VANCOUVER, B.C.: Vancouver city council must vote against plans to spend up to $1 million installing a VANCOUVER sign between the Vancouver Convention Centre and Canada Place. 

“It is ridiculously irresponsible for city hall to even consider spending a million dollars of taxpayers’ money on a sign,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “It’s outrageous that city hall keeps raising taxes for struggling families and businesses while Councilor Peter Meiszner cooks up a scheme to blow a million bucks installing a silly sign.” 

A permanent VANCOUVER sign was proposed by Meiszner, a councilor with the ruling ABC party. 

City bureaucrats estimate the sign will cost up to $1 million, with an additional $50,000 annually for maintenance, according to a staff report. 

Each letter will cost up to $111,111 to “design, construct and install,” according to the report. 

The city claims to have up to $400,000 worth of partnership funding. Of that funding, $200,000 is from Destination Vancouver, a taxpayer-funded organization. Other sponsors include the Vancouver Convention Centre, which is also owned and funded by the taxpayer. 

“Instead of focusing on core priorities for taxpayers like infrastructure, schools and safety, city council is burning through money on a big vanity project,” Binda said. “Council needs to do the right thing and make sure this boondoggle doesn’t leave the drawing board.”