COPE’s membership has voted to ratify a union with Vision Vancouver and the civic Greens that will see all three parties run a joint slate under mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson.
“(They) voted overwhelmingly in agreement,” said COPE's incumbent Coun. David Cadman.
Under the deal, the Council of Progressive Electors (COPE) will run two candidates for council, five for school board and two for park board. Apart from one Green candidate running for a parks position, the remaining positions will be filled by Vision Vancouver.
Though the three parties will be waging separate campaigns, they intend to meet in coming weeks to draft common policies around issues such as homelessness.
Cadman said the decision to unite was an important move that greatly improves the chances of defeating the ruling Non-Partisan Association.
“It would have been very difficult if we’d all run slates competitively,” Cadman said. “We would have virtually guaranteed that the NPA would have won.”
The decision took place during what was most likely a lively policy debate at St. James Community Hall on Sunday afternoon.
Before the rank and file voted to exclude the media from the discussion, several COPE members – including former city councillor Tim Louis – levelled objections against the proceedings.
Member John Yano referred to the union as “the stinking deal with Vision,” before walking away from the microphone in what appeared to be anger.
Outside the hall, COPE candidate Imtiaz Popat said the debate inside was “tense” and “emotional.”
Following the vote, Louis told The Tyee that he stood wholeheartedly behind the decision. Though he has been one of the most vocal opponents of the deal, he said it was time to move forward.
“COPE is a membership driven party,” Louis said. “The membership are always right. The membership decided today. And I will be bound to honour their decision.”
Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for The Hook.
See also Frances Bula's thoughtful post.
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Vancouver-Kings...
3 years ago
Lessons in Democracy
It was a very long and lively day. See more on our blog:
Vancouver-Kingsway 2008
Vancouver City Politics: Lessons in Democracy for All of Us
http://vancouverkingsway2008.blogspot.com/
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
The Election Ahead...
I remember when Mike Harcourt ran for mayor in 1980 against incumbent mayor Jack Volrich. Both were originally councillors from centrist TEAM, which was a mix of centre-left and centre-right candidates. [Slightly more to the right than current Vision Vancouver].
Harcourt, as an astute politician, did not run under the COPE banner as he considered them to the left and required the centrist vote in order to win. And that he did by a very slim margin. And he also won the next several elections he contested thereafter as an independent. COPE NEVER ran mayoral candidates in those elections.
When Larry Campbell won the mayorality for the first time in 2002 under the COPE banner, his coattails also brought forth the first COPE majority council.
But as a centre-left Liberal, he felt uncomfortable with the left-wing elements within COPE and formed his own "Friends of Larry Campbell", which morphed into Vision Vancouver.
VV ran 5 council candidates in 2005, *WITHOUT* any public agreement with COPE. The VV mayoral candidate, Jim Green lost an extremely close race with Sam Sullivan. 4 out of 5 VV councillors were elected and Sullivan's coat-tails also elected 5 NPA councillors.
This time around it will also be a very close race between Ladner and Robertson. Whoever wins the mayoral race will also win council by a 6-5 or 7-4 margin.
Unlike 2002, centre/centre-left VV now has an achilles heel and that's *publicly* running a coalition slate with left-wing COPE and coming to terms on some common platform planks.
Remember that this is the same COPE that viewed a new Walmart in Vancouver as evil, that Vancouver needed to debate the US "Star War" policy, and that it was important to have "Welcome to Vancouver - A Nuclear Weapons Free Zone" signs to the city's entrance.
Such political posturing does not endure the "middle-of-the road-voter".
VV would have had it made had it unilaterally decided to run Robertson as mayor and 5 or 6 VV council candidates, and a similar majority of School Board and Parks Board candidates. They would have won all of their races and control of council.
No association with COPE, no common platform planks... and COPE would have naturally responded by filling up the rest of the candidates in order to not split the vote.
Now that VV has "aligned" with COPE publicly, in addition to common political planks, that tars VV with COPE's left-wing and its far left-wing.
Remember that the ultimate decision makers in the election will be the 5% - 10% of centrist voters who may now just decide to cast their ballots with the NPA as a result.
To reiterate: It will be either a 6-5 or 7-4 majority for either VV/COPE or the NPA.
Frank
3 years ago
Luke
After all that you're picking both sides to have an equal chance of winning?
I don't live in Vancouver, don't care about Vancouver civic politics but here's my analysis, one of the two sides will win.
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Frank...
It's ALLLLLL about the mayoral race, Frank. It's all about the mayoral race. It's still VERRRRY close from my "smell" test.
And whoever wins that will have the coattails to drag an extra one or two councillors with 'em into the win column.
That's Van City and other municipal politics for ya.
rac
3 years ago
Mall Wart
You'' find people from all over the political spectrum that don't like Mall Wart much especially people who don't accept campaign contributions from them.
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
rac
But that's not the point. I don't shop there either. Even COPE mayor Campbell supported the Wal Mart proposal.
The Mustel polling firm produced polling results (not commissioned by Wal Mart), that showed the vast majority of area residents NOT opposed to the store.
COPE's left wing thought that they knew better for Vancouver residents to oppose the business for PURE ideological reasons.
That's right. Let Vancouverites spend travelling time and go to the 'burbs if they wanna shop at Wal Mart. Ya know, the lower income crowd. Brilliant!
Frank
3 years ago
History in the making
COPE is hereby declared the first political party to ever have an opinion different from the populace it supposedly represents.
realisticman
3 years ago
COPE Lite lightens up
Evolution before our very eyes. Lighter and 'Liter' they became...
sanamark
3 years ago
Getting Elected
It is very interesting to see what has happened in Vancouver civic politics. It yet another demonstration that any political movement cannot get elected if it is too extreme. Voters gravitate towards the centre of the political spectrum and if any party wants to get elected and stay in power, that is where they policy has to go.
In this case, COPE got flummoxed at the ballot box last time and finally had enough sense to let itself evolve towards the centre. Most Vision members were once COPErs themselves.
That said, if Robertson becomes mayor, don't expect Utopia in seventeen minutes.