Vision Vancouver announced Friday that it will run eight candidates for city council in this November’s civic election as the party ramps up its campaign to seek a third consecutive majority at city hall.
All seven of Vision’s incumbent candidates are likely to be endorsed Sunday along with Mayor Gregor Robertson at the party’s Annual General Meeting at the Simon Fraser University Segal School of Business.
In the 2011 election, Vision ran seven candidates for council instead of a full slate of 10 as part of a deal with COPE, the party some councillors once belonged to when elected in 2002.
COPE and Vision have since severed ties.
Vision also announced it will run seven candidates for school board and five candidates for park board, which will see the most new faces with Sarah Blyth, Aaron Jasper and Constance Barnes deciding not to seek re-election.
Also, Vision park board commissioner Niki Sharma announced in February that she will seek a council nomination. Sharma and non-incumbent Vision candidates for council, school board and park board will compete in a nomination meeting scheduled for June 22.
The Green Party of Vancouver, meanwhile, will also be busy Sunday and its members are likely to endorse incumbent Coun. Adriane Carr along with nominees Pete Fry, Cleta Brown and Tracey Moir as council candidates.
The party hasn’t said how many candidates it will run for school board or park board. The Greens also haven’t confirmed whether they will run a mayoral candidate or seek a coalition with another party.
The NPA will hold its sold-out fundraising gala next Wednesday (May7) at the Vancouver Convention Centre. But contrary to its initial plans, the party won’t name its candidates at the gala, let alone a mayoral candidate. The party will also not hold a nomination meeting, which is believed to be unprecedented in the NPA’s long history.
A recent poll conducted by Justason Market Intelligence showed support for Vision dropped five points since January to 38 per cent. The NPA fell to 18 per cent from 32 per cent in July 2011. COPE’s support is at 10 per cent while the Greens popularity continues to grow, with one in four voters (24 per cent) in favour of a Green majority.
The election is Nov. 15.
twitter.com/Howellings
