Mayor Gregor Robertson says he's still planning to pursue his defamation lawsuit against Kirk LaPointe after defeating the NPA mayoral candidate in the Vancouver election.

"At this point I’m intending to keep that going, just on principle basically," Robertson told reporters today (November 17) at his first news conference since being reelected for a third term.

"I was disappointed to see those personal attacks through the campaign. I think they really lowered the bar for Vancouver politics, and at this point, I don’t have any intention of holding back on that."

Robertson told reporters his priorities for his next term will be continuing to advocate for a Broadway subway, a promise he campaigned on, starting by building a "powerful coalition" of supporters among local governments in the region as a referendum on transit funding approaches next spring.

"We need to make sure we have very strong voices here across the region calling for support for transit funding, and the Broadway subway’s a key part of that package, as well as bus service improving across the entire region and rapid transit in Surrey," he said.

The mayor also cited affordable housing and homelessness solutions as immediate priorities.

During his victory speech on Saturday (November 15), Robertson conceded that his party heard "loud and clear" from voters during this election campaign that there are things it can do better.

Today, he said some of the changes he plans to make in the near-term include implementing recommendations from the Mayor's Engaged City Task Force.

"We want to see changes in the development process so that community has input earlier on in the proposals, and are able to shape the proposals coming forward more directly—that’ll be an important step," he said.

"I really see a number of changes that were recommended by that task force being doable in this year ahead, and making sure on the community planning side we see how the citizens’ assembly goes in Grandview-Woodland. That may be a model that we are able to roll out for other neighbourhood plans."

This term, Robertson will have more opposition to contend with in council chambers, after Melissa De Genova was elected as a third NPA council member. Vision Vancouver will also have to grapple with losing its majority on both park and school boards.

But the mayor remained optimistic about getting the eight votes his Vision Vancouver-led council will need to approve initiatives like city grants for community groups.

"It’s not really political to be supporting great community groups and all the efforts that go into the services they provide," Robertson stated. "I anticipate that there will be good support for the city budget going forward, and that we’ll be able to work that out at city council."

Robertson added he hopes to see less partisanship among Vancouver politicans than what is typical at the provincial and federal levels of government.

"I’d like to see opportunities to collaborate and get beyond the bickering that we see at other levels so commonly," he said.