Political fallout continues at Vancouver City Hall after Mayor Ken Sim was revealed to be the source of a false allegation against Coun. Sean Orr.
Earlier this week, Coun. Lenny Zhou made an inflammatory accusation about non-ABC council members, saying, “Some non-ABC councillors are drug users themselves. On Christmas Eve, they openly distributed drugs.”
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Zhou later apologized, saying, in part, “My comments were based on incorrect information, and for that I unequivocally apologize.”
All was quickly forgiven by Mayor Ken Sim.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he wants to do right by the city when it comes to issues like supportive housing, as it comes to street disorder, as it comes to cultural issues, especially with the Chinese community, and I think that should be celebrated,” Sim said.
He even thanked his colleague for “taking responsibility for sharing information that was not accurate.”
It turns out not everyone did take responsibility, as Zhou’s inaccurate information appears to have come from Ken Sim himself, at a briefing in front of Chinese-speaking media Feb. 6.
“We have a councillor, Sean Orr. Just this Christmas, he was handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day to people on the streets,” said Sim — who was sitting directly next to Coun. Zhou — at the briefing.
COPE City Councillor Sean Orr denies the accusations and says he has no idea where they came from.
“I wasn’t in Vancouver on Christmas day,” Orr said.
“You know, I may have passed my girlfriend’s father a few brewskies, but I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about.”
Orr says these allegations meet the threshold of criminal defamation.
“I’m going to look into what that looks like in terms of seeking legal counsel,” he said. “But I am appalled, I can tell you that much.”
Coun. Pete Fry says he and Orr exchanged text messages on Christmas Day and says he received pictures from Orr on the Sunshine Coast.
“I know for a fact that the allegation brought forward by Ken Sim is false and a fabrication,” Fry said.
“This mayor is exemplifying all of the very worst of the political kind of stunts that we see south of the border from Trump and the like. It’s beyond the pale, I can’t even believe were having this conversation right now.”
CityNews reached out to the mayor’s office for comment but did not get a response before broadcast deadline.
