Category Archives: Vancouver

Vancouver Votes 2018 | Brokered Progressive Deal Set

June 6, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Stephen Von Sychowski, President of the Vancouver & District Labour Council | Deal brokered with five Vancouver progressive civic parties | No left vote-splitting VDLC President Stephen Von Zychowski announces a quintet of left-of-centre Vancouver civic parties have reached a brokered agreement-in-principle, that would see them work together to avoid vote splitting in the upcoming October municipal election.

On March 17th of this year, Vancouver & District Labour Council President Stephen Von Zychowski announced that the labour group that has has long played a role in local politics, would attempt to broker an arrangement among Vancouver’s five progressive parties — OneCity Vancouver, the Green Party of Vancouver, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, Vision Vancouver, and TeamJean 2018 — as to how many candidates each progressive civic party would run, with the aim of keeping the traditionally right-leaning Non-Partisan Association from winning power at City Hall.
On May 5th, representatives from the five Vancouver progressive civic parties met at the Croatian Centre — at an event called the Crossroads Conference — to see if it might be possible to hammer out a deal where combined Vancouver’s progressive parties would run no more than 10 candidates for Council, 9 candidates for School Board, and 7 candidates for Park Board, which represents the number of open seats on each civic body.
Last evening, the Vancouver & District Labour Council announced a brokered deal had been negotiated with the five progressive civic parties.
Anna Chudnovsky, a co-chairperson of OneCity Vancouver, said her party had agreed to limit the candidates it would run to two for Vancouver City Council, and three for Vancouver School Board.
Hypothetically, had an agreement not been reached, OneCity may have decided to run more candidates, she told Sun reporter Matt Robinson.
The purpose of the deals Ms. Chudnovsky told the Sun reporter was …

” … to indicate to voters that it is possible to defeat the NPA and other emerging right-wing forces in the city, and that voters can do that by following the recommendations of the Labour Council.”

Michael Haack, a Vision Vancouver co-chair, called the agreements a great deal both for his party as well as for progressive voters across the city. He said Vision had agreed to limit its candidates to five for Council, three for school board and two for parks.

“This agreement is really important because the issues that are facing Vancouverites are big enough that we need to keep working together to solve them with bold and progressive leadership,” Haack said.

The brokered deal came the day after the right-of-centre Non-Partisan Association members chose local entrepreneur Ken Sim to represent the party as its mayoral candidate in the upcoming October civic election.
If prospective Vision Vancouver mayoral aspirant Ian Campbell is nominated on June 19th to carry the party’s banner, and should he win the Vancouver civic election race, the party would retain control City Hall.
One would imagine that Vision Vancouver retaining a stranglehold on city governance likely won’t sit well with members of Vancouver’s four other progressive parties, but for the moment no left-of-centre civic party is weighing in on the prospect.
In a phone interview with Georgia Straight civic affairs reporter Carlito Pablo, the Green Party of Vancouver’s Pete Fry told The Straight that his party’s agreement with the VDLC involves three Green candidates each for council, school board, and park board.
Current Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr, Mr. Fry and Michael Wiebe, recent Park Board Chair, and current Commissioner, are widely expected to emerge as the Green Party’s candidates for Vancouver City Council.

In addition to Vision, OneCity and Green Party, the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the TeamJean 2018 activist group — named for 2017 Vancouver by-election candidate and community activist, Jean Swanson — are expected to sign respective agreements with the VDLC following meetings with members.
Informed sources tell VanRamblings that COPE will run two candidates for each of Council, Park and School Board, while TeamJean 2018 will run only a single Council candidate, likely Jean Swanson.
Seeking COPE nominations as Park Board candidates are SFU lecturer John Irwin and Gwen Giesbrecht, president of the Britannia community services centre’s board of management. Looking to run for school board are indigenous advocate Diana Day, and retired teacher Barb Parrott.
UBC planning professor Patrick Condon will likely make a run for Mayor, joining a crowded left-of-centre field that includes former Vision Vancouver board member Shauna Sylvester, now former Burnaby South NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, and Vision Vancouver mayoral nominee Ian Campbell. The Greens’ Adriane Carr is not expected to announce a run for Mayor.
The VDLC negotiated agreement will allow candidates for the five progressive civic parties to criticize one another.

Tickets, at $100, for COPE’s 50th anniversary celebration are available here.

Vancouver Votes 2018 | NPA Choose Their Mayoralty Candidate

June 4, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Ken Sim, The Once and Forever Saviour | Part 1
Forever Cagey Peter Armstrong Chooses NPA Mayoral Hopeful
Results of the Non-Partisan Association Mayoral nominee contest …

1. Ken Sim: 977 votes;

2. John Coupar: 602 votes;

3. Glen Chernen: 379 votes.

There were 2 spoiled ballots.

Novice political candidate Ken Sim chosen as 2018 NPA Mayoral candidate

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5th, VanRamblings will explain what the sub-headlines above mean for the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association, for Vancouver’s progressive parties, and for the voters of Vancouver.
On Tuesday, at the top of the column, we’ll also run newly-chosen Non-Partisan Association Mayoralty candidate Ken Sim’s victory speech.
Today, we’ll post the speeches for the three candidates vying for the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association Mayoral nomination. Order selected alphabetically, by surname, first up: Glen Chernen, who while dressed to the nines gave one of the best speeches we’ve ever heard him give. Not good enough for a victory, nor anything close to it, garnering only 20% of the nearly 2,000 votes cast, chances are Mr. Chernen will get to be the disruptor he wants to be as a Non-Partisan Association candidate for Vancouver City Council, where he’ll shake things in his inimitable fashion.
Introduced by NPA Board of Directors President, Gregory Baker …

3. Glen Chernen ask NPA party members to select him as their Mayoral nominee

Next up was the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association establishment candidate — not necessarily a bad thing, Mr. Coupar our favourite of the three NPA nomination Mayoral nominees, and the only one who spoke about affordable housing, the homeless, a culture policy for the city and support for the arts, and continuing the progressive initiatives undertaken by the current civic administration, while returning services to the people for which monies were either cut or eliminated, as a class issue of prominence for all persons of conscience, proper funding of renewal of our community centres, construction of pools, and ensuring more park space.
VanRamblings apologizes for the shaky camera work in the John Coupar video below. We’ll acquire a tripod soon to ensure steadier recordings of the 2018 municipal candidates for Vancouver civic office, going forward …

John Coupar seeks support from NPA members to become party’s Mayoral nominee

And here he is, the successful, winning candidate for the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association mantle for the party’s 2018 Mayoral nominee, Ken Sim, a novice candidate for political office, but an astute businessman, family man, life long Vancouver resident, who by this time next month will emerge as the single most-informed candidate for Mayor ever, after a series of tutoring sessions by 2014’s NPA Mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe, current Park Board Commissioners and in both cases likely Vancouver City Council candidates, John Coupar and Sarah Kirby-Yung, and a raft of NPA electeds and veteran party political politicos, who will turn Ken Sim into the winningest NPA candidate for Mayor this century.

Businessman Ken Sim emerged as the NPA’s 2018 Mayoral candidate, on June 3rd 2018
See ya back here tomorrow for analysis of what Mr. Sim’s win means.

Vancouver Votes 2018 | Erin Arnold for School Board Trustee

June 3, 2018BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Earlier this afternoon, VanRamblings attended the Erin Arnold campaign launch for Vancouver School Board, at Kitsilano’s General Gordon elementary school, where she is a Parent Advisory Committee member, and where her son Keegan attends Grade 5, today’s launch in support of Ms. Arnold’s bid to win a Vision Vancouver nomination for School Board.
At present, there are six candidates seeking a Vision Vancouver nomination for School Board. The nominating meeting to choose Vision’s 2018 candidates for School Board will take place this upcoming Sunday, July 8th.

Erin Arnold | Vision Vancouver campaign launch for School Board trustee

On the front page of Erin Arnold’s campaign website, Ms. Arnold writes …

“I spend a lot of time working on communities, bringing together as many different people with unique voices and experiences to find common ground and make the world a safer, stronger place for all of us.

Since 1998 I have worked for various ministries including Attorney General, Public Safety and Solicitor General, Children and Family Development, and Public Services Agency of BC. I also hold a certificate in complex trauma and child sexual abuse intervention, an undergraduate degree in Child and Youth Care Counselling, and have over 18 years of facilitation, victim services, and trauma based work experience. I have managed multi-year government contracts and assisted in drafting public policy on various progressive issues.

Difficult conversations will need to be navigated at the school board, and new voices will need to be represented. I have waded through many difficult conversations in my professional life, including as a Victim Services Program Manager, Family Services Social Worker, and Foster Home Recruitment Project Manager. Indeed, I’m not one to shy away from the tough conversations and I have a demonstrated ability to make wide changes at the municipal and other levels of government.”

Erin Arnold is Vice-President of David Eby’s Vancouver Point Grey NPD riding association, in addition to her work with the federal Vancouver Quadra NDP riding association. VanRamblings has worked with Ms. Arnold on all three of David Eby’s campaigns for office, where she played a key role, and on Scott Andrews’ 2015 Vancouver Quadra federal NDP campaign for office, where her humanity and people skills shone, where she was a daily inspiring presence, hard working, friendly and well-organized each and every day. To say that we’re over-the-moon with the announcement of Erin’s candidacy for School Board is to dramatically understate the matter.
VanRamblings wholeheartedly endorses Erin Arnold for School Board, as we know her to be an articulate, community-involved advocate for children, a woman of conscience, and a true community advocate and activist.

Support community activist & child advocate, Erin Arnold, for School Board trustee

Vancouver Votes 2018 | More and More Bizarro

June 3, 2018Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

As per Vancouver Courier civic affairs reporter Mike Howell’s May 25th story, VanRamblings was told yesterday by informed sources that Hector Bremner — current sitting City Councillor with the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association, who recently had his NPA mayoral nomination bid rejected by the party — will hold a press conference tomorrow morning, June 4th, informing the public that he is leaving the NPA to form a new civic party, to be called YesVancouver, for which he will be the party’s Mayoral candidate.

Let’s Fix Housing for the rich, with nary a thought to building social or affordable housing

As per Howell’s story, disgruntled NPA members Adrian Crook, Wade Grant and Scott de Lange Boom, who all intended to seek council nominations with the NPA, are expected to join Bremner. Reports are, as well, that Bremner’s new YesVancouver civic party will run a full slate of candidates for both Vancouver School Board, and Park Board — the star candidate for the latter civic body expected to be disaffected former NPA Park Board member Erin Shum, and current independent Park Board Commissioner.
All of the above comes as bad news for the Vancouver’s oldest and most established civic party, the Non-Partisan Association, who are holding their Mayoral nomination vote today at the Hellenic Hall, in the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood. The NPA and YesVancouver — both of them corporate parties, arms of the right-of-centre B.C. Liberal party, and largely developer-funded — look to knock each other out heading into the autumn civic election, voting day Saturday, October 20th, with former Vancouver South Conservative MP Wai Young looking to land a knockout blow to both the NPA and YesVancouver, for the right-of-centre conservative crown.
Ain’t politics luvverly in our town?

To make matters worse for the once beloved and still loved by many Non-Partisan Association, sources tell VanRamblings that current NPA members who will vote at today’s Non-Partisan Association mayoral nomination shindig, and who will officially join the nascent civic YesVancouver party tomorrow morning, plan on disrupting the announcement of the NPA’s 2018 mayoral candidate when the announcement is made by NPA President Gregory Baker, in full view of the gathered NPA party members, and more egregiously the media assembled at the Hellenic Hall to report out on the — let’s hope not booby prize — winner of the NPA 2018 mayoral nomination.
Left-of-centre political pundits and party members with the so-called “progressive parties” offering candidates in the 2018 Vancouver civic election — OneCity Vancouver, the Green Party of Vancouver, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, Vision Vancouver, and Team Jean — might set to thinking “Whoopee, the election is ours!“, but, nope, hold on a galldarn minute there, the progressive coalition seems, too, to have ridden off the rails spelling electoral disaster for the left-of-centre progressive parties who seem to be in just as much disarray as the right-of-centre evil-doers, with Vision Vancouver set to go it alone, as would appear to be the case with the Greens, all of which blows the notion of a progressive coalition to fight the evil-doers of Vancouver’s right-of-centre parties to smithereens and back.
Alas and woe is all of us, particularly bewildered civic voters of Vancouver who are set to cast a ballot at the polls this autumn civic election season.
Good thing then, one supposes, that 95% of Vancouver’s voting public could give a good galldarn about all the political shenanigans afoot this civic election season — more focused on going to the pub, falling in love (oh, the spring’s good for that), getting set for the start of the Vancouver Canadians 2018 baseball season, or focused on the Stanley Cup playoffs (yeah Ovechkin! — it’s your year … finally), or just setting about to live their lives, unconscious and socially bereft lives mind you, but lives nonetheless.

Happier times for newly-elected NPA Vancouver City Councillor Hector Bremner at a 2017 civic by-election celebration. The NPA Councillor’s mayoral hopes were dashed when the NPA Board rejected his candidacy in early May. But he seems to be landing on his feet. Photo by Dan Toulgoet, for the Vancouver Courier. Used without permission.

Maybe it is as former much-beloved Vancouver Sun civic affairs columnist Allan Fotheringham wrote each early summer for years — and as our friend Mike Klassen also wrote recently in his regular and often poignant and astute Vancouver Courier civic affairs column — summer is the silly season in politics, it’s just arriving quite a bit earlier than usual this unsettling year.