THE VOICE OF VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS
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WEEKEND EDITION FRIDAY, JAN. 25, 2013 Vol. 104 No. 8 • Established 1908
OPINION: Luck, not policy, decides fate of buildings 10
Mayorwants polstovoice positionon regionalforce ROBERTSON WANTS ASPIRING MLAS ‘TO PUT THEIR CARDS ON THE TABLE’ MIKE HOWELL
Staff writer
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photo Dan Toulgoet
Jake Kerr, chancellor of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, speaks at a media conference Wednesday announcing the university’s move to a new location on Great Northern Way in 2016.
Emily Carr vacating Granville Island GREAT NORTHERN WAY CAMPUS TO ACCEPT MORE STUDENTS CHERYL ROSSI Staff writer
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mily Carr University of Art and Design isn’t sure what legacy it will leave on Granville Island. Ron Burnett, president and vice-chancellor of Emily Carr, says it’s “premature” to say whether the Charles H. Scott Gallery will remain at the popular tourist destination when a purpose-built university opens on the Great Northern Way Campus. “We’re not anywhere close to defining what that will be,” Burnett said. “It’s going to be complicated.” The question of what the university will do with its lease that runs to 2043 with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the federal Crown corporation that manages Granville Island, was raised earlier this week when Liberal Premier Christy Clark announced the province would invest $113 million in building a new visual, media and design facility for Emily Carr on the Great Northern Way Campus. “The world has changed. And not only can you make a liv-
ing with a degree in fine arts, we need people with a fine arts background if we are going to succeed and achieve as a country,” said Clark at the announcement that was attended by at least one member of Parliament, prominent business people and half a dozen MLAs. “Our government is committed to making sure that this institution becomes one of the world’s greatest institutions for the arts,” she added. Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Bill Bennett acknowledged complaints from the film industry that productions are moving to Ontario where there are deeper tax credits. But he noted films return to Vancouver for post-production. “It’s the graduates of this school today and the future graduates of this school that will do that kind of work because we’re the best in Canada at it and we’re going to get better with the investment in this school,” he said. The speakers at the press conference at the new Centre for Digital Media building that opened last September on Great Northern Way, just east of Main Street, noted the move had been in the works for years. See NEW on page 4
ayor Gregor Robertson is urging all Lower Mainland candidates running in the May provincial election to declare whether they support the creation of a regional police force. With no consensus from area mayors or police chiefs on the concept, Robertson said the election is an opportunity to “break the logjam” on creating such a force. “It would be great to see candidates for the Legislature across the region put their cards on the table,” he told reporters Tuesday after a Vancouver Police Board meeting at the Cambie Street police station. “I think that would speak volumes as to what’s possible and, ultimately, it will be the next premier that is going to need to lead the charge with any dramatic changes to how we police the region.” Premier Christy Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix continue to sidestep the issue while mayors in Surrey, Delta, Richmond and Port Moody have publicly stated their opposition to a regional force. They say they’re satisfied with their current policing structures and are worried larger municipalities such as Vancouver would suck up resources and water down policing services in the suburbs. The topic, which has been bandied about for years in the Lower Mainland, surfaced again in December after Wally Oppal recommended in his final report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry that a regional police force be created. Oppal’s report, titled Forsaken, noted one of the “critical police failures” in the missing women investigations between 1997 and 2002 was the failure to address cross-jurisdictional issues and the ineffective coordination between police forces and agencies. See VPD on page 4