As the fall Vancouver municipal election approaches, one expert is wary of political messaging diverging, depending on the language spoken.
UBC Political Scientist Stewart Prest’s warning comes after yet another dispute over the ABC Party’s communication with the Chinese community in Vancouver.
Opponents, including the Vancouver Liberal Party and COPE Coun. Sean Orr, took to social media Wednesday to criticize Mayor Ken Sim and Coun. Lenny Zhou. And not for the first time.
In March, Orr filed a civil lawsuit against Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim over false allegations that the councillor had handed out illegal drugs. The controversy began in February, after a WeChat video circulated showing Zhou making accusations that “some non-ABC councillors are drug users themselves.” He added, “On Christmas Eve, they openly distributed drugs.”
Zhou apologized for the comments, and Sim was quick to forgive, adding that Zhou had taken “responsibility for sharing information that was not accurate.”
But another video revealed that Sim himself had been the source of that information.
“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 a briefing in front of Chinese-language media on Feb. 6.
Now, Orr claims Zhou has continued to “spread shameless and dangerous disinformation” on WeChat.
He shared a video of Zhou speaking in Mandarin, and claims the ABC councillor described one of Orr’s tax rebate ideas as a “kill the rich policy.”
Liberal Candidates Kareem Allam and Michael Wu separately called out Sim for his message at a Chinese cultural event, at which he claimed he is the only mayoral candidate that “supports the police and public safety.”
“What makes this especially disappointing is that he only seems willing to make these attacks at events in the Chinese community,” said a joint statement from Allam and Wu.
“Communities deserve honesty and leadership, not cheap political games based on fear.”
The Vancouver Liberals stated their commitment to safety and collaboration with the police.
Prest says Sim and Zhou’s actions undermine trust in public debate, and risk deepening a divide between English and non-English populations in the city.
“This is an issue that can threaten to spiral. So we do need to be, I think, cognizant on all sides about the importance of being consistent with messages and having inclusive conversations, not saying one thing to one audience to another, to a different audience,” said Prest.
The ABC Party, he says, is developing an unfortunate reputation for aggressive attacks on opponents with a disregard for misinformation.
“They are embracing a divisive approach to politics. And now that we have seen that behaviour several times, that story becomes much more believable about ABC, and much harder for that party and for Mayor Sim above all, to dispute that characterization.”
Meanwhile, he says Coun. Orr must be careful about which disputes he raises the alarm for, or else he’ll risk the perception of being a “boy who cried wolf.”
“If everything is presented in terms of a distortion of the truth, even if it’s a relatively minor issue, that can actually water down the larger message and can make the other instances that were quite serious seem less significant, given that there is this constant drumbeat.”
As part of the province-wide general local elections, the Vancouver municipal election will take place on Oct. 17.
Prest says he expects it to be a “bruising, ugly” campaign that could further divide city politics.
“[It risks] the vote being about something other than what is actually the best direction for the city, and rather about this narrow, more tribal or divisive approach to politics, which I don’t think serves the city well and certainly doesn’t serve the voters well.”
source & photo: CityNews
