British Columbia·VideoThe City of Vancouver’s budget is scheduled to be voted on next week, and Mayor Ken Sim has been doing a number of interviews championing its $50 million bump to the Vancouver Police Department’s budget, while other departments are facing cuts. Vancouver mayor said he had a list of times he had said no to the VPD — so we asked for itCBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2025 9:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Fact-checking Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s VPD claimsThe City of Vancouver’s budget is scheduled to be voted on next week, and Mayor Ken Sim has been doing a number of interviews championing its $50 million bump to the Vancouver Police Department’s budget, while other departments are facing cuts. One of Sim’s interviews was on CBC’s The Early Edition this week — and Municipal Affairs Reporter Justin McElroy did a fact check on what the mayor said.Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has been consistent on why the proposed 2026 city budget — which includes a property tax freeze, $50 million more to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), and cuts to many other city departments — is necessary. “We have an affordability challenge going on in the City of Vancouver and throughout the province and country,” he said.”So we are working as quickly as we can to make life a little more affordable for the residents of the City of Vancouver and the businesses,” he said.But when asked if he has ever said no to a VPD request, or pushed them to find more efficiencies, Sim was adamant.”I can get you a list. I don’t want to misspeak, but there are quite a few things,” said Sim in an interview on CBC’s The Early Edition on Tuesday, adding that much of the VPD’s budget couldn’t be negotiated over.”A lot of the charges that we face under the VPD are out of our control,” he said. A day after the interview, Sim’s office provided a list. The CBC’s Justin McElroy took a look at what that list showed.LISTEN | Stephen Quinn and Justin McElroy take a deeper dive into Ken Sim’s claims about the Vancouver Police Department:This is Vancouver37:10Fact checking Ken Sim’s interview on the VPD budgetIn a series of interviews, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has defended his city’s cuts to arts and culture while boosting the VPD budget by $50 million as necessary. The CBC’s Justin McElroy joins Stephen Quinn to talk about what he’s said in those interviews — and does a little fact checking.
Fact-checking Ken Sim’s interview about the 2026 budget and the Vancouver Police Department
