The NPA can get back in the game if it focuses on the issues

Ex-Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan’s former chief of staff, Daniel Fontaine, is trying to create a shitstorm over the alleged politicization of communications at Vancouver City Hall.

The NPA wants COPE to join in its outrage over the city’s head of communications, Laurie Best, being married to Brent Humphrey, who is doing communications work for Mayor Gregor Robertson.

The conspiracy deepened when Fontaine discovered an old blog posting from Sean Holman, which described how the deputy health minister of the day, Penny Ballem, shovelled tons of work to a communications company owned by Best.

The Vision-controlled council recently  hired Ballem as city manager and dumped Judy Rogers, who was beloved by NPA politicians for her relentless Olympic boosterism.

The NPA is going to have to do better than trying to manufacture a scandal involving Humphrey’s marriage to Best if it wants to come back from the political wilderness. The public won’t care about this.

It’s time for the NPA to focus on issues that have an impact on the public.

First off, how is the Vision-controlled council going to cope with the potential for massive revenue shortfalls next year as development slows? NPA councillor Suzanne Anton could ask Vision what it’s contingency plan is. My guess is that there isn't one.

Has Vision considered asking the provincial government for the authority to run a deficit if there’s a need for the municipal government to stimulate the economy? Probably not.

Here are some other ISSUES  worth exploring:

”¢  Why don’t the NPA and COPE work cooperatively to introduce a motion to force Vision councillors and Mayor Gregor Robertson to demand more money from Vanoc to cover the Olympic Village cost overruns? It's already $70 million over budget, according to deputy city manager Jody Andrews. The NPA-controlled council  got more money from Vanoc for the ever-rising cost of the Hillcrest Curling Rink, which is an Olympic legacy project. Why can't Vision-controlled  council  get more money from Vanoc for the rapidly rising cost of the Olympic Village? Coun. Geoff Meggs is the mayor's point man on the Olympics. It's time for  Meggs to demonstrate his value to Vancouver taxpayers.

”¢  Will the NPA keep the pressure on the Vision-controlled council to move forward with the performing-arts space for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra  at 150 Dunsmuir? If the Harper government can afford to contribute $100 million in capital costs and $22 million in operating costs for the Aspers’ $265-million human-rights museum in Winnipeg, why can’t the feds step up to the table to help Vancouver’s cultural precinct get off the ground? After all, the prime minister says he wants to stimulate economic activity.

”¢  Why doesn’t the NPA bring forward a motion to call upon Ottawa to allow a supervised-injection site in the Commercial Drive area? COPE would probably support the idea.

Keep in mind that one of Vision’s biggest objectives is winning the next provincial election. If the NPA wants to cause serious mischief, it could exploit the wedge issues that divide the Greens and the NDP on the eve of a provincial  election.

A motion calling for the city to support a provincial carbon tax would be one way to accomplish this. A motion opposing gambling expansion in the city would be another way to rattle Vision Vancouver politicians.

A motion calling for a provincewide ban on logging in the watersheds would be a third way, though the NPA would never do that for fear of upsetting the forest industry. COPE's dynamic duo, Ellen Woodsworth and David Cadman, don't want to interfere with the NDP's reelection chances, so I wouldn't count on them to bring this forward.

It’s the issues that people care about, Daniel, the issues. Never lose sight of this, and the NPA will be back in the game in no time. Forget about petty so-called scandals that only interest city-hall junkies like Allen Garr and deal with the issues that affect huge numbers of people.