It matters how we do politics

I’ve done a lot of different work in my adult life and the thread through it all has been organizing. Organizing people and strengthening communities, around issues that matter to them, to amplify their power, increase their effectiveness, build social solidarity and create meaningful change.

Running for City Council is one logical progression. I’m not an organizer who aspires to a life-long political career. I am an organizer who knows we need city hall on our side to create a city for everyone.

And as I head deeper into this campaign, it matters to me that I stay true to the values that have guided my work to date. So, as is my habit on many things, I started a list of reminders to myself – something I could turn back to over the coming months and maybe years. It is written with thanks to the folks I’ve seen model these things in their leadership. Its purpose is personal, but I thought that it might be of interest to others, and I think sharing this helps to keep me accountable. So here you go.

An imperfect list of reminders to myself about what matters when campaigning and governing:

1. Prioritize better policies and more participation. The first priority is better lives for all people. This is possible, and it looks like: accessible and affordable housing, strong and compassionate public services, increased and meaningful community participation, diverse representation, real climate action, and more.

Never let ego, or personal grudges, or partisan histories, get in the way of these. Don’t prioritize building profile, or optics for the next election, above these. Give credit to everyone involved. Be open to unusual allies but be curious about their motives. Invite people and communities in. Create opportunities for everyone involved to be the best versions of themselves.

2. Campaign and govern in a way that allows others to see themselves. The second priority is to do this work so that more people from underrepresented communities consider the possibility that they could run one day too. Not just more women, but more racialized women, more Indigenous women, more queer and trans leaders, more leaders with visible and invisible disabilities, more poor people, young people, creative people and gentle people. In the service of this goal, be human. Communicate honestly. Admit mistakes. Ask questions. Learn in private and in public. Be unapologetically feminist. Be willing to be vulnerable for the sake of politics being more human.

3. Always seek to redistribute power to those who have less of it. Open up government. Ask who benefits most. Allow communities to have real input but ensure that processes never allow communities with more social or economic power to exclude or override those with less. Lift up the voices of those most impacted and those least heard from. The point isn’t just to win an election, or win on a couple issues, the point is to challenge and change the whole imbalanced landscape.

4. Be open to critique and try not to take it personally. Not everyone is going to like or agree with you all the time. Get over it, but don’t entirely write them off. Allow people the space to change.

Particularly when people and groups you admire say that a proposal isn’t bold enough, or that not enough is being done, try not to get defensive or disheartened. Remember that social change requires people pushing from the outside, to create space for bolder policies and politicians. Remember that the housing crisis, and climate crisis, and opioid crisis, and massive economic inequality, are creating real devastation in people’s lives, and that can understandably trump civility. Insist on being on the same team as people, even when they want you to do more.

5. Work your ass off. It is an honour and a weighty responsibility to be elected, to get to represent people and communities in halls of government. Don’t feel burdened by the work, and never take the job for granted. It is in the service of people, and it won’t last forever. Be worthy of the role, be humbled by it, and do it well.

6. Set boundaries, turn off twitter, and insist on having a life. No one is well served by elected leaders who are cynical and burned out and defensive. Play on the floor with the kids, go outside, cook real food, make eye contact. Enjoy the things that make life worth living, so that you remember what the work is about.

There’s my unconventional to-do list. It’s my hope to practice politics differently, because in the midst of the overlapping crises we face, what we need is to rebuild social solidarity. To get there, I’m going to need your help.

Our shared work is to rebuilt social solidarity and trust

The social contract between Vancouverites and local government has been fractured – not just in the last decade, but in the decades before that too. The result is very little trust in government, communities weary of change, deep apathy and disengagement. We’re not unique. Trust in politics, and trust in government, is low across the globe, thanks to the control that big money wields over important decisions and the people making them, from mega-developers, to fossil fuel companies, to the NRA.

British Columbia’s campaign finance reform give us a chance to change that, but even with the legislation in place it’s not going to change easily. Political habits die hard, money is used to getting to call the shots, and we’re used to complaining cynically about it all.

Rebuilding Vancouver’s social contract is going to require us to get involved. It will mean expecting more integrity of political leaders, and in exchange allowing them more humanity. To create a political culture where people aren’t considered “worthless” because they don’t agree with you. To create a political culture where we are learning and figuring it out together – elected leaders and communities. And more than anything, to create a political culture where many, many more people participate.

Everyone on twitter seems to have a 10-point plan for how we #fixhousing and get out of this mess, but nearly every other global city is in some form of the same mess, having witnessed reckless global capital run roughshod over communities while the gap between the runaway rich and the rest of us increases exponentially. The reality is that there is no road map.

Of course, OneCity Vancouver is developing a detailed policy platform. We’ve spent the past few years hosting listening sessions with experts and people with lived experience in affordable housing, arts & culture, addictions and harm reduction, climate justice and more. We’re doing our homework to come up with the best plan we can, informed by many of you. And we’re doing it rooted in a strong set of values.

But as I’ve said before, and will say again, we can’t do it alone. We’d love your help, your input, your door knocking and your donations, between now and the Oct 20th election. And we’ll need it after, showing up and pushing whomever forms government to put the needs of the most vulnerable first, and to do it with integrity and courage.

Politics isn’t just about elections. The city is political, and our lives within it are too. Let’s create a city for everyone.

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Christine Boyle is a local community organizer and parent. She is seeking the OneCity Vancouver nomination to run for Vancouver City Council this Fall. Get Involved. 

A shortened version of this article appeared April 13th in the Georgia Straight.