News

Swinging at Mayor Sam

At debate, Vision candidates play to rowdy crowd.

By Tom Barrett, 22 May 2008, TheTyee.ca

Vision Vancouver debate

Caption: Robertson, Louie, De Genova at last night's event. Photo: 24 Hours.

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The three men running to be Vision Vancouver's candidate for mayor took turns Wednesday pummelling Mayor Sam Sullivan in the first debate of the election campaign.

Watch the debate online

See video clips of the Vision Vancouver candidates responding to all questions.

Allan De Genova, Gregor Robertson and Raymond Louie were almost unfailingly cordial towards each other, saving their attacks for Mayor Sullivan.

And although Sullivan faces his own battle for the Non-Partisan Association mayoral nomination, there was no mention Wednesday night of the mayor's challenger, Coun. Peter Ladner.

The debate, hosted by The Tyee and 24 Hours/Vancouver was the first time the three candidates had faced off in person, following a heated campaign to sign up supporters.

'Sam needs a new job'

At one point in the evening Robertson playfully indicated his willingness to take on Sullivan by putting up his dukes and miming a boxer's shuffle across the stage. But -- aside from a comment from Louie that his opponents had not read the fine print in a report on property taxation -- there were no punches thrown between any of the Vision candidates.

De Genova, a long-time NPA member who quit the party after a dispute with Sullivan, said the mayor is "fearful" that De Genova will be his opponent in the November election.

"I know Sam better than anyone and Sam needs a new job," De Genova told a boisterous audience that packed the Norman Rothstein Theatre at the Jewish Community Centre.

The three candidates blamed Sullivan for making the city less affordable for renters, for a rising crime rate and for increasing homelessness.

De Genova, a member of the parks board since the early 1990s, stressed his experience in civic politics and his history with Sullivan.

Louie, a Vancouver city councillor since 2002, mentioned his tenure on council at every opportunity.

Robertson, co-founder of the Happy Planet juice company and the New Democratic Party MLA for Vancouver-Fairview, repeatedly stressed sustainability.

The city, fast forward

Each candidate outlined his vision of the Vancouver of the future.

De Genova talked about a sustainable city with more injection sites, more community centres, more centres for active seniors and more affordable housing.

Louie talked about an affordable, environmentally friendly city, "a more compassionate city, one where we all have a chance to succeed."

Robertson talked about a city that will "show the world how people live sustainably in urban centres."

"It'll be a city that takes care of its own," Robertson said. "It'll be the most green city on the planet."

These visions contrasted with the current state of the city, as portrayed Wednesday night.

An audience of crime victims

When a media questioner asked how many people in the theatre had been victims of property crime, most of the audience -- as well as Louie and Robertson -- put up their hands.

Louie and De Genova both attacked the city's Ambassador program, which Louie called "public money for private security."

"We should not have to be paying for private policing in the city of Vancouver," De Genova said.

Both called for more police.

"You can paint your living room quicker than the response time" of the Vancouver Police Department, De Genova complained.

Robertson said Metro Vancouver has to look at a single amalgamated police force. Echoing a campaign slogan used by Britain's Tony Blair and former B.C. premier Glen Clark, Robertson said the city must be tough on crime and tough on the sources of crime.

Much of the crime in the city flows from the Downtown Eastside drug trade, said Robertson. The area needs "detox and treatment, education and prevention."

Olympics and homelessness

Robertson said this is a "pivotal time" for addressing homelessness and vowed to make ending homelessness his number one priority.

The story that the city tells the world during the 2010 Olympics can be one of either the tragedy of homelessness or the triumph of a problem eradicated, he said.

Louie suggested that it may be too late to solve homelessness by 2010.

"What can we say" in 2010, he asked. "Mostly we'll say we're sorry."

Like De Genova, Louie favoured allowing additional secondary suites in houses as a way to ease housing pressures.

De Genova promised to "take 20 of our worst buildings on the Downtown Eastside and turn them into 20 of our best" through the creative use of density bonuses for developers.

Having developers pay for increased densities in appropriate areas would leverage hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

Robertson countered that the city needs to leverage its property development fund. "It's a rainy day fund and folks, it's pouring."

Vision member rolls swelling

The debate came at the end of an intense membership drive that saw the three candidates sign up more than 11,000 new members over two months.

Added to the 2,000 members the party had at the beginning of the campaign, the new members make Vision the largest party in Vancouver civic history.

The party will choose its mayoral candidate June 15.

At the beginning of Wednesday's debate, 24 Hours editor-in-chief Dean Broughton told the audience that his paper and The Tyee had offered to host a debate between the NPA candidates. The party declined, he said.

Related Tyee stories:

[Tyee]

Tom Barrett is a contributing editor to The Tyee with a focus on global warming policy and politics. You can reach him here.

13 Comments:

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  • gordon

    4 years ago

    Nothing about....

    bicycle lanes over the Burrard bridge.

  • monty

    4 years ago

    De Genova presents a danger

    because he is on the side of the developers. Witness his comment re: housing the homeless--reward developers. I have witnessed him in action at Parks Board. He promotes ideas to benefit his clients, then leaves the room when it is voting time, then as a real estate salesman reaps benefits. Slick, smooth, sleazy.

  • uglychinesecanadian

    4 years ago

    wish I lost my voice

    ... the "rowdy crowd" comment attracted me to the Tyee today.

    I had indicated my desire to watch the debate last night, so I could whoop it up with the rest of the crowd, but alas, it was not to be as I was hauled away and out of town.

    Thanks for your videos I can play them here on my computy and still yell and scream.

  • biscotti

    4 years ago

    Funding

    I would be very interested in a Tyee analysis of where Vision's and COPE's funding comes from.

  • Glen Murtz

    4 years ago

    It must be strange to own a

    It must be strange to own a business that's financially flatlined, which I assume Happy Planet is, since growth is not a "sustainable " strategy.
    If Happy Planet *is* making money and growing, then Gregor doesn't know jack about what sustainability is...

    Or am I missing something?

  • David Beers

    4 years ago

    Administrator

    For Biscotti, some analysis

    As part of its series 'City Hall for Sale' The Tyee published this piece tallying political donations to Vancouver's three top parties:

    'Vancouver Election Spending Out of Control'

    http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/10/31/CityCampaignDollars/

  • biscotti

    4 years ago

    Useful stats

    thanks, David - I missed that one when it appeared ;-)

  • greengreen

    4 years ago

    SHHH!

    Once again, we have an example of "the Right" choosing "to be in the closet." If you don't debate, you don't make headlines, you don't arouse interest and you just go ahead and do whatever you want. Campbell and Liberals have perfected this technique, with help of MSM.
    Once again, when "the Right" is "in the closet" BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

  • Andrea from Bec...

    4 years ago

    It would be nice if one of

    It would be nice if one of the candidates took up the challenge of downtown schools. Elsie Roy is overflowing and the catchment is 3 blocks wide. If you don't get into the nearest French Immersion, you're faced with awful choices. Everyone I know is planning to flee to surburbia or to drive their kids out of downtown for school. So much for our happy downtown dream.

  • monty

    4 years ago

    Money, money, money, honey

    Have just read the 2007 story on election spending. Great stuff. 1. Does anyone know how much Sam (let's create a police state) has raised so far in his private parties? 2. Apparently Sullivan and Ladner are going to appear on the Bill Good show. 3. Christy Clark will have the 3 Vision candidates on her show.

    Another issue, entirely : Vancouver Courier reporter this week has done an excellent story on 40 missing men in BC.
    How come there's been no big police alert about this story? How come those folks at the dailies have ignored this? What is going on in this province? With the MacLean's story on BC as a Crime Super Power last week this whole place is becoming scary. Just sharing a thought or two...

  • darcy.mcgee

    4 years ago

    Glazed Carrots & Broken Promises

    You know, Happy Planet organic orange juice does a hell of a job glazing carrots for me. I use it quite a bit.

    Sustainability, huh? So are you really carbon offsetting all those plane miles that juice travels? Was that your staff I saw tooling around in a Happy Planet car the other day?

    Gregor wears this hat for convenience.

    Let's not forgot that he lied: he asked for YOUR vote last time to sit a full term in the legislature, now he's turning around and changing his mind.

    A complete lack of legislative experience does not qualify one to be Mayor.

    De Genova will get this, but he's a lightweight and yes, he will cave to developers at every opportunity. I don't relish a city run by Alan De Genova.

    Raymond, Raymond, Raymond....we already HAVE secondary suites in houses, they're just not legal. They're not doing a whole lot to ease up on the housing crisis.

    Here's a suggestion: free up some city owned land for more construction. Why the city continues to own the 2400 Motel I'm not sure...good land that could generate tax revenue if it were developed. It's not like it's in a location where people are going to oppose development either....3.5 acres of land sitting in Vancouver with 65 hotel rooms on it. Idiotic.

  • darcy.mcgee

    4 years ago

    What I want to see

    A commitment to creating a SAFER city for cycling. I want divided lanes so cars can't kill people as easily. (This will increase the number of people who cycle. It won't change my habits: I already ride everyday.)

    A commitment to reducing the amount of city owned land in the city. Land the city owns that is sitting idle == increased housing costs. (We need to keep land for parks and green spaces, of course.)

    A new 50 metre swimming pool facility. The acquatic centre is overcrowded.

    A commitment to make VANCOUVER deal with VANCOUVER's trash. The fact that we ship our Garbage 300km away means you will never, ever reduce the amount of garbage people in the city produce. If they had to deal with the problem, they might deal with the problem.

    A ban on the sale of bottled water in the city.

    Upgrade recycling services in the GVRD, so we no longer ship tetra paks to Michigan for recycling. (Gregor Robertson's juice is packed in Tetra Paks...why doesn't his company invest in a local recycling facility for this pervasive and problematic product.)

    Curbside composting. Toronto has it.

    Don't waste time making hollow promises related to the Downtown East Side. They lack credibility. The best thing you could do for the area would be to enforce laws already in place.

    Sam Sullivan promised two years ago to get rid of the Falun Gong protest on Granville Street. I think the next mayor should actually do it.

    A *plan* to bring business back to Vancouver. It's been fleeing to the suburbs for years, in part due to municipal taxation rates that are way out of line with residential ones. Residents should pay their fair share too: without jobs, Vancouver becomes a hollow shell.

  • Marat

    4 years ago

    Tax Shift etc.

    I watched some of the Youtube posted debate. The one question that disturbed me was on taxes. This is a major question, a question related to social class. DeGenova and Robertson seemed to of one mind here and it indicated to me that they are "class brothers" when it comes to shifting taxes from business class to the working class. Homeowners are mortgaged to the max., we have had our city taxes increased significantly under NPA with the tax shift implemented by Sam. We don't want more of the same. Most of us ( unorganized workers) have little power to increase wages to adjust for the increase...they haven't risen in years! Raymond Louis had the better pro working person position. He's the better option of these three for ordinary working people...in Vancouver...other than DTES,and Cambie St. where are all the boarded up businesses that fled to burbs? I don't see them...business is thriving..and has the power to raise prices and one business has no advantage...they pay the same rate. Families are what are fleeing to the burbs!

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