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(Nov 25, 2025; Stir Magazine article):
“VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL has just voted to approve its 2026 operating budget, which includes a 12-percent reduction to funding for arts, culture, and community services. This is despite warnings about the fallout from a long list of arts leaders over the last two weeks.
“As previous speakers have noted, there is a dearth of information about all of the cuts that will come from this budget,” Vancouver Folk Music Festival board president Erin Mullen said at that City Council meeting. “We do know that it will cause profound harm to our city. But the scant budget document fails to spell out what all is on the chopping block.”
To achieve Mayor Ken Sim’s goal to freeze property-tax increases for 2026, the city had to find $120 million in savings and new revenue within its $2.39-billion budget. Today’s reduction to arts, culture, and community services will amount to $6 million in savings. Other major changes include a 14-percent or $5.5-million cut to the planning, urban design, and sustainability budget, and a 10-percent or $50-million increase to the Vancouver Police Department.
“Zero means zero,” said Mayor Sim in his closing remarks, “and this council is committed to doing our part to keep life manageable for residents and businesses….I’m very proud to be voting in favour of this budget.”
The budget was passed with Green Party Coun. Pete Fry, Vote Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh, COPE Coun. Sean Orr, and OneCity Coun. Lucy Maloney voting in opposition. While a number of amendments were proposed today by councillors from all parties, some of which requested more transparency around the specific impacts of proposed funding cuts, most were defeated by the ABC-majority council.
“This is the most opposed budget in history,” said Coun. Orr. “[There are] millions of cuts to services, staff, and programs that will hurt Vancouver, in my opinion. And we don’t know the full impact, because the budget document is opaque, barren of detail.”
The lack of detail in the 2026 budget document, just 158 pages, was of concern to several speakers; it compared to a final 2025 budget document that was 373 pages, and a 2024 budget document that was 501 pages.
The BC Alliance for Arts and Culture had sent out an email campaign to the public “asking Vancouver residents and workers in the arts and culture sector to write to Mayor and Council urging them to reverse these cuts and commit to sustained, inflation-indexed funding increases that protect the cultural sector as a cornerstone of civic life—and as an essential driver of economic resilience.” No amendments were made to the proposed arts cuts.”
