Colleen Hardwick is a Canadian politician and film-maker in Vancouver, British Columbia, who served on Vancouver City Council from 2018 to 2022. Hardwick is the daughter of former Vancouver alderman Walter Hardwick,^[1] and granddaughter of former Vancouver park commissioner Iris Hardwick.^[2]

Early career

Hardwick worked on dozens of film and television projects through a twenty-five year career.^[3] 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.^[4]

Evolving from film production to film industry technology, Hardwick developed MovieSet Inc., a platform to monetize movies under production.^[5][6]

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.^[7]

Political career

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.”^[8] Hardwick had the endorsement of The Vancouver Sun’s editorial board ahead of the November election.^[9] With ten councillors to be elected, she placed thirteenth.^[10]

A second run in 2018 was successful. Again running under the NPA banner, Hardwick came fifth. On a council with no party majority, she frequently questioned some of the initiatives and policies brought forth, and regularly voiced concerns about what she calls "scope-creep" where the municipal government dedicates resources to issues traditionally in the realm of other levels of government.^[11]

Hardwick was elected as a member of the NPA but resigned from that organization in April 2021 to sit as an independent councillor.^[12] Five months later, Hardwick announced her affiliation with a new civic party, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver,^[13] and on March 13, 2022 was acclaimed as TEAM's mayoral candidate for the October 2022 election.^[14] Hardwick came in third in the 2022 Vancouver mayoral election with almost 10% of the vote.^[15]

While on council, Hardwick was the driving force behind the establishment of an independent auditor general for Vancouver.^[16]

In 2023, Hardwick opposed proposals to allow for denser housing developments (such as sixplexes) in Vancouver.^[17]

Electoral record

2022 Vancouver municipal election: Vancouver Mayor
Party	Candidate	Votes	Elected
	ABC Vancouver	Ken Sim	85,732	Y
	Forward Together	Kennedy Stewart	49,593
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Colleen Hardwick	16,769

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