CBC's Justin McElroy named to Vancouver Magazine's Power 50 list of city's most influential people

CBC'sJustin McElroy has been named one of Vancouver's 50 most influential people in an annual ranking by Vancouver Magazine.

Members of the Power 50, which ranks the city's most influential people in politics, technology, education, business and more, are chosen by a panel of industry insiders and experts.

The panel chose McElroy, an award-winning municipal affairs journalist and columnist, for his work on the COVID-19 pandemic. That work includes consistently pressuringhealth and government authorities for more data aboutthe virus, and usingthe data he could extractto produce graphs and charts to accurately reflect the COVID-19 realityin B.C.

Vancouver Magazine, in itsarticle announcing the winners,describesMcElroyas an authority on the biggest issue in a century for an entire generation of British Columbianswho have turned to his Twitter accountfor critical news since spring 2020.

His data charts are consistently posted to Twitter and published online in CBC B.C.'sCOVID-19 coverage.

"I'm grateful my work has given people a little bit more information to make a little sense of an incredibly stressful and confusing time," McElroysaid when asked about his win.

Always the scrutinizing reporter, he added that he would preferthe province provided their data in a more accessible wayso his work would not be so necessary.

ButMcElroy's Twitter has not just been a source of COVID-19 information for the past 20-plus months, it has also been a source of joy.

It is here that McElroyalso presents his passion projects ranking things and getting people to vote on them.

During the pandemic these have included B.C.'s best beer and best roadside attraction, Vancouver's best burgers and the top Disney tune. His most recent ranking project was a vote to name B.C.'s best song.

In 2020, the curious history buff visited and ranked more than 240 Metro Vancouver parks, providing detailed reviews of each when local exploring was the only entertainment people really had.

A veteran at the national broadcaster since 2016, McElroyjoined the industry in 2012 after honing hisjournalism skillsas editor of The Ubysseynewspaper at the University of British Columbia.

You can see and hear McElroy's work across all CBC British Columbia platforms, including his Metro Matters radio column every Wednesday morning at 8:10 a.m. on The Early Editionon 88.1 FM.

McElroyalso publishes a weekly Metro Matters newsletter every Friday that gets into the nitty-gritty of Metro Vancouver politics. You can sign up to receive it here.

And of course, for the most up-to-date McElroy matters, keep an eye on his active Twitter accountfor the latest COVID news and, well, who knows what else.