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T HE VA N C O U V E R C O U R I E R F R I D AY, A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 0
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WEB POLL NATION Go to www.vancourier.com to vote Which is more likely to happen by June? a) the Canucks will be in the Stanley Cup final b) the school board will balance its budget with minimal cuts to staff and programs Last week’s poll question: With Vancouver lawns under attack from chafer beetles, should we: • fight back with pesticides: 20 per cent • convert lawns into gardens: 52 per cent • surrender and let nature takes its course: 28 per cent This is not a scientific poll.
NPA, Vision AGMs a telling tale
Tales of two political parties unfolded Wednesday evening as both the NPA and Vision Vancouver held their annual general meetings. Even members of the once powerful Non Partisan Association found some amusement in the fact they chose to gather in a museum. My agent at the Vancouver Museum reported some 75 souls were present. Interestingly, only 13 of those were women. If you were looking for additional X chromosomes on the civic scene you would find them among the 150 bodies at Vision’s love-in at BCIT’s downtown campus; the organization’s board chair, the meeting’s chair, Vision’s treasurer, the person leading the fundraising pitch and more than half the people running for the board were women, confirming that the female gender skews to the left of males when it comes to electoral politics. But I digress. I must confess, having watched the NPA crowd for much of my adult life, I’ve been fully expecting them to rise up out of the most recent muck into which they sank during the last electoral adventure. But the folks at the NPA meeting were once again hopelessly tangled in the debate that has been going on for years now, which is whether to actually set policy so they can say they stand for something other than the usual bromides about good government and responsible leadership. I’m told that former councillor and mayoral candidate Peter Ladner took the pragmatic view that, despite decades of rhetoric to the contrary, the NPA is actually a political party and should have policies. While he was not alone, he did
allengarr not win on that one. And there was little left to do but deal with a proposal to change the name the party’s name while keeping the NPA initials so as to not lose the value of the brand. Before you cut your imaginations loose on that exercise, I should inform you that my buddy Frances Bula has already registered the trademark on the “No Poultry Association.” Meanwhile, few feathers were flying across town among the Vision types where Coun. Raymond Louie was introducing his colleague Andrea Reimer and the “chicken lady.” What we were watching was anything but a free-range flock. Dissent was limited to one friendly question to Mayor Gregor Robertson about the STIR rental housing program, which is bending some West End residents out of shape. That includes the five from WEN (West End Neighbours) handing out pamphlets to arriving Vision members.
Evidence of Vision’s tight control, by the way, was found in an email string that arrived on my desk over a week ago. It was the occasion of the announcement by the province that they would continue to fund three of the HEAT shelters. Vision councillors were warned not to say anything until the “messaging” had been worked out. And while the NPA is fiddling with name changes, the Vision machine is building for the next campaign and beyond. They now have a full time executive director, a fundraiser and two more staffers. And if you want evidence of how they have effectively occupied the centre of this city’s political spectrum, look no further than the treasurer’s report presented at the meeting. I am not referring to the fact that after the last election they were over $100,000 in the hole. I want to draw your attention to the graphic breakdown of dollars received. Almost half (47.5 per cent) came from corporations. And 25 per cent came from unions with the rest from individuals. That combination of funding sources would have been anathema to COPE and impossible for the NPA. Nonetheless, the bloom is somewhat off the Vision rose. COPE is already benefiting from the disillusioned Vision’s left; and there will be a bit of drifting on the right. The only question, a year and a half away from the next vote, is this: Will the centre hold? At this point I would say there is no reason to doubt it will. The NPA may make that museum their permanent home. agarr@vancourier.com
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