So Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs wants a shot at provincial politics.
Not a big surprise when you consider his political and union lineages.
He did communications work for the COPE-turned-Vision leader Larry Campbell when he was mayor and for the NDP's Glen Clark when he was premier. He's worked with the Hospital Employees' Union and the B.C. Federation of Labour.
And there's the fact his wife, Jan O'Brien, is the provincial NDP's secretary.
I'm more surprised that his pals Kerry Jang-the burr in Housing Minister Rich Coleman's side-and the ambitious Raymond Louie-he wanted to be mayor, he's vice-chair of Metro Vancouver-haven't joined Meggs.
Heck, even the enigmatic George Chow, who retired from city hall this year, took a shot last fall at getting the nomination as the NDP representative in VancouverFraserview; he lost to Gabriel Yiu.
Left-leaning politicians of B.C. know now is the time to get on the NDP train because all the polls are signalling a big victory in next May's provincial election. So not only would an NDP MLA get to be on the government side, there's also the fact the salary of a municipal politician would double in Victoria.
I know, I know, we're only in June.
And B.C. politics being B.C. politics, odds are good that scandals and other shenanigans will fill newspapers and websites in the months to come.
But I digress. Meggs' desire for a seat in Victoria is not unprecedented.
Remember the Tim Stevenson/Lorne Mayencourt tilt in 2005?
At the time, Stevenson was a COPE councillor and ran as the provincial NDP candidate in Vancouver-Burrard against the Liberals' Mayencourt. Stevenson retained his seat on council during the provincial campaign.
In quite a dramatic showdown, Stevenson lost by a mere 11 votes.
The narrow margin prompted a judicial recount and the results were supported in the recount monitored by Associate Chief Justice of the B.C. Supreme Court Patrick Dohm. Stevenson kept his city hall seat, got re-elected in 2005, 2008 and last fall.
Before Meggs gets a shot at a provincial seat, he'll have to first win the nomination in Vancouver-Fairview, which coincidentally is Mayor Gregor Robertson's former riding when he was an MLA all those years ago.
He's up against a popular candidate: George Heyman, the former president of the B.C. Government and Services Employees' Union and now executive director of the Sierra Club of B.C., has been organizing for almost a year.
But let's just imagine that Meggs gets the nod and wins a seat in the B.C. Legislature.
That would trigger a byelection and another civic campaign.
I'd take a pretty good guess here the NPA's Mike Klassen and COPE's Ellen Woodsworth would be first out of the gate to announce they want a shot on council, having lost out in the 2011 civic vote.
So, the taxpayer asked, how much would this cost?
Good question, taxpayer. Answer: At least $750,000 and likely more, according to the city's acting city clerk Janice MacKenzie, who based the cost on the Olympic referendum in 2003 and Wards plebiscite in 2004, which both came in under $700,000.
If my records are correct, the last city byelection was held in September 1992 when the NPA's Lynne Kennedy won a seat after COPE's Bruce York resigned from council because of ill health.
I'm still trying to find out how much that cost.
And one other note on this: If Meggs does get a seat in the B.C. Legislature, the Vancouver Charter says it would be perfectly fine for him to keep his seat on council.
Now that would be a surprise.
[email protected] Twitter: @Howellings
