Only four NPA survivors: where does the civic party go from here?
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The NPA barely escaped with just four candidates elected in what will be remembered as the slaughter of 2008.
This was an even worse performance than 2002, when the NPA managed to capture two seats on council and two seats on park board. This year, the NPA elected only one councillor, Suzanne Anton, and one park commissioner, Ian Robertson. Ken Denike and Carole Gibson were reelected to school board.
Over the next three years, they'll be able to hold NPA caucus meetings in a Toyota Echo.
This clears the way for the party to undergo a major rebuilding exercise. The temptation will be for the downtown property owners and the Vancouver Board of Trade to take control and install one of their own as the next mayoral candidate.
I think the NPA would be better off to ignore the mostly white downtown establishment and build a grassroots party that resonates with a cross-section of Vancouverites.
In 1986, that's what NPA mayoral candidate Gordon Campbell did when he recruited candidates from across the spectrum. Gordon Price, a left-leaning gay activist in the West End, was brought into the fold. Nancy Chiavario, another community activist, was put on the slate for park board. The NPA later reached into the Chinese community to recruit candidates like Sandra Wilking and Tung Chan. It didn't hurt having Carole Taylor sit on council as an independent who mostly voted with the NPA.
Under Campbell's leadership, the NPA could credibly present itself as a party that reached out to the city. In those days, the NPA strove to run candidates of South Asian descent as well, something that fell by the wayside in later elections.
Gregor Robertson can be defeated, but it's going to take someone who is bright, energetic, and willing to take risks.
NPA councillor Suzanne Anton will be an obvious candidate, and perhaps she deserves a chance for merely surviving the slaughter of 2008.
But keep an eye on Colleen Nystedt-Hardwick, daughter of legendary Vancouver councillor Walter Hardwick. She sat out this election, but she might be ready to run in 2011.
A longshot NPA mayoral candidate is two-term B.C. Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt, notwithstanding his high negatives with left-wing voters. Mayencourt is a tireless campaigner and he did surprisingly well for the federal Conservatives in Vancouver Centre.
An even longer shot is Mayor Sam Sullivan, who could make the case that the NPA lost because it failed to connect with multicultural communities and voters on the East Side. Sullivan, a polyglot who learns languages as a hobby, was raised on the East Side and he has three more years to brush up on his Cantonese, Punjabi, Italian, Tagalog, and Chinook.
But whoever it is will need a diverse set of candidates, and not just Johnny-come-lately types who are recruited at the last moment to fill out a slate.
Vision Vancouver will have a cozy relationship with organized labour. That will give the NPA an issue to take to the electorate in 2011. We haven't necessarily seen the beginning of a Vision Vancouver dynasty.
Comments
7 Comments
David Wong
Nov 16, 2008 at 9:30am
Charlie...
Like my earlier comment about your ability to read into the community. You're spot on.
I also hope your thoughts on Colleen Nystedt Hardwick becomes reality... and don't be surprised if a new civic party appears ;-)
David
montyvan
Nov 16, 2008 at 1:05pm
To say that the 2008 NPA slate wasn't diverse and full of "Johnny-come latelys" just shows your bias. The 2008 NPA slate was more diverse than the 2005 slate with 2 openly-gay candidates (Bickerton and McDiarmid) and many multi-cultural candidates for Council, Parks and School board.
Because there was already a groundswell of negativity heaped on the NPA, the press and media didn't give the newer more progressive NPA candidates the time of day. They were completely ignored except for the pandering Geller, which I found odd considering he's a Developer (which has become a bad word in Vancouver).
Gregor and Vision have been given an overwhelming mandate with massive support from local media and press. Let's see if the tenuous Vision/Cope alliance stays intact for 3 years, and if they can make good on the many, many promises they've made to voters. We're all watching and waiting...
PoliticsReSpun.org
Nov 16, 2008 at 2:00pm
The Vision/COPE/Green agreement in many ways expired at 8pm last night. Vision has its own majority on city and parks and needs only one COPE vote on school board issues.
Here are a few of the many good reasons why the NPA imploded yesterday: <a href="http://politicsrespun.org/2008/11/15/why-vancouvers-npa-lost-badly-today..., red state/blue state, not getting the $100 million problem, private cops...</a>
newmonic
Nov 16, 2008 at 3:13pm
Those where some mighty big promises in Mr. Robertson speech last night. If he pulls it off I'll be most impressed, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Personally, I think he could have won the election without the smearing and the mud slinging (is that one word or two?) Realistically, he's going to need cooperation from all polictical spectrums to really make progress on those promises. He may just have monkeywrenched his own chances by alienated a segment of the centre right.
Tembo_Derriere
Nov 16, 2008 at 7:03pm
Obama himself would not have been elected as NPA mayoral candidate had he run! The fallout from Sam Sullivan's embarrassing mis-rule contaminated all the NPA candidates, and there were some very good ones. Kim Capri will be missed. A rookie COPE council gives me shivers. They will soon start bickering and splintering. The social engineering has already started. Bike lanes on the bridge and a counterflow system will be disastrous
Grumpy
Nov 16, 2008 at 7:59pm
From the eerie mists of the past, an evil and treacherous curse pointed its fickle finger of fate at the NPA. The curse of SkyTrain!
The curse of SkyTrain afflicts those who support the mode and the NPA heartily endorsed SkyTrain and thus the course spoke - defeat and political obscurity to those who supported SkyTrain.
But wait, in Richmond, the curse is waiting for a certain Brodie to implode and he will, tis the curse of SkyTrain.
A non believer are you? Then what politician, who supported SkyTrain has done well? Not Bennett, Van DerZalm, or McCarthy. Glen Clark and Joy McFailure and even 'slippery deck' Harcourt did not survive the curse of SkyTrain. And now, Vancouver's NPA has felt the full brunt of the curse. Who is next?
Time will tell, but even some 'birds' or a falcon will feel the fated curse. Just wait till next spring.
JBB
Nov 17, 2008 at 4:55pm
The NPA lost because they infuriated their main west side constituency. They dressed up their developer supporters in the green drag of "eco-density" and "laneway housing" and pretended that this was all for the environment. They succeeded in creating a non partisan coalition of 21 neighborhood groups dedicated to throwing them out. No party can afford to antagonize its core supporters. It is as simple as that.