Publication date: August 21, 2022 • 2 hours ago • 4 minutes read • 7 comments The Vancouver skyline as seen from False Creek in September 2020. Photo by DON MACKINNON /AFP via Getty Images

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The Views of Vancouver Facebook page makes no secret of its disdain for Mayor Kennedy Stewart. Among upbeat posts celebrating the city, the site takes shots at the mayor, saying he has failed to address homelessness and crime and has “ruined Vancouver.”

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One post says that “Vancouver has a terrible new reputation” as “the city where random attacks are common.” Another says: “Our city is no longer as safe as it used to be.” Views of Vancouver bills itself as a “grassroots organization,” but its Facebook page and website do not include information about who is behind it or who has spent tens of thousands of dollars on digital political advertising reaching hundreds of thousands of Vancouver voters. Views on Vancouver openly bolstered the Non-Partisan League, calling it “the only party that will tackle crime and implement a serious plan” and praising John Coupar, who was, until recently, the NPA’s mayoral candidate. But NPA leadership says they have “no relationship” with Views of Vancouver and are only informed about the site promoting the party, its candidates and its events when material is posted.

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Postmedia News has confirmed that the person responsible for the site is local property tycoon Peter Wall. “Views of Vancouver is us, I started it,” he told me. Many of the issues highlighted in Views of Vancouver are important to Wall personally. In June, Views of Vancouver spent $1,800 to promote a Facebook ad that said, “Instead of closing roads, we need to ease congestion by reopening West Point Gray to traffic.” In a recent phone conversation, Wall, who lives on West Point Gray Road, mentioned the bike lane that closed part of that road to car traffic. He also touched on the issue of raw sewage and runoff polluting False Creek. Another Views of Vancouver ad, which ran in June, said: “John Coupar was the only mayoral candidate who prioritized real change. His plan as NPA mayor is to tackle Vancouver’s dirty little secret: the dumping of raw sewage into False Creek, which makes the surrounding waters dirty and dangerous.”

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At the NPA’s campaign launch event in May of this year, Coupar, then the party’s mayoral candidate, said his administration would “restore our reputation as the cleanest, greenest city in North America, starting with addressing of our dirty little secret: the problem of the millions and millions of gallons of raw sewage dumped into False Creek.” A philanthropist who has given to a number of local causes, large and small, Wall is often outspoken about his love for Vancouver and his concerns about its challenges, including homelessness, mental health and addiction. Peter Wall, photographed in Vancouver in 2006. Photo by Gerry Kahrmann /Province “I’d like to wake up Vancouver to start asking questions and demanding some answers about some of the stupid things we do. And let’s celebrate some of the good stuff,” Wall said of his goals for Views of Vancouver. “We’re not trying to influence anybody.”

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Facebook records show that Views of Vancouver has spent $20,952 on dozens of ads since last year, many of them with political messages criticizing Stewart and supporting the NPA and Coupar. While that’s well over the $11,588 third-party ad policy limit, Views’ Facebook ad timing means it doesn’t go past the pre-election period when the third-party ad rules come into effect. Wall was a prominent part of the NPA’s May campaign involving Coupar. But on the day Coupar abruptly quit the race in early August, Wall told me he blamed the NPA board, saying “John had to step down because they were working against him.” Speaking last week, Wall said he wanted to be clear that he does not support the current leadership of the NPA.

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Views of Vancouver has not made any posts supporting the NPA since Coupar’s departure, but has continued to run paid ads for homeless encampments in the Downtown Eastside, encouraging people to “sign our petition if you want change in our city.” In the months before Coupar’s resignation, Views of Vancouver had published information about NPA events, including photos from the party’s May campaign launch and promoting a June “meet and greet” event with NPA candidates at its booth Wall Center. These posts were on the Vancouver Facebook Page Views since August 3rd, but appear to have been removed since then. Views of Vancouver does not appear to have promoted events or official messages from political parties or candidates outside of the NPA.

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NPA president David Mawhinney said his party “has nothing to do with Views of Vancouver.” “They may have promoted NPA events, but the NPA had no prior knowledge of that or anything to do with it,” Mawhinney said. There is a name for the operation of an entity that is supposed to be a community organization, while disguising the source of funding and its organizers. It’s called “astroturfing,” as in something that looks grassroots but isn’t. An entity like Views of Vancouver, which has more than 18,000 Facebook followers, deserves attention and scrutiny, said Ahmed Al-Rawi, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University who studies social media and online political activity. “This kind of astroturf activity is, in my opinion, more influential than regular advertising…. In fact they may be more influential than any kind of direct advertising marketing from political parties.” That’s because people are more likely to trust and pay attention to information coming from a purported community organization than advertising from a political party, Al-Rawi said. He cited the example of “astroturfing,” including from Russian sources, widely believed to have influenced the 2016 election of US President Donald Trump. In addition to his philanthropy and business success, Wall is known for putting his money into the political sphere. [email protected] twitter.com/fumano

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