 | Friday, April 09, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | Why the race to be Vancouver’s mayor is already beginning | | |  | | | Isn’t it annoying when journalists speculate about an election that's 18 months away, focusing on vote splitting and personal conflicts instead of actual policy?
Anyways, let’s talk about the recent developments in Vancouver’s 2022 municipal election.
The announcement that Park Board Commissioner John Coupar has become the NPA’s mayoral candidate set off shockwaves for several legitimate reasons.
The first is that American-style, never-ending campaigning is extremely rare in B.C. local politics: candidates for mayor typically declare somewhere between three and nine months before an election, not 18.
And the other is that it continues the slow-motion crackup of the NPA that has been happening for more than a year: councillors Colleen Hardwick, Lisa Dominato and Sarah Kirby-Yung publicly expressed their displeasure at the board for appointing Coupar without an election, and a long-promised AGM still has not been scheduled. It means at the moment we have three high-profile candidates running for mayor: incumbent Kennedy Stewart, Coupar, and 2018 runner-up Ken Sim, who has been talking about creating a new team outside of the NPA, which he led last time.
Will that list grow anytime soon? Likely not: we put in queries to Vancouver’s three other parties with elected representatives — Greens, COPE and OneCity — and none of them are contemplating making a decision on whether to run a mayoral candidate this year. And all of them made the point that they would consult with their membership before making decisions, something the NPA board didn’t appear to do.
That makes sense. It’s hard to imagine most people paying attention to municipal politics 18 months before an election, despite what social media might suggest. And the merits of having an open nomination process are appealing for building up momentum within a party.
But the disintegration of Vision Vancouver, along with a minority council and independent mayor, has made it a struggle to efficiently produce policy. That continues to leave a political power void in the centre of the city.
Lots of ambitious people are hoping to fill it. Which is why election conversations are going to continue — even if most people wonder why it needs to happen so soon. | | |  | | | 2. Homelessness | The most heated debate over homelessness outside of Vancouver/Victoria seemed to cool down politically in the last week ... and then a White Spot franchise owner left a load of dog poo outside a Penticton shelter. The owner has apologized, while people wonder generally in B.C. whether “permanently” ending camps is possible.
Read more | | | |  | | | 3. Surrey | The process for the city to create its own police force received more criticism over the hiring a senior officer who recently had a DUI. Meanwhile, the incoming police chief set a new goal of the force being operational by 2024 — more than 2.5 years after Mayor Doug McCallum originally promised residents. And also, it should be noted, an election away.
Read more in Glacier Media | | | | | |  | | | 5. Casinos | One of the only constants of the pandemic has been casinos being closed, which is an important local issue if you’re a smaller municipality where that is a significant revenue stream. Case in point: Quesnel, one of 12 municipalities that have asked for clarity on when they might be allowed to reopen. As with a lot in this pandemic, it’s TBD.
Read more in the Quesnel Cariboo Observer | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | Check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions, you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
