Justin McElroy 🇨🇦
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jmcelroy.bsky.social
Justin McElroy 🇨🇦
@jmcelroy.bsky.social
Vancouver journalist. Currently decompressing after going to 52 countries in 52 weeks. Strives to tell unique stories.

http://moremcbarges.ca
http://instagram.com/justindmcelroy
Time Out: shameless enough to call Cambie the 20th coolest street in the world months before they open up a food court on the street, ignorant enough to not fact check the name of the mall they're in
December 1, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Another entrant in Vancouver’s 2026 mayoral campaign likely happening tomorrow.

Amanda Burrows, Executive Director of First United Church, is holding an event and has offered up a not so subtle clue on her Instagram account.

All signs point to running for the OneCity nomination.
December 1, 2025 at 1:28 AM
when the tiktok breaks past the normal british columbia containment field
November 28, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Justin McElroy 🇨🇦
To heal our divided nation I propose splitting Game of the Year awards into two categories:

- Game of the Year That’s 3D and You Use a Sword and/or Gun to Explode a Guy
- Game of the Year That’s Some Gay Bullshit Indie Meditation on Grief or Whatever
November 28, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Here’s my story about Kitimat’s new motto of “it’s not for everyone”, which originally was going to be a ranking of all 161 municipal slogans in British Columbia until my bosses were like “justin this video is 14 minutes long” and “did you just make of slogans for half of these”
November 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Williams Lake councillor Scott Nelson has apologized after posting a video attacking local reporter Ruth Lloyd as a "gossip columnist "who lives in “her fucking typical bullshit woke society”

Came after an article about a pickleball court the same day the town's pellet mill announced it was closing
Williams Lake council moves ahead on pickleball court project - Williams Lake Tribune
City council debates how to move forward on facility proposed for Kinsmen Park
wltribune.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Here’s my feature on the fireworks being cancelled, how it links back to the origins of “No Fun City” a quarter century ago, and why other festival groups in Vancouver are worried

grateful I got to say “evil doppelgänger of world class city” on the air this week

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
November 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Today I found out that Vancouver's "No Fun City" nickname was first written in 2000 in a tabloid newspaper by a journalist who now works in our newsroom

And when I told him he said the newspaper sent him to Amsterdam for 10 days to find out why they were better

anyways i'm doing great today
November 27, 2025 at 11:58 PM
not a big “let’s do another conversation on why bluesky is dying” guy but these were these replies when longtime Popular Sports Poster @gourmetspud.bsky.social expressed his excitement that the Blue Jays got the best free agent pitcher
November 27, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Justin McElroy 🇨🇦
Canada made weird tv shows because it was all being done with government funded art grant money so they fell in this wacky middle ground between “shoestring budget” and “no expectation to generate shareholder value” which is really the best way to make art
November 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
jon, that's a good statement

gives me a lot to think about, and saying so allows me to flatter the audience (you) without saying anything of substance while i delay, until i think of a way to link this to one of the five approved talking points that i've been instructed to repeat
Justin, as someone who routinely interviews people, i'd love you to do a story/video/snippet or something about how PR education has taught EVERYONE to begin absolutely any response with, "That's a good question." Even five years ago we didn't hear that.
November 27, 2025 at 12:29 AM
We asked B.C.'s Minister of Tourism about the future of the Celebration of Light, and she said:

"My minister will continue to be working very closely with them to support solution-oriented conversations"

gotta love having a massive comms department that lobotomizes the english language
November 26, 2025 at 11:55 PM
An underrated part of the discussion of how to fund Vancouver's Celebration of Light is that a generation ago, big businesses spent tons of money on local culture because it was an efficient form of advertising.

And today, when everything can be targeted through online algorithms, they don't.
November 26, 2025 at 7:33 PM
You can like or dislike fireworks, enjoy the post-show exodus from downtown or abhor the crowds, but the Celebration of Light is probably the biggest event that celebrates Vancouver's Vancouverness.

Traditions die, but this one hits bigger than most.
Vancouver's Celebration of Light fireworks festival cancelled indefinitely | CBC News
Organizers of a public fireworks festival, which has brought millions of people to Vancouver's English Bay over the past three decades, says it can’t go ahead without long-term government and private-...
www.cbc.ca
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I like how the City of Vancouver’s response to the new PNE Amphitheatre being triple the original budget is to say “WORLD CLASS” like the phrase is a magical amulet that excuses any sins
November 26, 2025 at 4:09 PM
this seems like a foolproof and universally beloved plan until ken sim puts in a salary cap freeze to keep ticket prices low and makes the fourth line full of cops "to keep the stars safe"
November 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
victoria is the latest city to debate the groundbreaking world class city innovation of "what if we put our name in big letters next to a prominent building"
November 26, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Justin McElroy 🇨🇦
"With this budget, we take the next step forward."

A recap of today’s budget debate, what amendments were passed, and what happens next.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Vancouver passes 2026 budget with property tax freeze | CBC News
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's wish of a "zero means zero" budget has come true.
www.cbc.ca
November 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Vancouver's 2026 draft budget has PASSED.

Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.

Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.

Full story to come.
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Another Vancouver budget amendment from ABC (this one from Klassen), which would give $800,000 to the park board so they won't have to raise community centre fees/permits.

There's no note on what the city will cut by $800,000 to balance this; staff say they'll make it work, details TBD.
November 25, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Budget amendment by ABC councillor Zhou would cut $8 million from capital budget for "Energy Retrofits for non-city buildings" and put it to filling potholes and other "core services".

Opposition councillors upset that it could cancel upgrades in buildings where people died in the 2021 heat dome.
November 25, 2025 at 7:41 PM
An amendment by Lisa Dominato asks staff to prioritize the replacement of vandalized baby-change tables.

Ironically, during her amendment a baby in the council chambers began babbling very loudly.

No doubt they were trying to shout "point of order!" with a further amendment to the amendment.
November 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Justin McElroy 🇨🇦
Possibly the first protest of its kind at City Hall this morning. A diaper change-in protesting budget cuts and fee increases to amenities for new parents, and many others. @womentcities.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Budget day for the City of Vancouver!

Debate has started on the $2.4 billion 2026 budget, which includes a property tax freeze on the local section, $50 million more for the VPD, and cuts to several other departments, including Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
'I'm proud of this one': Mayor Ken Sim talks budget with $50 million more for police amid property tax freeze | CBC News
In his final budget before facing voters next October, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is presenting a property tax freeze, and $50 million more for police, balanced by major cuts to arts, culture, community ...
www.cbc.ca
November 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
if I ever have generational wealth and become internationally famous please take my phone away so I don’t go on Instagram late at night to shit on sports fans in my home town who are upset that a team that’s made the playoffs twice in the last decade is facing another rebuild
November 25, 2025 at 8:16 AM