other in this space. And it wasnt done out of any allegiance to him or his party.
Ive stated my reasons before.
For those rare few in the city who missed my previous musings about Chow, Ill just tell you the guy is: a K-car lover who enjoys showing reporters photographs of himself doing roof repairs, knows an interesting urinal when he sees one (and supplied this scribe with a photograph), uses his excess water from his bath to flush his toilet, revealed he would walk on hot coals in Chinatown for a fundraiser (not sure if he did), is able to recite poetry from his childhood (A pen and a man. A man and a pen. This is a pen. This is a man), has a life-sized photograph of himself and claims he was named after King George.
So it was with great anticipation that I came across an email from Chow in my inbox as I returned to work this week after taking a break from the civic campaign.
He thanked me for all the ink and included a story.
Here you go, Vancouver.
One day, staff introduced me to a group of children visiting city hall while I tried to get to my council office. She told the children that this is Coun. Chow and they could ask me questions. One girl put up her hand and said, Why was Coun. Anton always correcting you by saying its three orders of governmentnot three levels of government? And what are they? I said, Coun. Anton was being precise as she was a former math teacher and Crown prosecutor. In any case, the three levels of government are the federal, provincial and municipal governments. The federal government is like your grandparents. They live in Ottawa. They would fly out to visit you on a special occasion like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and would call you long distance to wish you happy birthday. The provincial government is like your parents. They live in Victoria. They are away most weekdays but would come home on weekends on the ferries. The municipal government is us children at city hall. We are here all the time and you can walk, bike and take transit to come to talk to us. Wow, you guys are great! said the girl thanking me. A boy put up his hand and said, Coun. Woodsworth often said the city gets only eight cents on the dollar on taxes and the provincial government still downloads on us. What is download? Good question, I said. Download is like your parents asking you to take out the garbage but wont increase your allowance. The boy said, These people in Victoria are not very good thenso why would you want to become an MLA and go to Victoria? I said, Look son, there is something you ought to remember. Victoria gives you a bigger allowance and you dont have to take out the garbage!
That bigger allowance will have to wait.
Chow recently lost a nomination bid to become the provincial NDPs candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview. He lost to Gabriel Yiu, who ran unsuccessfully in the previous provincial election.
Whatever you choose to do, Mr. Chow, good luck.
Twitter: @Howellings
