Come Meet The NPA: 3rd March

This coming Saturday, 3rd March at 10:30am, members of the Non Partisan Association (NPA) of Vancouver will be at The Drive Coffee Bar, 1670 Commercial, to meet with residents ans discuss politics.  Come for the great coffee and tell the NPA what you want from a municipal government.

The Drive Coffee Bar has invited other parties to come along on future days.

The Subway To Nowhere

If you are not yet too tired of listening to the propaganda and lies being spread about the $4 billion (at least) hole in the ground to nowhere along Broadway, you could attend the next Open House about it:

It is being held at the City Lab space at 511 W. Broadway.

I have been to a couple of these already. They are very much like any developer/City Planning Open House where they steer you from one display chart to the next in an attempt to show that the decision they have already made is the right one.  City Lab is quite a small space so they do a good job of steering you in the right direction but, just like at a developer’s do, the most you will be asked  to decide is to write on a yellow sticky whether there should be red chairs or blue.

You are there to make up their numbers. At the end of  it, they will issue a report stating that x thousands of people attended these consultations, and they read xx thousands of yellow stickies. This subway is purely for the profit of the developer cronies who will build massive towers at a few spots along the route and suck up huge profits.

If you want to know the transit issues that could be better served than by a hugely expensive subway from Commercial to Arbutus, my piece on it is ageing but still more worthwhile than attending this not-quite-so-open house.

Election Review #2

We are now less than 8 months away from the next Vancouver municipal election and the line up for both Mayoral and Councillor seats are still unclear. I will start with a discussion about Councillors because getting a majority of those is what counts in our system.

George Affleck

Both Vision Vancouver and NPA are in disarray. Vision has lost all but two of its incumbents, the rest having run for the hills unable to withstand any further scrutiny of their ten-year reign of disaster. The NPA, who should be shoo-ins with the collapse of Vision, have a couple of problems. First, the hated BC Liberals have embedded themselves in the party, and now an outsider is forcing a contest for the mayoralty. Besides that, their most popular and best-known Councillor, George Affleck, is retiring.

This confusion among both Vision and NPA should open a door for the genuinely progressive left to move en masse into Council.  But there is a catch: if the various progressive parties and independents each run under their own banner, they will — guaranteed — split the vote and allow the NPA to take over. There needs to be a unity alliance, not just in policies but in the candidates that are run.

My own hope is that a progressive alliance runs for all 10 seats under a single brand, and I would suggest a breakdown more or less as follows:  3 Greens, 2 COPE, 1 OneCity, 1 YPP, and 3 independents.  If they can get six elected, we are on the path to salvation.

Gregor Robertson

Gregor Robertson is finally bowing out, with his failed legacy dragging along behind him, and so there is plenty of talk about who is going to run as Mayor. Raymond Louie is a non-starter given that he would have to wear Vision’s past almost alone; I suspect they will not run a candidate this year (or, probably, ever again).

Libby Davies has been loudly touted as a favoured choice of the left. But seriously, much as I respect her, how many Gen X and millennials have even heard of her? Her candidature would come across as the last nostalgia-laden kick of the can for the boomers scrambling to hold on to power.  If we need an

Adriane Carr

NDP warhorse, then surely a younger and more active Dave Eby would be a better choice.

I am hoping that Adriane Carr stays as a Councillor, mainly because her popularity guarantees that seat, but she would definitely make a fine mayor too.

On the centre right, it looks like a battle between the BC Liberals under Hector Bremner and the anti-corruption crusader Glen Chernen for the NPA nomination. Whoever wins that campaign will probably have a lot to say about who runs for the NPA as Councillors, and whether the NPA drifts to the center or moves even further to the right.

It is time for the progressives to act. We cannot wait much longer before raising the flag of a united brand.

 

 

Image: Philadelphia #1