As hundreds of people protested the official opening of Vancouver’s Trump Tower Tuesday morning, one city councillor said the city, not the Trump brand, should be promoted by developers.
Kerry Jang says no city councillors took up the invite to go to today’s grand opening attended by Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, because in his view, the Trump Tower has come to represent everything that’s not Vancouver.
“When you say the name Trump, you think of things like sexism, racism and intolerance. That’s not Vancouver and I would not step foot anywhere near that building,” said Jang, who was one of the most vocal city councillors when it came to opposing the Trump brand in Vancouver.
Jang has previously referred to the tower as a “beacon of racism, intolerance and bullying” and urged the developer, Holborn Group, to drop the Trump name.
After Trump pledged to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. during his presidential campaign, Mayor Gregor Robertson also penned a letter to the Holborn Group asking the developer to take the Trump name off the tower.
READ MORE: Trump tower opens in Vancouver but the welcome isn’t warm
A poll released by Insights West today showed almost half of Canadians say they are likely to boycott products and venues that bear the “Trump” brand.
“It does not need the name Trump to be successful in Vancouver,” Jang said. “Vancouver itself is a brand. It is such a draw that you could have named the tower after myself and my cat and it would have sold out.”
He says visitors don’t have to stay at the Trump Tower to get the full Vancouver experience.
WATCH: Protesters gather outside as Donald Trump Junior, his brother Eric and sister Tiffany cut the ribbon for the Trump International Hotel and Tower. Jordan Armstrong reports.
-With files from Amy Judd
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