COPE’s Olympic sized hypocrisy

Councillors Cadman and Woodsworth are immersed in Olympic sized hypocrisy over Olympic tickets.

So COPE’s two City Councillors – Ellen Woodsworth and David Cadman – and their lone Park Board Commissioner – Loretta Woodcock – have been invited to the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies but have refused, citing the fact that they aren’t willing pay for tickets on their own, and thus they are not going to accept them from the City.

To begin with, there are a lot of things that these officials probably wouldn’t do on their own if their weren’t elected – sitting in Council chambers until past midnight listening to concerned citizens have their voices heard, attending events on many evenings and on weekends at the expense of family time, reading reams of staff reports that most likely is comprised of a small forest by year’s end, just to name a few – but they do them because they ran for office willingly, and are now fulfilling the duties associated with the job.

But what bothers me about this vacuous martyrdom (each and every Councillor should at the very least be responsible to attend the ceremonies to represent the host city) is that it benefits no one (do they think that by not showing up the city is going to save money when the tickets have already been purchased?) and worse, it has all the characteristics of partisan hypocrisy designed to get media attention.

This was the staff report that recommended to Council the purchase of the block of tickets, of which Recommendation C was voted in favour of by Councillor Cadman (Woodsworth to her credit was consistent in her opposition).  An amendment to this recommendation was added in by Geoff Meggs stating that the purchase was “pursuant to a full reporting process that indicates to the public who has received tickets, according to what criteria, and whether they have been paid for.”

So Cadman calling these tickets a “perk of position” is a little rich at this point in the game.  Funnily enough, he also asks “If I’m not prepared to buy them, then how can I expect taxpayers to buy them for me?” although that didn’t stop him from voting without a word last March.

Everything is being done in the open, as I mentioned last week, and the public will be completely capable of scrutinizing each ticket and the individual sitting in the seat in less than a month after the closing ceremonies.

But COPE’s distinction between opening and closing ceremony tickets and the rest attached to events that take place between those two events is where I get confused.

Here is what the Courier states about Woodsworth’s position:

“She said she will fulfill her duties during the Games…”

And here is what Cadman tells the Courier about what he considers as “duties”:

“Cadman said he will fulfill hosting duties during the Games, but insists only the mayor and his spouse are required to go to the opening and closing ceremonies.”

So let me get this straight…going to Olympic hockey, or curling, or speed skating events in the city are part of “official hosting duties” and thus acceptable, but the opening ceremonies do not fall within that distinction?

Give me a bloody break.  This is one of those convenient political definitions that lends itself to the generation of a news hit, but does not match up well with basic common sense.

If Woodsworth and Cadman have a duty during the games to attend events, then by all means the opening and closing ceremonies have to be considered just as important within that capacity.

If Cadman and Woodsworth said they were boycotting each and every event throughout the Games, then I would have a measure of respect for them, even if I didn’t agree with their decision.  However, this kind of hypocrisy is hollow, and I have absolutely no time for a stunt that is little more than an attempt to take cheap shots at the City of Vancouver and the ruling Vision council.

So I encourage all readers who just happen to run into either of these Councillors at one of the Olympic venues to ask them how much their tickets cost, and what exactly their “official duties” are during the duration of the event.

The release of exactly which events both attended on March 10 should be very interesting.