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.
And that is, to the preclusion of all other considerations, is a star mayoral candidate.
First, when it comes to grassroots organizing, gathering volunteers or reaching out to ethnic communities, the Vision Vancouver party has it locked down.
The enthusiasm and sheer number of people that showed up to Vision’s headquarters on a daily basis had absolutely nothing to do with money, and everything to do with hope spurred by the promise of something different. And, the election day army (and I use that term as the most accurate description the contingent) was like nothing I have ever seen before in terms of people power and reach devoted solely to getting out the vote.
I remember back in 2002’s civic election when I was the campaign manager for former MLA Art Cowie and former Cabinet Minister and Speaker of the House Stephen Rogers for the one-shot wonder party vcaTEAM.
With a mayoral candidate that was a mere blip in a race dominated by two strong and high profile individuals (Larry Campbell and Jennifer Clarke), and a complete lack of budget to run a central organization, we made the decision to run a completely separate campaign (albeit still under the vcaTEAM label).
Now Cowie and Rogers were well known political entities that might have got elected under a different party banner. But without the anchor of an individual that could inspire enthusiasm, all of our efforts were futile.
Herein lies the catch-22 dilemma that confronts the NPA:
Which comes first – the star candidate, or the party infrastructure to inspire one?
It is going to be very difficult to attract anyone with political capital or name recognition to hitch their fate to the broken-down wagon that is the NPA.
That being said, volunteers, donations and quality candidates are not likely to step forward so easily without something to look forward to.
Even though we are only one year into a three-year term for the current administration, I would strongly suggest that what the NPA needs is a candidate that has the ability to truly rebrand the party and provide a consistent voice and face of opposition, something that currently is nowehere to be found (in spite of Anton and Ian Robertson’s incumbant status). The NPA needs a full two years to build everything around this kind of an individual.
Would this be putting all their eggs in one basket? Perhaps. But without a current pot to piss in, so to speak, this kind of basket would be entirely welcome.
Civic politics in Vancouver has most definitely turned into the cult of personality, particularly as a result of the at-large electoral system.
Which means of course, that even with a solid group of candidates, plenty of money in the bank and an unlimited amount of volunteers, a party without a strong leader is a party that is going nowhere.
And unfortunately for the NPA, they have none of the above.
A word for the current members of the board: make the search for this individual your first and only priority. Success in this respect will change the entire course of your future, which at the moment looks pretty grim.
