Jackson, Ladner duel for Metro Vancouver chair

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson isn't going to step aside for Vancouver city councillor Peter Ladner, who wants her job as chair of Metro Vancouver, formerly known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

Unlike the previous Metro Vancouver year-end assembly that saw Jackson reelected by acclamation, this time, when the board meets on December 14, she'll face a challenger.

"I would expect an election," Jackson said in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight. "I think elections are very healthy for democracy. I encourage everybody to run. If Peter is going to be running, that's great."

On October 1, Ladner told the Straight that he's interested in becoming Metro Vancouver chair, which has an annual salary of $47,600. The City of Vancouver has six representatives on the 35-member board. Five of them, including Ladner, are members of the Non-Partisan Association. The sixth is Vision Vancouver councillor Tim Stevenson.

Surrey has five directors, including city councillor Marvin Hunt, who was unseated by Jackson at a board meeting in 2005 after that year's municipal elections. This made the Delta mayor the first woman to chair the body.

In a phone interview on December 4, Ladner told the Straight that his focus, if elected chair, would be the completion of the region's growth plan, "making sure that it's tied in with the TransLink plan and the [B.C.] Ministry of Transportation's plan".

"It's the updating or the rethinking of the Livable Region Strategic Plan," said Ladner, currently the vice chair of Metro Vancouver. "All of these plans are coming to completion during the next year, and I think it's very important that we build consensus between the municipalities and also between the regional government and the provincial government, and between Metro Vancouver and TransLink."

Adopted in 1996, Metro Vancouver's livable region plan has won international acclaim as a planning framework for land use and transportation.

"The draft proposals on all those plans are not a lot different from what we've been doing in the past, certainly in the land-use side," Ladner said. "But I think we've got some serious rethinking to do in transportation."

A number of critics have pointed out that the B.C. Liberal government's plan to twin the Port Mann Bridge and expand Highway 1 from Langley to Vancouver doesn't jibe with the regional plan.

Growth and sustainability are also at the top of Jackson's concerns. "The big thing is we have got to deal with the regional growth strategy," she said. "Where are we going to be putting 850,000 more people in the next few years?"

Vancouver NPA councillor and Metro board member Suzanne Anton told the Straight that the chair will be decided by a simple majority vote. "I have to say that from Vancouver's point of view, as you know, Councillor Ladner is willing to run, and so I hope he becomes our new chair," Anton said.

Board member and Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan believes that Jackson will be sustained as chair. "Generally, the people in the Metro Vancouver board aren't gonna simply get rid of the chair out of simple politics," Corrigan told the Straight.

City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto explained that Metro Vancouver's tradition has been to vote for a chair after municipal elections and to reelect that person by acclamation for their second and third years.

"Lois is doing a very good job and she needs to be supported," Mussatto told the Straight. "It would be proper for her to carry on–nothing against Peter."

Board member and Richmond councillor Harold Steves said he has been approached separately by Ladner and Belcarra Mayor Ralph Drew for his support. Drew is eyeing Ladner's vice chair post.

"My answer was as far as I'm concerned, when we elected our chair and vice chair two years ago, that was for a three-year term," Steves told the Straight. "My response was if the present chair will step down, I will consider them, but I don't think the present chair will step down. That's what I told Peter. Peter and I are good friends."

Ladner confirmed that Drew is interested in becoming vice chair, as is Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini.