section_path: Government
section_name: Government
paragraph_text: Government
  
  Vancouver, unlike other British Columbia municipalities, is incorporated under the Vancouver Charter. The legislation, passed in 1953, supersedes the Vancouver Incorporation Act, 1921 and grants the city more and different powers than other communities possess under British Columbia's Municipalities Act.
  
  The civic government was dominated by the centre-right Non-Partisan Association (NPA) since World War II, albeit with some significant centre-left interludes until 2008. The NPA fractured over the issue of drug policy in 2002, facilitating a landslide victory for the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) on a harm reduction platform. Subsequently, North America's only legal safe injection site at the time, Insite, was opened for the significant number of intravenous heroin users in the city.
  
  Vancouver is governed by the eleven-member Vancouver City Council, a nine-member School Board, and a seven-member Park Board, all of whom serve four-year terms. Unusually for a city of Vancouver's size, all municipal elections are on an at-large basis. Historically, in all levels of government, the more affluent west side of Vancouver has voted along conservative or liberal lines. In contrast, the city's eastern side has voted along left-wing lines. This was reaffirmed with the results of the 2005 provincial election and the 2006 federal election.
  
  Though polarized, a political consensus has emerged in Vancouver around several issues. Protection of urban parks, a focus on the development of rapid transit as opposed to a freeway system, a harm-reduction approach to illegal drug use, and a general concern about community-based development are examples of policies that have come to have broad support across the political spectrum in Vancouver.
  
  In the 2008 municipal election campaign, NPA incumbent mayor Sam Sullivan was ousted as mayoral candidate by the party in a close vote, which instated Peter Ladner as the new mayoral candidate for the NPA. Gregor Robertson, a former MLA for Vancouver-Fairview and head of Happy Planet, was the mayoral candidate for Vision Vancouver, the other main contender. Vision Vancouver candidate Gregor Robertson defeated Ladner by a considerable margin, nearing 20,000 votes. The balance of power was significantly shifted to Vision Vancouver, which held seven of the ten spots for councillor. Of the remaining three, COPE received two and the NPA one. For park commissioner, four seats went to Vision Vancouver, one to the Green Party, one to COPE, and one to NPA. For school trustees, there were four Vision Vancouver seats, three COPE seats, and two NPA seats. In the 2018 Vancouver municipal election, independent Kennedy Stewart was elected mayor of Vancouver. Stewart was later defeated as mayor in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election by Ken Sim, the runner-up in the 2018 election.
  
  Vancouver's budget consists of a capital and an operating component. In 2023, the operating budget was $1.97 billion, with a 5-year financial plan, developed in 2022, that projected the budget would increase to $2.46 billion by 2027. The 2023 capital budget was $580 million, with a 2023 to 2026 Capital Plan that anticipates $3.5 billion in expenditures in those four years. Budget increases are primarily funded through increases in property taxes and community amenity contributions imposed in exchange for increases in allowable density as part of the construction permitting process. Utility and other user fees have also been increased but represent a small portion of Vancouver's overall budget.