Colleen Hardwick

Colleen Hardwick is a Canadian urban geographer, film maker, tech entrepreneur and politician in Vancouver, British Columbia, who has served on the Vancouver City Council since 2018. Hardwick began a career in urban planning after taking her undergraduate degree at UBC but shifted course to film, then technology, then politics.

Early career[]

Hardwick worked on dozens of film and television projects through a twenty-five year career.^[1] She spent seven years free-lancing as a location and production manager before forming her first company, New City Productions, in 1991. A longtime member of the Directors Guild of Canada, she served as national secretary-treasurer from 1989 to 1992. In 1993 The Financial Post named Hardwick one of the thirteen most powerful people in the British Columbia film industry. When New City was acquired by Sextant Entertainment Group in 1999, Hardwick assumed the role of president of their motion picture division. Four years as chief executive officer of New City Entertainment group followed. For New City Productions, Hardwick won a 1997 “Forty under 40” award in entrepreneurship from Business in Vancouver.^[2]

Evolving from film production to film industry technology, Hardwick developed MovieSet Inc., a platform to monetize movies under production.^[3][4]

In 2010, applying technology to the information-gathering phase of urban planning, she founded PlaceSpeak, a location-based civic engagement platform designed to consult with people within specific geographic boundaries.^[5]

Civic politics[]

Hardwick announced her candidacy for Vancouver city council in the summer of 2005. She campaigned with the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) against a proposal to use assets from Vancouver's Property Endowment fund to build housing that would not yield a return on the investment, claiming her Vision Vancouver opponents “don’t even understand how market housing works.”^[6] Hardwick had the endorsement of The Vancouver Sun’s editorial board ahead of the November election.^[7] With ten councillors to be elected, she placed thirteenth.^[8]

A second run in 2018 was successful. Again running under the NPA banner, Hardwick came fifth. On a council with no party majority, she has frequently questioned some of the initiatives and policies brought forth, as reported by The Vancouver Sun’s Dan Fumano: “’The responsible thing is to be looking at what are we spending money on? And is this appropriate to our level of government?’ This is an example of a broader concern Hardwick regularly voices, about what she calls ‘scope-creep’” where city hall dedicates resources to issues traditionally in the realm of other levels of government.^[9]

Hardwick was elected as a member of the NPA but resigned from that organization in April 2021 to sit as an independent councillor.^[10] Five months later, Hardwick announced her affiliation with a new civic party, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.^[11]

She was the driving force behind the establishment of an independent auditor general for Vancouver.^[12]

Hardwick has served on a number of boards and advisory committees:

• City of Vancouver Development Permit Advisory Board (2005-2008)
• City of Vancouver Mayor's Task Force on Housing Affordability (2011-2012)
• Vancouver Maritime Museum Board of Trustees (2013 – 2018)
• Urbanarium Board of Directors (2017-2018)

Electoral record[]

2018 Vancouver municipal election: Vancouver City Council
Party		Candidate	Votes	Elected
	Green	Adriane Carr	69,739	Y
	Green	Pete Fry	61,806	Y
	NPA	Melissa De Genova	53,251	Y
	COPE	Jean Swanson	48,865	Y
	NPA	Colleen Hardwick	47,747	Y
	Green	Michael Wiebe	45,593	Y
	OneCity	Christine Boyle	45,455	Y
	NPA	Lisa Dominato	44,689	Y
	NPA	Rebecca Bligh	44,053	Y
	NPA	Sarah Kirby-Yung	43,581	Y

References[]

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