November 26, 2010 - 12:34 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
These wo former competitors have since formed a strong working relationship within City Hall, giving Vision peace within the caucus.
The landscape of BC politics right now is like nothing that observers have ever experienced before. A Premier has just stepped down, and his party is now at the beginning stages of what should be a hotly contested leadership contest. The stakes of this race are huge, as the winner becomes the new leader of the province, and the one tasked with pulling the BC Liberals out of the toilet.
Far be it for the ridiculous New Democratic Party to take an advantage of such a situation, as they are embroiled in a partial caucus revolt against their own leader. The dissidents are determined to push the envelope until Carole James walks out the door, which might happen soon with a leadership review likely coming in the new year.
If we turn our attention to the municipal scene in Vancouver, even the NPA continues to struggle with factions within their party, even as they try to rebuild the organization back into a competitive force for next year’s election. The recent party fundraiser saw Park Board Commissioner Ian Robertson and his silent supporters draw a line in the sand between them and the Sam Sullivan loyalists, while delivering a speech that showed he was most definitely going to take a shot at being the party’s Mayoral candidate. Meanwhile, Councillor Suzann Anton continues to cling to the Sullivan faithful for her base of support, making a showdown between the two an inevitability, and rehashing of all the nastiness that ensued between the Peter Ladner and Sullivan forces back in 2008. This is of course just the latest episode in a party that for many years has cannibalized its own in the name of personal politics of ambition.
Which brings me to Vision Vancouver. For a party that continues to grow as a coalition of progressive forces, the caucus has been one of the most peaceful that Vancouver’s civic political scene has seen in several terms.
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November 19, 2010 - 4:08 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Just got this from Vision Vancouver, which will be the first political entity of any in Vancouver to use this kind of technology (the target for participants will be about 25,000 people):
Vancouver’s First Telephone Townhall
A Conversation with Mayor Gregor Robertson
Vision Vancouver has always believed that citizen engagement is the key to creating positive solutions for our city. I’m proud to announce that next week Vision Vancouver will take consultation to the next level with Vancouver’s first telephone townhall meeting: A conversation with Mayor Gregor Robertson.
Your input is important and this is your chance to speak with Mayor Gregor Robertson about the issues that matter most to you.
Starting at 7:00pm on Tuesday, Gregor will update you on our progress at City Hall and take your questions on the issues you care about. Vision Vancouver is the first to use this technology in Vancouver and all you need to do to join this conversation is wait for our phone call at 7 PM and we will connect you to this important dialogue.
Where: Your Living Room!
When: 7:00pm, Tuesday November 23rd
If you would like to check that your name is on our list please contact us at info@votevision.ca
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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November 8, 2010 - 12:56 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
This is the way the NPA's membership is being treated by the party with regards to choosing candidates.
For many months, November 20th was heralded as a rebirth for the NPA – the day that the party would collectively choose candidates for the next election.
But due to a lack of interest, the nomination day was only promoted as the first round of the process, with “a second set of nominations to be held in the spring of 2011.”
Eventually, what was supposed to be a day for hope turned into a very limited screening of what the party was about to offer to the public – two candidates for City Council, one candidate for Park Board, and one candidate for School Board.
And now we know that the NPA board has decided that appointments/acclamations, rather than democratic elections via the will of the membership, is the way to go.
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