BURST
In 2001, it looked like the Pacific National Exhibition would move to Surrey, and Hastings Park would be transformed into green space.
Proponents called it “a Stanley Park for east Vancouver.”
But Gordon Campbell’s Liberals won the provincial election and killed the proposed Surrey PNE. In 2004, the province handed control over Hastings Park to the city of Vancouver, which kept the status quo — a mix of green space, the PNE fairgrounds and buildings, and Hastings Park racecourse.
Fast forward to today. The lease for Hastings Park racecourse is up in May 2026, and 133 years of horse racing at the site may come to a close.
In April, the Vancouver Whitecaps announced it had approached Vancouver with a proposal to build a new soccer stadium at Hastings Park. In early June, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation revealed an alternative plan, to buy the casino currently operating at the track.
Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen told Postmedia’s Dan Fumano news of the pending deal with the Tsleil-Waututh speaks to the strong interest in “the future of Hastings Park as a destination for entertainment.”
Some community members are wondering why there’s been no mention of converting any of the space taken up by the track — which is equivalent to about 20 city blocks — into parkland.
Linda Shuto was part of the citizens group that worked to turn Hastings Park back into green space in the 1990s.
“The people on the east side of Vancouver have been fighting for a park for probably 40 years,” she said.
“When there was the promise that the PNE was going to move to Surrey, everybody in this community got incredibly excited, and there was a lot of discussion. There were roundtables, there were meetings.
“That’s when the sanctuary (pond and nature zone) was built. That was conceived by community organizations and consultations with the province.”
When Campbell nixed the PNE move to Surrey, Shuto said she thought, “‘Well, that’s it. We’ve lost.’ But I never thought about the track (closing).”
If the track does leave, she thinks it would be natural to turn the space into parkland.
“Here’s another opportunity to make this a park, to make it be a truly green space,” she said. “Back in the day, there were camping grounds on Hastings Park, there were Douglas firs, there was a golf course. It was an amazing place.”
Vancouver park board commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky agrees.
“It’s a protected, designated park, so by every stretch of the imagination, they shouldn’t be selling it, they shouldn’t be developing it,” said Bastyovanszky.
“And the park board should be the administrator of that, and it should be turned into green space.”
The park board has drawn the wrath of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, who wants to eliminate it. But Bastyovanszky said issues like this shows the need for a separate, elected park board.
“It’s an example of why the park board exists, to prevent the city from making development decisions without having any sort of representation of the potential for the development of green space, or protecting the environment,” he said.
Klassen said decisions on the future of the site are complicated, because the entire Hastings Park site, covering the equivalent of 65 city blocks, is in a trust dating to 1889. The track started operating at Hastings Park in 1892, the PNE in 1910.
“It is the City of Vancouver’s land, but we’re in partnership with the province of B.C.,” he said. “So any actual decisions pertaining to the future of that acreage would be subject to an agreement with the province as well. There is no formal application or plan in place at this time.”
Mark Vulliamy has been through the Hastings Park debate before, as a former park board manager and Hastings Sunrise resident. He said the idea of greening the park started about 1990, when a local resident, Guy Faint, found a clause in the original 1889 lease that stated the land had to be “for the use, recreation and enjoyment of the public.”
This set off a debate on the future of the site, which was partially greened by tearing down some PNE buildings for park features, such as the Italian garden off Renfrew Street and the sanctuary nature area off Hastings Street.
But the push for more park space ended when Gregor Robertson’s Vision party came into power.
“Interestingly enough, when Vision came in, their interest was saving the CUPE jobs on site,” said Vulliamy. “They weren’t interested in the park.”
The idea of converting the racetrack to green space wasn’t part of the original park board master plan because, two decades back, it seemed financially stable.
But Vulliamy said if the track does move, the site would make a fine park. It has a magnificent view of the North Shore mountains, and is largely open space already, with few buildings to demolish.
Asked if it’s the last chance to build a large park in east Vancouver, he said, “Yes, I would agree with that.”
Then he upped the ante: It might be the last chance for a big park in the City of Vancouver, period.
“There are no undiscovered Stanley Parks or big areas of land that could be converted to park use,” said Vulliamy.
“I think it could be a park. Whether there’s the political will and the public muscle or interest to redevelop it as park, I don’t know.”
It’s an evolving issue. The main proponent of the Tsleil-Waututh casino proposal, Jen Thomas, was defeated in a recent election for chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation by Justin George.
Chuck Keeling of racetrack operator Great Canadian Entertainment said, it is “business as usual in the interim for us and our team at Hastings, and there is much work to do before any definitive agreement may be reached.
“We are looking forward to working with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation on next steps, with the goal of completing a definitive agreement with them.”