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Colleen Hardwick is a Canadian urban geographer, film maker, tech entrepreneur and politician in Vancouver, British Columbia, who served on Vancouver City Council from 2018 to 2022. Hardwick is the daughter of former Vancouver alderman
Walter Hardwick Walter Hardwick (May 3, 1932, Vancouver – June 9, 2005) was an academic and community leader whose work shaped the city and region of Vancouver. Professor Emeritus Hardwick was involved in public life in British Columbia at the civic, regional, ...
, and granddaughter of former Vancouver park commissioner Iris Hardwick. She 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. 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''. Evolving from film production to film industry technology, Hardwick developed MovieSet Inc., a platform to monetize movies under production. In 2010, applying technology to the information-gathering phase of urban planning, she founded
PlaceSpeak PlaceSpeak is a location-based civic engagement platform designed to consult with people within specific geographic boundaries. It is a product of PlaceSpeak Inc., a Canadian technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its ...
, a location-based
civic engagement Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to ...
platform designed to consult with people within specific geographic boundaries.


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 Vision Vancouver is a green liberal municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vision was formed in the months leading up to the 2005 municipal election. Formation Vision was founded by former Coalition of Progress ...
opponents “don’t even understand how market housing works.” Hardwick had the endorsement of '' The Vancouver Sun''’s editorial board ahead of the November election. With ten councillors to be elected, she placed thirteenth. 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. Hardwick was elected as a member of the NPA but resigned from that organization in April 2021 to sit as an independent councillor. Five months later, Hardwick announced her affiliation with a new civic party,
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver TEAM for a Livable Vancouver (TEAM) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by Vancouver city councillor Colleen Hardwick, first elected in 2018 with the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), and a gro ...
, and on March 13, 2022 was acclaimed as TEAM's mayoral candidate for the October 2022 election. Hardwick came in third in the 2022 Vancouver mayoral election with almost 10% of the vote. While on council, Hardwick was the driving force behind the establishment of an independent auditor general for Vancouver.Fumano, Dan. "Independent auditor now closer to reality for City of Vancouver" ''Vancouver Sun'' 2020 January 23, p. A6


Electoral record


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwick, Colleen Living people Non-Partisan Association councillors Year of birth missing (living people) Women in British Columbia politics Women municipal councillors in Canada 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians