Jet-setting Vancouver mayor takes to international stage

Originally published in Vancouver Courier October 14, 2015

If you have had trouble keeping up with Mayor Gregor Robertson’s travel itinerary of late, you are not alone. His most recent high-profile departure took him to the United States where he sat a table of other U.S. mayors at a chandeliered dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Just a few weeks prior Robertson attended a ceremony at the Vatican hosted by Pope Francis. These appearances, like so many where the mayor jets to far-flung places around the globe, are ostensibly to support the cause of climate change activism.

The irony is not lost on the public when civil aviation contributes as much as four per cent of global carbon emissions. By contrast, Canada’s oil sands — which the mayor is determined to prevent from getting to overseas markets — is the source of about 0.12 per cent of annual greenhouse gases.

We know that the city’s top priorities revolve around addressing housing affordability and improving transportation infrastructure. In the face of such big domestic issues why is the mayor investing so much of his time outside of Canada?

Barring the possibility of an act of Congress or a divine intervention, it is highly unlikely that either Obama or the Pontiff will provide the billions our city needs to meet these challenges.

Robertson’s globetrotting matches the well-worn pattern of politicians looking for a career change. Both the former premiers of B.C. and Manitoba built up their reputations as senior statesmen at home and abroad before landing appointments as the UK High Commissioner and Ambassador to Washington respectively.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird famously racked up thousands of air miles visiting global capitals before he let Parliament know he was stepping down. Baird is now a highly sought after former politician.

The mayor’s complacency about the city’s affairs has caught the attention of political insiders. Beyond his obligations in the council chamber, it is rare to see him at one of the many events that his council colleagues frequently attend around town.

Even key financial backers are reportedly mystified as to the mayor’s third-term priorities.

Robertson’s personal Twitter account records his travels to DC, New York and Rome, but it rarely shows him engaging with local communities. By comparison, Toronto Mayor John Tory’s tweets show him pressing the flesh in every corner of Hogtown.

On social media you are more likely catch his worship posing on a beach via girlfriend Wanting Qu’s Instagram feed than making at an appearance at a Vancouver neighbourhood event.

With Robertson on the road, the role of mayor has been left to his full-time proxies. After the November election Robertson made the unprecedented move of appointing Andrea Reimer as permanent Deputy Mayor (a symbolic position that formerly rotated through all members of council each month), and putting Raymond Louie in the newly created position of “acting” mayor.

City hall observers calculate that this was meant to advantage both of them as potential successors to Robertson.

When in opposition, Louie and his Vision colleagues would ridicule former Mayor Sam Sullivan for his travels to the nation’s capital, labeling them as vanity trips. During his visits Sullivan not only discussed city matters with the Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet, but he also visited with the leaders of the Liberal and New Democratic Opposition.

Like Sullivan, former Mayors Larry Campbell and Philip Owen also had successes in gaining financial support from Ottawa and Victoria, regardless of who was in power.

One struggles to recall when in his seven years in office Robertson has ever formally met with the PM or his Cabinet, or spent time in the Canadian or provincial capital lobbying senior levels of government. (The Mayor’s office took pains to let media know he just spoke with the Prime Minister designate).

We do know that as mayor Robertson has visited Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, New York, London, Copenhagen, Rome, and made announcements in Germany, Paris and China for initiatives that we have heard little about since they were announced. And so it will likely be with his upcoming visit to Guangzhou.

These junkets may not have benefited our city greatly, but they have been fantastic for pumping up Gregor Robertson’s image.

Who knows? Maybe the mayor’s international star power will get the Broadway line built after all.