This past Friday at City Hall, the City Clerk and Chief Electoral drew names out of a spinning barrel to determine the order of candidates on the newly adopted randomized ballot, as it applies to the 2018 Mayor’s, City Council, School Board and Park Board Vancouver municipal election races.

The person you see at the top of today’s column is Jason Lamarche, a 2011 Vancouver Non-Partisan Association candidate for City Council who drew the ire and indignation of voters, women voters in particular, for a “Date Matrix” blog post that he posted prior to the outset of the civic election, that rated the women in his life based on 15 categories, including skills in the bedroom and pulchritude, a humourous endeavour he told his party, his NPA colleagues and the press, when asked about it. No one bought it.
Despairingly, for a beleaguered Mr. Lamarche, he came in dead last among his NPA peers on election night. Too bad, so sad. No political career for him.
Why is VanRamblings boring you with details of Mr. Lamarche’s sordid and inglorious history in Vancouver civic election politics?
Well, dear and constant reader: the aforementioned Mr. Lamarche’s name was drawn first in the Mayoral draw sweepstakes, which means that his name — despite his none-too-flattering Hitler moustache, and menacing, vacant-eyed serial killer look — will appear atop the Mayoral electoral ballot, a prospect that is guaranteed to garner him more votes than would otherwise have been the case were the ballot alphabetical, as per usual.

Mr. Lamarche may be laughing. The rest of us, particularly those of us who care about democracy, and the electoral process, not so much.

BREMNER, Hector. Yes Vancouver’s Hector Bremner, currently polling at 5%, according to internal party polling conducted by various of the campaigns, enmashed as he is in scandal, arising from an $85,000 expenditure by developer Peter Wall on billboards extolling Mr. Bremner’s “affordable housing plan”, and his purported association with a dark, mud-slinging third party electoral group called Vancouverites for Affordable Housing. Given the various controversies in which he’s found himself involved and the consequent bad press, and given the poor reception he’s received at various of the Mayoral election townhalls, Mr. Bremner’s nascent Mayoral campaign would appear to be over, even before it was given an opportunity to get itself effectively underway.

CHEN, David. The Mayoral candidate for an under-the-radar novice political party, Pro Vancouver, Mr. Chen’s standing in the polls has recently plummeted to 3% given his confusing message and inept candidates (save, perhaps, Raza Mirza), which means he’s no longer a factor in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election race. We will afford Mr. Chen the attention his campaign deserves: which is exactly none.

HARDING, Fred. The Mayoral candidate for Jesse Johl’s perennial far right-of-centre civic party, Vancouver First. Mr. Harding, for all his bluster, is also polling at 3%, which means he’s not a factor in the 2018 Vancouver Mayoral race, and therefore undeserving of our attention.

SIM, Ken. The novice Mayoral candidate with the powerhouse right-of-centre Vancouver Non-Partisan Association legacy civic party, which held power at City Hall for all but 17 years since the party’s founding in 1937 “to fight the socialist hordes.” The NPA is a well-oiled, well-funded political machine — even given the restrictive electoral finance legislation brought in by our current New Democrat provincial government. The NPA is currently polling at 26% according to insider party polling — less than would otherwise be the case were other right-of centre parties (Coalition Vancouver, Vancouver First, Yes Vancouver) not muddying the right-of-centre waters. The NPA is running nine candidates for Council, the party’s two best (and most deserving) prospects: current Park Board Commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung, who is a must-elect, and all things being equal, the indefatigable Melissa De Genova — perhaps the most tireless and effective campaigner in the city (Ms. De Genova was telling VanRamblings on Sunday that for her the most difficult part of this year’s campaign for office is being away from her baby).

Maybe prospects for the spoiler right-of-centre parties will fade, and the right-wing will get behind Ken Sim & his Vancouver Non-Partisan Association. We think prospects for that outcome are slim, at best. But you never know — Ken Sim could sweep into office, along with a coterie of his Council candidates, and …

STEWART, Kennedy. The smart money is on Kennedy Stewart, the recently retired NDP Member of Parliament and 15-year resident of Vancouver, to become Vancouver’s next Mayor. When Vision Vancouver Mayoral candidate Ian Campbell pulled out of the race, the lion’s share of his support went to the affable and nominally left-of-centre Mr. Stewart.

Labour is fully on board with Kennedy Stewart’s candidacy — that means all 50,000+ Union members who live in the city of Vancouver — as are significant factions within both the provincial and federal New Democratic Party. Mr. Stewart’s campaign is well-funded, and his campaign machine well-oiled. In the main, Vancouver voters tend to vote progressive. Mr. Stewart appears far from scary in his various campaign pronouncements, and if voters are looking for a reliable stand-up guy who is the antithesis of Donald Trump, or the Trump-like conservatives running for office with the right-of-centre parties, Kennedy Stewart is definitely their guy.

For VanRamblings, the best part of Mr. Kennedy’s campaign for the Mayoralty is his loud & proud willingness to build a team of progressives around him: for instance, OneCity Vancouver’s must, must-elect City Council candidate, Christine Boyle (who we love — based solely on her platform, and utterly winning presentation of self), by far our favourite candidate for civic office in the 2018 Vancouver municipal campaign, and someone we absolutely guarantee you will become smitten with (smitten being the operative word of the day, which is the word anyone who speaks of the accomplished Ms. Boyle employs, as the progressive, utterly transcendent difference-maker candidate in this election, who every other civic candidate is politically smitten with, as well).

Christine Boyle who won’t let you down. We absolutely guarantee it.

Now, Kennedy Stewart and Christine Boyle are going to need a team around them if they’re going to effectively and pro-actively address the issues of importance to all of us: affordable housing, responsible environmental stewardship, transit, and the social issues of importance: women’s equity, the living wage campaign, reconciliation with our indigenous peoples, the important issues surrounding our gender variant and LGBTQ2+ communities, fighting poverty and ensuring all the children in our city are well-fed when they start their school day.

Who are the progressive candidates who comprise Kennedy Stewart and Christine Boyle’s team of action-oriented community activists?

• Pete Fry, the Green Party. Another must, must, must-elect, the city builder, the neighbourhood activist, the focused and friendly guy who’ll make a difference for the better in your life. Again, we absolutely guarantee it. Anyone and everyone who knows Pete, who has worked with Pete, is just as smitten with him as they are with Christine Boyle. Because folks like Christine and Pete, they’re utterly selfless and absolutely brilliant people, community activists who mean to make a difference, and will make a difference, in your life and your family’s life, and the lives of all your neighbours and friends and colleagues. Christine and Pete are civic treasures, once-in-a-lifetime folks who if we’re very, very lucky, and really smart, we’ll elect overwhelmingly to City Council on Saturday, October 20th.

• Derrick O’Keefe. Yep, Christine Boyle and Pete Fry are absolutely in love with Derrick O’Keefe — and why wouldn’t they be? Christine and Pete know that Derrick O’Keefe will become the most beloved, and kinda cantankerous for us, political figure of change for the better in our city since Harry Rankin. You’ve read all this press on the new, beloved socialist candidates (because, you know what, they’re bright and principled and on our side) in the U.S.: New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Seattle’s Kshama Sawant, Tallahassee mayor and Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, Massachusetts Democrat Ayanna Pressley, Philadelphia’s Elizabeth Fiedler. That’s Derrick O’Keefe, a member of the family and Christine and Pete’s staunch ally.

  Now, Christine, Derrick, Pete and Kennedy are going to need to fill out their slate of change for the better progressives: that means, two-term City Councillor Adriane Carr and her Green Party colleagues Michael Wiebe and David Wong; Christine’s Boyle’s OneCity colleague Brandon Yan, and Derrick’s COPE running mates, Jean Swanson and Anne Roberts. And let’s not forget Vision Vancouver’s Catherine Evans and Heather Deal, two must-elects, whether you believe it or not.

SYLVESTER, SHAUNA. If there were a God in the heavens watching over us, the single most articulate, the single brightest, the only Mayoral candidate with an effective action plan on: affordable housing, transit, climate change, diversity, women’s equity, parks and recreation, the arts, breaking down anomie and isolation in our city, enhancing neighbourhood involvement in determining development and the livability of Vancouver’s distinct communities … well, that’s Shauna Sylvester in spades. Maybe there is a God in the heavens, and she will appear on Sunday, October 14th at Christ Church Cathedral for the pivotal, all-important Cathedral Mayoral debate, and there will emerge such a groundswell of support for Shauna Sylvester as Mayor that on October 20th, she will be carried into office. We certainly hope so.

YOUNG, WAI. A strong campaigner, good on her feet, a compelling verging on charismatic speaker, Ms. Young’s time in Parliament has prepared her we
ll for the exigencies of running for Mayor in the 2018 Vancouver civic election. Running on a platform of cleaning up City Hall, dismantling the bike lanes along West 10th Avenue outside VGH and on the Cambie Street bridge, and moving or eliminating the Adanac bike corridor, and her consultative neighbourhood development plan (“Putting power back in the hands of the people”) has a populist ring to it that probably resonates with many voters — as a consequence, Wai Young is polling at 8%, not enough to become Vancouver’s next Mayor. Coalition Party insiders have told VanRamblings that Ms. Young is counting on NPA Mayoral candidate Ken Sim’s support collapsing the closer we get to election day, thus creating path for her to sweep into office. We’ll see.

The non-alphabetical, randomized Mayoral electoral ballot. 21 names on the ballot. Compared to the 71-name City Council randomized ballot, the Mayoral randomized ballot will be a cakewalk for voters.

You see who the serious candidates are above. Vote for the city you want, vote for the city you need, vote for the city we all need.

This afternoon at 2pm, COPE: The Coalition of Progressive Electors present a special screening of the widely-acclaimed, award-winning documentary by Teresa Alfeld, Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical, as least in part as former City Councillor Tim Louis wrote in a Facebook post yesterday to …

” … celebrate the progressive socialist history of Vancouver City Hall, as championed by Harry Rankin, the most popular civic politician in Vancouver history, the most outspoken political figure in our city’s history, a man who inspired a whole new generation of socialists and activists, including the candidates running with COPE in the 2018 Vancouver civic election.”

Prior to the matinée screening of Harry Rankin: Legacy of a Radical, after the doors of the Rio Theatre open at 1pm, you’ll have an opportunity to interact with COPE’s 2018 candidates for civic office …

• City Council candidates, Order of Canada recipient and respected anti-poverty activist Jean Swanson (one of the warmest, friendliest people you’d ever want to meet — and you do want to meet Jean, and speak with her, as one of our city’s great listeners and community activists); beloved former COPE School Board trustee and Vancouver City Councillor, Anne Roberts, who will emerge as the ‘can do, get things done’ social conscience of our next City Council; and Derrick O’Keefe, our very own Kshama Sawant, Ben Isitt, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and John Sewell, all wrapped up into the soon-to-be City Councillor, who will become the most beloved political figure in our city and our province when he is elected to Vancouver City Council on Saturday, October 20th;

• School Board trustee candidates Diana Day and Barb Parrott, who don’t view themselves as caretakers of a public education system in Vancouver that, for years, has suffered and continues to suffer economic distress, the two activist School Board candidates in this civic election who will be on the side of children enrolled in our city’s school system, and who will fight for more and better in Vancouver, including the restoration of the band & strings programme, who will fight for better educational outcomes for our indigenous students, more English as Second Language & French Immersion teachers, and more speech pathologists & support staff to meet the needs of Vancouver’s special needs students;
• Park Board candidates, Gwen Giesbrecht and Dr. John Irwin, two of the finest people you’d ever want to meet, longtime advocates for Vancouver’s beleaguered, and woefully underfunded, parks and recreation system, who will fight against a 12-foot-wide asphalt bike path through Kitsilano Beach, and the construction of a destination Olympic pool and hockey rink that would take over the entirety of Kitsilano’s Connaught Park, while shutting down the existing Kitsilano Community Centre and hockey rink, who recognize maintenance, growth and proper funding of our parks and recreation system represents a class issue for many, many families for whom our parks are their back yard, and for whom our community centres are a second home.

Following the screening of the film, a panel discussion will be held from 3:30pm til til 4pm, with panelists and attendees provided with a second opportunity from 4pm til 4:45pm to formally (and informally) meet, interact and question COPE’s candidates for office, and where candidates want to hear what your priorities issues are in the 2018 Vancouver civic election.
The Rio Theatre, southwest corner of Commercial Drive and East Broadway, doors open at 1pm, screening at 2pm, a chance to get out of the rain, and where a good time is guaranteed for all amidst some of the finest people our city has ever produced. Tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 at the door.

On Thursday evening, September 20th, the Kerrisdale Community Centre hosted an all-candidates meeting for 20 of the City Council candidates who are seeking office & tenure at City Hall in the 2018 Vancouver civic election.
Unlike the Council all-candidates forum hosted by the Residents for Community Control — where almost all members of the audience were associated with candidates speaking at the front of the hall — the audience for the Kerrisdale Community Centre forum was 80% local residents, who arrived at 7pm on a dark and inclement Thursday evening not to get out of the rain, but to listen to candidates with whom they were unfamiliar, their community attendance an information seeking venture.
One similarity between the two Council all-candidate events: there were no panelists present from the governing Vision Vancouver party, nor for the second night in a row were there any panelists from Hector Bremner’s nascent and seemingly invisible Yes Vancouver civic party.
On this surprisingly vibrant and engaging Thursday evening, there were no panelists from the Coalition Party, either, although Coalition Party Mayoral candidate Wai Young and her Council candidate colleague, Glen Chernen were present, and standing at the back of the auditorium — both of whom who told this reporter that contact had been made by their civic party with the Kerrisdale Community Centre forum organizers requesting participation in the night’s event. But to no good effect, it would appear.

For the second night in a row, the two most effective and well-received candidate speakers of the evening were the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association‘s generational candidate, Sarah Kirby-Yung, and the Green Party’s phenomenally lucid Pete Fry, although OneCity Vancouver City Council candidate Christine Boyle gave them both a run for their money, and in the humanity and connection sweepstakes had all other speakers beat hands down — which is what you might reasonably expect of a once-in-a-lifetime civic political candidate, destined to become the most beloved political figure in Vancouver’s long, gloried and celebrated civic history.
Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Council candidate Melissa De Genova was her regular charmingly feisty self, while her NPA colleague Colleen Hardwick got better as the evening went on — but please, if there’s a god in the heavens, make her stop talking about her family’s history in civic politics and focus on what she would bring to the Council table — which she finally managed to achieve by meeting’s end. So there is a god, after all.
The Green Party’s Michael Wiebe — who we’re now moving into the must-elect column — emerged as the most dynamic speaker of the evening, his command of & his focused ability to speak to the issues both unparalleled on this particular evening and in the election generally — his current Park Board Commissioner colleague, Sarah Kirby Yung, has done a fine job of mentoring Mr. Wiebe, the two getting along like a house on fire, Michael Wiebe’s respect for Ms. Kirby-Yung palpable and endearing, she providing the voice of reason and experience to Mr. Wiebe’s focused youthful vitality.
In a Vancouver civic election where 71 candidates have come forward seeking office as a City Councillor, Thursday evening was more a look-see evening than an event designed to address the issues of the day — because, let’s face it, there’s only one issue in this election: affordable housing and co-and-co-op housing within the rubric of neighbourhood consultation, with the recognition that we’re in the midst of a housing crisis in Vancouver, and we don’t want more study (consultation, yes; study, no), we want action, and we want action now, not in some distant future.

Five candidates — each of whom you can see and hear speaking in the video at the top of today’s column — emerged on this electoral evening as the candidates capable of getting things done, and getting ’em done now …

• OneCity Vancouver’s transcendently lovely and transformationally inspiring Christine Boyle (just wait til she’s elected … your socks are going to be impressed right off, we’ve never seen anyone like her in Vancouver municipal politics, and that’s all to the good for us);

• Pete Fry, the city builder extraordinaire in this election, the must, must, must-elect in 2018, and a man possessed of much wisdom, knowledge, and unending kindness, the candidate you can count on every day;
• Anne Roberts, the voice of reason and the voice of experience, who’s been elected to civic office before, which means that she knows how to get things done for us, much sooner, and the Councillor who will emerge as the quietly effective social conscience of the next Council;
• Independent City City Council candidate, and the democrat in the Council group, Erin Shum — which means not only that Erin Shum will be the Councillor who will listen to you, but act on your concerns, who will never back down; don’t be fooled by her youth, Erin Shum is an old soul;

  and right-out-of-left field …

• Michael Wiebe — a current Park Board Commissioner, who has served well and with distinction for four years now — who, when you watch the video above (you can see and hear Michael Wiebe at the 11:20 mark in the video) you’ll find yourself saying out loud, “I want this young Kennedy-esque man on Vancouver’s next City Council, and I’ll be telling all my neighbours, friends and colleagues about him, too. Now where do I go about donating money and volunteer hours to his campaign?”