市選 | Rob McDowell：做勵精圖治的溫哥華革新派

時尚 10-23

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她鄉華聞 · HERLAND

她鄉華聞(微信ID：chicvancouver)編輯

作為獨立候選人，我堅信：只有獨立的聲音才不會受到特殊利益的影響。

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您為何作為獨立候選人參選溫哥華市議會？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

我作為獨立候選人參選有幾個因素考量。在溫哥華，我相信政治格局正在發生改變。市級的政黨一直是一個奇怪的現象，似乎每隔幾年總會見到被聯邦和/或省政府「收編」的情況——比方說，往往是新民主黨和自由黨管理「偉景溫哥華（Vision Vancouver）」，或保守黨和自由黨領導NPA的尷尬結合。

最近這些聯盟可能會分裂，從而造成政治的不穩定和傳統秩序的崩潰。另外，新的政黨黨派擴張以及競選財政改革，也對政黨不利。

四年前，我隨無黨派聯盟（NPA）參與了議會的工作。這個經驗讓我了解到，作為一名獨立人士，有其存在的意義。請記住，民調最高的三個市長候選人中，有兩個是獨立候選人，這進一步支持了這樣一個事實：即人們似乎在尋找不受舊黨派制約的候選人。

我還認為目前是在市議會議席上發表強有力的獨立聲音的時候了，只有獨立的聲音才不會受到特殊利益的影響，並且可以為所有溫哥華人的利益行事。

Question:

Why you are running as independent, not for a party?

Rob McDowell:

There are several factors. In Vancouver, I believe that the political landscape is changing. Parties at the civic level have always been a strange phenomena, seemingly 「adopted」 by federal and or provincial parties every few years – examples are often awkward coalitions of NDP and Liberals managing Vision Vancouver, or the Conservatives and Liberals leading the NPA. These coalitions can fracture, which happened recently - causing a breakdown in the usual political stability and the traditional order. Other factors include the proliferation of new civic parties, as well as campaign finance reform, which seems to work against parties. I ran with the NPA four years ago for council, and learned from that experience. I believe that it made sense for me to run this time as an Independent. Keep in mind that two of the three top polling candidates for mayor are running as Independents, which further supports the fact that people seem to be looking for candidates who are not necessarily beholden to the old party system and its constraints. I also believe that it is time for strong, independent voices at the Council table, who are not beholden to special interests and can act in the interests of all Vancouverites.

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您對過去溫哥華的發展有何看法？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

在過去的七年里，我一直擔任NPA核心小組的聯絡員，因此我非常熟悉市政府的工作方式。我也在市議會參與或觀察了七年的議事。我相信現在市政府的工作人員越來越政治化，這對長期政策的有效制定不會有任何幫助。

目前，市府在推動政策時常常是閉門造車，而不是在公共論壇上進行討論，這導致公眾對市府的信任度大大降低。下一屆議會必須恢復透明和信任，我對此表示樂觀。

Question:

You vote for city council, what』s your opinion of past developments in Vancouver?

Rob McDowell:

I have worked as the NPA Caucus Liaison for the past seven years so I am very familiar with how City Hall works, having attended or watched most Council meetings for seven years. I have grown increasingly concerned with how ideological city hall has become. I believe that the staff at City Hall have also become increasingly politicized, which is not positive or beneficial for effective long term policy making. Currently, policies are often decided behind closed doors, rather than in a public forum, and this has led to a breakdown in trust by many members of the public. Transparency and trust must be restored by the next Council, and I am optimistic that it will be.

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請問

您的政綱是什麼？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

關於住房：我認為，考慮到包括住房在內的高昂生活成本，解決住房的可負擔性以及人們如何在溫哥華生活和工作變得非常重要。我們需要確保年輕人和新進入房地產市場的人可以看到擁有住房的可能性。許多年輕人現在甚至無法想像能夠擁有住房這件事。

通過更有效地利用現有土地（城市本身是溫哥華最大的土地所有者），我們可以為合作社和共同住房等建築類型的長期房地產租賃提供希望。

由於市內的租賃空置率目前幾乎是零，亟須更多的住房，我們可以通過加快許可證的審批和其他獎勵措施等，來鼓勵增加租賃房屋的建造。

關於交通：我們需要確保我們城市的居民能夠高效、有效地出行。我們必須處理擁堵問題，並確保居民在出行時有更多的選擇。例如，在汽車共享方面，溫市在全球可是佼佼者，應該進一步促進共享汽車的使用。此外，我們還需要引入交通工具共享。

關於藝術與文化：藝術向我們展示了城市的靈魂，我們需要更好地推廣藝術。溫哥華應該為其亞洲文化提供更高的知名度，並且還可以加強對原住民藝術的展示。我們需要在市中心建造一個更大的藝術館。我們在舞蹈和視覺藝術領域，是世界領導者。我們可以更有效地利用包括時裝和電視製作在內的許多商業藝術部門，使整個藝術界受益。

Question:

What』s your political election platform?

Rob McDowell:

Housing: I believe that it is very important to address affordability and how people can live and work in Vancouver, given the high costs of living, including housing. I think we need to ensure that young people and new entrants to the housing market at least can see some sort of 「pathway」 to home ownership. Many young people can not even imagine that now. We can provide hope by more effectively leveraging city owned land (the city is the largest land owner in Vancouver) for long term property leases for building types like co-ops and co-housing. We could also include expedited permit approvals, easements and other incentives. Purpose Built Rental housing also needs to be encouraged, in order to increase the rental vacancy rate, which is close to zero.

Transportation: We need to ensure that people in our city can get around efficiently and effectively. We must deal with congestion and also ensure that people have ready options to assist with this. Vancouver is the world leader in car-sharing, for example, and this should be further increased. We need to also introduce ride-sharing.

Arts and Culture: Art shows us the soul of our city, and we need to do a better job of championing the arts. Vancouver should provide a higher profile for its Asian cultures, and can also strengthen the showcasing of Indigenous art. We need to build a larger, new Art Gallery downtown. We are a world leader in dance and visual arts. Many commercial artistic sectors, including fashion and television production, could be leveraged more effectively to benefit the artistic community as a whole.

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如果您當選，能夠為溫哥華帶來什麼？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

如上所述，我將支持新住房政策，聚焦可負擔房屋。我將促進更好的交通選擇，包括汽車共享和交通工具共享。我會推動藝術的建立，以及為藝術和文化組織提供更穩定、更長期的資金。我會支持市中心東區的改善措施。

Question:

If you elected, how you plan to improve Vancouver?

Rob McDowell:

I would champion policies supporting new housing options, as outlined above, focussing on affordable home ownership. I will foster better transportation options, including car sharing and ride sharing. I would push for the establishment of the Art Gallery and more stable, long term funding for arts and cultural organizations. I would support prevention and treatment initiatives in the Downtown East Side.

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您如何看待在溫哥華的華人？他們是否為溫哥華做出了貢獻？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

我20世紀80年代後期在台灣學習普通話，並於90年代後期在中國（北京和廣州）生活，我很熟悉中國僑民和溫哥華之間的歷史關係。在廣州領事館工作期間，我們贊助了一個名為「Beyond Gold Mountain」的展覽，該展覽在珠江三角洲及其周邊的城市進行巡展，專註於卑詩省與中國南部之間的早期聯繫。

在訪問這些城市時，我總能深刻感受到其與溫哥華和卑詩省人民之間的溫暖聯繫，這種聯繫可以追溯到本省成立之前。最近，中國投資對我們的城市產生了巨大影響，為各個行業提供專業的技術知識和財政資源。如果我們更有效地利用它，中國作為一個國際大國的崛起肯定會使溫哥華受益。當然，在個人層面上，我不得不提到我相當喜歡本地中餐的多樣性和高質量，這是我在中國以外的其他城市找不到的。

Question:

What』s your idea on Chinese people Chinese community in Vancouver? Have they contributed to Vancouver? Please list in details to describe Chinese community contribution to Vancouver.

Rob McDowell:

I studied mandarin in Taiwan in the late 1980』s, and lived in China (Beijing and Guangzhou) in the late 1990』s, and I am quire familiar with the historic relationship between the Chinese diaspora and Vancouver. As Consul in Guangzhou, we sponsored an exhibit called 「Beyond Gold Mountain」 which travelled to cities around the Pearl River Delta and focussed on the earlier ties between BC and southern China. When visiting those cities, I always appreciated the warm ties with people in Vancouver and in BC, extending back to before the establishment of our province. More recently, Chinese investment has had a tremendous impact on our city in providing technical expertise and financial resources for a variety of sectors. The rise of China as an international power can certainly benefit Vancouver if we take advantage of it more effectively. Of course, on a personal level, I have to mention that I am also very happy with the variety and quality of Chinese regional food choices we have here, which I don』t find in many other cities outside of China.

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您之後將如何改善溫哥華的房地產市場？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

沒有比房地產更有力的行業，我們正在看到房地產價格調整的開始。在市政層面，我們的影響很有限，但我們可以通過區域的規劃和調整，使得住房在較長時間內變得更加可負擔。

我會與其他級別的政府合作，為那些想要購買住房的居民確保一個合理的價格。我們還需要提高租房的水平，以解決租房的短缺問題，我也會為實現這一目標而努力。

Question:

What do you want to do to improve Vancouver』s real estate?

Rob McDowell:

Nothing works as powerfully on the real estate sector as market forces, and I think we are seeing the start of a correction in pricing. At the city level, we are limited in how we can effect the market, but we can certainly make zoning and permitting changes to make housing more affordable over the longer term. I would work with the other levels of government to ensure our housing market is affordable and accessible to people who want to achieve home ownership. We also need to increase the level of purpose built rental housing, in order to address an urgent shortage of rental housing, and I would support efforts to achieve that as well.

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您過去在中國的生活是怎樣的呢？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

我在亞洲生活了12年，包括泰國、越南和中國。我是加中貿易理事會在北京（和上海）的總經理，該委員會致力於促進中國和加拿大之間的貿易往來。我也是駐廣州的加拿大領事和高級貿易專員，負責廣東、廣西、海南和福建。我對中國非常熟悉，並在中國各地旅行。目前，我是卑詩省的仲裁員和調解員。

Question:

Your past experience. Your past experience in China.

Rob McDowell:

I lived in Asia for 12 years, including Thailand, Vietnam and China. I was the General Manager of the Canada China Business Council in Beijing (and Shanghai), which worked to grow trade between China and Canada, and was also the Canadian Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner in Guangzhou, with responsibility for the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian. I am very familiar with China and have travelled throughout the country. Currently, I am an adjudicator and mediator for the province of BC.

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您對溫哥華和中國的經貿往來有何見解？

羅伯·麥克道爾：

我認為在這一方面有需要改進的地方。在過去的幾十年里，它已經有了很大的進步，但加拿大落後於像澳大利亞這樣的競爭對手。加拿大是一個貿易國，溫哥華是加拿大通往亞洲的門戶——我們需要更加積極地尋求和中國的經貿往來。加拿大需要與中國談判並最終達成自由貿易協定，這將進一步加強溫哥華作為加拿大門戶城市的作用。在城市層面，我肯定會採取任何措施來實現這一目標。

Question:

How do you think of economic and trade about Vancouver and China?

Rob McDowell:

I think it needs to be improved. It has improved immensely over the past few decades, but we are falling behind our competitors like Australia. Canada is a trading nation, and Vancouver is Canada』s gateway to Asia – we need to be more aggressive in courting, and closing, deals with China. Canada needs to negotiate and finalize a free trade agreement with China, and this would further strengthen Vancouver』s role as Canada』s gateway city. At the city level, I would certainly champion any measures to help us reach that goal.

Rob McDowell

Vancouver City Council candidate (#55 on the ballot)

604-618-0972

https://www.robertmcdowell.ca

https://www.facebook.com/voterobmcdowell

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