作为独立候选人，我坚信：只有独立的声音才不会受到特殊利益的影响。
▎您为何作为独立候选人参选温哥华市议会？
罗伯·麦克道尔：我作为独立候选人参选有几个因素考量。在温哥华，我相信政治格局正在发生改变。市级的政党一直是一个奇怪的现象，似乎每隔几年总会见到被联邦和/或省政府“收编”的情况——比方说，往往是新民主党和自由党管理“伟景温哥华（Vision Vancouver）”，或保守党和自由党领导NPA的尴尬结合。
最近这些联盟可能会分裂，从而造成政治的不稳定和传统秩序的崩溃。另外，新的政党党派扩张以及竞选财政改革，也对政党不利。
四年前，我随无党派联盟（NPA）参与了议会的工作。这个经验让我了解到，作为一名独立人士，有其存在的意义。请记住，民调最高的三个市长候选人中，有两个是独立候选人，这进一步支持了这样一个事实：即人们似乎在寻找不受旧党派制约的候选人。
我还认为目前是在市议会议席上发表强有力的独立声音的时候了，只有独立的声音才不会受到特殊利益的影响，并且可以为所有温哥华人的利益行事。
Question:Why you are running as independent, not for a party?
Rob McDowell:There are several factors. In Vancouver, I believe that the political landscape is changing. Parties at the civic level have always been a strange phenomena, seemingly “adopted” by federal and or provincial parties every few years – examples are often awkward coalitions of NDP and Liberals managing Vision Vancouver, or the Conservatives and Liberals leading the NPA. These coalitions can fracture, which happened recently - causing a breakdown in the usual political stability and the traditional order. Other factors include the proliferation of new civic parties, as well as campaign finance reform, which seems to work against parties. I ran with the NPA four years ago for council, and learned from that experience. I believe that it made sense for me to run this time as an Independent. Keep in mind that two of the three top polling candidates for mayor are running as Independents, which further supports the fact that people seem to be looking for candidates who are not necessarily beholden to the old party system and its constraints. I also believe that it is time for strong, independent voices at the Council table, who are not beholden to special interests and can act in the interests of all Vancouverites.
▎您对过去温哥华的发展有何看法？
罗伯·麦克道尔：在过去的七年里，我一直担任NPA核心小组的联络员，因此我非常熟悉市政府的工作方式。我也在市议会参与或观察了七年的议事。我相信现在市政府的工作人员越来越政治化，这对长期政策的有效制定不会有任何帮助。
目前，市府在推动政策时常常是闭门造车，而不是在公共论坛上进行讨论，这导致公众对市府的信任度大大降低。下一届议会必须恢复透明和信任，我对此表示乐观。
Question:You vote for city council, what’s your opinion of past developments in Vancouver?
Rob McDowell:I have worked as the NPA Caucus Liaison for the past seven years so I am very familiar with how City Hall works, having attended or watched most Council meetings for seven years. I have grown increasingly concerned with how ideological city hall has become. I believe that the staff at City Hall have also become increasingly politicized, which is not positive or beneficial for effective long term policy making. Currently, policies are often decided behind closed doors, rather than in a public forum, and this has led to a breakdown in trust by many members of the public. Transparency and trust must be restored by the next Council, and I am optimistic that it will be.
▎请问您的政纲是什么？
罗伯·麦克道尔：关于住房：我认为，考虑到包括住房在内的高昂生活成本，解决住房的可负担性以及人们如何在温哥华生活和工作变得非常重要。我们需要确保年轻人和新进入房地产市场的人可以看到拥有住房的可能性。许多年轻人现在甚至无法想象能够拥有住房这件事。
通过更有效地利用现有土地（城市本身是温哥华最大的土地所有者），我们可以为合作社和共同住房等建筑类型的长期房地产租赁提供希望。
由于市内的租赁空置率目前几乎是零，亟须更多的住房，我们可以通过加快许可证的审批和其他奖励措施等，来鼓励增加租赁房屋的建造。
关于交通：我们需要确保我们城市的居民能够高效、有效地出行。我们必须处理拥堵问题，并确保居民在出行时有更多的选择。例如，在汽车共享方面，温市在全球可是佼佼者，应该进一步促进共享汽车的使用。此外，我们还需要引入交通工具共享。
关于艺术与文化：艺术向我们展示了城市的灵魂，我们需要更好地推广艺术。温哥华应该为其亚洲文化提供更高的知名度，并且还可以加强对原住民艺术的展示。我们需要在市中心建造一个更大的艺术馆。我们在舞蹈和视觉艺术领域，是世界领导者。我们可以更有效地利用包括时装和电视制作在内的许多商业艺术部门，使整个艺术界受益。
Question:What’s your political election platform?
Rob McDowell:Housing: I believe that it is very important to address affordability and how people can live and work in Vancouver, given the high costs of living, including housing. I think we need to ensure that young people and new entrants to the housing market at least can see some sort of “pathway” to home ownership. Many young people can not even imagine that now. We can provide hope by more effectively leveraging city owned land (the city is the largest land owner in Vancouver) for long term property leases for building types like co-ops and co-housing. We could also include expedited permit approvals, easements and other incentives. Purpose Built Rental housing also needs to be encouraged, in order to increase the rental vacancy rate, which is close to zero.
Transportation: We need to ensure that people in our city can get around efficiently and effectively. We must deal with congestion and also ensure that people have ready options to assist with this. Vancouver is the world leader in car-sharing, for example, and this should be further increased. We need to also introduce ride-sharing.
Arts and Culture: Art shows us the soul of our city, and we need to do a better job of championing the arts. Vancouver should provide a higher profile for its Asian cultures, and can also strengthen the showcasing of Indigenous art. We need to build a larger, new Art Gallery downtown. We are a world leader in dance and visual arts. Many commercial artistic sectors, including fashion and television production, could be leveraged more effectively to benefit the artistic community as a whole.
▎如果您当选，能够为温哥华带来什么？
罗伯·麦克道尔：如上所述，我将支持新住房政策，聚焦可负担房屋。我将促进更好的交通选择，包括汽车共享和交通工具共享。我会推动艺术的建立，以及为艺术和文化组织提供更稳定、更长期的资金。我会支持市中心东区的改善措施。
Question:If you elected, how you plan to improve Vancouver?
Rob McDowell:I would champion policies supporting new housing options, as outlined above, focussing on affordable home ownership. I will foster better transportation options, including car sharing and ride sharing. I would push for the establishment of the Art Gallery and more stable, long term funding for arts and cultural organizations. I would support prevention and treatment initiatives in the Downtown East Side.
▎您如何看待在温哥华的华人？他们是否为温哥华做出了贡献？
罗伯·麦克道尔：我20世纪80年代后期在台湾学习普通话，并于90年代后期在中国（北京和广州）生活，我很熟悉中国侨民和温哥华之间的历史关系。在广州领事馆工作期间，我们赞助了一个名为“Beyond Gold Mountain”的展览，该展览在珠江三角洲及其周边的城市进行巡展，专注于卑诗省与中国南部之间的早期联系。
在访问这些城市时，我总能深刻感受到其与温哥华和卑诗省人民之间的温暖联系，这种联系可以追溯到本省成立之前。最近，中国投资对我们的城市产生了巨大影响，为各个行业提供专业的技术知识和财政资源。如果我们更有效地利用它，中国作为一个国际大国的崛起肯定会使温哥华受益。当然，在个人层面上，我不得不提到我相当喜欢本地中餐的多样性和高质量，这是我在中国以外的其他城市找不到的。
Question:What’s your idea on Chinese people Chinese community in Vancouver? Have they contributed to Vancouver? Please list in details to describe Chinese community contribution to Vancouver.
Rob McDowell:I studied mandarin in Taiwan in the late 1980’s, and lived in China (Beijing and Guangzhou) in the late 1990’s, and I am quire familiar with the historic relationship between the Chinese diaspora and Vancouver. As Consul in Guangzhou, we sponsored an exhibit called “Beyond Gold Mountain” which travelled to cities around the Pearl River Delta and focussed on the earlier ties between BC and southern China. When visiting those cities, I always appreciated the warm ties with people in Vancouver and in BC, extending back to before the establishment of our province. More recently, Chinese investment has had a tremendous impact on our city in providing technical expertise and financial resources for a variety of sectors. The rise of China as an international power can certainly benefit Vancouver if we take advantage of it more effectively. Of course, on a personal level, I have to mention that I am also very happy with the variety and quality of Chinese regional food choices we have here, which I don’t find in many other cities outside of China.
▎您之后将如何改善温哥华的房地产市场？
罗伯·麦克道尔：没有比房地产更有力的行业，我们正在看到房地产价格调整的开始。在市政层面，我们的影响很有限，但我们可以通过区域的规划和调整，使得住房在较长时间内变得更加可负担。
我会与其他级别的政府合作，为那些想要购买住房的居民确保一个合理的价格。我们还需要提高租房的水平，以解决租房的短缺问题，我也会为实现这一目标而努力。
Question:What do you want to do to improve Vancouver’s real estate?
Rob McDowell:Nothing works as powerfully on the real estate sector as market forces, and I think we are seeing the start of a correction in pricing. At the city level, we are limited in how we can effect the market, but we can certainly make zoning and permitting changes to make housing more affordable over the longer term. I would work with the other levels of government to ensure our housing market is affordable and accessible to people who want to achieve home ownership. We also need to increase the level of purpose built rental housing, in order to address an urgent shortage of rental housing, and I would support efforts to achieve that as well.
▎您过去在中国的生活是怎样的呢？
罗伯·麦克道尔：我在亚洲生活了12年，包括泰国、越南和中国。我是加中贸易理事会在北京（和上海）的总经理，该委员会致力于促进中国和加拿大之间的贸易往来。我也是驻广州的加拿大领事和高级贸易专员，负责广东、广西、海南和福建。我对中国非常熟悉，并在中国各地旅行。目前，我是卑诗省的仲裁员和调解员。
Question:Your past experience. Your past experience in China.
Rob McDowell:I lived in Asia for 12 years, including Thailand, Vietnam and China. I was the General Manager of the Canada China Business Council in Beijing (and Shanghai), which worked to grow trade between China and Canada, and was also the Canadian Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner in Guangzhou, with responsibility for the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian. I am very familiar with China and have travelled throughout the country. Currently, I am an adjudicator and mediator for the province of BC.
▎您对温哥华和中国的经贸往来有何见解？
罗伯·麦克道尔：我认为在这一方面有需要改进的地方。在过去的几十年里，它已经有了很大的进步，但加拿大落后于像澳大利亚这样的竞争对手。加拿大是一个贸易国，温哥华是加拿大通往亚洲的门户——我们需要更加积极地寻求和中国的经贸往来。加拿大需要与中国谈判并最终达成自由贸易协定，这将进一步加强温哥华作为加拿大门户城市的作用。在城市层面，我肯定会采取任何措施来实现这一目标。
Question:How do you think of economic and trade about Vancouver and China?
Rob McDowell:I think it needs to be improved. It has improved immensely over the past few decades, but we are falling behind our competitors like Australia. Canada is a trading nation, and Vancouver is Canada’s gateway to Asia – we need to be more aggressive in courting, and closing, deals with China. Canada needs to negotiate and finalize a free trade agreement with China, and this would further strengthen Vancouver’s role as Canada’s gateway city. At the city level, I would certainly champion any measures to help us reach that goal.
Rob McDowell
Vancouver City Council candidate (#55 on the ballot)
604-618-0972
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