The Trust Gap
What Needs Fixing
Imagine a coin.
On one side: what needs fixing in the City of North Vancouver: trust, accountability, transparency.
On the other side: what I’ll do to fix the trust gap. Let me sum it up in three words: safety, economy, family. Details in The Plan, the next section.
Meet the People and Listen
All over this city, I hear a version of the same thing: people have stopped trusting City Hall. Not because they’re cynical — because they’re paying attention. When big decisions feel settled before the public is asked, folks question the validity of the process. When we can’t easily see where the money goes, and when “having your say” means two minutes at a microphone with no reply, trust fades. The good news: process problems have process fixes. We can see what’s broken — and how we close the trust gap. For a start, I pledge to hold regular two-way town halls where we discuss our city like neighbours.
Public Meetings that Matter
Too often the big decisions feel made before the public hearing happens — so the hearing becomes a formality to get through, not a place where minds can still change. When people sense the outcome is already locked in, they stop showing up. That’s not apathy. It’s a rational response to not being heard.
The fix:
Trust is built — or in our case, returns — when the public is genuinely in the room before a decision is taken, not after it. Trust is the outcome when early on the public sees and hears the real options, sees all the relevant materials, and the staff reasoning is clear and concise. Public hearings should be a place of real deliberation, not after-the-fact “input sessions” that give us choices only at the margins, not the heart of decisions and initiatives.
Accountability
Try to answer a simple question: how much does the City owe, and what does it cost us every year to carry that debt? You won’t find a clear, current answer in one place. There’s no plain-language debt clock you can check at a glance, and no simple dashboard tracking what was promised against what’s been delivered. You can’t hold a council to account for a number you can’t see.
The fix:
I’ll push for an open debt-and-spending dashboard — a public debt clock anyone can check — and clear, measurable targets for major commitments, reported on honestly. It’s the same honest-finances discipline you’ll find on The Plan.
Transparency
Here’s how “public input” works today: you get two minutes at the microphone. Only five speakers are allowed per meeting. You can speak to the same matter just once every three months. And it’s entirely one-way — you talk, the clock runs, and there’s no dialogue, no questions, no answers. That isn’t a conversation; it’s a formality with a timer.
On major files like the Great Street project, the reasoning behind big choices has been hard for residents to follow. When people can’t see how or why a decision got made, even good decisions lose their legitimacy.
The fix:
Transparency means real two-way engagement — open town halls where people can actually ask questions and get answers — and decisions explained in plain language, with the reasoning on the public record. Sunlight isn’t a courtesy. It’s the job.
Hand-off to The Plan
That’s what needs fixing. Restoring trust isn’t a slogan — it’s the foundation everything else stands on. Here’s what I’ll build on it.