Vancouver Charter

The Vancouver Charter is a unique provincial statute that serves to incorporate the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The legislation, passed in 1953, superseded the Vancouver Incorporation Act and granted the city more and different powers than other communities possess under British Columbia's Municipalities Act.

On January 12, 2009 Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson requested an amendment to the Charter to allow the city to borrow $458 million to fund the completion of the 2010 Olympic Village in False Creek without seeking approval from taxpayers in an election-day plebiscite. Robertson said this was due to extraordinary circumstances. The amendment was passed on January 18, 2009 in an emergency session of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

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