The “good” news for Vision Vancouver’s opponents in #vanelxn 2014
Originally posted on the CityPoli Facebook page.
First of all, congratulations to Mayor Gregor Robertson and to his Vision councillors for their victory on Saturday. We’ve talked about the Vision “machine” and we saw once again what focusing on identifying voters and marshalling voters means for election campaigns—it’s EVERYTHING, folks. The old adage is that “campaigns matter” and Vision proved it once again.
But there is some very good news for those who oppose Vision from the results.
1. 10 Vision Vancouver candidates did NOT get elected. That is pretty amazing news. To date only 1 Vision candidate in 2 elections (Kashmir Dhaliwal) did not win his seat. 5 Vision incumbents lost on Saturday, and that is simply amazing if you look at how powerful they’ve become.
2. Vision has lost “super majority” status on council. In order to pass budgets and other major initiatives 8 votes are required at council. Vision only now has 7 votes for the first time since winning power in 2008. This is very significant as it means someone from the Green Party or NPA will have to vote with them. The arrival of Melissa De Genova on city council ensures that Vision will have another strong voice to challenge them. The Green Party’s Adriane Carr topped the ballot in number of votes, followed by the NPA’s George Affleck, Elizabeth Ball and De Genova.
3. The NPA won park board and the Green Party’s very capable Stuart Mackinnon has been returned to the board. Casey Crawford, John Coupar, Sarah Kirby-Yung and Erin Shum all come from strong backgrounds in supporting community causes, a key ingredient in sitting at the Park Board table. I’m expecting good things from this group.
4. A big comedown at School Board as NPA elects 4 trustees beside Vision’s 4 trustees and now Green Party’s Janet Fraser holds the swing vote. What I’ve seen at School Board is politics ahead of our kids. I am extremely happy that a balanced board of trustees is now in place to move our school system forward. I’m especially happy that my old friend Christopher Richardson was elected, and the very impressive Stacy Robertson also won his seat.
To all the others on the NPA slate including Ian Robertson, who came in just short of winning at council (11th spot is the hardest), I salute you all for a great effort in a tough campaign.
To Kirk LaPointe, I can only say ‘well done’! Gregor Robertson’s vote percentage dropped from 53% in 2011 to 46% in 2014. You helped to narrow his lead to roughly half of what it was in 2011. Robertson may say he’s ‘sorry’ and will learn from his mistakes, but we know he really is just sad about losing some of his popularity, which you helped him with.
All in all a very interesting evening with so many stories. The big question now is what is next for the NPA and whether it will finally return to its roots as an organization that can campaign toe-to-toe with Vision Vancouver. If Gregor Robertson serves out his term to 2018 he will be the 2nd longest serving mayor in Vancouver’s history. Four years is a long time but the 2018 election will come up fast.
So who will be ready?
