Candidates Stampede to Vision
Already, 28 contenders vie to join slate for Vancouver election.
Gregor Robertson: strong coattails?
A herd of aspiring politicians has stampeded into Vancouver's newest political party, hoping to plant their feet firmly on the coattails of Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson.
Twenty-eight would-be city councillors, parks board commissioners and school board trustees have declared their candidacies for the centre-left party, and more are expected in the coming weeks. Among those still pondering entry into the Vision contest is Sikh community leader Kashmir Singh Dhaliwal.
The Non-Partisan Association, still reorganizing itself in the wake of mayoral nominee Peter Ladner's defeat of Mayor Sam Sullivan, has given itself more time to recruit additional candidates. At least 17 NPA members have already been nominated or are currently seeking the centre-right party's nod.
The Council of Progressive Electors has 16 declared candidates, including five for city council.
SFU political scientist Kennedy Stewart said the rush toward Vision is a clear response to the success of the 13,600-member party, and the popularity of mayoral nominee Gregor Robertson.
"The mayor is the key to these elections," Stewart said. "This could be a slam dunk for Gregor. But it's not an automatic win."
Stewart warned that Vision and COPE now find themselves in a pickle: Either they must turn away more than a dozen qualified city council candidates -- an option rife with hurt feelings -- or field too many candidates, a choice that would give the NPA a mathematical advantage at the polls.
"This has the potential to become the political equivalent of a 50-car pile up," Stewart warned.
Stampede at Vision
An unprecedented 14 candidates have already declared that they will seek Vision Vancouver nomination for city council. But Vision's most talked-about council candidate has yet to make up his mind.
"I'm thinking about it," Dhaliwal told The Tyee. "Call me Friday."
In addition to being a widely respected moderate, Dhaliwal leads the executive committee of the Khalsa Diwan Society, an historic Punjabi organization that operates the large Ross Sikh Temple in South Vancouver and routinely attracts more than 100,000 people to an annual Vaisakhi day parade.
If he runs, Dhaliwal will likely win the backing of incumbents Raymond Louie, Tim Stevenson and Heather Deal, each of whom is running for re-election. Their seats are not protected under Vision Vancouver nomination rules, though their status as party elders renders re-election likely. (Incumbent George Chow has not declared his intentions.)
Former Green Party school board trustee Andrea Reimer and Chinese-Canadian community activist Kerry Jang have emerged as among the most visible candidates in the crowded field. Reimer, who co-chaired Gregor Robertson's mayoral nomination campaign, and Jang, who worked for runner-up Raymond Louie, are running a joint campaign aimed at bringing their respective communities together.
"We move in totally different circles. The opportunity to bring our circles together was just way too exciting." Reimer said.
Communications consultant Catherine Evans is known to Westsiders, where she ran for the federal Liberal party nomination in Vancouver Quadra. Likewise, Kwantlen professor Heather Harrison is a familiar face to the Vision faithful; she ran for council under the vision flag in 2005.
"Last time I just went to a few interviews... and at the end of the day, they said, 'You get the job,'" Harrison recalled. "It wasn't as good for the party."
Former Larry Campbell aide Geoff Meggs and Downtown Eastside attorney David Eby are well-known to city hall regulars, but less so among the voting public at large.
Likewise, Rey Umlas is well-known within Vancouver's vibrant Filipino community, as Demitri Douzenis is among local Greeks. Rounding out the declared Vision council candidates list are Doug Bencze, Ray Lam and Vaune Adams Kolber.
Vision also has eight declared candidates for the seven-seat parks board, and six for the nine-trustee school board.
NPA loosens its reins
Though the NPA website has for more than a month advertised Aug. 13 as the "cut-off to submit applications as a candidate," newly elected NPA president Ned Pottinger said on the afternoon of Aug. 13 that the party would continue courting council and school board candidates for several more weeks.
"There's been huge interest in this campaign," Pottinger said. "But we weren't able to give prospective candidates the attention they deserved in the weeks since the Sam-and-Peter thing in June.
The party nominated 13 candidates at its June meeting, and will not officially announce any more until they have been vetted by the party's board.
Those already nominated include city council incumbents Suzanne Anton, Elizabeth Ball and Kim Capri, along with current parks board chair Korina Houghton and developer Michael Geller.
False Creek Community Centre Association president Leanore Copeland has announced that she will run for the NPA council. And a source within the party has told The Tyee that retired HSBC vice-president David Lee will also run for an NPA council seat.
"We'll be running more than a full set of parks board candidates, a good compliment of city council candidates and we're still working on recruiting candidates for school board," Pottinger said.
One unexpected name vying for the NPA parks board slate is Downtown Eastside advocate and three-time independent city council candidate Jamie Lee Hamilton.
"I handed in my nomination paperwork today," Hamilton told The Tyee. "I guess they'll review it and either call me for an interview or approve me outright."
When asked why the one-time COPE candidate was now seeking the endorsement of the NPA, she said, "I think the NPA has had some really good parks board commissioners in the past. I feel comfortable with them."
Will the NPA feel comfortable with a former madam who now puckishly bills herself as Queen of the Parks?
"Is the tent going to be large enough to accommodate someone like myself? That will be the test for sure. There hasn't been anything yet that has shown me otherwise," Hamilton said.
COPE returns to the fray, seeks peace
Sixteen candidates have already thrown their hat into the COPE ring, including four of the party's five incumbents.
The evolving COPE slate includes five council candidates: incumbent David Cadman, former COPE city councillors Ellen Woodsworth and Tim Louis, former board of variance member Terry Martin and community activist Meena Wong, a former understudy to Toronto city councillor Olivia Chow.
Six COPE candidates have declared for school board and five for parks. What remains to be decided are how many councillors and board members COPE will nominate, and whether or not the 40-year-old progressive party will run a mayoral candidate.
"There's a momentum in this city, a momentum that wants to defeat the NPA. How that plays out vis-à-vis parties, its way too early to say," Woodsworth told The Tyee. "We're in discussions with Vision Vancouver, and we hope to reach an agreement with them as soon as possible."
Woodsworth said any deal would have to include a joint mayor, a joint slate and a common campaign.
"Right now Gregor is very popular," Woodsworth said. "I think part of the reason Gregor is so popular is that people from COPE and Vision like him and what he stands for. They like him also because he says he wants some kind of common campaign... if we were to run our own mayoral campaign, that would significantly change the dynamic that is operating right now."
SFU's Kennedy Stewart agreed: "If the left is united, this campaign will be a cakewalk for Gregor. If there's a split in any way, Peter Ladner and the NPA will rule the next city council."
Stewart warned that the sooner Vision and COPE agree on how many seats each will run, the less damage will be done.
"Neither executive has clarified how many seats are up for grabs," he said. "That could lead to a lot of hard feelings. If someone goes in and spends a lot of money and time to win one of these contests and finds out at the last minute that the party is only going to run six candidates, they might feel cheated."
But Stewart warned against the temptation to run too many candidates. He said that while voters are allowed 10 votes on the Vancouver council ballot, in fact voters only choose an average of eight. So, for example, if Vision were to run 10 candidates and COPE were to run five -- and if the NPA were to limit itself to only seven or eight -- the short list of NPA candidates would win, because they would presumably get all the right-leaning votes, while the left-leaning votes would spread out among twice as many candidates.
"If you run fewer than 10, you get a plumping effect," Stewart said. "In a close race, the party that plumps -- or has fewer candidates on the final ballot -- will come out ahead."
Sources within both COPE and Vision said a deal would have to be worked out by Labour Day at the latest.
Nomination 'more complicated'
Vision candidate Reimer sees several reasons why her new party's contest is so crowded.
"I think some of these people are just viscerally excited by what happened in Gregor's campaign. Some of these community activists haven't seen a political phenomenon like this for a long time," she said. "Others, well, maybe there are people who might see an opportunity to get on to council."
The dynamic is the same, regardless of the motivation.
"Frankly, the nomination race in my opinion will be much more complicated than the elections itself," Reimer said. "That doesn't mean that we're a sure thing in the election, it's just that this nomination contest involves much more complicated politics."
Related Tyee stories:
- It's Gregor Robertson's Vision
He leads fired up party into Vancouver civic race. Can he mend COPE rift? - Ladner Seizes NPA Crown
After 15 years on council, Mayor Sullivan turns out fewer than a thousand supporters. - Mayor Sam's Unspent Cash
Will Vancouver mayor disclose his war chest?
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southdeltawalker
3 years ago
hey Gregor-why should you be trusted...?
My goodness even out here in South Delta i remember that Gregor "dumped" Carole James.
He decided to resign his seat and didn't even let her know beforehand.
I guess we know what it is like to be dumped.
His "official" reason was that he could not get in touch with her. huh??
We all know this one....when your dumped all of a sudden they can't get in touch with you. There was never a problen before...
Anyways I guess he was done with James and the NDP and James did not even get the respect of a call.
Gee kinda reminds me of Larry Campbell. Ran on the COPE slate and then after elected couldn't distance himself fast enough from COPE and now is a Liberal Senator.
Yes folks fight to get on the Vision Slate- all you might see of Gregor are those "strong coatails" as he leaves you behind.
zalm
3 years ago
Typical "party"
This isn't a political party, it's a social networking soiree that every teenager in town wants to get in on so they'll be popular and not have to go home alone.
Sigh.... Haven't we already seen this with Senator Larry last time? Vote for me know before you know my mind and pay me later when I feel like telling you what I stand for.
Vision stands for nothing. They have not one single policy, publicly announced, that has been thoroughly thought through. Everything they talk about is rehashes of sound bites and reactions to the policies of COPE and NPA. Gregor has some great ideas and I hope they become policy, but until they do, this is all spin. And any spin that has both the right and the left doing the Snoopy-happy-dance is sheer unadulterated BS.
I'll be happy to decide whether I 'm going to vote for Gregor and that long, long list of party animals who are jumping into his conga-line as soon as they tell me whey I should, in some coherent form.
Til then, I'm sticking with the devils I know.
mjf
3 years ago
Can Vision win the race for mayor?
It depends on whether Vision can come to an agreement with COPE that takes into account the strength and number of COPE voters. When Larry Campbell and his accomplices left COPE, they destroyed the chances of the left winning a majority of seats on council as well as the mayor's seat at the following municipal election. Now that Gregor has left his provincial constituency of Vancouver-Fairview, what are the chances that this constituency will remain NDP at the next by-election or provincial election?
Vision was, and continues to be, founded on the destruction of the work of the many people who worked hard to build either COPE at the municipal level, or a constituency at the provincial level. Many people will remember this when casting their ballot for mayor and council this fall. COPE voters regularly support their candidates with 30,000 to 50,000 votes. Everyone of these votes will count in the race for mayor, because the NPA will not be easily defeated. It is very well to talk about momentum, but the real question is: what is Vision prepared to offer to attract the COPE vote?
Budd Campbell
3 years ago
WHO REALLY CARES?
I have to ask this question from time to time?
In a Greater Vancouver that's not been amalgated as it should be, in various municipalities that should have wards but don't, who cares who's running for what? Local government in B.C. is a joke. That's the way the provincial government likes it, and that's the way big business and wealthy property owners like it.
spark.1234
3 years ago
Budd
You should run Budd and infect local government with a bit of intellect.
Local citizens' apathy is the only reason local government is the way it is.
Budd Campbell
3 years ago
NO THANKS, AND NOT QUITE
spark.12342
You should run Budd and infect local government with a bit of intellect.
Local citizens' apathy is the only reason local government is the way it is.
That's for the flattery and ego gratification, but no thanks. And I don't think you're right about the apathy. It's an effect, not a cause. The cause is the inappropriate structure legislated by Victoria. The GVRD has to be amalgamated as Mike Harris did in Toronto. Only then will local politics be relevant.
spark.1234
3 years ago
Budd
I think we have to agree to disagree then.
Perhaps this change you want could be made if you educated people to a level where they care that the change actually be made.
- Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist.
realisticman
3 years ago
Amalgamation?
A la Mike Harris? I'm surprised. Why?
Remember that the Parti Quebecois amalgamated municipalities, like Toronto did, in 2002. Then, in 2006 many (32) voted to de-amalgamate and control their own affairs, again.
DPL
3 years ago
Maybe people are fed up with
Maybe people are fed up with the NPA and their guy Sam screwing up the city again.They sure have had some prizes in the last twenty years or so. One wonders just where the NPA finds just a weird bunch.
Ladner was so on side in the last years so he wouldn't change direction much.
Gregor is drawing lots of interest, and has lots of support. He will make a great mayor and hopfully working with the more reasonable side of COPE regain control of Vancouver for all the people, not just those on the West Side
realisticman
3 years ago
If the Great Gregor wins...
...with such a large contingent will COPE just fade away into insignificance. Why is COPE so quiet? Are they folding their tent?
G West
3 years ago
The problem is the way the tax system works
Creating a super city like Toronto won't work - just as greater Toronto hasn't realy worked (although Winnipeg has for different reasons)- without a fundamental shift in the way the provincial authority handles tax revenue.
Certainly, nothing Mike Harris touched turned out well for anyone except Mike Harris.
The idiocy of the CEO premier cutting taxes for his corporate noodle-eating friends (the ones he catches fee rides to Beijing with) while cutting back on municipal needs, transferring costs to cities and tying the hands of those same municipalities to actually RUN their own affairs is at the heart of the problem.
And it's not just a problem for Vancouver or freeloading communities like West Vancouver or Oak Bay - it's a problem for the whole province.
As any municipal politician will tell you.
Infrastructure is crumbling, their services are being strained, their ability to tax is hamstrung and the weight of the province's disinterest in dealing with the problems of homelessness and poverty, child care and crime is appalling. And yet, if you look at their vehicle fleets, you’ll find a very high percentage of brand new vehicles.
People look to someone new, someone like Gregor, because they hope he'll make a difference - just as Americans look to a new president to save them from the effects of the mistakes of the past.
It won't work without a complete re-make of the whole system - and that will only happen when things get bad enough that there is no longer any choice in the matter.
With a premier who thumbs his nose at the people of British Columbia the way Campbell has lately...we're getting very close to that situation.
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Vancouver Civic Politics...
The NPA has been around since 1937 (71 years) and essentially the centre-right controlled city council for the next 32 years until the reformist movement of the early 1970's saw TEAM sweep to power in 1972.
TEAM comprised council members of the centre-left (Harcourt, Marzari, Pendakur) and the centre-right (Phillips, Bowers, Hardwick, Volrich, Ford, and Brown).
A truly "centrist" municipal party compared to Vision Vancouver, which is centre-left in its political tendencies.
During the 1970's, the NPA also drifted to the right while TEAM began to splinter in the late 1970's.
From 1982 to 1986 the centre-left (Harcourt, Yee) and left (COPE) controlled city council, whereupon the NPA moved back to the centre-right and regained control of city council from 1986 onward for another 16 years until 2002 when COPE again controlled for another three years.
To sum it all up, the centre-right (NPA) and centre (TEAM) has controlled Vancouver city council for 61 years since 1940 compared to the centre-left/left's 7 years.
Certainly will be an interesting mayoral race between two moderates... the centre-left Robertson and the centre-right Ladner.
Will traditional and historical Vancouver voting patterns continue??
It also looks like left-wing COPE is beginning to fade away... the "Welcome to Vancouver - A Nuclear Weapons Free Zone" signage and the star wars debates on space weapons just didn't/doesn't cut it with Vancouverites.
Frank
3 years ago
The left-side-of-the-Centre-of-the-centre-right
So what are the actual policy differences between the Right, the centre-right, the centre-left and the left?
Frank
3 years ago
And a follow up
What do "centrists" stand for? What do they believe in?
An equal mix of capitalism and socialism?
realisticman
3 years ago
Swan Song?
Keynote speaker Vancouver Kingsway MLA Adrian Dix spoke about the urgency of returning a progressive government to City Hall in this November's civic election. ...
CUPE 391 activist Todd Wong's accordion antics, and Christine Best's country-blues vocals highlighted the evening's entertainment.
The COPE Executive wishes to thank all the hard working volunteers, staff and supporters who made this year's summer barbecue such a success.
The Society is based on the labour movement, and was initiated by the Vancouver and District Labour Council in 1968.
40 years is not a bad run.
Frank
3 years ago
realisticman
Did you write off the federal Conservatives and the provincial NDP when they were reduced to nothing too?
Or perhaps you think Gregor will do such a good job it will mean the "end of history" in Vancouver civic politics?
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Frank...
Frank:
Put it this way... in 1980, the moderate centre-left Mike Harcourt ran for mayor as an "independent" against then incumbent Jack Volrich and won.
Harcourt would not want to run under the COPE banner as it was tooooo far left and without moderate centrist voters, he never would have won.
Harcourt even formed the "Civic Independents" in 1982 to run 3 potential councillors (Bill Yee et al) with COPE running 7 potential councillors in order not to split the vote for 10 council spots.
Remember COPE's looney left....???
1. NO Wal Mart... evil, evil corporate empire... let Vancouverites drive to the 'burbs.
2. The "Welcome to Vancouver... A Nuclear Weapons Free Zone" signs... let the bombs fly in the 'burbs.
3. Dealing with the weaponization of space was much, much... did I say much??? more important than local civic issues.
4. While we are at it... why not buy every civic employee a Che Guevara T-shirt as their regular day uniform. ;)
Etc, etc., etc.
As for the centre-right and the right... just compare Mayor Art Phillips of TEAM (1972) (husband of Carole Taylor) and the social housing development of south False Creek, development of Granville Island, and preservation of neighbourhoods...
Versus Mayor Tom "Terrific" Campbell of the NPA (1972) and let's build freeways through Chinatown, Gastown, and all of the slum areas for "urban renewal".
'Nuff said for differentiation???
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Kennedy Stewart...
Kennedy Stewart:
Not necessarily. Take the 1999 election, for example. 10 NPA council challengers and only 8 on the left (5 COPE and 3 Green).
Result???
Even though theoretically COPE/Green should have been victorious due to the "plumping effect" with running only 8 councillors...
NPA still wins 8 out of 10 council positions in 1999.
Kennedy Stewart [from the Vancouver Sun]:
"This means a united left can always beat a united right.
Doesn't make sense... 'cause the so-called "united right" has controlled city council for 61 years since 1940 (if ya include TEAM from mostly the centre-right) compared to the so-called "united left's" 7 years control during the same time frame.
Based upon the 50,000 vote NPA and the 60,000 vote "united left", the control of council would have been reversed.
BTW, Robertson only jumped into the fray based upon Sullivan's god awful performance.
The electoral dynamics have changed with Ladner taking over the NPA's reins. Even the daughter of Vision's mayoral chellenger Al De Genova (Mellissa), who joined Vision a few years back, has returned to the NPA to run as a Parks Board candidate.
Still, it's gonna be interesting.
Frank
3 years ago
Left out
No, I think what you're saying is you can't explain the difference between a centre-left and a centre-right but you "know one when you see one"?
In other words, there is no actual definition of Centre-Left or Centre-Right, those are simply tags given to people who seem softer and cuddlier than their political buddies.
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Frank...
In other words, there is no actual definition of Centre-Left or Centre-Right, those are simply tags given to people who seem softer and cuddlier than their political buddies.
Well, in a sense you are right, but the electorate and even politicians themselves see the same darn thang at the ballot box.
Case in Point #1... [left/centre-left]
Larry Campbell elected as COPE's first mayor in 2002... who had no previous political experience and over time came to realize that COPE was not "centre-left" but "kooky left" in somewhat his own words.
He even publicly identified himself as a "moderate centrist" voting on many issues with the NPA opposed by COPE.
Campbell eventually left COPE during his term along with moderate councillors Stevenson, Green, and Louie to form an alternative party... today's moderate, centre-left Vision Vancouver.
Case in Point #2... [right/centre-right]
Surrey incumbent mayor Doug MacCallum (SET, Surrey's equivalent of the NPA) lost by a ~10,000 vote margin to former SET councillor and independent Dianne Watts, MacCallum was "right-wing" while Watts was centre-right in her positions.
Case in Point #3...
Delta is a centre-right community but elected and re-elected moderate centre-left New Democrat Beth Johnston several times as mayor during the 1980's and thereafter(?).
Same thing with centre-right Richmond who elected moderate centre-left New Democrat Greg Halsey-Brandt during the 1980's and thereafter.
Had these people been "left-wing" they never would have won the mayor's chair in either Delta or Richmond.
In a nutshell... centre-left/centre-right folk can work with each other, are pragmatic, have common sense, and no ideological (or minimal) baggage.
Conversely, "right-wing" or "left-wing" folk are inherently ideological and rigid in their views.
Hope that makes sense.
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Budd...
Gotta disagree with ya.
Amalgamation should happen naturally... eg. the amalgamation of Abbotsford and Matsqui years ago by referendum.
In that vein, other similar amalgamations should also occur by referendum in Metro Vancouver:
1. North Van City/North Van District;
2. Langley City/ Langley District;
3. Coquitlam/ Port Coquitlam;
Why doesn't that occur????
Prolly 'cause local politicians are concerned about their electoral base and the debt/per capita ratios to be combined.
While it's a zero sum game, one party is gonna lose financially in that context.
Greater Victoria is even a bigger mess that should involve some amalgamations.
Should the provincial government interfere? NO.
Frank
3 years ago
The ayes have it
Conversely, "right-wing" or "left-wing" folk are inherently ideological and rigid in their views.
Hope that makes sense.
Yes, it does. Your definition of centre-lefts and centre-rights is that these are people who don't believe in much except being in power and are happy to be whatever the public decides that it wants.
Therefore they water down everything until it offends the least amount of people because really they don't care either way as long as they stay popular.
Your definition agrees with mine.
Frank
3 years ago
Luke
Admit it, your dad was a pollster and whenever there was a convention you'd take his name-tag and attend all the functions while he spent all weekend hitting the slots, correct?
Luke Skywalker
3 years ago
Frank...
LOL... TOO FUNNY... Nope. My pop was a master-certified painter immigrant from Germany who would think, in his mind, "telephone pole" at the word.
Closest I've been to a poll was my ol' elective stats and probability class at UBC... and it sucked big time. Really.