Former council candidate Sean Bickerton quits the NPA

by Carlito Pablo on Feb 22, 2013 at 11:28 am
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Sean Bickerton ran for council with the NPA in 2008 and 2011.
Stephen Hui

If you’ve noticed that Sean Bickerton hasn’t been hanging out with the Non-Partisan Association lately, you might be wondering why.

After all, the genial arts advocate used to have a big presence in the Vancouver civic party. He was its vice president, chair of its outreach committee, and a candidate for council in the 2008 and 2011 municipal elections.

It turns out that Bickerton quietly left the party sometime in December.

The Straight reached Bickerton by phone days before the B.C. Liberal Party staged nomination meetings featuring two former NPA politicians as candidates: ex-mayor Sam Sullivan and ex-councillor Suzanne Anton.

Bickerton endorsed Sullivan, who won the nomination on February 20 to represent the B.C. Liberals in Vancouver-False Creek.

However, Bickerton backed former B.C. Liberal president Andrew Wilkinson, who defeated Anton in the February 17 nomination in Vancouver-Quilchena.

“I’m no longer with the NPA,” Bickerton said.

After the last election, Bickerton criticized the negative campaign waged by the NPA. Looking forward, he believes that the party has a lot to things to mend.

“I believe their challenge is that in the last election, they alienated environmentalists, people who believe in urban agriculture, cyclists, and constituencies that were traditionally part of our broad tent,” Bickerton said.

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brent granby
Feb 22, 2013 at 11:47 am
Good move, too many angry men in the NPA. The NPA is hurt by not having your calm rational commentary.
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spartikus
Feb 23, 2013 at 10:27 am
While I've never met Mr. Bickerton I can attest - thanks to Twitter - he seems a new and happier man in recent months. Like Peter Ladner and other politicians who leave the game, he has become much more compelling and interesting once freed from the shackles of the party line and it's a shame the political game forces such discipline. I'm pretty convinced that if he had been allowed to be himself rather than being shoehorned (obviously unwillingly) into one of the most juvenile campaign strategies I've ever seen he would be a City Councillor right now.

(Conversely due to the apparent donkey vote effect that happened if his surname was "Backerton" rather than Bickerton he might be in Council now too)

And to echo Mr. Granby losing moderates like Sean does not bode well for the future of the NPA. The Armstrong/MacDonald era party is not only the party of angry men, but the party of angry rich men, whose rage is a) completely and always disproportionate to the matter at hand and b) too often based on a minor inconvenience (but a greater civic good) to their multimillion dollar businesses. And they project that rage as being shared by the general population.

The new generation of the NPA looks like a very old generation whose solution to everything is to stand on their front porch and yell at the clouds.

I wish Sean well and hope he continues on as a community leader.

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