May 27, 2026: Mayor of Vancouver wants free swim lessons

Greetings & Happy Wednesday,

Ken Sim, the mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, would like the city to offer free swim lessons. You can read the meeting minutes from the May 20, 2026 Council meeting here.

I want to start by saying that I support the idea of free or heavily-subsidized swim lessons as a public health initiative in a city (and country) where water is a big part of the lifestyle. However, there is a reason regions/countries that have sought to reduce drowning have taken months, even years, to come up with corporate water safety strategies. See, for example, Water Safety Ireland's National Drowning Prevention Strategy 2018 - 2027; the Canadian Drowning Prevention Plan, 8th Edition (2021); or the New Jersey Water Safety Strategy (June 2025).

I don't consider these documents red tape or fake committee work, but a detailed analysis of root causes (by experts) that leads to comprehensive planning for how to effectively allocate limited resources to successfully achieve the desired outcome. Here's why I think Vancouver City Council's proclamation is a mistake.

In addition to my background programming swim lessons as a municipal pool manager; teaching learn-to-swim lessons for thousands of hours in the water; and working as a swim instructor trainer (IT) for both the Canadian Red Cross (RIP) and the Lifesaving Society. In 2021, I was part of a bid for the Huron-Clinton Metroparks (City of Detroit) Southeast Michigan Swimming Program Development Plan. Council's directive was to grow access pools by developing aquatic leadership, expanding operations, and increasing access to swim lessons. Context for the initiative is available here. We lost the bid to Counsilman-Hunsaker - you can read their final report here.

Three important points from this RFP:

• Swim lessons would be offered to 7,500 children.
• The winning firm had 8 months (March - December 2021) to develop the strategy with an established budget.
• According to the U.S. Census, the City of Detroit is comparable in population size to the City of Vancouver, although the exact demographic breakdown by age and ethnicity may be quite different.

I can't speculate what Counsilman-Hunsaker billed (although we could do a FOIA request), but our team of consultants quoted over $100,000 USD to do the work given the number of hours to adequately address the scope of the RFP (linked above).

Now, let's revert to the City of Vancouver. City staff - on top of their regular work duties, with no apparent financial or administrative support - were directed to complete the following items:

And they can't do it alone: it will be a group project with the Vancouver Parks Board. Need I remind you about the latter organization's public dysfunction over the last year? See examples here & here, to name just a few.

Next, let's talk numbers. 2026 census data is not yet available, so I had to pull Vancouver stats from the 2021 Census which I know is too low given massive immigration in Canada during the last few years, but let's just go with it. Stats Canada says this is the number of children residing in the City of Vancouver:

To make this even feasible, let's only look at those 0 - 9 years (46,910 people) and - for the purposes of this argument - let's say that only 50% will make use of a free or subsidized swim program (23,455 people).

(Note: all numbers below are Canadian Dollars)

To determine program pricing, I pulled directly from the above-mentioned Council meeting minutes:

I don't know how many classes are included in each session ("program"), whether the lessons are 30 or 45 minutes in length, or whether the ratio for lower program levels is fewer kids while higher program levels is more kids... I just had to go with it. This brings us to a market price of $64.72/ program.

For simplicity, let's say there's a cap of 1 session of swim lessons per qualifying individual per calendar/budget year. $64.72 x 23,455 people = $1,518,007.60 in forfeited revenue (opportunity cost). Further, this is not the complete financial picture. The above metric doesn't necessarily account for:

• Staff wages
• Pool space
• Program supplies
• Operational utilities
• Other expenses

If I felt I needed to further prove my point, I could have thrown everything into this old municipal spreadsheet, but I already know this is an uphill battle. Let me give you more numbers:

• City of Vancouver Lifeguards & Swim Instructors (because there appears to be no job differentiation) make $25.21-$29.63/hour (indoors) and $30.81/hour outdoors. A swim lesson that retails for $64.72 at the cheapest wage of $25.21/hour is 2.5 hours of staff time or 5 x 30 minute lessons.
• Pool rental rates at the cheapest pool start at $29.61/lane/hour and go up to $164.34 /hour/lane. Those of you who've programmed learn-to-swim know that we're not talking a single skinny lane, we're talking 5-10 m of width across multiple lanes for floats and glides. A swim lesson that retails for $64.72 at the cheapest lane rental of $29.61 is 2.2 hours or 4.5 x 30 minute lessons.
• The other question I have: is there even the pool space to accommodate this increased level of programming? Swim lesson wait lists in Vancouver are well documented. Existing supply does not meet the rabid demand, and swimming pools in neighboring parts of BC have been closing permanently at a precipitous rate due to the infrastructure crisis.
• What if the Council decision above isn't only for children? I didn't attend the Council meeting to hear/understand the full context of the discussion the meeting minutes summarize, but here's what the document says:

With all due respect to the amazing City of Vancouver Recreation & Aquatic staff who will try and figure out a way, I just don't see how this easily $2m+ initiative is doable in this economy without substantial financial partnerships like the Calgary Flames Grade 6 YMCA Membership.

Again, I want to be unequivocally clear that water safety & drowning prevention could be a municipal priority for a City like Vancouver. However, to be successful, there needs to be a clearly strategy and resources. Otherwise, when this fails, it will look like the idea is impossible, and it's not.

I don't want to harp on the economy, but with gas prices at nearly $1.90/L ($7.03/USG) in Vancouver, unemployment approaching 7% in British Columbia, the high cost of groceries, political tensions over the recently announced Alberta referendum, who asked for this right now in 2026?

As an outsider to Vancouver, this feels like a good news story to detract from bigger problems. But maybe I'm wrong? Hit reply and let me know what you think.

Someone was asking about the Langelier Saturation Index this week, and I completely forgot about this keynote from 2021!

Here's everything else in the aquatic industry that I've been reading & thinking about this week:

Structural failure of artificial rockwork
I first saw this on Instagram, but the link above is YouTube. I will never look at a poolside rock feature the same way ever again!

‘New purpose’: Family gives free life jackets a year after son drowns
The saddest part of this story? "“He was being watched by some family and I got there after work and I was actually the one that found him. It was the worst day of my life."

Family sues Florida hotel for $15 million, says daughter assaulted in pool
Content warning. The alleged culprit was not a hotel guests, so it begs the question: how does any aquatic facility control & restrict access, not just for payment, but also for safety?

Texas summer camps have closed, scaled back operations due to state’s new regulations
A different perspective on the sweeping changes.

Modesto high school student rescued after nearly drowning during swimming class
It's unclear if there were any lifeguards on duty during the program.

Disney sued over facial recognition at California theme parks

Guilty Plea Entered in Unprecedented Voyeurism Case Involving 652 Victims
Beaches and shopping mall change rooms are cited as some of the crime locations, so not specifically aquatics/recreation, but worth being aware that these crimes continue to occur in public facilities.

Here's what I think happened to the Italian Divers who died in The Maldives
I only ever achieved basic scuba certification and can't speak to the technical expertise or accuracy of the person presenting the information. However, I often go to YouTube for subject matter experts (SME) when I'm looking for a more detailed explanation than what regular journalists can provide.

$2 Million Settlement in Fatal Child Drowning Case at Florida Resort-Style Short-Term Rental Property
This is a press release, but it builds on my presentation in San Antonio a few months: The Hidden Dangers of Peer-to-Peer Pool Rentals. A whole other aspect that I could have covered, with more time, is these massive resort-style residential build outs that could include commercial-grade equipment and amenities.

'There could be several risks:' Denver officials warn of unlicensed pools as summer begins
I recently reviewed the Ontario Pool Regulations for a client project, and there is a provision for people to operate residential pools for commercial purposes if they post a sign that states "CAUTION SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK
THIS POOL IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF ONTARIO REGULATION 565 (PUBLIC POOLS)" (source). Meanwhile, the first residential pool I'm aware of in Alberta being used for commercial purposes was shutdown for not having a pool permit.

I'm not against all commercial activities in residential pools, but I do believe the consumer needs to be educated about the potential hazards in a meaningful way.

Buffalo parents push for public access to BPS pools to help solve city's pool crisis
I think of this possible solution often, especially in big cities like Toronto where the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has a huge network of semi-public pools they constantly reiterate are too expensive to maintain & operate for (just) students.

Joint use/space agreements between municipalities and school boards are still very rare for some reason. I was working for a municipality in Alberta when they created an agreement to put fitness classes & youth group activities in the school after the school day; this was a very small town without a lot of public facilities, and it made a meaningful difference to the community. The Local Government Administration Association of Alberta website has many free, open-access toolkits including a 150 page Guide for Creating Joint Use & Planning Agreements under the Schoolboard Partnerships Section. There's also some good context in the slides from a webinar here.

Adult man in 'extremely critical condition' after near-drowning in central Phoenix, fire department says
The title is clickbait and factually inaccurate given the submersion injury.

Portland kids will need a new accessory to swim in city pools this summer: an adult

The biggest swimming pool in the U.S. is about to reopen in one of L.A. County’s hottest inland neighborhoods — and entry is only $4
How any facility is cost recovering anything for $4/adult for $1/child is beyond me.

A+ Introvert
I'm very selective about what newsletters I keep in my inbox. This one I've only been getting for a few weeks, but I LOVE IT. Hat tip to these two articles that have had direct relevance to recent client work.

The Impact of Personality on Productivity and Job Performance
If you've ever had an employee or colleague with sub-par performance skate by being popular and friendly in the break room, you need to read this.

Emotional Labor and Burnout: A Review of the Literature
Many recreation & aquatic professionals also perform a lot of emotional labor in the course of their jobs, so I found this study extremely relevant to the high levels of burnout our industry faces.

Katie Crysdale
Lakeview Aquatic Consultants Ltd.