The upcoming bass ackwards nomination process is going to hurt the NPA with a domino effect of cynicism about the party's prospects.

Here’s a quick note that I wanted to write before heading out for a busy day of meetings.

As many of you are aware, the NPA is holding their first round of nominations for City Council, Park Board and School Board on November 20.

Fantastic.  Recent polling puts the NPA at 28 per cent polling in contrast to 52 per cent support for Vision Vancouver.  And all things considered, that is a good number for a party that has been moribund and largely silent for much of the past 2.5 years.

But like I have mentioned in a previous post, the ambiguity surrounding who might step forward next year, when the NPA is poised to nominate a Mayoral candidate, holds all other developments in limbo.

Why?  Because I would be shocked to see a candidate of any name profile step forward for one of those nominations on November 20 without any kind of indication of who is going to be carrying the banner in next year’s election.

Having just returned from Toronto where I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with some of the George Smitherman Mayoral campaign brain trust, I began to understand how unique the municipal party system that is so entrenched in Vancouver is in comparison to the rest of the country.

You have ward candidates campaigning in Toronto without any kind of commitment (public or private) to support any of the Mayoral candidates.  If they win, they are going to be forced to work with whoever becomes Mayor, and thus as independent candidates without affiliation, it makes absolutely no political sense to play favourites.

The same, of course, cannot be said about the situation in Vancouver.

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