By David P. Ball
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When it comes to New Year's resolutions, Vancouver City Coun. Pete Fry has a couple immense ones, and one smaller one.

The Green Party councillor spoke to The Pulse on CFRO about his reflections on a year past that saw municipal resources stretched to their limits, with homelessness and poverty putting thousands at risk of COVID-19 and overdose, and small businesses and workers fearful for their future.

His interview came just days after rioters in the U.S. stormed the Capitol building, killing a police officer and leading to four other deaths — and at the same time as pro-Trump protesters in Vancouver punched a CBC photojournalist covering their own rally.

He said that the polarization and division worsened over the last year, at every level, and he said in particular he's worried about the rise and emboldening of white supremacist groups during a time of international crisis and uncertainty — not to mention social inequalities only deepened by the pandemic.

And he called out the decision of his fellow Coun. Melissa de Genova, with the Non-Partisan Association, to compare in a tweet the U.S. insurrection to a 2017 city hall sit-in by homelessness activists, which ended peacefully. He said it was a "monumentally bad take," and one can't compare violent white supremacists with nonviolent housing advocates.

De Genova did not respond to requests for comment by time of broadcast, but on Twitter said she never intended to suggest the events were "equal," but that occupying government chambers at any level was inappropriate in a democracy.

As for Fry's more attainable New Resolution for 2021, while he's trying to fight political polarization and rhetoric? His family hopes to get an exercise machine, to help stave off the pandemic's isolation and keep with a healthy routine.