The electoral future of the party is in the hands of COPE's powers that be.

Stephen Elliott-Buckley has an interesting live-blogging account of COPE’s AGM, which took place this past Sunday.

Now it must be noted that the one hundred people that showed up for the meeting, half of which were monthly contributors to the party, are about double the crowd that has bothered to show up for multiple meetings for the Non Partisan Association.  And so in spite of the fact that recent polling shows that the NPA still attracts about 28 per cent support when compared to 13 per cent for COPE, the ability of COPE to produce an army for getting out the vote on election day is still very real and formidable.  Election watchers will note that one of the NPA’s biggest downfalls in 2008 was the fact that their e-day contingent was absolutely dwarfed by the combined forces of Vision Vancouver and COPE.

Which brings me to the most important topic that emerged from the meeting: how the distinct stands of COPE over the past two years:

- opposing the tax shift from business to residents
- demanded a timeline on the province’s affordable housing sites
- reopening Little Mountain
- restoring arts funding
- city-wide wireless, and scooter parking
- campaign finance reform caps
- preserving Stanley Park farm and the Conservatory
- electoral reform
- opposing civil liberties violation by-laws before the Olympics
- amateur sports at Empire Bowl
- increasing green space at Hastings Park
- gave back Olympics tickets
- building a coalition to fight education cuts
- for transparent neighbourhood engagement

can be rationalized with a new deal of cooperation with Vision Vancouver.  Because as I see it, Vision and COPE will be equally reliant on such an agreement being reached in order for both parties to fulfill their respective electoral goals.

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