Vision Vancouver has set a standard that Vancouver citizens should expect from both the NPA and COPE.
Vision Vancouver has just released a list of their financial contributors:
Vision Vancouver Supplemental Report on Campaign Contributions (March 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010)
So, my question for COPE and the NPA is very simple:
When is your organization going to do the same?
Tung Chan has become a hot political commodity in recent months.
For a man who the majority of Vancouverites have never heard of, Success CEO Tung Chan’s political appeal is at an all-time high.
On one end of the political spectrum, the federal Conservatives continue to make overtures to Chan about the possibility of running in Vancouver South against Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who as many readers are well aware, only won his seat last time around by 20 votes. That riding has close to a population that is close to 50 per cent Chinese, making Chan an ideal candidate with profile within the community that makes the difference on deciding a winner and a loser.
On the other is the moribund NPA, which from what I have been able to piece together, is getting desperate with regards to finding a sacrificial lamb to go against Mayor Gregor Robertson and his 70 per cent approval rating.
If indeed Chan is at all interested in politics, taking the Vancouver South offer seems like a no-brainer. Until of course you factor in the hectic and unforgiving travel schedule of a BC MP, and realize that the amount of individuals willing to make such a personal sacrifice are few and far between. Rumour is that Chan is not naturally inclined to be able to handle the Ottawa/Vancouver commute week in, week out.
This then leaves the option of running to become Mayor.
I want to preface this commentary with an acknowledgment that an administration without effective political opposition operates without a true understanding of what it feels like to face off against alternatives.
That being said, I am truly getting a kick out of the bloggers (three in particular) that are getting into a lather of fury over the popularity of both Vision Vancouver and Gregor Robertson amongst the municipal beat reporters around town.
The frustration that they are spewing only confirms that the Vision Vancouver juggernaut is real, in as much as is possible within the municipal political realm.
I don’t have the energy to craft a well-thought out, cogent post on why that juggernaut exists, nor do I have to quite frankly. Rather, I would like to perform a political brain dump on the state of Vision Vancouver and the rest of the civic political scene at the halfway point of the term.
Gregor Robertson's critics are feeling the pain of watching the most popular Mayor in Vancouver history continue to gain momentum - in spite of their best efforts.
It is no surprise that this article over the weekend would cause the usual suspects to writhe in agony.
And it is also no surprise that those very critics would immediately follow up with a post attempting to discount the accuracy of the data and lamenting the fact that the media also likes the Mayor – a lot.
And while it may be a grim day for supporters of the heir apparent to Philip Owen-Sam Sullivan-Peter Ladner, Suzanne Anton (hmmm…maybe that isnt’ the kind of lineage she would necessarily want to promote in public), it is a strong endorsement for the current administration’s direction.
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Vancouver’s West End is 204 hectares and is home to 44,000 people (as at 2006) and has increased 5.8% in the previous 5 years and 66% moved since the last census. 61% speak English as their mother tongue. The majority are in the 20-39 year old age group. 59% are one person households, with 8,710 families and an average household inome of $38,000. There is a total of over 28,000 private households.
“We’re really asking people to be respectful of the diversity of our community. People live down here because of the diversity, they feel safe within diversity, and that’s a really important value for us.” – Brent Granby, West End Resident’s Association
