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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June 2, 2010 - 1:20 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Former NPA Councillor Nancy Chiavario was completely handicapped with her fellow vcaTEAM running mates in 2002, largely because of a lack of funding in comparison to her competitors.
From the road, the report that has been released by the joint task force tasked with making recommendations for electoral change on:
- Campaign finance, including contribution / spending disclosure and limits, and tax credits
- Enforcement processes and outcomes
- Role of the chief electoral officer (B.C.) in local government elections
- Election cycle (term of office)
- Corporate vote
- Other agreed upon matters, (e.g. matters raised in UBCM resolutions such as eligibility of local government volunteers to be candidates)
is a pretty decent read.
I am intrigued by the prospect of four-year terms (which interestingly would put Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver into 2015 if they were to win the next election – their deadline for fulfilling their promise to rid the city of street homelessness).
But the campaign finance suggestions are really going to change the landscape of how local elections are run in British Columbia.
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October 23, 2009 - 9:13 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Another article on the sorry state of the NPA is not particuarlly newsworthy, because it has become the laziest and most obvious type of commentary within the Vancouver municipal political scene. No new ground broken in this one either, talking about how the party’s arrogance and internal battles of ego have led to a state of complete disarray.
This is a shot of the Joyce Walley room with more chairs that were set up for the NPA's AGM. No matter who is offering an opinion on attendance, it was low by all accounts.
The piece’s ending, however, is very telling about how far the party truly has to go:
“She also took issue with Michael Klassen, whose communications firm designed the NPA website. Following the AGM, Klassen told a local radio talk show host that only 40 people showed up for the meeting.
Not true, says Anton, who counted more than 50 AGM attendees. “And four or five people came in late because it was an early meeting.”
Quibbling about a description that is a mere ten people off of your own count – IN THE MEDIA no less – is quite possibly the most boneheaded decision anyone can make. This leads me to suspect that either Anton has lost interest in doing her part to rebuild the party (and is looking to move on to greener pastures and quite possibly a spot in a future federal cabinet) or she clearly is not cut out to be any kind of leader.
Regardless, talk about engaging communities, taking a more grassroots approach and increasing the membership are futile in comparison to the only thing that will count come next election.
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