COPE reserves spots for female and aboriginal candidates

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      The Coalition of Progressive Electors is gearing up for the 2014 civic election by encouraging party members and supporters to seek nominations for city council, park board and school board.

      At a press conference outside Vancouver City Hall today, COPE’s executive director Sean Antrim said the party wants to ensure there’s an “even and inclusive playing field” for all potential nominees.

      “We want anyone who supports and is passionate about COPE’s policies to be able to come forward as a nominee and to be supported and empowered in this process,” he said.

      The left-wing party will run a mayoral candidate and majority slates for park and school board. As part of a new equity policy, a majority of COPE candidates will be women, and the party will reserve one spot for aboriginal candidates on each of its three slates.

      “Vancouver is a diverse city, and COPE believes that the municipal government should reflect it as much as possible,” said COPE equity and diversity committee member Imtiaz Popat.

      The party has released a guide for potential nominees, and plans to hold candidate debates and workshops to help candidates.

      Antrim anticipates that potential nominees will be announcing their intentions in the coming weeks. Candidates will campaign throughout the summer, and will be nominated by party members at a conference on September 7.

      COPE members voted earlier this year on a series of policies to form the party's election platform for 2014. Some of the approved motions included proposals for a Vancouver Housing Authority, a Sanctuary City policy, and a $10 a day child-care plan.

      The party will confirm its official election platform at an annual general meeting on July 6.

      Comments

      22 Comments

      What other groups...

      Jun 2, 2014 at 5:15pm

      Are other groups worthy of singling out for quotas? I am shocked there isn't a requirement for an LBGTQ candidate, or candidates of each group represented in the city except for people earning over $60,000 a year: those who vote in numbers are also the least likely to vote for COPE. Perhaps the model COPE is seeking is that followed by the U of T student government wherein elected members will "represent" a specific group on campus, aside from white males who don't participate in athletics and are out of first year. Sadly the left has become so fractured by special interests that they are incapable of even presenting themselves as representing general interests without qualifying their position. Right & left both seek control over society in order to enforce their "correct" ideas on the rest of society and ultimately make opposition literally unthinkable.

      COPE won't cope...

      Jun 2, 2014 at 6:43pm

      Sad to see the former party of David Cadman and reasonable people like Larry Campbell collapse into this.. Prediction. Zero seats. The greens will touch wood replace the NPA in opposition.

      Baffled in Vancouver

      Jun 2, 2014 at 6:57pm

      This seems to be literally the most watered down "quota" position and you still get yahoos like "what other groups" weighing in with nonsense. It's long past time there was some coda in civic parties that prioritized women and indigenous people.

      Every time people call women or First Nations people "special interest" I laugh and laugh because it's so easy to figure out who is talking.

      Stacey

      Jun 3, 2014 at 12:30am

      COPE is reserving spots for women, as long as the men still call the shots. The party is led by Sean Antrim, Imtiaz Popat, and run by Tim Louis. There's one woman in the press conference photo, and they're making her hold the sign. What tokenism. Sad for a once-great political party.

      bobo

      Jun 3, 2014 at 8:00am

      Quotas - never a good idea.

      RUK

      Jun 3, 2014 at 8:55am

      How will we know if they have complied?

      My wife is a blue eyed, blonde-haired Metis. Does she qualify, though she partaketh of the noxious draughts of White Privilege(tm)?

      Would she take two spots, being a woman aboriginal?

      What about a transgendered individual, would they qualify or does she have to be a ciswoman?

      How would it feel to be the person who gets the reserved spot? How grateful they must feel for these crumbs from the table.

      @Stacey

      Jun 3, 2014 at 8:58am

      There were two women speaking in the press conference. What a ridiculous comment.

      Iniquity

      Jun 3, 2014 at 9:48am

      Absolutely revolting. Identity is a fiction used by co-dependents to make a go of it. I am what I am, and that is about it. This sort of politics of division/discrimination shows the morally bankrupt nature of the modern-day left.

      Here's something to consider: we made the most social progress (medicare, etc.) when things were run by a bunch of "evil" white men with advanced education. Today Tommy Douglas would be sidelined and told to "check his white privilege."

      Bruce

      Jun 3, 2014 at 10:00am

      @Stacey

      At least somebody gets how this stuff works in practice.

      As a local gadfly has pointed out, the real difference between the NPA, Vision, the Greens, and COPE is the price with which it's activists can bought off. The NPA demands a high price for high class service to its customers. Vision settles for somewhat less, but *started* as a fee for service project (google Joel Solomon). Listen carefully to the rhetoric of Ms Carr and you'll find it's polished carnival-barker; tough to tell if she truly believes any what she's selling.

      What makes COPE unique is the the low price with which it's activists are bought off by the old-school patriarchal cult of personality behind the curtain.

      "
      Don't you know that the twenty dollar whores
      Look down their noses at
      The ten dollar whores
      Look down their noses at
      The five dollar whores
      Who look down on the volunteers
      Cause they ain't got careers...
      "

      Backslap for Bruce

      Jun 3, 2014 at 11:30am

      Best concise analysis of how the parties use their own convenient idiots. Kudos.