Two months from today, late in the evening of Saturday, October 15th, Vancouver voters will have elected a new civic government to a term in office, extending through until 2026, in the most critically important civic election in fifty years.
In the 2018 Vancouver municipal election — which saw Vision Vancouver swept from office after 10 years in power at Vancouver City Hall — voters were asked to choose between seventy-one candidates vying for ten City Council seats, a record number of candidates in a Vancouver civic election, and reportedly the largest — and certainly most confusing — voting ballot ever compiled in any Canadian city.
Come October, when advance polls open, the civic ballot may well be even larger.
Today on VanRamblings, in the first of 30 or so columns we’ll publish leading up to the October 15th municipal election, we’ll provide a brief introduction to the 10 political parties which have registered candidates for office in Vancouver in 2022.
Note: Mayor Kennedy Stewart and all 10 City Councillors are seeking re-election.
The deadline for nominations is September 9, so more candidates could be added.
Over the course of the next two weeks, VanRamblings will provide in-depth insight into each of the political parties, their policies, and what the selection of the candidates for each party would portend for the post October 15th four year period.
VanRamblings columns will be informational, but also — as per usual in our writing — pointed and snarkily opinionated to, we hope you’ll find, an entertaining degree. With a couple of exceptions, we’re not going to go after candidates — given that we have much respect for those who come forward to offer themselves up for public service — but will provide our usual idiosyncratic, dare we say caustic take on the 10 political parties serving up candidates for your appreciative delectation.
Suffice to say, what you’ll read on VanRamblings, you’ll find nowhere else.
VanRamblings will also provide insight into each of the five Mayoral candidates — yes, there are once again five Mayoral candidates seeking office in Vancouver’s 2022 civic election, with the NPA choosing Fred Harding as their new standard bearer, after longtime Park Board Commissioner John Coupar stepped down 9 days ago — and what their election to the Mayor’s chair would portend for the woebegotten, too often beleaguered and much put upon citizens of Vancouver.
The 10 Vancouver Civic Parties Offering Candidates in 2022
Forward Together (Mayor + 3 candidates): The name of the new party led by Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who is seeking re-election. Software engineer Russil Wvong; Harvard and MIT graduate Dulcy Anderson (someone whom we really like, having worked with her often in her capacity as Vancouver Point Grey MLA David Eby’s senior constituency assistant); and educator and accessibility advocate, Hilary Brown, are their Council candidates, with more potentially to be added.
ABC Vancouver (Mayor + 7 candidates): Sitting Vancouver City Councillors, elected in 2018 as NPA (Non Partisan Association) candidates, Vancouver East’s Rebecca Bligh, who sits on the Selection Committee at CIty Hall vetting candidates for the 33 advisory committees at City Hall; former School Board trustee and in her time working in the Ministry of Education in Victoria worked to create the SOGI programme, the inimitable Lisa Dominato; and long one of VanRamblings’ favourite electeds, the quite spectacular Sarah Kirby-Yung (you can thank her for the business-saving restaurant patios we all enjoy), are seeking re-election under the ABC banner in 2022, and are joined on the ballot by VanRamblings’ very good friend (and webmaster), Mike Klassen; former online news producer and reporter with Global B.C., Peter Meiszner; former VPD spokesperson, Brian Montague;Manager of Operations Engineering, at B.C. Children’s Hospital, Lenny Zhou.
Ken Sim, who came in a close second in 2018, is ABC’s candidate for mayor.
Note should be made that VanRamblings will endorse ABC candidate Christopher Richardson — the finest man we know — for School Board. We’ll also be writing a feature piece, between now and election day, on the estimable Mr. Richardson.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver (Mayor + 6 candidates): TEAM (The Electors’ Action Movement) candidates for Vancouver City Council include former Vancouver Green Party Council candidate Cleta Brown, a former director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and a lawyer and investigator for British Columbia’s Ombudperson’s office; next, one of VanRamblings’ favourite candidates for a City Council seat in 2022, a director of the Fairview/South Granville Action Committee, recent Simon Fraser University MBA graduate, a bright, sharp as a pin advocate for neighbourhood community involvement in decision-making at Vancouver City Hall (in this neck of the woods we say: a social democrat), personable, possessed of humility (a political prerequisite for office, we believe), and as welcoming an individual as you’d ever want to meet, who would make — let’s face it — a great Vancouver City Councillor, the quite spectacular and must-elect Vancouver City Council candidate, the spectacularly talented Sean Nardi; in addition to Cleta and Sean, there’s a housing industry entrepreneur, par excellence, who has an abiding interest in green issues and fighting climate change, and will focus his campaign for office on housing affordability, business innovation, community wellness, and the underfunded and too often under supported arts community … Param Nijjar.
And let us not forget the no-nonsense Grace Quan, President and CEO at Hydrogen In Motion(H2M), and well … just read her LinkedIn profile to gain insight into why Ms. Quan is a must-elect for Vancouver City Council in 2022; Stephen P Roberts, who as Chief Operating Officer of a regional division in global investment banking managed multi-million dollar budgets and hundreds of staff, while heading up legal and compliance oversight, a longtime oenophile (i.e. a lover and connoisseur of wine), and ready to get to work post October 15th working on your behalf as a neighbourhood, community and dedicated environmental advocate; and last, but certainly not least, VanRamblings’ “next door neighbour” (he lives in the strata next door and to the west of VanRamblings’ housing co-op), longtime community advocate and just a general, all around fine human being, Bill Tieleman — another must, must, must elect to Vancouver City Council — the Director of Communications at the B.C. Federation of Labour in the 1980s, Director of Communications in the Glen Clark NDP government of the late 1990s, baseball fan (it’s a given that if you’re a social democrat, you must love baseball), and oenophile, as well, who has his own wine connoisseur website, WineBarbarian.ca
Sitting Vancouver City Councillor Colleen Hardwick is TEAM’s must, must elect candidate for Vancouver Mayor (about which we will go into detail another time).
Progress Vancouver (Mayor + 2 candidates): The name of one of the many (and fairly anonymous) new Vancouver civic parties — we’ll see if they register with voters in 2022 — this seeming passionate / vanity political project was created and is led by longtime federal Liberal political apparatchik, the handsome and gregarious, Mark Marissen who, after creating the YES Vancouver civic party in 2018 (Hector Bremner was their Mayoral candidate, the party barely registering at the polls that election year), decided to run for Mayor under the Progress Vancouver banner in 2022. So far, the party has announced two Council candidates, Mauro Francis, who defected from the NPA when John Coupar stepped down / was pushed out by the Board as the NPA’s Mayoral candidate, and standard bearer; and 2017 NDP candidate in Vancouver False Creek (who up until the last poll came in seemed certain to defeat former Vancouver Mayor, Sam Sullivan), Morgane Oger, a human rights advocate, former Chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council, who sits on the City of Vancouver’s LGBTQ2+ Advisory Committee. VanRamblings likes, respects and admires Ms. Oger, who’ll definitely be on our recommended list come voting day.
Non-Partisan Association (Mayor + 5 candidates): The poor, poor NPA. Seemingly a lost cause in 2022, despite their 45 years in power at Vancouver City Hall, dating back to the party’s conception in 1937. Incumbent Vancouver City Councillor, Melissa De Genova is seeking re-election and in 2022 is joined on the ballot by Elaine Allan, Cinnamon Bhayani, Ken Charko, and Arezo Zarrabian, all of whom we kind of like, if truth be told. John Coupar was the NPA’s Mayoral candidate, but no more. Fred Harding, Vancouver First’s Mayoral candidate in 2018 (he barely registered on voting day), will be announced today as the NPA’s replacement Mayoral candidate.
The Vancouver Green Party candidates for Vancouver City Council, School Board and Park Board
Green Party (5 candidates): A couple of weeks back, incumbent Vancouver City Councillor Pete Fry (who we believe will be re-elected to Council in a walk) introduced us to new VanGreen City Council candidate, Stephanie Smith (no, not that one … she’s pictured on the left above), a longtime labour and social justice activist who lives in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and is currently President of the Lore Krill Housing Co-op. We’re going to write a feature piece on Ms. Smith next month, but suffice to say for now that the entirely spectacular must-elect to Council Stephanie Smith is our favourite candidate for City Council in 2022.
Stephanie Smith is joined by incumbent City Councillors Adrianne Carr, Pete Fry (see above) and Michael Wiebe, as well as the outstanding Devyani Singh, all of whom we’ll be dedicating a grab bag column to at some point next month.
COPE (4 candidates): Incumbent Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson — who VanRamblings will be endorsing for Council come October — is seeking re-election. In 2022, she is joined on the ballot by Breen Ouellette, Nancy Trigueros and Tanya Webking, all of whom we look forward to seeing on the campaign trail.
OneCity Vancouver (4 candidates): One of the two Vancouver civic parties you must not vote for in 2022, run, run, run as fast as you can and far, far away from the Cult of Christine Boyle (she’s a current Vancouver City Councillor who you must not re-elect in 2022; we’ll explain why another time). Joining Ms. Boyle on the ballot in 2022 are more must not elect newcomers to civic politics: the ever “woke” crew of the reality-denying Iona Bonamis, Ian Cromwell and Matthew Norris.
OneCity Vancouver aka The Cult of Christine Boyle is not running a Mayoral candidate in 2022, but will support Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s re-election.
Note, in passing: VanRamblings will enthusiastically support the re-election of Jennifer Reddy as a OneCity Board of Education trustee, and her outstanding colleague, Kyla Epstein, who we will champion (even if, as it appears, she doesn’t want us to … alas). We may endorse more OneCity School Board candidates.
Vision Vancouver (4 candidates): Hey, you thought they were dead? Naughty, naughty. Nope, Vision Vancouver is back with a vengeance in 2022, despite being unceremoniously ejected from civic office in 2018, this time out offering the Council candidacies of physician Honieh Barzegari (“hey, Canadian and B.C. governments: make it possible for Ms. Barzegari to continue in her profession as a family doctor, in Canada”); the don’t mess with her, longtime Vision Vancouver supporter, and outstanding communications specialist (and sort of impressive, we think) Lesli Boldt; current Park Board Chair and lifelong Green, Stuart Mackinnon (one of the two candidates running for office in 2022 you must not vote for under any circumstance); and Kits resident, parent of two teens, former CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association and Chair of the BC Rental Housing Coalition, Kishone Roy. As is the case with OneCity Vancouver, a re-constituted Vision Vancouver is not running a Mayoral candidate in the current Vancouver municipal election, but instead will support the re-election of a hapless Mayor Stewart.
Note should be made that VanRamblings will enthusiastically support, and endorse, three Vision Vancouver School Board candidates: Aaron Leung, Steve Cardwell and Allan Wong, about whom we will write at some greater length during this civic election cycle.
Vote Socialist (1 candidate): New political party without a mayoral candidate.
Some days, there is no greater joy to be derived than reading Sean Orr’s long running column, Tea and Two Slices in Scout Magazine, founded by the late Andrew Morrison some two decades ago. Tea and Two Slices, and its author, Sean Orr, offer an anarchic but utterly humane (and often riotously funny) take on the issues of the day. In 2022, Sean has made a decision to transfer his words in print onto the political stage, as a truth teller ( an angry truth teller, but still …).
Unfortunately, and sad to say, Sean Orr is no Kshama Sawant, a Seattle City Councillor who ran for office in 2013 on a simple, achievable $15-an-hour minimum wage plan, ensuring a livable base wage rate for low paid workers. At the time, everyone thought she was mad, as she eked out a victory at the polls, defeating a longtime right-of-centre incumbent. In 2015, a $15-an-hour wage plan was passed by Seattle City Council, and implemented, Sawant’s “idea” proceeding to spread like wild fire across the United States, and across Canada. In 2022, a minimum wage of $15 and hour (or more; in B.C. , it’s $15.65, and due for a raise next June) was implemented in 2017, when the B.C. NDP formed government.
Sean Orr is Vote Socialist’s sole Council candidate for Vancouver City Council.
Although, Sean Orr’s prospects may not be good, the same cannot be said of Andrea Pinochet-Escudero, who VanRamblings will be endorsing as a Park Board Commissioner, to hold office over the next four years, should she win her bid for office, on October 15, 2022.
Note: In 2018, 26 Independents ran for office, while 16 candidates ran for Mayor.
If you’ve found any of what has been published today on VanRamblings confusing, the issues raised in this initial, comeback Vancouver civic affairs column and opinion piece will come into greater relief, and more orderly focus over the course of the next two months. We hope to see you here often over the next 62 days.
Tomorrow, VanRamblings will publish the first column in a four-part series introducing you to the five serious-minded Mayoral candidates seeking office in Vancouver, where — in order to help you keep your sanity — we’ll attempt to keep columns at under 1000 words (as requested by Straight editor, Charlie Smith).
Next week, VanRamblings will begin a series on why the current Vancouver civic election is the most crucial election held in our city since 1972, and how critically important it is you apprise yourself of the issues, and vote for the future you want.