By the next election we may have four political parties in the City of North Vancouver. Well, one legally registered Local Electors Group and 3 undeclared slates.
First, the forerunner slate which I call Vision North Van, it's a NDP front group like COPE in Vancouver used to be until replaced by Vision Vancouver. Mayor Mussatto, Councillors Keating, Buchanan and candidates Leia and Buitenhuis all ran collectively last fall. They are heavily funded by Unions, big developers with large developments to be approved by Council and the City's employee union that bargains their pay with the Council.
Second, last November I announced that I would be forming a legally registered group, Unite North Van will be formed for the next election. The big difference by registering is that the party name is actually on the ballot.
In a recent column in the Outlook by Sean Kolenko, it seems like there may be two other slates forming. Amanda Nichol, a past candidate and protege of Rod Clark who is likely to be again running for Mayor is part of the formation of North Vancouver City Voices. It is likely part Rod doing some initial organization, some his past campaigns lacked. Considering there was a third party group called Independent Voices that campaigned for a group of candidates, this is likely an offshoot.
The column also mentions a group that has formed a registered non-profit society, the North Vancouver Urban Forum, which has formed to influence Council to ensure that the Waterfront develops into a community gem and not just another mall around the hotel. The initial set of bruises received by dealing with a tunnel visioned Council is their first step in realizing that the only way of changing Council's path is to put fresh people on Council. I would not be surprised to see a couple of candidates running in the next election from this group.
Hi George,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're keeping your eye on happenings in the little City. Just to correct a statement - North Van City Voices is an expanded Independent Voices, with a new name. Nothing to do with Rod or Amanda, except that Amanda is a new member of the re-named group.
Thanks Toni,
ReplyDeleteWith all the media time Amanda has taken through this, it may of not have started with Rod and Amanda but it will be by the election ;-)
It's good to see that Independent Voices is progressing and dropping the word "independent" since they endorse mostly the same candidates who mostly vote together. A candidate cannot claim independence while having joint advertising or a third party elector group endorsing a slate. It's a small step to registering under a name such as the "Non-Partisan Association."
I think that in a couple of elections, you will see the NDP slate legally register as a formal electors group. It is the main reason why they have not been able to elect a majority, having a party name on the same ballot as Mussatto and Keating will move up their other two candidates and electing at least one.
When this happens, the only way to stop them is to do same. Since there is no unifying reason to bind these candidates together, I see it failing. One would think that putting a stop to CUPE paid for candidates and a serious brake on development would be that unifying factor but in the last two elections, endorsements were given to candidates I would call Mussatto lite.