November 15, 2010 - 12:01 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
With former electeds like Chiavario, Cowie and Rogers, vcaTEAM had a respectable group of candidates back in 2002. The party's Achilles heal was the lack of a viable Mayoral candidate.
Back in 2002, I became involved with a group of municipal activists who had the the notion that the polarized politics of COPE and the NPA could use a dose of moederation, and as a result formed a new party named vcaTEAM.
The tried to take a middle of the road approach. They had established candidates (Nancy Chiavario and Alan Herbert was were both former NPA Councillors, Art Cowie was a former TEAM Councillor and Liberal MLA, and Stephen Rogers was a six-time Cabinet Minister and former Speaker of the House). They had a platform that spoke to many of the issues that are topical today (biking corridors, opening up the city to fun, adding social and affordable housing and a push to increase support for alternative forms of transportation other than the car).
At the time the NPA was in total disarray. Councillor Jennifer Clarke had organized a coup against popular former Mayor Philip Owen, and the party was divided down the middle as a result.
So it sounded like a recipe for potential success – the elements certainly were there.
And then the party introduced their Mayoral candidate very late in the game, and everything changed.
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September 16, 2010 - 10:56 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
March 15, 2010 - 11:16 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Scenes like this, whether it is our former Mayor or our current Mayor sitting down with the Prime Minister, are positive and unworthy of petty political criticism.
I just got a chance to read Gary Mason’s fluff piece on Mayor Gregor Robertson (reminding me why his long-winded minor hockey road trip columns as a Vancouver Sun sports reporter were so excruciating), and came across this excerpt:
“Mr. Robertson recently returned from Ottawa where he spent time “bumping” into politicians in the hallways. He was also made available to the media to comment on the federal budget. Beyond that, it wasn’t obvious what his trip to our nation’s capital accomplished.
The truth is it was mostly about exposure and establishing Mr. Robertson, among members of Ottawa press corps, as a player. He plans to travel there even more in the coming months. It is all part of a grand strategy being concocted in the mayor’s office to reposition the city – and the man who runs it – on the national scene with an eye to wielding more clout.
This, apparently, is an early product of the swagger, confidence and influence Vancouver imagines it now has post-Olympics.”
The “swagger” Mason refers to is true to an extent, as Robertson is a hot property these days.
But whether it was four years ago after Sam Sullivan’s Turin flag-waving affair, or now after our own experience with the Olympics, having the Mayor in Ottawa with nothing specific on the agenda other than promoting Vancouver and the office is a worthwhile endeavour.
What is more, critics on both sides of Vancouver’s municipal spectrum are wrongheaded for engaging in such petty criticisms over these trips.
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January 6, 2010 - 10:36 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
