Vancouver Sun’s Frances Bula resigns

This comes out of the blue. France Bula, the veteran Vancouver Sun writer that covered the city beat more thoroughly than any of her colleagues, announced on her City States blog that she has resigned from the paper.

“Fabula” distinguished herself in recent months with her round-the-clock postings on civic affairs, namely the NPA and Vision Vancouver mayoral nomination battles, on that blog. It was a first for the tired old Vancouver Sun, whose transition into the digital age has been particularly clunky thanks to publisher CanWest.

Apart from the updates on internal rancor within the two political parties (it became a must read for local civic affairs junkies), Bula’s blog was particularly insightful on the subject of Vancouver development. Whether covering the recent talk by Andrés Duany, the lengthy debates in council chambers on EcoDensity, or talking about new buildings dotting Vancouver’s skyline and the people who built them, Bula’s passion for our city and its inner workings was always evident.

Frances does not reveal her reasons for the departure, but her final blog post indicates some frustration with the editorial direction of the Vancouver Sun. Over the last several years CanWest Global has been paying buyouts to many of its longstanding employees, giving them the choice of early retirement.