Category Archives: BC Politics

Men Who Live In Glass Houses, Shouldn’t Throw Stones

May 14, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

2018 | NPA Vancouver City Council, Hector Bremner's Mayoral candidacy | REJECTED Hector Bremner, set to go it alone in his bid to become Vancouver’s next Mayor

EXCLUSIVE
As we wrote last week, Monday evening May 7th, Vancouver City Councillor Hector Bremner was informed by Gregory Baker, the President of the Board of Directors of his party, the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association, that his mayoral nomination application had been rejected. No reason was given.
After extensive dialogue with members of, and sources close to, the nominally right-of-centre Non-Partisan Association, and a frank Friday afternoon discussion with Mr. Bremner’s indignant campaign manager — longtime respected political campaigner, Mark Marissen — as well as numerous other individuals with insight into the reasons why a rejection of Mr. Bremner’s application was always in the cards, that Mr. Bremner’s bid to become his party’s mayoral standard-bearer was finished even before it began, today on VanRamblings we will reveal a few of the reasons why the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association rejected Mr. Bremner’s mayoral nominee application, tempered with commentary from Mark Marissen, and explanatory political context provided by VanRamblings.
1. Pay for Play
Or, Mr. Bremner’s alleged cozy relationship with a Vancouver developer
This past week, lawyer Michael Avenatti — legal counsel for adult film star, Stormy Daniels — released a document he referred to as a Summary Brief, alleging that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s lawyer, created a shell company called Essential Consultants to receive payments from a firm linked to a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, and corporations with business before the Trump administration, e.g. AT&T, involved in a merger with Time-Warner, a merger President Trump had heretofore opposed. Mr. Cohen was paid $800,000 by AT&T for “access” to the President.
In total, Mr. Cohen has received monies in the millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars, from Mr. Vekselberg — a confidant of Russian leader, Vladimir Putin — and others, monies it has been alleged were used to pay off 130 different “complainants” set to bring suit against Mr. Trump.
Pay for Play? Mr. Cohen launders money received from Russian oligarchs, and multi-national corporations in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, and just like magic Mr. Trump’s “problems” go away, as do the problems of the multi-national corporations Trump fixer Michael Cohen has promised favours to, in exchange for payment of millions of dollars.
Pay for Play? Nice and tidy — until you get caught.

Mr. Bremner. Sources within and close to the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association administration have told VanRamblings they believe Mr. Bremner, and members of his election team, have “cut a deal” with a prominent Vancouver developer, that in exchange for funding the novice NPA City Councillor’s bid to become Vancouver’s next Mayor, Mr. Bremner has promised “special favours” to the developer, should he win election.
In times of old Pay for Play was called, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” a central feature of political administrations, municipal, provincial / state, or federal. Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver party have often been accused of a cozy, perhaps quid pro quo, relationship with Westbank developer Ian Gillespie, and real estate marketer, Bob Rennie.

Christine Boyle, OneCity Vancouver candidate, running for Vancouver City Council

In contemporary society, and particularly in the politics of personal destruction realm, there is a propensity to demonize political adversaries, and developers in particular — a central feature of political life in our city, we’re sad to say — but not for pure-hearted politicos like Christine Boyle, a OneCity Vancouver candidate for Vancouver City Council — who will top-the-polls on election night, Saturday, October 20th — running a committed social justice, affordable housing, activist, get-things-done-for-us platform.

Politics is just like life.
Every now and then you’re going to run across someone you really like, someone you admire, someone with whom you gain an immediate rapport. When VanRamblings sat as a member of Vancouver’s Board of Variance, there were any number of developers, architects and designers for whom the members of the Boards of Variance on which we sat, gained some deep affection. Did that affection ever translate into “a deal” for the avuncular, good-natured appellant appearing before the Board. Never!
VanRamblings would suggest the same thing is true with Mayor Robertson, and the members of his Vision Vancouver team. Sure, there’s a closeness between Mayor Robertson and Ian Gillespie — in 2011, when VanRamblings’ friend Mike Klassen ran for City Council with the NPA, when Michael and another NPA candidate entered the waterfront Fairmont Vancouver hotel owned and operated by Mr. Gillespie, both were unceremoniously ejected, in a rough process at that — but does Mr. Gillespie’s support of his friend Gregor Robertson translate into a rubber stamp for whatever development Mr. Gillespie brings before Council?
VanRamblings would suggest that the answer to the question above is an emphatic no! All you have to do is take a look at the Westbank development near 70th and Granville, where Mr. Gillespie got next to nothing from Gregor Robertson’s majority Vision Vancouver City Council, who mandated a significant reduction in density, much-reduced heights for the condominium towers Mr. Gillespie proposed, and a break-the-bank Community Amenity Contribution.
Far too easy and far too cynical to accuse our political masters — and the very strong and principled women who sit on Vancouver City Council — of corruption, or collusion with developers, many of whom are true visionaries and despite their wealth maintain an altruistic love for our city. Perhaps Mr. Bremner’s involvement with “his” prominent Vancouver-based developer supporter is innocent. Seems that the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association don’t think so — all of which means, yet another nail in the coffin of Mr. Bremner’s truncated NPA candidacy for Mayor.
2. Wet Behind the Ears
Or, Mr. Bremner is a novice politico, with little or no grasp of city files
Sources within the NPA administration have expressed concern that Mr. Bremner not only lacks gravitas at City Council, he seems to have little or no understanding of the files that come before him at Vancouver City Council, and seems unwilling (or unable) to learn. NPA sources have told VanRamblings “it’s not good enough that Hector skates by on charm and good looks — there has to be some there there and, quite frankly, we find him wanting, not seasoned enough by far.”
Lack of experience, a poor grasp of the files that come before Council, and a ‘style over substance’ Bremner candidacy had party officials concerned.
3. An ‘Incident’ at Council
Or, Mr. Bremner referred to a woman presenter to Council as a girl
At a May 2nd City Finance & Services meeting chaired by Councillor Heather Deal, co-founder of Good Night Out Vancouver, Stacey Forrester, made a presentation to Council, requesting funding from the city.
As may be heard at approximately the 59 minute, 13 second mark on the video of City Council’s standing CF&S committee meeting, Ms. Forrester introduces herself to Council, stating, “I am also a nurse by trade, having spent many years working in public health, and harm reduction, here in Vancouver,” referring to Good Night Vancouver as a “a pilot programme that has a street team roaming the Granville Entertainment District to help foster a safer environment for club and bar-goers during the area’s busiest hours, the first initiative of its kind in Canada.”
Ms. Forrester completes her address to Council at the 01:05:33 mark of the video of the CF&S meeting, after which Councillor Bremner begins his questioning of Ms. Forrester, stating …

“Thanks for the work that you’re doing. Councillor De Genova has stepped out, but her and I got a ride-along a couple of months ago in downtown, and we were there sort of overnight, and there we were, like, at two in the morning, and it was getting kinda late, and there was a girl, she’s about your age, and she was pretty drunk.

And the officers that we were with respond to the call, the establishment has kicked her out, she’s outside, she’s standing in the pouring rain, no jacket, she’s drunk, can’t find her ID, she doesn’t have her coat cheque, they won’t give her her jacket, it’s just turned into a whole mess.

And what I was surprised by, was struck by, really it came down to the VPD – who literally went out into the street – their flashlight flashed a cab, a cab came over, we put her in a cab. We sent her home.”

Do you see where the problem is — a problem identified by NPA members of Council — in Councillor Bremner’s rambling address to Stacey Forrester? A problem that caused enough concern to another Councillor sitting across from Mr. Bremner, that a tweet went out into the ether expressing astonishment and disgust that Councillor Bremner had just referred to a nurse presenting to Council as a “girl” — not a woman, but a girl.
Although the tweet has since been taken down, concern has been expressed to VanRamblings about Mr. Bremner’s conduct at Council, and the untoward nature of his referring to a woman with agency, as a girl.
One would imagine that there are some men out there, and perhaps some women, who would suggest that Councillor Bremner’s faux pas — unadmitted and not apologized for — is much ado about nothing. But that is decidedly not so for the women with whom we have spoken, who brought the video of the May 2nd City Finance & Services meeting to VanRamblings’ attention. The NPA Board of Directors are aware of the expressed concern.
4. A Legal Foofaraw
Or, Mr. Bremner insists a lawyer attend his Green Light Committee meeting
Applicants for a Vancouver Non-Partisan Association nomination must complete the filling out of a 51-page document. The Green Party of Vancouver employs a similar — but only 24-page — vetting document.
At the Friday afternoon meeting VanRamblings had with Mark Marissen, Mr. Bremner’s campaign manager, Mr. Marissen said …

“We had concern going in (to the Green Light Committee meeting). As you may be aware, at the last NPA AGM, Glen Chernen (ed. note, an approved NPA candidate for Mayor) placed a number of his people on the Board. Given the number of articles published recently where Glen Chernen has alleged a conflict of interest with Hector’s candidacy, and given the ties that HALT has to Glen, we all thought it best that Hector have a lawyer present for the meeting with the Green Light Committee.”

Sources close to the NPA Board told VanRamblings that the Board was “apoplectic” that Mr. Bremner wanted a lawyer present, that such a request is unprecedented in the party’s history (as it would be for the other Vancouver civic political parties, we have been told by representatives).
The Board of Directors fired off a letter to the Bremner team, a letter drafted by legal counsel for the Board, stating that “in the interests of procedural fairness” Mr. Bremner would not be allowed to have a lawyer present for the vetting process conducted by the party’s Green Light Committee. At this point, neither Mr. Bremner’s team, nor members of the NPA Board of Directors — or party members — were relieved or happy.
5. We Don’t Want Any of Them Damn, Di ….
Or, where Mr. Bremner’s concern about racism in the party derived
A couple of weeks back, Hector Bremner’s campaign manager, Mark Marissen, was called to a luncheon meeting with a well-heeled NPA supporter, long a fixture in the party’s infrastructure. According to Mr. Marissen, the person with whom he met expressed a concern about the “500 sign-ups by members of the Muslim faith” who were supporting Mr. Bremner’s bid for the NPA mayoral nomination. Marissen was aghast at the comments of this individual, he told VanRamblings at our Friday meeting.
In fact, sources close to the NPA expressed a similar concern to VanRamblings, not relating to any issue relating to race, but rather …

“We know that Hector has signed up 2000 new members,” an NPA insider told VanRamblings. “Our party’s concern isn’t with the ethnicity or racial makeup of the members Hector signed up — whether it be the 500 members of the Muslim faith, an equal or even greater number of members of Vancouver’s Asian population, or members of the evangelical community who have signed up in droves to support Hector — our concern is that, going forward, few of these new sign-ups are likely to play a role in the party, are unlikely to go door-knocking, man the phones, or play a role in the coming civic election campaign.

Many of Hector’s sign-ups not only have English as a Second language, they speak no English at all. The party feels that Hector isn’t trying to grow the party, but simply stuff the ballot box to secure the NPA nomination for Mayor. To the members of the Board, that’s a concern.”

Also of concern, NPA sources have told us, relates to a feared move of the party to the right, were Mr. Bremner to secure the NPA mayoral nomination, at a time and in an election cycle when the party is again trying to position itself, as it did in 2014, as the wider appeal New Progressive Association.”

Note should be made that none of the concerns expressed above were discussed with Mr. Bremner during his meeting with the NPA Green Light Committee, nor did any NPA Board members approach Mr. Bremner, at any time, to express such concerns to him directly.

Mark Marissen, political campaigner, energetic guy, affable, good-natured and ...

The affable and handsome political campaigner, Mark Marissen

Mr. Marissen rejects all the concerns expressed by NPA party members …

“Look, I didn’t initially come into this looking to work on Hector’s campaign. My candidate, and I thought he’d make a great Mayor, was Fred di Blasio, a high profile member of British Columbia’s indigenous community, a graduate of Queen’s College at Cambridge University, a Telus Vice President, and before that an AT&T VP. Fred’s happily married to Lana Parrilla, one’s of the stars of ABC’s Once Upon A Time TV series. Fred’s a good guy, and I thought he’d make a terrific Mayoral candidate — but after giving the idea much thought, he told me, ‘Not at this time, Mark’. And that was that, I thought, until …

“One day I heard Hector speaking at Council. I was impressed. I know Mike Wilson, who did a bang up job on Hector’s by-election win last year, and it got me thinking … since I’m in campaign mode, I thought to myself when listening to Hector, “Here’s a guy that could go all the way, and become Vancouver’s next Mayor’. So I signed onto Hector’s campaign, and I’m glad I did. Hector is a terrific candidate.”

Marissen’s primary concern relates to the unfairness of the process laid out by the Non-Partisan Association, many of whose members he has great affection for, he told me …

“Ray, you know as well as I, that the candidate who signs up the most members, and gets those members to the nomination meeting to cast their ballot, wins. Politics, in that way, is simple. When it comes right down to it, it’s a numbers game. And that’s the way it should have been. We signed up the most members, we would have gotten them out to the nomination meeting, and on May 29th, Hector would be the NPA’s Mayoral candidate. But it didn’t exactly work out that way, did it?”

At which point, Mark got up from his chair outside the Starbucks on Granville, shook my hand, a big smile washing over his face, predicting, “Hector’s going to be Mayor come October. Just you wait and see.” And then Mark disappeared into the crowd, and VanRamblings was left agog.
Over the course of the afternoon, another item came to the fore.

UPDATE | Hector Bremner posted the above on Facebook at 10am Monday, May 14th.
The NPA posted a confidential letter to Mr. Bremner this morning explaining the reasons WHY his nomination has been rejected by the party, allowing him to reveal the contents.

For Mark Marissen, there’s more than a taste, and a bitter taste at that, a feeling of déjà vu in the current contretemps his candidate is experiencing with “the old boys club” who run the affairs of the NPA, and a lingering resentment at the treatment his then wife, Christy Clark, was subject to when she put her name forward for the 2005 NPA Mayoral nomination.

VanRamblings is sympathetic to both sides in the current dispute between Mr. Bremner’s team, and the NPA Board of Directors — there are good people on both sides. Maybe, as Mark Marissen suggested, “the fix was in,” that John Coupar signed up 1250 members; Ken Sim, 1000; and Glen Chernen, reportedly, 750 members. Perhaps, in 2018, the NPA is looking to nominate a steadier hand as their Mayoral nominee.
Whatever the case, both sides to the dispute know that — at least in terms of political philosophy — there’s more that unites them than separates them. VanRamblings was looking for a “fair fight” come autumn, with the nominally right-of-centre Vancouver Non-Partisan Association on one side, and the coalition of Vancouver’s progressive parties — OneCity Vancouver, COPE, the Greens, Vision Vancouver and TeamJean — on the other side, both offering quite radically different platforms, but similar values of commitment to public life, leaving the decision as to the victors to the voting public, come Saturday, October 20th.
Alas. That’s not going to happen. Not that VanRamblings isn’t pleased that the ‘progressive parties” — now seemingly committed to the notion of a progressive coalition where all the parties in the coalition would agree on at least some tenets of a unified platform — look to emerge, together, as victors this coming autumn. No, we’re near ecstatic with what victory for Vancouver’s progressive coalition will mean for all Vancouver residents, and the provision of truly affordable social, housing co-op and co-housing; and a movement to expanded, and where necessary — as it must be for children aged 5 to 18, and Vancouver residents who live on an income below $40,000 a year — free transit, or at a much-reduced rate.
Final note. VanRamblings will provide both parties to the current right-of-centre dispute, the opportunity to have published here they’re reply to today’s column, or information either or both parties feel the voting public should or must know about the current dispute, heading into this autumn’s Vancouver civic election. And, oh yeah don’t forget: we’re here Monday to Thursday reporting out on Vancouver Votes 2018. See ya tomorrow!

Vancouver Votes 2018 | An Open Letter to Members of the NPA

May 10, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Hector Bremner alleges racist intent as reason for NPA rejection of his mayoral bid

As VanRamblings wrote yesterday, the Board of Directors of Vancouver’s longest serving civic party, the Non-Partisan Association, on Monday informed NPA Vancouver City Councillor Hector Bremner that his bid to become the party’s mayoral candidate had been rejected by the Board.
And, as we also wrote …

As you might well expect, Mr. Bremner, his family and his many supporters — both inside and outside of the party (sitting Vancouver School Board trustee, Lisa Dominato, is one such supporter) — were devastated at hearing the unwelcome news from their party’s Board of Directors.

Throughout the day Tuesday, VanRamblings heard reports that since hearing the unwelcome news Mr. Bremner was devastated, despondent and angry. Would Mr. Bremner simply sit back, and take the slight to his reputation as par for the course in political life, run once again for Council and live on to fight another day, or would he come out guns a blazing at what he considered to be the unfair decision of the NPA Board of Directors?
Late last evening, Vancouver politicos’ answer to that question came in the form of a blistering column penned by Susan Lazaruk for the Vancouver Sun, in which he accused the Non-Partisan Association Board, and the party itself, of lacking transparency, being stuck in an old “backroom boys mentality” and — most damaging of all to the NPA’s prospects of winning government at City Hall this upcoming October — ”displaying an anti-immigrant bias”, both in the selection and the vetting of their candidates for public office. Bremner’s allegations are explosive and unprecedented in the history of Vancouver municipal political internal party struggles.
VanRamblings will hold off on weighing in on the current NPA contretemps until Monday, when we will publish an expansive piece as response to the allegations being made by Mr. Bremner, and others, and the as yet undisclosed reasons why Mr. Bremner’s mayoral candidacy was rejected which, we understand, are quite as explosive as Mr. Bremner’s untoward allegations of racist bias in the operation of the internal mechanisms of decision-making within the windward Vancouver Non-Partisan Association.
For the record, as we wrote to well-known political operative Mark Marissen late last evening …

You know, Mark, I like a fair fight.

Whoever wins, wins. Sometimes the playing field isn’t level, sometimes the game is rigged, the outcome pre-determined and the result not fair. Sort of like the great Canadian game, hockey.

But, you know what? Life isn’t fair. We’ve both lived on this planet long enough to know that.

While I appreciate your linking to Dan Fumano’s April 27th article in The Sun, and I very much appreciate what Wade Grant has to say: for the record, I do not believe that (NPA Board of Directors Chair) Gregory Baker, (Park Board Commissioners) John Coupar, Sarah Kirby-Yung and Casey Crawford, (sitting NPA City Councillors) George Affleck, Elizabeth Ball and Melissa De Genova, (NPA School Board trustees) Lisa Dominato and Fraser Ballantyne, (current NPA mayoral nominee hopeful) Glen Chernen, and my friends Christopher Richardson and Robert McDowell — not to mention good and socially conscious folks like Kirk LaPointe and Peter Armstrong, despite the fact that they are all white, are racists.

Neither do I believe that the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association is a racist party and organization — the NPA may be many things the so-called “progressive forces” in Vancouver don’t like, but racist?

That’s not only an untoward suggestion, it is an outrageous — and we would suggest to you — completely and utterly unwarranted charge, based on the inclusive history of the NPA in selecting and championing the interests of their diverse candidates — Erin Shum, Jay Jagpal, Ken Low and Sandy Sharma running as NPA candidates in 2014, with Bill Yuen and Frances Wong running strong NPA campaigns for office in 2011 — and all of the other fine candidates representing the spectrum of communities that make Vancouver, Vancouver, civic election after civic election.

Based on what I know and what I have observed first hand — and, I bet, you have experienced and know about the members of the NPA, as well — the members of the various NPA Boards of Director, the members of the party, and the NPA candidates running for office comprise, as a group, and as a political organization, not only some of the finest political minds who have gifted Vancouver’s political landscape, but some of the finest, most heart-filled, and socially forward-thinking persons it has been my privilege to get to know.

I sleep better at night, and I enjoy my life more each and every day, knowing that fine folks like the ones whose names are mentioned above play a key role in the governance of our city.

I heard from various sources earlier (yesterday), that you — as Hector’s campaign manager — were acting as a moderating force to keep Hector’s worst instincts (sort of like keeping Trump’s worst instincts) at bay, that you had convinced Hector to play the long game, to live to fight another day (stacking the NPA Executive with your own people is a tried-and-true political tactic to gain control of an organization), that Hector would run in 2018 as a Council candidate, and come back guns a blazin’ in 2022 to take the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association by storm, take the Mayoral slot in a landslide, and go onto civic victory in October of that year.

I guess not. Not if you read the Vancouver Sun article.

Take a breath. As I wish that everyone on the so-called “progressive” side of Vancouver’s political landscape might get it together, and run candidates for office in some sort of informal ‘progressive coalition’, to forward their civic agenda.

Almost needless to say, and as you might well imagine, I wish the same thing for the nominally right-of-centre folks in the NPA and those who once saw the NPA as their political home.

Time to stop the infighting. Everyone involved in the current NPA fiasco — inside and outside the party — should seek to find peace and resolution, and mount a campaign that best serves the interests of the citizens of Vancouver. I mean, after all, isn’t that why you — and every one else you know who is politically engaged — dedicate yourself to public life?

VanRamblings writes about politics — municipally, provincially and federally, and in every other forum (our housing co-op governance has long driven us just crazy for its lack of true and respectful democratic engagement) — because we care desperately about democracy, and the right of the people to be truly engaged in the life of their city, province and nation.
The current internal political shenanigans troubling the Non-Partisan Association ill serve the interests of democracy. Oh sure, to seasoned politicos, the NPA’s political adversaries, and even to the casual observer, the current NPA contretemps all seems like so much fun and game playing in the old political corral, a perverse and voyeuristic look inside the malodorous internal workings of a political party riven with dysfunction.

Not to VanRamblings it doesn’t — not when there are life and death issues on the line: homelessness; maltreatment and the underserving of the interests of our most vulnerable citizens; continuing rampant poverty in our city that drains hope from those living in wont, and sees one in five children going to school hungry each day; a lack of affordable housing that constitutes a crisis in our city for tens of thousands of our citizens.
A transit and active transportation system that requires our close attention; the all-too-frequent displays in our city of racism and bigotry towards our Jewish population, and towards persons of colour and our immigrant and refugee populations; and perhaps most egregiously of all in 2018, a still seemingly unbreakable glass ceiling for women who live in our city, women who are still not safe walking alone in neighbourhoods in our the city, and on Vancouver streets whatever the time of day, whatever the circumstance.
Vancouver Non-Partisan Association: you’re better than this. Mr. Bremner and Mr. Marissen, you’re better than this. Seek to bridge the chasm that now separates you. Perhaps Board Chair Greg Baker needs to consider appointing an independent third party to look into Mr. Bremner’s allegations, the concerns of Mr. Grant, and others. The roiling battle within the NPA does no one any good, neither Mr. Bremner, nor your party.
As a political party offering candidates in the critically important 2018 Vancouver municipal election, you’re supposed to be our leaders, you’re supposed to be focused on making life better for those whom you propose to serve while elected to public office. The NPA’s internal dissension not only ill-serves your party, it ill-serves the interests of Vancouver’s citizenry.

Follow The Bouncing Ball, Where It Lands Nobody Knows

May 9, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

The evening of Monday, May 7th, 2018 was hardly a salutary one for Hector D. Bremner, sitting NPA Vancouver City Councillor, elected to office in a by-election to fill the vacant seat of Geoff Meggs (now Premier John Horgan’s Chief of Staff) on October 19th, 2017. Monday night, Mr. Bremner was informed by Gregory Baker, the President of the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association (NPA) Board of Directors, that despite his candidacy passing muster with the party’s Greenlight Committee — as Mr. Bremner states in his Facebook post below, the NPA Board rejected his candidacy, Mr. Baker stating to the MetroStar civic affairs reporter Jen St. Denis that he “disputed (Mr. Bremner’s) version of events.” (Baker) said the committee had serious reservations about Bremner, which the committee communicated to the board verbally. “They (the Greenlight Committee) discussed them at the board, and the board voted on them, and that was that,” he said. Mr. Bremner’s Mayoral candidacy was no more.

May 7 2018 | Hector Bremner NPA Mayoral candidacy | REJECTED

Mr. Bremner has accused the board of kneecapping his bid.
Hector Bremner has stated that an unnamed candidate had “stacked” the board (ed. note, one would have to think that Mr. Bremner is referring to his mortal enemy, Glen Chernen, whose NPA Mayoral candidacy is moving forward) and that even though the NPA’s Greenlight Committee agreed to move his name forward, “the board rejected their advice.”

“My team has tried to do the right thing at every step to keep moving forward in a positive direction, and signed up the most members to the NPA of all of the candidates, with over 2,000 supporters.”

But, again, Gregory Baker, disputes Mr. Bremner’s version of events. He continued to aver that “the committee had serious reservations” about Bremner, which the committee communicated to the board verbally. Mr. Baker has refused to expand on what “serious reservations” constitutes, and explain to the press, or to Mr. Bremner, what, exactly, that means.

“They discussed them at the board, and the board voted on them, and that was that,” he told the MetroStar’s Jen St. Denis.

Still, Mr. Bremner vows to fight on — what form that will take is yet to be decided — as he indicates in a Facebook post published Tuesday morning …

May 8 2018 | Hector Bremner NPA Mayoral nomination | REJECTED

As you might well expect, Mr. Bremner, his family and his many supporters — both inside and outside of the party (sitting Vancouver School Board trustee, Lisa Dominato, is one such supporter) — were devastated at hearing the unwelcome news from their party’s Board of Directors.

While Hector Bremner’s Mayoral candidacy would have proved a potent threat to victory for Vancouver’s progressive forces, in this year’s critically important civic election — given Mr. Bremner’s youth, his well-practiced Kennedy-esque presentation and his diversity marriage — a Hector Bremner Mayoral candidacy would have presented a similarly potent threat to the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association and the brand the NPA attempted to promote in the 2014 election and will again in 2018, that of the New Progressive Association, a socially forward municipal party still bent on lower taxes while providing service to the public — Hector’s ‘in the pocket of developers’ supply, supply, supply ethos and his, how do we say this, thickheadedness, would have proved death for a civic party doing its best to emerge from the electoral weeds, and resume power at City Hall.

John Coupar could very well become Vancouver’s next Mayor, come October 20th

That smiling face you see above (nice picture, by the way, John and City Councillor, George Affleck, who is John’s Mayoral campaign manager) is John Coupar, a current (and dare we say, outstanding) two-term member of Vancouver’s invaluable and necessary to the people of Vancouver, Park Board, on whom VanRamblings has written glowingly about, previously.
As the headline in Travis Lupick’s story published yesterday morning in The Straight states, the “NPA greenlights three potential candidates for mayor and rejects two others.” Once there were five, now there are three: the aforementioned Mr. Coupar; Glen Chernen (who if you didn’t click on the link on his name above, you should click here to learn a bit more about Mr. Chernen; and the corporate-backed businessman, and virtually unknown quantity (who we will seek to interview next week), Ken Sim, who — again for the record — still does not have a campaign website. Puh-leeze.
John Coupar, who is a nominally right-of-centre political figure, would relieve Vancouver’s often beleaguered “natural governing civic party” of their relatively recently-acquired reputation as a civic political party comprised of fire-breathing troglodytes, intent in locking up the homeless, throwing up towers willy nilly in your neighbourhood, and in the pocket of developers and foreign national interests who see Vancouver as the resort town of their dreams, the next Monte Carlo and a playground for the rich.
John’s candidacy, then, would provide the NPA with the opportunity to put their best foot forward, offering a Mayoral candidate of much wit and no little compassion — as we’ve written previously about Mr. John C. Coupar.

Campaign launch for Vision Vancouver School Board candidate, Aaron Leung

On Monday evening, at the kick-off for Vision Vancouver Aaron Leung’s sure-to-be-winning campaign for School Board, even former Vision Vancouver Park Board Commissioner and political adversary, Trevor Loke, had good things to say about the accomplished John C. Coupar.

“I like John,” Trevor Loke told VanRamblings Monday. “When we were on Park Board together, he worked hard, was passionate about parks & recreation issues, and the life of our city. We may be on opposite sides of the political fence, but I possess a great deal of respect for the man.”

As such, then, if you’ve visited John Coupar’s campaign website, and watched the video on the front page of his website introducing his campaign, and if you’ve read the VanRamblings piece, must suggest to you that a John Coupar Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Mayoral candidacy would present the greatest impediment for victory on October 20th, for whoever it is that emerges as Vancouver’s progressive parties’ — COPE, OneCity, TeamJean, Greens, Vision Vancouver — ”unity Mayoral candidate.”
Oh, did we forget to mention that John Coupar has a lock on the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association nomination, come Tuesday evening, May 29th at the Hellenic Hall (hey, Peter Armstrong, want to see what you can do about making sure there’s going to be some great food there that night)?
Or, that John Coupar’s and George Affleck and team’s sign-up of existing and new members, according to the affable Mr. Affleck, went swimmingly well, and much to the satisfaction of Mr. Coupar, Mr. Affleck, and now certain-to-be NPA Council nominee, a generational nominally right-of-centre candidate, current Park Board Commissioner, soon-to-be Vancouver City Councillor, and a future Premier of the province (we know, we know — we weep, too, that the BC NDP won’t always hold power in Victoria — but if it ain’t gonna be the NDP’s John Horgan or David Eby as British Columbia’s Premier, it darn well better be a real Liberal, or at least progressive Red Tory conservative, and populist of the first order, not to mention a person of principle, that you would find we would have in …) Sarah Kirby-Yung.
In terms of debate, and a reasonable and fruitful electoral discussion of where Vancouver is heading — at least in the near future, what the issues are that the opposing Mayoral candidates will prioritize during their term in office, and who will emerge as the political figure who best reflects the concerns of Vancouver voters clamouring for change — the shenanigans that occurred Monday evening and yesterday concerning Hector Bremner’s rejected NPA Mayoral candidacy, will at the end of the day prove to serve the best interests of Vancouver voters who’ll be heading to the polls this upcoming October autumn, with John Coupar as the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Mayoral candidate, and whoever in heck will emerge as Vancouver’s progressive party ‘coalition’s’ much-desired “unity candidate.”

Vancouver Votes 2018 | VDLC | Brokering a Necessary Civic Deal

May 8, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Over this past weekend, the Vancouver & District Labour Council held a one day conference, open to members of the labour movement, and Boards of Directors and candidates running with Vancouver’s five progressive civic parties — the Greens, OneCity, TeamJean, COPE and Vision Vancouver — Saturday’s Crossroads Conference, a plenary session designed to put 100 Vancouver politicos, and labour activists, in a large conference room together, at the Croatian Cultural Centre, and introduce them to each other, many of the participants meeting one other for the very first time.
Ben Bolliger (pictured above), a candidate for nomination for Vancouver City Council in the current election cycle, running with OneCity Vancouver — the civic party VanRamblings believes will emerge as the powerhouse political force in the 2018 Vancouver civic election — attended the critically important Crossroads Conference on this Saturday past, and was kind enough to speak with VanRamblings about his experience.
Listen to the audio above. See if you don’t come away impressed with the expressively optimistic & politically sophisticated Mr. Bolliger. Articulate? Ben’s picture may be found right next to the definition of the word in your dictionary (c’mon now, people still have those in their homes, don’t they?).
Ben is a Project Manager with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), having worked in public health now for four years, including having served as the Manager of the Project and Change Management office with Providence Health Care, where he worked extensively and in close contact with staff and the administration at metropolitan St. Paul’s Hospital.

Just a few of the very fine folks in OneCity Vancouver, who are working for you.

More, you want to know more about the affable and — ”Hey, I’m casting a ballot for Ben Bolliger at the advance Vancouver civic election polls in October, or on election day, Saturday, October 20th, aren’t you? You are? Good! — Ben Bolliger (the link, it’s Ben’s candidate website — really, honest, you should click on it, learn more about Ben, and then come right back here) is, as you may have gathered at this point, seeking a OneCity nomination for Vancouver City Council. Ben, a person of conscience.

Ben Bolliger, OneCity Vancouver nomination candidate for Vancouver City Council

Ben Bolliger, an avid cyclist and active transportation advocate

2018. Entering the political fray? Emerging as a difference maker? Nope, this isn’t Ben’s first visit to the farm. He’s been there as a graduate political science student focusing on First Nations history — in our nation’s capital, at the University of Ottawa — after which, Ben went on to work as a parliamentary assistant with late NDP leader, Jack Layton’s federal NDP.
In 2008, Ben moved to the west coast, settling in the West End. Ben, as may be seen in the rough and tumble photo above, is an avid cyclist, currently completing his second term as a member of the City of Vancouver’s essential Active Transportation Policy Council. Good for us.
Ben’s issues, the ones he is focusing on? How about: working collegially with his colleagues on Vancouver City Council, one of whom will most assuredly be fellow One City candidate, Christine Boyle; tackling Vancouver’s current affordable housing crisis — which means, of course, the construction of thousands of housing co-op units on city-owned land, on a 66-year lease, with no cost to taxpayers, given that developers will build the housing co-ops as part of Vancouver’s much-vaunted Community Amenities Contribution programme — as well as working with the federal and provincial governments, and businesses in our city, to continue the diversification of Vancouver’s booming economy, although an economy that continues to leave some Vancouver citizens out. Ben aims to fix that.
Addressing the issue of accessibility is also a key concern for Ben Bolliger — Ben is right when he says, “Vancouver must be a city for everyone.”
Conscientious, accomplished, ready to get to work for you, an elected official who will answer all calls placed to his office at City Hall, will respond to each & every e-mail, who will listen to your concerns, and take action to remedy those concerns, working with others to ensure remediation occurs.
And, if you get out there to support Ben’s candidacy — as you must — Ben Bolliger will emerge as a soon-to-be-elected public official who will be on your side, each and every day. Voters simply can’t ask for more than that, in 2018 or in any other year, when traveling to the polls to cast their ballot.