In 2024, Elliot Holzman was retained by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation to present a legal opinion regarding the constitutionality of the Mayor of Vancouver’s request that the Province of B.C. abolish the elected Parks Board before the next municipal election in October 2026.
In his research, Mr. Holzman could not find any precedent across the country where a higher level of government abolished, mid-term, an elected governing institution. As such, his opinion was that a voter in Vancouver or a member of the current Parks Board could bring a constitutional challenge under s. 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, alleging that their freedom of expression and/or their freedom of association was violated by such an extinguishment of the elected Board.
Mr. Holzman’s legal opinion and his presentation before the Board were written about extensively in local media. During an all-candidates meeting approximately a month later during the 2024 provincial election, Premier Eby indicated that it was “very unlikely” that any changes to the Board would be a priority for the Province before the next municipal election.
A link to the webcast of Mr. Holzman’s presentation begins at 9:11pm: https://csg001-harmony.sliq.net/00318/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20240909/-1/16544
A copy of Mr. Holzman’s legal opinion can be found at: https://parkboardmeetings.vancouver.ca/2024/20240909/IndependentLegalAdviceproposedParkBoardGovernanceTransition-20240909.pdf