As the Vancouver civic election is set to begin Saturday morning, both leading mayoral candidates made final attempts today (November 18) to appeal to voters and to portray their opponent as a poor choice at the polls.

The Non-Partisan Association staged a mock tent city on the lawn of city hall, with props including a person in a chicken costume, wheat, a wheelbarrow of bags with U.S. dollars signs, and placards with messages such as “homeless chickens” and “please…stay off the wheat!”

NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton said the event was meant to represent some of the themes of the election campaign, such as the “wheat fields and the chickens” message that the party has repeatedly used to target Vision’s environmental policies.

“We do make fun about the wheat fields and the chickens and so on, but that’s because, that’s all there is,” claimed Anton. “There is no record on green.”

Anton used the news conference to summarize the NPA’s criticisms of Vision throughout the election campaign, on issues including homelessness and Occupy Vancouver.

“Complete failure of leadership by Gregor,” she charged. “Oh, you can stay, no you have to go, well you should be gone by the Grey Cup, well we’re not sure.”

“They’re still pretending it’s $1,000 a day,” she added. “Well I’m a lawyer – I can tell you that lawyers in court and an injunction are not costing $1,000 a day.”

Anton and NPA candidates travelled to the news conference at city hall in a streetcar trolley bus that the party has been using to promote its pledge to bring back a streetcar network in the city.

Anton said of today’s event: “It’s always been my mantra if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing the right thing - so you’ve got to be having a little bit of fun in your campaign.”

“It’s fun, but it’s serious,” she added. “It’s serious because it demonstrates…the failed leadership of this current team at city hall, and it offers a contrast to what we, the NPA team, will be offering.”

Vision Vancouver also held a final campaign event today, where Mayor Gregor Robertson took aim at the NPA’s platform.

“Their plans are unclear, untested and uncosted right now,” claimed Robertson. “It’s, frankly, not worth the risk of gambling on new NPA candidates. We all remember their record of strikes, of secret deals on the Olympic Village, certainly of avoiding important issues like homelessness and affordable housing in their last term of office.”

Robertson described the NPA election campaign as “nasty” and “a U.S. style of politics that frankly doesn’t belong here in Vancouver.”

“Instead of debating the substance, instead of being solutions-oriented, it’s all been about attacks and negative,” he claimed.

Robertson maintained that Vision has stayed positive during the election campaign.

“I’ve stayed positive, and my whole team has stayed positive in this campaign,” he said. “What we are outlining is there’s a very clear difference.”

The Vision Vancouver event was held on the False Creek seawall across from B.C. Place, where the party launched their platform with a vow to continue a moratorium on expanded gambling in the city.

“Vision does not support the expansion of gambling at a mega-casino downtown - we’re not sure about the NPA,” said Robertson.

“They’re for it, some of them are against it,” he claimed. “They contradict each other.”

The mayor also criticized Anton’s voting record on issues such as homelessness, noting she voted against Vision’s 10-year housing and homelessness strategy, and their “greenest city” plan.

Today’s events wrap up an election campaign that saw Occupy Vancouver emerge as a major issue. The city’s request for an injunction to remove tents from the encampment at the Vancouver Art Gallery was reportedly granted by the B.C. Supreme Court this afternoon, with a Monday deadline imposed.

“It’s been a very tough predicament for Vancouver and cities around the world in addressing the safety issues, and the unsustainability of the encampments,” said Robertson.

“This election is about big issues far beyond the Occupy situation," he added.

The Vancouver civic election takes place between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow (November 19).