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It has emerged that Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim accused a political opponent of distributing illegal drugs without evidence — weeks before a fellow councillor made similar claims that he later retracted.
Sim had praised Coun. Lenny Zhou, who is with Sim’s ABC Vancouver party, for apologizing and retracting comments he made last week about his political opponents in a video posted to social media platform WeChat.
“I want to thank [Coun.] Zhou for acknowledging his mistake and taking responsibility for sharing information that was not accurate,” Sim wrote in the statement.
But it turns out that Sim himself made similar comments earlier this month, during a media briefing, before Zhou’s comments accusing his opponents of being drug users were broadcast.
In the media briefing, Sim accuses COPE party Coun. Sean Orr of distributing illegal drugs on Christmas Day — something Orr has denied.
“You know, we have a councillor, Sean Orr, just this Christmas, who was handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day to people on the streets,” Sim says in the media briefing on Feb. 6.
“So, if you like getting free illegal drugs, you probably don’t like me or ABC because we fight against that.”
The video briefing was provided to CBC News by CityNews/OMNI.
Video has surfaced that shows Mayor Ken Sim accusing COPE Coun. Sean Orr of distributing illegal drugs on Christmas Day — something Orr strongly denies, saying he wasn’t in Vancouver on Christmas Day and has never distributed drugs. Orr told the The Early Edition the allegation “hurts democracy and hurts Vancouver.”
In an interview with CBC’s The Early Edition on Friday, Orr said he denied the allegations “unequivocally.”
“I was not in Vancouver. I certainly wasn’t handing out drugs. I’ve never handed out free illegal drugs,” Orr said.
“It’s just ridiculous. It’s absolutely defamatory,” he added.
The COPE councillor, who has long supported harm reduction, said he does support a safe supply, similar to how alcohol is regulated.
Orr said the comments make it difficult to do his job.
“What does this mean for me when I go out campaigning? Especially when I go to Chinatown…. What are people going to think of me? Are they going to be afraid of me?”
He added that Sim phoned him to apologize and to say he had false information.
“Well, what do you mean? Who are you getting your advice from? Twitter bots?” Orr asked.
The councillor said he is considering all his options, including speaking to a lawyer.
He said the incident would also fall under the city’s integrity commissioner’s office, which looks at code-of-conduct complaints.
A city councillor with Vancouver’s governing ABC Party is in hot water after claiming, without evidence, that opposition councillors were drug users and dealers. Coun. Lenny Zhou has since apologized and deleted that video. The CBC’s Municipal Affairs Reporter Justin McElroy details the situation.
After a regularly scheduled city council meeting on Thursday, Sim left council chambers without addressing media, with a staffer telling CBC News that he was late to a board meeting.
Zhou also left council chambers after the meeting. CBC News has reached out to both Sim and Zhou for this story.
Orr has been among the most vocal critics of Sim and his ABC party since he was elected in a byelection last year.
WATCH | Orr responds to Zhou’s claims
Vancouver Coun. Sean Orr tells On The Coast’s Gloria Macarenko that mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Party Coun. Lenny Zhou need to issue an apology over false claims that he and other council members distributed drugs. Orr says there should be repercussions because “they can’t say this and get away with it.”
Zhou’s claims
Zhou’s video with his claims on WeChat was taken down, after non-ABC councillors held a news conference where they said they would consider a code-of-conduct complaint.
The ABC councillor made the video in response to a then-upcoming motion from Vote Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh on reversing Vancouver’s ban on new supportive housing units in the city.
Zhou was critical of the motion, saying supportive housing brings drugs and gangs to Vancouver, and asked the Chinese community to show up and oppose the motion.
“A few non-ABC councillors themselves are drug users,” he says in Mandarin, also claiming that they openly distributed drugs before Christmas, without specifying the councillors or the event in question.
Zhou later apologized for the video, saying his “comments were based on incorrect information.”
Sim has not yet issued a public statement after it emerged that he made similar comments to Zhou’s.
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