Tensions were high at the Vancouver City Council during a debate over whether to lift a ban on supportive housing.
All eyes were on one ABC-councillor who had accused his colleagues across the aisle in a video posted in Mandarin online, of being drug dealers and users.
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Coun. Lenny Zhou has since taken down the video and apologized for his comments; however, Coun. Pete Fry made it clear during the meeting that he refuses to accept his apology.
“Immediately, this calls for discipline and a clear and unequivocal statement that disavows this and censures the counsellor involved in this egregious falsehood and misinformation,” Fry said during the debate in City Hall.
Fry, among Couns. Rebecca Bligh, Lucy Maloney, and Sean Orr were accused in the video.
Bligh agrees with his colleague, expressing concern about possible implications on the political atmosphere during an election year in the city.
“It is recorded, it is visible, it is shareable, it is spreading. But the broader concern is about the political culture it reflects,” Bligh said.
She and the other councillors want Mayor Ken Sim to publicly address the comments made and censure Zhou, who is a member of the mayor’s caucus.
In a written statement from Tuesday, Sim thanks Zhou for acknowledging his mistake and apologizing.
In the video, Zhou claims that supportive housing brings drugs and gangs to Vancouver.
“Does our Chinese community really have to wait until these drug house facilities are built at our own doorsteps to wake up?” he said in the video, translated from Mandarin into English.
The ABC-dominated council passed the ban on new supportive housing projects last year, saying the city was taking on too much of the burden and wanted other municipalities and the province to do more.
In an interview with 1130 NewsRadio, former Coun. Kerry Jang says that Sim is running away from the problem.
“He doesn’t want any bad press. I think it’s sad. He should stand up and say, ‘Look, he made a mistake. I should be punishing him in our caucus,” Jang said.
“But instead, he just runs away and says, ‘Oh, I’m glad he apologized.’”
Jang also adds that he does not believe that Zhou’s apology was sincere.
“To me, I don’t know how genuine that apology is. Clearly, his comments were premeditated, and he did it on a Chinese on WeChat, figuring he would never get caught. But he did get caught. And so, I don’t believe him for a moment.”
