Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh kicked out of ABC caucus
News release announcing the ousting says Bligh 'is not a core value fit' with the party
Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh has been kicked out of the ABC Vancouver caucus.
Bligh confirmed on social media that she has been "ejected" from the party.
A statement from ABC party president Stephen Molnar announcing the ousting said, "While [Bligh] remains a Vancouver City Councillor, it has become clear that she is not aligned with the shared priorities and team-oriented approach that defines ABC Vancouver."
The statement goes on to say that Bligh "is not a core value fit" with the party.
"Rather than working with caucus to find common ground and advance solutions, she has chosen to put her own views ahead of the collective work of the team," said Molnar.
Speaking to reporters on Friday afternoon, Bligh said Mayor Ken Sim "has abandoned the core principles" that drew her to the party.
She said she was informed about the decision in a phone call Friday that she described as a "pretty one-way conversation."
She went on to say she was "disappointed but not surprised" by the move.
"I would have assumed, or hoped, that a productive conversation about where we are not aligned in terms of policy would have happened ahead of this discussion, and it didn't," she said.
Bligh was first elected to council in 2018 as a member of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) but quit that party to join ABC Vancouver.
ABC retains its super-majority on council, represented by six sitting councillors and Sim. The remainder of council is now made up of Bligh and the Green Party's Pete Fry. Two council seats are vacant pending a byelection on April 5.
Confirming I have been ejected from A Better City.<br><br>Due to the volume of media inquiries I will be available to speak with media at City Hall today at 3:30 PM
—@rebeccaleeblighBligh spoke out last month against Sim's plan to halt new supportive housing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
"We're in the middle of a homelessness crisis now," Bligh told CBC. "This is not the time to cut off supply."
She also voted against proposed bylaw changes, which were supported by Sim, that would allow home builders in the city to use natural gas for space and water heating in new homes. The motion was defeated in a 5-5 vote. A motion needs at least a majority of one to pass.
Speaking Friday, Bligh said councillors shouldn't have to toe the party line.
"While we may be elected within a party, we are expected to think and use critical thinking that reflects the needs of all people in our city, and that is what I've done at every single decision, even if it meant ruffling feathers or breaking rank or however you want to call it," Bligh said.
ABC had a clean sweep in the 2022 municipal election, managing to get its entire slate of candidates elected for city council, school board and park board.
Since then, the party has courted controversy, starting with Sim's efforts to dissolve the democratically elected park board.
Last August, Vancouver School Board Chair Victoria Jung resigned from the party to sit as an independent trustee amid controversy over the party's move to suspend the city's integrity commissioner.
Jung cited the need for elected officials to serve the public interest versus private interests.
Stewart Prest, a political scientist at the University of B.C., said Bligh's departure suggests that the ABC party appears to have "very little tolerance for any kind of dissent."
"I think it's fair to say at this point, Mr. Sim and the people closest around him expect a high degree of loyalty," he said.
The more open and deliberative approach that we tend to associate with a city council — even one with parties where there is a possibility of individual councilllors staking out their own positions on particular issues — there's quite limited tolerance for that here within ABC's caucus."
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With files from Chad Pawson