Cedar Party's Glen Chernen prepares new court action against Mayor Gregor Robertson

by Charlie Smith on October 16th, 2014 at 9:05 AM

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Last night as I moderated a Vancouver candidates' discussion at St. James Community Hall, I learned that the Cedar Party's Glen Chernen is planning a new legal manoeuvre against the mayor.

Chernen told the crowd of about 350 people that he's going to court to challenge the legitimacy of Gregor Robertson's candidacy for reelection.

According to Chernen, there are allegedly irregularities in how Robertson filled out the official candidate form. It concerns the address that the mayor used in his declaration to the city.

I ran into Chernen and his brother Nicholas, who are both running for council, during a visit to Co-op Radio to appear on David Ball's Media Mornings show this morning.

Chernen didn't have the documents with him and said they're not in a form that can be emailed.

So I can't say at this point that I've reviewed the evidence.

Earlier this year, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Hinkson dismissed a judicial-review application by 10 petitioners, including Glen and Nicholas Chernen, trying to have the mayor thrown out of office after the city had leased a former Vancouver Police Department building to HootSuite Media.

The Chernens and other petitioners alleged that the mayor did not disclose a direct or indirect conflict of interest in connection with using HootSuite offices for an electronic town-hall meeting in 2011.

The company gave the mayor a HootKit, which included a T-shirt, a coffee mug sleeve, and stickers. According to Hinkson's ruling, these gifts have little value.