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Vision councillor endorses NDP's Heyman in Vancouver-Fairview

Vision Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer announced on April 22 that she is swinging her support behind the NDP's George Heyman in his run for MLA in Vancouver-Fairview.

Heyman, a trade union and environmental movement veteran, is running against the incumbent, current Liberal Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid.

"George has a unique background," said Reimer. "He's been a leader in the environmental, labour and social justice movements. In all of those roles, he's been a bridge builder, looking for common ground among groups that don't always get along.

"It's the combination of strong principles, vision and ability to bring people together that makes George such an exciting candidate," she said. 

Heyman, who was executive director of the Sierra Club of BC before winning the NDP nomination in the riding in a hard fought internal battle with Geoff Meggs, Reimer's council colleague, has long been a prominent NDP player.

He served for three terms as president of the BC Government Employees' Union between 1999 and 2008. His nomination contest with Meggs was described by University of Victoria political scientist Norman Ruff as "a battle of the titans."

Vancouver-Fairview is one of The Tyee's "ridings to watch" in the current election. Before MacDiarmid's election in 2009 it was represented by Gregor Robertson, now mayor of Vancouver. In that incarnation, Robertson was an NDP member and he took the election by a 900 vote margin.

The riding has the third highest percentage of eligible voters in the province, at 80 per cent, according to the 2006 census.

Reimer, who began her political career as a member of the Green party before switching to Vision Vancouver when she ran for city council in 2008, endorsed Heyman in the same week that NDP Leader Adrian Dix made headlines across the province by signalling that a new Dix government doesn't support Kinder Morgan's proposed tripling of pipeline capacity, which would result in a significant expansion of bitumen exports through Vancouver harbour.

Tom Sandborn covers labour and health policy beats for the Tyee. He welcomes your feedback and story tips at [email protected].

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