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LaPointe Loses Bid for Mayor, But NPA Makes Inroads

Supporters buoyed by gains on council, park and school board.

Katie Hyslop 17 Nov 2014TheTyee.ca

Katie Hyslop reports on education and youth for The Tyee. Follow her on Twitter @kehyslop.

Despite making big gains on the park board and council, the Non-Partisan Association's Kirk LaPointe wasn't able to unseat incumbent Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson.

It started as a close race earlier in the evening as results started trickling in after 9 p.m. But Robertson's lead of just over 1,000 votes had ballooned to more than 10,000 votes by 10:30 p.m. By 10:50 LaPointe, wearing an NPA-purple tie, admitted defeat at the party's Hotel Vancouver headquarters.

But while LaPointe did not succeed, his party made significant gains on council, school board and especially park board. The minority party in the 2011 election, the NPA came back in a big way to dominate park board, end Vision Vancouver's dominance on the school board, and grab three seats on council.

"The message tonight to our mayor is still to answer the city's call: that call demands that the city again listen to our neighbourhoods," LaPointe told a cheering crowd, adding it's time to heal divisions between voters.

"All of us have a role now to strengthen the community."

Priority on green spaces

NPA park board newcomers Erin Shum, Casey Crawford and Sarah Kirby-Yung will join incumbent John Coupar.

On Saturday night, Shum, who is co-owner and director of She to Shic Boutique Beauty Lounge in Kerrisdale, said the NPA's first priority is the city's green spaces.

"Our policy right from the beginning was to clean up, protect, our greenery, our parks," Shum told The Tyee. The number two priority, she said, is restoring the relationship between the board and the six community centres that haven't signed operating agreements with the board since the introduction of the OneCard system last year, a universal membership system.

"We have to start working on that right away: open a dialogue and look into a renewed joint operating agreement."

Voter Farnaz Farrokhi said she was inspired to vote because she had concerns about Vision's rumoured plans to fence-off city dog parks. That led her to "drill" candidate Kirby-Yung on NPA's plans.

"She was very upfront saying 'I'm not sure what the situation is, let me look into it,' and got back to me," said Farrokhi, who owns a dog, her "fur baby" named Porscha. Farrokhi said she didn't support a particular party before this election. "We had a really candid discussion and from that a friendship has developed."

Despite the popularity of Vision school trustees, newly elected NPA trustees Stacy Robertson, Penny Noble and Christopher Richardson, and incumbent Fraser Ballantyne, managed to end Vision Vancouver's dominance, pushing out Vision trustees Cherie Payne and Ken Clement.

Sharon Promislow, who actively campaigned against the Vision Vancouver promoted Homeless Emergency Action Shelter at Davie and Seymour Streets, told The Tyee she doesn't like party politics, but she supported incumbent NPA councillor George Affleck because he was the only one on council who stood up for her neighbourhood.

"One must vote for people that we feel will listen to the community," Promislow said. "There's anger [at Vision] all over Vancouver."

"It's exciting," said Robertson, who finished 10th in the 2011 election. "I decided to run again because I really thought that I could make a difference and I really hope that I can have a voice, that we can work as a co-operative board to deal with some of the crucial issues that are affecting our school system."

On council, Melissa de Genova, a former park board commissioner, won a seat, joining incumbents George Affleck and Elizabeth Ball.

Vision had 'stronger machine'

NPA supporter Red Robinson wasn't moved by the NPA's gains. He chalked up LaPointe's loss to Vision Vancouver's "stronger machine." However Robinson added if the NPA started working again tomorrow, the party could turn it around by the next election.

It's a sentiment LaPointe echoed in a media scrum after his speech.

"The NPA will have to reconsider the approach that it's taken, which was kind of a quaint approach: getting back together every election, nominating candidates, and essentially disassembling after the campaign was done," he said, adding Vision had significantly greater resources than the NPA, particularly Vision's ability to market itself outside of election campaigns. "If there were an opportunity for a do-over, that's what I would recommend for the party, that it find a way to create more of a year-round machine."  [Tyee]

Read more: Municipal Politics

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