Art Phillips

Who was Art Phillips?

Arthur "Art" Phillips served as the 32nd mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 1973 to 1977. Prior to being elected to this post, he founded the Vancouver investment firm of Phillips, Hager & North. Phillips was instrumental in founding a reform-minded, centrist municipal-level political party, TEAM, in 1968. Also in that year, he was elected as an alderman to Vancouver City Council.

Under Phillips' mayoral leadership, the city of Vancouver took a more cautious approach to real estate and related development and ensured that environmental and quality-of-life concerns were addressed by city planners.

Phillips was elected to the Parliament of Canada in 1979 as a Liberal, but was defeated the following year in his bid for re-election. After Phillips' defeat, he returned to private life at his investment firm. By 2007, Phillips, Hager & North had become a leading investment firm on the west coast, with over $66 billion of assets under management.

His wife, Carole Taylor, served as a Vancouver alderman in the 1980s and then as chair of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.