Tag Archives: andrea reimer

#BCPoli | #VanPoli | Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP Nomination Battle

#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Environment, Politics, Vancouver, , , , , , ,


Andrea Reimer and Christine Boyle. Candidates for the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination.

Three weeks from today, the remaining 300 members of the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP riding association will cast their ballots to choose who they wish to represent them in the upcoming October 19th provincial election.

Background as to membership numbers: when, in late 2022, Anjali Appadurai announced her intention to run for the leadership of the provincial NDP, 200 citizens who lived in the Vancouver-Fairview (now called Vancouver-Little Mountain) NDP riding signed up to support her candidacy — but did not renew their membership this past, or this, year, leaving 300 remaining voting members in the riding to cast a ballot in the current race to determine the provincial Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP candidate. In 2021, Ms. Appadurai had run as the federal NDP candidate in the riding of Vancouver-Granville, which shares borders with Vancouver-Fairview, thus was well-positioned to re-sign members during her provincial leadership bid.


Vancouver-Fairview MLA George Heyman will not seek re-election in the October provincial election.

In the lead-up to former three-term Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer announcing her Vancouver-Little Mountain New Democratic Party nomination bid, Ms. Reimer and her team were able to sign up a handful of NDP members in the riding to support her candidacy for the nomination, following George Heyman’s March 4th announcement that he would not seek a further term in the Legislature.

George Heyman endorsed Andrea Reimer at his retirement announcement.

Much to the surprise of political observers, current two-term OneCity Vancouver Councillor Christine Boyle announced her candidacy for the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination, within an hour of Ms. Reimer’s announcement.

Vancouver-Little Mountain membership was locked in early March, just prior to Andrea Reimer and Christine Boyle announcing their respective nomination bids.

After which, the NDP nomination race in Vancouver-Little Mountain was engaged.

Ms. Reimer’s Twitter announcement was followed by Ms. Boyle’s …

In the 10 days since their respective announcements, both Andrea Reimer and Christine Boyle have been active on the campaign trail …

Christine Boyle also tweeted out her work with volunteers on the campaign trail.

Both Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP candidates for nomination have active websites.


Each day on her website & on social media, Andrea Reimer has announced one or more endorsements.


When it comes to endorsements, nomination candidate Christine Boyle’s website hasn’t been as active.

Click on the Vancouver-Little Mountain Electoral Map [PDF] for finer detail.

So, where are we three weeks out from April 4th’s NDP nomination meeting?

Andrea Reimer has run a 24-hour-a-day, high energy, community-oriented and tightly focused campaign to gain the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination.

Christine Boyle has also been out on the campaign trail, but her commitment to gaining the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination has been hamstrung by her full-time job as OneCity Vancouver’s only member on Vancouver City Council.

Should Andrea Reimer secure the Vancouver-Little Mountain nomination, she is a lock to be appointed as British Columbia’s next Environment Minister this upcoming November, when a newly-elected Premier David Eby announces his new Cabinet. Both are can-do, no nonsense politicos, both are team players, and neither politician suffers fools gladly. David Eby prefers to appoint Cabinet Ministers in whom he sees a bit of himself — and that is certainly the case with Ms. Reimer.

Christine Boyle, should she secure the Vancouver-Little Mountain nomination will not be destined for Cabinet, but will most certainly secure a position as a Parliamentary Secretary. To some extent, Ms. Boyle — an Anjali Appadurai acolyte — while friendly with the Premier must be seen as something of a Trojan horse, who will in all likelihood emerge as a thorn in the side of the Premier, as she speaks out against fracking and the lack of progress on the development of the Little Mountain site between 33rd and 37th avenues along Main Street.

Note. There is much NDP support for the policy positions enunciated by Ms. Boyle.


Christine Boyle holding Vancouver School Board trustee Jennifer Reddy’s child in her arms

Of all the politicians across British Columbia, Christine Boyle has the most winning smile, and for many she is the most authentic political figure in Metro Vancouver.

While we support Andrea Reimer’s candidacy, we believe the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination is Christine Boyle’s to lose.

Not a day goes by when we don’t run across someone, or receive a call from an associate who sets about to extol Ms. Boyle’s many virtues — this recognition coming from persons from across the political spectrum. If you’re an old fogey like many of VanRamblings’ associates, you can’t help but look at Ms. Boyle and think, “If she were my daughter, I would be so proud of her.”

[A photo of Christine Boyle accompanies the word charming in the dictionary]

Clearly, Ms. Boyle has much support among younger, more activist NDP members.

Christine Boyle’s campaign for the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination has been less high profile than that of Andrea Reimer. But does it really matter?

All Christine Boyle needs to do is secure the support of one hundred and fifty-five Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP members to win the nomination.

We imagine that Ms. Boyle has found herself on the doorstep of each riding association member, and been invited inside for a cup of tea, and a warm chat, whereupon Christine Boyle without any effort on her part at all, has charmed the socks off the riding members in whose homes she finds herself, who will invariably be impressed at her deep knowledge of the issues, her presentation of self as an advocate for the change we all want to see, and perhaps the most authentic political figure Vancouver-Little Mountain riding members will have ever encountered.

A winning combination that.


The 2017 by-election expense document published by Vancouver’s City Clerk’s office.

The only potential fly in the ointment of Christine Boyle securing the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination arises as a consequence of the near million dollar expense to the citizens of Vancouver should she secure the nomination, and go on to attempt to win a seat in the government of Premier David Eby.

Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle upon securing a second term of office on Saturday, October 15, 2022 to City Hall, committed to representing those who elected her to office for the full four years of the mandate she had been given.

Given the cut and thrust of politics, one is left to wonder — should Christine Boyle secure the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination — how she would fare in the upcoming provincial general election, when confronted by her B.C. United, B.C. Conservative and Green party opponents, who would surely call her out on her failure to complete her elected term of office, and the consequent million dollar by-election expense that would ensue, in service of her ambition they might well say.


Andrea Reimer. Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP candidate? B.C.’s next Environment Minister?

Perhaps Andrea Reimer’s high profile campaign to secure the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination, her many, many endorsements and her active participation in the community — and, let’s face it, her overall competence —  will carry the day, and come the evening of Thursday, April 4th, Andrea Reimer will emerge as the chosen candidate, the Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP candidate who will go on to victory on E-Day, Saturday, October 19th —  where soon after, Andrea Reimer will become British Columbia’s next, much admired Environment Minister.

#BCPoli | David Eby | Pre-Election | Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

BC Politics, Politics, , , , ,


Selina Robinson announces that she is resigning from the BC NDP caucus to sit as an Independent

Age Old Maxim | A Week is a Lifetime in Politics | The Personal is Political

Yesterday afternoon —  former British Columbia Finance Minister Selina Robinson in the administration of Premier John Horgan, and when removed from that post when the BC NDP caucus unanimously moved to make David Eby the leader of the party and British Columbia’s 37th Premier — resigned from the BC NDP caucus to sit as an Independent, citing anti-semitism within the BC NDP caucus.

From Katie DeRosa’s story in The Vancouver Sun …

Selina Robinson, B.C.’s most prominent Jewish politician, said she’s leaving the B.C. NDP caucus over concerns it hasn’t done enough to fight antisemitism among fellow MLAs.

The bombshell announcement Wednesday comes a month after Robinson was forced to resign from cabinet after public backlash to comments that Israel was founded on a “crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”

Robinson said she talked to the NDP caucus last week and then Premier David Eby today about instituting antisemitic and anti-Islamophobia training for all MLAs and opportunities to create a dialogue between the Jewish community and Palestinian and Arab communities amid the division created by the Israel-Hamas war.

Robinson said she was rebuffed.

“That’s really the work that we should be doing. But right now, government isn’t interested in doing that work.”

That’s what led Robinson to decide she “can’t continue to be the only voice speaking up against antisemitism and hatred.” She will sit as an Independent.

Selina Robinson means to burn some bridges on the way out — as Keith Baldrey pointed out on Global BC’s Newshour at 6 — with the release of a “blistering letter” condemning her colleagues for not doing enough to combat anti-semitism.

Says Baldrey, “(Selina Robinson) calls out and names seven of her fellow NDP MLAs for either anti-semitic actions or controversial comments concerning the Jewish community. These are explosive allegations.”

Selina Robinson ends the letter [pdf] to her now former colleagues, writing …

The nine NDP colleagues Ms. Robinson names, and accuses of anti-semitism, either by commission or omission, or she deems to be otherwise unsupportive …

  • Aman Singh | Parliamentary Secretary for Environment
    MLA for Richmond-Queensborough;
  • Katrina Chen | MLA for Burnaby-Lougheed;
  • Mable Elmore | Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives
    MLA for Vancouver-Kensington;
  • Niki Sharma | Attorney General
    MLA for Vancouver-Hastings;
  • Lisa Beare | Minister of Post-Secondary and Future Skills
    MLA for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows;
  • Jennifer Whiteside | Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
    MLA for New Westminster;
  • Jagrup Brar | Minister of State for Trade
    MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood;
  • Janet Routledge | Parliamentary Secretary for Labour
    MLA for Burnaby North;
  • Ronna-Rae Leonard
    MLA for Courtenay-Comox

Make no mistake — whether Premier David Eby, his Chief of Staff, Matt Smith, or any of the Premier’s senior advisors choose to acknowledge such — less than 8 months out from the October 19th provincial election, the British Columbia New Democratic Party is in crisis, perhaps not so great as to cost them the election (although, it’s still early), but in bad enough shape with Selina Robinson’s announcement, are now set to win far fewer seats than most polls have predicted to date.

We’ll know the fall-out from the current NDP fiasco when new polling is released.


B.C. United party leader, Kevin Falcon, gleeful at the fortuitous turn of events for his party

The beneficiary of Selina Robinson’s announcement? B.C. United leader, Kevin Falcon, who with Ms. Robinson’s announcement on Wednesday effectively doubled the party’s probable seat count come election night.

Voters won’t vote for a divided party, for a party in crisis or disarray, a party focused on internal politics and not the business of the people.

Examples are legion.


Former Social Credit party leader, and Premier of the province of British Columbia, Bill Vander Zalm

After 36 years in power, from 1952 to 1991, with a brief three-year NDP interregnum from 1972 – 1975, British Columbia’s Social Credit party held the reins of power in Victoria. When the party fell into dysfunction, disorder and vicious internal in-fighting, with the forced resignation of then Socred Premier Bill Vander Zalm mid-term, in 1991 the Socreds lost 40 out of 47 seats, the Social Credit party dying soon after, never again to be seen on the B.C. political spectrum.


Sam Sullivan, one-term Non-Partisan Association, Mayor of the City of Vancouver, 2005 – 2008

In Vancouver, prior to the 2002 municipal election, Jennifer Clarke stole the Non-Partisan Association Mayoral nomination away from popular, sitting NPA Mayor Philip Owen. Ms. Clarke lost her bid to become Mayor in a landslide vote for novice COPE Mayoralty candidate Larry Campbell, the NPA losing 7 of their nine seats, all 7 of those seats won by COPE candidates for Council. The same thing happened to the NPA in 2008, when Peter Ladner took the NPA Mayoral nomination away from sitting Mayor Sam Sullivan. The NPA lost five of their 6 seats on Council.

Premier David Eby has to get his government’s house in order if the New Democratic Party plans on holding power post October 19, 2024.

If David Eby thinks his self-serving, off-putting, scurrilous, poorly conceived “Selina made a mistake” note above will go any way to resolving his and his government’s dispute with Selina Robinson, he’s dreaming in washed out shades of grey.

Anything short of an apology to Ms. Robinson, and the province, won’t do.

Note from VanRamblings: “It’s time to be a mensch, Mr. Premier. You like women. You trust women. You’re a good man. For the sake of your government, and in the interest of the people of British Columbia, you will have to get over of your barely concealed animus for Ms. Robinson, and do right be her. Nothing less will do.”

A Litany of Self-Inflicted, Own Goal BC NDP Disasters


Andrea Reimer, Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP nomination candidate & future Environment Minister

The roll-out of the campaign to elect Andrea Reimer — a certain future Minister of the Environment, should the NDP be re-elected in October — was little short of a disaster, with the unexpected entry of a sitting Vancouver City Councillor in the, now, race to secure the nomination in Vancouver-Little Mountain.


Mitzi Dean, one in a long line of failed British Columbia Ministers of Children and Family Development

Former Minister of Children and Family Development Mitzi Dean’s failure to keep an eye on her Ministry, as two Indigenous children in Chilliwack died on her watch.

The ongoing — not slated to end anytime soon — weeks’ long, badly mishandled by the Premier melodrama of former BC NDP Finance Minister Selina Robinson’s — for whom there is no love loss between the two, on either side — unfortunate and regrettable leave-taking from, first, Cabinet where she was Minister Responsible for Post Secondary Education, and now from the party itself … what a godawful, effin mess … that reflects badly on the Premier, his caucus and his government.

VanRamblings will have more to say on the matter, in the days to come.

A final, kind of sad note: yesterday, March 6th was Selina Robinson’s 60th birthday.

#VanPoli | Battle Royale | Come One, Come All To the Distaff Fight of the Century

#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, ,

The BC NDP being the finely-tuned machine that they are, yesterday morning following the announcement of the decision by British Columbia’s current Environment Minister George Heyman to not seek re-election in the upcoming October 19th provincial election, Mr. Heyman introduced past three-term Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer as his, and the New Democratic Party’s, chosen candidate to run in the newly-created riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain.

This was a textbook roll-out of a campaign for a BC NDP nomination.


Andrea Reimer, NDP candidate for nomination in the newly-created riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain

Given the problems the BC NDP have suffered the past couple of months — Mitzi Dean’s removal as Minister of Children and Family Development due to incompetence, and the resignation / firing of former Finance Minister Selina Robinson, arising from recent intemperate remarks she made respecting the Hamas-Israeli war — the BC NDP were looking for an unimpeded good news announcement to get their re-election campaign underway on an upbeat note.

And all went well … for an hour.


Endorsements, clockwise: former BC NDP Minister, Melanie Mark; noted environmentalist, Tzeporah Berman; community organizer, Tessica Truong; Squamish Nation Chairperson, Khelsilem

Endorsements rolled in, the party had created a first-rate campaign video featuring Joy McPhail, an impressive ‘Andrea Reimer for Vancouver-Little Mountain’ website was up and on the web almost immediately (if faulty for part of the day), the response to Ms. Reimer’s candidacy almost universally supportive, praising, respectful and hopeful.

Here was the BC NDP with a first-rate candidate for office, a pol of the first order, and a much loved community organizer. The BC NDP and almost all of its supporters were over-the-moon. What a great and glorious day to behold!

An aside

Life in politics isn’t easy. As became abundantly clear in the first half of the video interview with Naomi Klein, on the VanRamblings post we put up yesterday, those with opinions, and those in the public eye are often the subject of vicious commentary. The press weighs in, and are often unkind in their commentary, even if not meaning to be such. Then there are ne-er-do-wells like that Raymond Tomlin character and his VanRamblings blog — well, we all know he’s a scandal and rumour-monger, and any commentary he makes is to be derided and studiously avoided.

We will say at this point that VanRamblings is the subject of an injunction which prevents us from writing about Vancouver City Councillor, Christine Boyle. Tossing caution to the wind, and despite the possibility of VanRamblings being thrown into the hoosegow, we will today write about the esteemed Ms. Boyle, despite the dire consequences it may bring to our personal safety, and freedom to move about.


A OneCity Vancouver poster for Christine Boyle’s 2018 candidacy for Vancouver City Council

Upon being elected to Vancouver City Council in 2018, Christine Boyle found herself turning to Andrea Reimer, a successful three-term Vision Vancouver City Councillor, who mentored Ms. Boyle, and over the years became a confidante and something of a mother confessor. Both Ms. Reimer and Ms. Boyle had sat as City Councillors, both are women of some note, both are relatively young yet well-experienced, both share much in common. Ms. Reimer became a sympathetic ear for Ms. Boyle, and a source of valued input and counsel for the novice Councillor.

To say that Ms. Reimer and Ms. Boyle are close would be to understate the matter.

Imagine the surprise, then — to Andrea Reimer, the BC NDP, Premier David Eby and Environment Minister George Heyman, and many others — when within an hour of the announcement of Andrea Reimer’s BC NDP-endorsed candidacy in the riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain, current Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle announced her candidacy to seek the Vancouver-Little Mountain BC NDP nomination!

As we wrote to friends yesterday, “There is no honour in politics.” Sadly.

VanRamblings figures that Andrea Reimer — on one of the best days of her life — must feel devastated. We figure, too, that there are those within the BC NDP — particularly those who were involved in the meticulous roll-out of Andrea Reimer’s BC NDP candidacy in the newly-created riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain — who are feeling a degree of disappointment and anger, directed at Christine Boyle.

From Katie DeRosa’s article in The Vancouver Sun, on the nomination battle …

(Andrea) Reimer has been involved with the NDP riding association for Vancouver-Fairview for years and is now on the executive of the Vancouver-Little Mountain riding.

“George asked me to consider taking it on when he stepped down,” said the 52-year-old.

Reimer said she has first-hand experiences with the gaps in the system, as she spent time as a youth living on the streets and has been renovicted from rental homes more than a dozen times. Reimer was adopted at six months old and only discovered her Cree and Métis ancestry in 2015.

“I’ve dedicated my life to closing gaps,” said Reimer, who is now an adjunct professor of practice at UBC’s school of public policy and global affairs.

Reimer said during her time on council she was able to garner support for “world-leading” policies such as renewable energy strategies and pushed for Vancouver to become one of the first local councils to back the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

(Note: We were kidding about the injunction respecting writing about Vancouver City Councillor and BC NDP Vancouver-Little Mountain nominee candidate, Christine Boyle. Although, truth-to-tell, we sometimes wonder, given the vitriol to which we are subject whenever we write about the good Ms. Boyle).

Let us state for the record: Christine Boyle has every right to seek the BC NDP Vancouver-Little Mountain nomination — and, we imagine, feels an obligation to do so, otherwise she would not have put her name forward for nomination.

Councillor Boyle has served her constituents well and with honour in her five years in elected office at Vancouver City Hall. Hers is a voice of compassion and of community, and if we might be so bold as to say so, “fighting for the little guy,” the most recent example? Her (sadly, unsuccessful) work to reinstate the Livable Wage Policy at Vancouver City Hall.

From Katie DeRosa’s article in The Vancouver Sun, on the nomination battle …

(Christine) Boyle, a United Church minister and a social justice advocate who spent years working on the Downtown Eastside, was endorsed by veteran federal NDP MP Libby Davies.

She said it was unusual that Heyman endorsed Reimer but said she doesn’t think that will be a hindrance in the nomination race. Boyle worked on Heyman’s team when he was competing against former Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs for the nomination in 2012.

Boyle, who considers Premier David Eby a personal friend, said she has a long history with the riding. She was born and raised in the riding, where her parents still live, and was heavily involved in advocating for those who lost their homes when the Little Mountain social housing complex was demolished.

Boyle, the most left-leaning member of Vancouver council, pushed for Vancouver council to declare a climate emergency and for the city to ramp up its emission reductions efforts. She’s also been a strong proponent for more affordable housing and higher density buildings in residential neighbourhoods.

Boyle said she and Reimer share many of the same values which is why “I do think it’s unfortunate that we’re running against each other.”

“When people look from the outside I think they see conflict,” Reimer said. “But from the inside in politics, nomination (races) between two strong candidates is a sign that your party is very healthy.”

Imagine Ms. Boyle’s desire, if you will, to be a Member of the Legislature within a BC NDP government that sets about —  as has consistently proved to be the case —  to implement Ms. Boyle’s most cherished personal and political goals, to be an unfettered part of change for the better, in a government that means to do well.

For less colourful coverage of the upcoming battle for the British Columbia New Democratic Party nomination in the Vancouver-Little Mountain riding, you’ll want to read Katie DeRosa’s thorough and even-handed coverage in The Vancouver Sun.

As Ms. DeRosa writes, “The nomination vote will take place in April.”

VanRamblings wishes Christine Boyle and Andrea Reimer the best of good fortune in their quest to secure the Vancouver-Little Mountain nomination.

History. Tomorrow on VanRamblings, a related 1979 nomination battle. You’ve got to organize to win.