{"id":563351,"date":"2026-03-27T02:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T02:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563351\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T02:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T02:03:20","slug":"frances-bula-on-covering-urban-issues-and-running-for-vancouver-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563351\/","title":{"rendered":"Frances Bula On Covering Urban Issues And Running For Vancouver City Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Frances Bula. (OneCity Vancouver)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this, you probably already know who Frances Bula is. She\u2019s been a journalist in Vancouver for 43 years, primarily at the Vancouver Sun and then The Globe and Mail, and has covered urban issues and politics for most of that time.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, however, she surprised many with an announcement that she was running for Vancouver City Council with OneCity Vancouver<\/a>, whose ranks include Minister of Housing Christine Boyle, current councillor Lucy Maloney<\/a>, and mayoral candiate William Azaroff.<\/a> <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of overlap between what Frances has covered and what I cover, so I thought it\u2019d make for an interesting conversation to talk to her about her career, the decision to enter politics, and some of the issues that we both cover.<\/p>\n

[Full disclosure: Frances was a freelance contributor<\/a> at Storeys when I was there, but this was actually the first time we had ever talked. I\u2019m also a long-time Burnaby resident so have no skin in the Vancouver municipal election.]<\/p>\n

After such a long journalism career, what made you want to give politics a try? I\u2019ve seen some comments online, in good fun I think, about you being radicalized from your experience building a laneway home<\/a>. Any truth to that?<\/p>\n

People always come up with these 2 + 2 = 18. It\u2019s funny, because it\u2019s not that at all. I really just felt like I\u2019ve had an incredibly wonderful run as a journalist and wanted to do something that was kind of more direct. But people are always thinking someone\u2019s doing something because they\u2019re mad or cranky or whatever. Ten years ago, they could\u2019ve tore down every house around me and I still wouldn\u2019t have considered politics because I still felt like I had a lot to do in journalism. But I\u2019m at the point where this is going to be a capstone project, it\u2019s going to be a wild new adventure, and I wanted to have one wild new adventure before, you know, the end.<\/p>\n

How did your family, friends, and colleagues take the news and how has the transition been for you?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been way better than I thought. I got a ream of positive comments. It\u2019s been really good in some ways, but there are things that are happening that are very predictable. There\u2019s a couple of commenters saying, \u201cOh, she\u2019s just a developer shill.\u201d Then there\u2019s another little group of commenters \u2014 not in the mainstream, but more in the peripheral \u2014 saying \u201cOh, she\u2019s just a fake progressive pretending that she\u2019s pro-housing, but is actually a NIMBY.\u201d So to one of them I said \u201cCan you two groups get together and have a vote on which kind of evil you think I am?\u201d<\/p>\n

But generally it\u2019s been really good. I\u2019ve been telling people I\u2019m enjoying this because most of my journalism career I was always out in a crowd and meeting people and going to the fundraisers for the different political parties and making a note of who was there, talking to people, and I was just out a lot. But journalism has become\u2026 there\u2019s not as much time or space for that. It\u2019s been much more me being on the phone and my laptop, so this has been kind of fun, because now I\u2019m out meeting people and talking to everybody in the world again, which was always my ambition as a journalist \u2014 to get into every single living room I could and ask people what they\u2019re life story was.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a learning process. My brain sort of feels like it\u2019s on fire, like you do when you travel to a country you\u2019ve never been to before and you\u2019re trying to figure out everything at once. But I have to say OneCity feels like a big, huge supportive team, and so that makes it a lot easier. I looked into running as an independent and every single political person with any experience said you can\u2019t win as an independent, so then I had to choose, and I feel like it\u2019s working out with what I chose, because I really have the sense of a big strong team that has some professional backup.<\/p>\n

So it sounds like there really wasn\u2019t a second party option for you besides OneCity? <\/p>\n

I did talk to Kareem [Allam, of the Vancouver Liberals]<\/a> a bit, but I just felt like I couldn\u2019t ultimately predict where his group might end up and who might be on the team with me and whether I\u2019d be comfortable with them.<\/p>\n

You hinted at it earlier, but do you think there are any transferrable skills between being a reporter and being a politician?<\/p>\n

Oh, totally. I mean, I feel like I have this huge advantage because I\u2019m used to phoning people up, point blank, and asking them questions, so now I\u2019m asking them to join the party. Articulating what\u2019s going on while being mindful of all the different voices that there are out there. Just that ability to talk to people, approach them, listen to them \u2014 like really listen to them, which is hard. There\u2019s a thing that we all have as humans where we\u2019re in a conversation, but really we\u2019re just waiting to say our piece. So really listening to people is a huge skill you develop in journalism and it\u2019s equally applicable here, because I don\u2019t claim to know everything. <\/p>\n

You mentioned the advantage of your journalism background. Do you think there are any disadvantages?<\/p>\n

I can see the disadvantages for me personally. I\u2019m well-known so I have a certain amount of brand-name recognition, although I have to say I ran into a young person recently at a campaign thing and told them, \u201cMy name is Frances Bula, I\u2019m a former journalist, I\u2019m now running for office\u201d and he was like, \u201cOh, you\u2019re a journalist? Have you ever written anything about local politics?\u201d<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve been out there reporting on things, so there\u2019s certain people who don\u2019t like a particular piece of information I\u2019ve included in a story or they thought they were treated unfairly, or they think I have it in for them, for some reason that I can\u2019t always figure out.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s lots of positive recognition, but if you\u2019re a journalist for 40 years, inevitably you have people who don\u2019t like something you did, so I guess I\u2019m getting more attention than some other people who are running as candidates because of that. It\u2019s positive attention, but also negative attention.<\/p>\n

Compared to the 2022 municipal election, do you think housing is a bigger issue now or have other issues overtaken it, in terms of what\u2019s top-of-mind for voters?<\/p>\n

Well, you know even better than most of the public that the housing situation has changed so much since 2022, right? At that point, things were still going up and up, and people were building and selling and there were some issues with interest rates and the costs of construction, but generally the development industry was functioning kind of the way it always had. <\/p>\n

Now, as you know way better than anybody, people are saying the presale market is almost frozen, rental proformas aren\u2019t working. I hear some people saying, \u201cOh, well actually the vacancy rate is going up, the population of BC is leveling off, and we don\u2019t really need to have all that development anymore.\u201d And, of course, everybody knows that in a couple years, that\u2019s probably going to change. The federal government will loosen up on immigration a little bit. They might increase the cap for international students and if no one builds anything, we\u2019ll be back to where we were, which is too many people playing musical chairs in Vancouver, which is what leads to price increases. So the problem of constantly escalating prices is not what\u2019s happening right now, it\u2019s something different. So clearly the housing issue will have to be talked about in a different way in this election, but I still think it\u2019s top of mind.<\/p>\n

OneCity is very interesting. It\u2019s got a very young membership base. I really noticed that when I went out to a couple of meetings, and those people are feeling really shut out of the city because it\u2019s so expensive for them to live. So I think it\u2019s very top-of-mind for OneCity members for sure.<\/p>\n

But I also think the City and the Province went peak-YIMBY about two years ago, maybe three, when Ravi Kahlon was doing everything. Obviously some people think there\u2019s too much development being approved, but I think, in general, the pro-housing people feel like there was a certain battle that was won. The Overton Window<\/a> of talking about housing really shifted and there was a huge move by cities and the Province to explore whatever they could to try to create more housing.<\/p>\n

Now I think people are feeling like, \u201cWe still want a lot of housing, but maybe we can put a little more thought and nuance into it.\u201d Maybe some of these kind of big blanket zoning changes\u2026Maybe we need to refine that a little bit or think a bit more carefully about it, maybe there could be a little more refinement of how new development is going to be inserted into the city and especially in older neighborhoods. But that\u2019s a big conversation because everyone has a different idea about what should be available between single-family homes and large concrete towers. It\u2019s going to be an interesting conversation in this election how people articulate what kind of options they want in between those two.<\/p>\n

Outside of housing, there are other important issues as well. What do you think those other top issues are and where do you stand on them?<\/p>\n

I think that people have a sense that some general stuff in the city has been neglected because there\u2019s been this preoccupation by this council with more peripheral issues like getting rid of the Park Board<\/a> or Bitcoin<\/a> or the attempt to get rid of the natural gas provisions in the Vancouver Building Code<\/a> and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

I feel a little bit that way too, like I have a tree that came down in front of my house, one of those big old chestnut trees, like almost two years ago. It hasn\u2019t been grounded up and there seems to be no move to plant another tree and when I phoned 311, they were like, \u201cYou\u2019re on a long list, we don\u2019t know when we\u2019re going to get to it.\u201d I think everyone has a bit of an experience like that. When I talk to people, somebody will say, well, they took out all the garbage cans in my area, or the sidewalks are a mess, or my park hasn\u2019t been taken care of. I think there\u2019s a sense by a lot of people that this council kind of got distracted. The basic things that people want, that makes the city functional, it doesn\u2019t seem like they were putting all their effort into that.<\/p>\n

I know another issue for people is just the yo-yo budgeting that\u2019s happened in the last three years with ABC. 12% tax increase the first year, a dozen the second year, and finally they kind of get close to inflation in the third year, and then in the fourth year they go, \u201cOh my god! We ate too much! Now we have to get rid of it and they do this kind of very performative \u201cZero Means Zero<\/a>\u201d business. I think people would like to see more steadiness. I don\u2019t hear the public saying, \u201cLet\u2019s do math and cutbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I have stuff in my little mini-platform, like I love small independence businesses. My goal is to eat at every little restaurant along Kingsway and up Victoria and I\u2019m forever out shopping and supporting small independent business, supporting the arts, and making sure that people have whatever mode of transportation that they can use to get around the city and feel that it\u2019s easy. <\/p>\n

Another weird thing to happen when you run and you\u2019re well-known is people will say things like, \u201cOh I heard you\u2019re anti-bike lane\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d My whole family rides bikes to get around. I drive a lot because I never have less than 15 places to go in the day. I\u2019m usually pro-bike lane because every person that\u2019s on a bike is not a car taking up space on the street in front of me, so that makes me want everybody on bikes.<\/p>\n

There are other things in the platform, I\u2019m sure, but would it be fair to say that housing is the top issue for OneCity?<\/p>\n

I think it is. I think it\u2019s housing and living in a city that feels like it\u2019s working for the average person. We don\u2019t need super fancy stuff. Fix up the community centres and schools and parks and make sure the libraries are open as much as you can and make it easy for me to get around. We\u2019re all living incredibly stressful, busy lives, from what I can tell, and people don\u2019t need anything to make that any harder.<\/p>\n

It sounds like you don\u2019t feel like Mayor Ken Sim has done a great job these last four years?<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t feel like it. From what I\u2019ve seen, it just doesn\u2019t seen to have been a priority. It\u2019s not talked about a lot and everybody I talk to seems to have some little story about like, \u201cWhy is the City pulling out the garbage cans in my area? Why aren\u2019t they planting more trees? Why is there a swamp in the middle of my park? There\u2019s just a sense that somebody took their eye off the ball as they were trying to do these more ambitious things.<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, new councils that are elected will spend some time walking back some things the previous council did. Is there anything we\u2019ve seen these last four years that you\u2019d be interested in taking another look at?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I think people think that no-net-new supportive housing<\/a> wasn\u2019t the best signal to send. I\u2019m positive that OneCity plans to rescind that and probably other parties would say the same. There were a few things they did, I\u2019m just not thinking of them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll rattle some off for you. The Broadway Plan. <\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019ve been out in public saying I think the Broadway Plan needs some fixes, so that\u2019s for sure. Along with that, sort of in general, an approach to planning for new housing that is a little bit more sensitive and complementary to neighbourhoods without getting back into Vancouver\u2019s thing of \u201cOh my god, we can\u2019t build this because three neighbours came out and complained about it.\u201d That\u2019s not what anybody wants to go back to. Just a little bit more sensitivity and thought.”<\/p>\n

Also, the Broadway Plan, as it\u2019s currently structured, a lot of tenants are going to be displaced because the only people who get mitigated are people who are on an official lease. So on my street where one of the first towers is going up, a couple of those at least were communal houses. I don\u2019t know for sure, but I would guess that only one person was on the lease, so only one person gets mitigated not the whole household. There are things to look at. It was passed at a time when people were panicking like we\u2019re in a crisis, rents are going up every minute, we desperately need to create more rental housing. We\u2019ve got a little bit of breathing room right now and we can go back and sort of reexamine some things and think \u201cCan we do this a bit better?\u201d<\/p>\n

Big picture, looking back at your long career covering these issues, do you have any big takeaways or philosophical observations?<\/p>\n

One of the things that I point out is some issues you can take quick action on and it really helps the people see immediate positive benefits. One that I cite often is the New York City congestion tax<\/a>. It immediately generated a lot of positive reaction because commuters were finding that they could get into the city faster and people who live in New York felt like there was less traffic and less noise and it was easier for people to walk around. <\/p>\n

Some things can be done really quickly and other things take a long time and housing is one of them. I keep saying it took 30 years to totally wreck our housing system, after the Conservatives kind of ended the federal social housing program. We kind of all glided along in that airplane for a while and didn\u2019t realize it was running out of gas until it crashed. Various governments sort of thought it would fix itself and they didn\u2019t have to do too much. But working on that 1774576999, that takes a long time.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s stuff that Gregor Robertson announced in 2018, new housing projects, that haven\u2019t been built yet. I know everyone would love it if we\u2019d all go back to 2001 housing prices, but it\u2019s just hard to imagine that happening, so what needs to happen is more types of housing being made available for people. Maybe not everyone gets a single-family house, but maybe every family that needs one gets a three-bedroom townhouse at a not-too-insane price. But that takes a long time to make that change.<\/p>\n

That was all the questions I had. Was there anything you else you wanted to comment on?<\/p>\n

Well I have to say, this is the craziest job application process I\u2019ve ever been through. I\u2019ve quit all my journalism work, obviously, so now I get to spend six full months just trying to apply for this job and phoning every person I\u2019ve ever known since kindergarten and asking if they\u2019ll join the party, support me in the internal nomination, then support me in the general election \u2014 and a lot of people don\u2019t realize there\u2019s an intermediate step.<\/p>\n

People think, \u201cOh, politics is so easy, they just fail up and then they start collecting their gigantic salary\u201d and I\u2019m like \u201cOh my god, no, I\u2019m going through a six-freaking-month job interview with a panel of 5,000 people and not even certain that in the end I\u2019m going to get to where I want to go.<\/p>\n

The public, I think, doesn\u2019t realize the work it takes for people to run for office. And in this climate, you come in for a lot of criticism that you have to be able to withstand. I don\u2019t know how things are going with your journalism, but inevitably you make people angry about something, right? I bet you\u2019re getting some calls from people about what a \u201cpiece of shit\u201d you are, something like that, especially the difficult area you\u2019re covering where people are in serious financial trouble.<\/p>\n

In general, this is so much like journalism and I love it in the sense that I get to go out and listen to people talk about their stories and what they\u2019d like from the city, and people are much more positive and kinder than social media sometimes makes it look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frances Bula. (OneCity Vancouver) If you\u2019re reading this, you probably already know who Frances Bula is. She\u2019s been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-563351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}