Bob Mackin
What does a lame duck mayor do after breaking his promise to end street homelessness and opting instead to promote Vancouver as an urban resort for China’s richest?
Take valuable time away from the deadly opioid overdose crisis in order to pretend to be a comedian, of course!
That is what Mayor Gregor Robertson did four months ago for his take on the Channel 4 (U.K.) and CBS (U.S.) reality TV show, Undercover Boss.
theBreaker noticed an hour-long, May 18 “Undercover Boss Planning Meeting” in chief of staff Kevin Quinlan’s calendar when it was finally disclosed in August. The FOI office said there were no records, so theBreaker applied for the video on Sept. 6. A copy of the video was posted internally on Sept. 27 for civic employees and leaked to theBreaker.
Robertson began the video by proclaiming that he was “back east in Halifax at a Big City Mayors’ meeting” (which took place May 31) and could not attend the annual awards to recognize bureaucrats (like the 43-person communications department, which received the city manager’s award).
Robertson donned a hardhat and fake moustache, and called himself “Robert Gregorson, Undercover Mayor.”
Funny. The pseudonym sounds like his secret Gmail account that was recently discovered by theBreaker: robertsongregor@gmail.com.
In the cringe-worthy video, he pretends to work in parking enforcement, VPD canine unit, permits and licensing, engineering and temporary modular housing.
The engineering segment shows Robertson lowering a concrete pipe bearing “Mayor Gregor Robertson 2008-2018” in graffiti. In the permits and licensing segment, with general manager Kay Krishna, he purports to rubber stamp, sight unseen, a stack of blueprints, after Krishna asks “you know anything about affordable housing?”
Vancouver elects a new mayor on Oct. 20. Robertson will be the ex-mayor, by sometime in early November, with a $29,000 bonus that he voted for himself.
Watch for yourself.
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