Vancouver mayor’s idealistic student days behind him
His years in public office have led Gregor Robertson to take a more pragmatic approach
Thirty years ago, when Gregor Robertson was a college senior in the United States, he penned a letter to the editor declaring militaries absurd and unnecessary. “It may sound rather idealistic, but isn’t it true that all realities are rooted in ideals?” he wrote in a column uncovered recently by the National Post.
Naturally, the Post was curious to know if Vancouver’s amiable, bicycle-riding mayor still clings to the anti-militaristic world view from his youth. Reached at a public meeting last week, he said his opinions had “changed significantly.”
“Those were the views of a 20-year-old college student. Obviously there’s a lot of water under the bridge since then,” he said. “And years of public service have had me working shoulder to shoulder with our armed forces and first responders. They serve a crucial need keeping public safety.”
Asked if he still considers himself an idealist, Robertson, now in his seventh year in office, replied, “I like to maintain ideals, but in my political career I’d say I’ve been a pragmatist and very focused on getting things done.”
His transition from idealist to pragmatist hasn’t come without some major challenges, however. The mayor was forced to admit his year he had failed to achieve one of his earliest and most audacious campaign pledges — to end homelessness by 2015.
“We see both idealism and practicality in the mayor’s actions. He hasn’t given up on idealism, but he probably understands now more how difficult it is to achieve such things,” said Patrick Smith, a political-science professor at Simon Fraser University.
There is no question Robertson won the past three civic elections because of his ability to appeal to younger voters, whose support was rooted in idealism, said Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs at marketing researcher Insights West.
But those young people who may have been drawn by his proclamations of ending homelessness or turning Vancouver into the “greenest city in the world” are growing up and facing new challenges.
“The disenchantment with housing options has become exceedingly real in the last year,” Canseco said.
“Vancouverites who may have ridden a bike to school in 2008 when they first voted for Robertson may now be married, with a mortgage, a car and a child seat. The city is becoming more expensive, and they are looking at the mayor they helped elect to offer some assistance.” So far that assistance has come up short, Robertson’s critics say. They say his recent suggestion of a “speculation tax” to discourage the quick resale or “flipping” of homes is misguided.
The fact the mayor’s pal, condo-marketing guru Bob Rennie, who also floated the idea of a speculation tax, aspires to be a “thought leader” on the housing file makes the subject “practically radioactive for the mayor.”
“The same generation that was sold dreams of an end to homelessness and environmental leadership is now being told that all they can afford, and all they should contemplate, is a box,” Canseco added.
The contrast between the mayor’s challenge to find practical solutions to problems and the unabashed idealism he espoused as a student at Colorado College, a small liberal arts school, couldn’t be starker.
In a letter to the school’s student newspaper, The Catalyst, on Oct. 18, 1985, “Greg Robertson,” as he was then known, responded to a debate over whether the U.S. Armed Forces’ Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) should have a presence on campus.
“There is no place here for ROTC or any other military faction. There is no place on this planet for these groups. That is, if the survival of the human race is of any concern to its members,” he wrote.
“It’s easy for the ROTC to say that sharp liberal minds, such as those supposedly at CC, are exactly what the military needs for the advent of new ideas in the military system. However, the existence of a military system in the first place is absurd. The fundamental purpose of the military is to fight wars. Wars are not necessary, therefore the military is not necessary.
“It may sound rather idealistic, but isn’t it true that all realities are rooted in ideals? A good first step toward this reality is to shun the military system; specifically to prevent the ROTC from invading our campus. It was Albert Einstein who said, ‘This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!’ I can’t help but agree.”
Today, Robertson says his idealism has given way to pragmatism. However, he is also the co-founder of an organic juice company called Happy Planet and his communications director, Braeden Caley, describes himself on Twitter as someone who “pals around with idealists.”
Even if some of the mayor’s earlier aspirations were unrealistic or naive, there is still something admirable about them and he shouldn’t feel a need to disown them, some observers say.
As people get older, they tend to become more jaded and cynical, as they face economic pressures and defeats. Some may abandon their values for selfish or professional reasons — or to score “political brownie points,” said Paul Russell, a philosophy professor at UBC.
“Sometimes I think older people resent the idealism of younger people; there’s kind of a hostility to it. I think it actually disturbs them because it makes them aware of the extent to which they’ve given up on some former self that maybe they actually quite admire.”
We see both ideal is mand practicality int he mayor’s actions. He hasn’t given upon idealism, but he probably understands now more how difficult it is to achieve such things.
PATRICK SMITH
POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY