You all know Adriane Carr, don’t you?
Yes, she’s the Green Party’s lone voice at city hall.
As many of you will recall, Carr narrowly won a spot on council in the 2011 election.
Her victory wasn’t necessarily surprising, considering her public profile as former leader of the Green Party of B.C. and her unsuccessful runs in provincial and federal elections.
The Greens, too, had previously elected Andrea Reimer to school board and Stuart Mackinnon to the park board; Reimer is now a Vision councillor while Mackinnon lost his seat in the 2011 vote.
With the 2014 election a mere 10 months away, I thought I’d check in with the Greens to see what the party has planned for this year’s big vote. And wouldn’t you know it, the party just had its AGM this month and had some news to share: the Greens plan to run up to four candidates, including Carr.
The decision to run four candidates was based on two factors: a) results of a poll that was favourable to the party, and b); the Greens’ desire “to restore citizen-based democracy at city hall.”
That was all explained in a press release the party sent me.
First, the poll.
The party said it commissioned a poll that surveyed 528 residents between Jan. 22 and 27. Apparently, the poll sample was representative of Vancouver in terms of geography, gender and age, with nearly two-thirds identifying as habitual voters intending to cast a ballot in November.
The poll found that 18 per cent of respondents selected the Greens as their first choice, second only to Vision Vancouver at 25 per cent. The NPA was at 12 per cent and COPE at 10 per cent, with 33 per cent declining to pick their first choice.
Also, 49 per cent of voters said they intended to change their vote this time around. Of those, 27 per cent said they would vote for the Greens — this admission done without the respondents knowing the poll was commissioned by the party, according to the Greens.
Apparently, only five per cent said they would shift their support to Vision Vancouver, another 10 per cent to the NPA and 14 per cent to COPE. But 47 per cent still don’t know which different party they will choose in November.
Whoa, that’s a lot of numbers and percentages.
So let’s move on to people
Aside from Carr, lawyer Cleta Brown has said she is interested in seeking a seat on council. And according to the Greens’ chairperson Jacquie Miller, “a number of strong potential candidates have already expressed interest in running.”
As for restoring “citizen-based democracy” at 12th and Cambie, the party said the reason it will not run a full slate for council is that it doesn’t believe one party should rule city hall.
That poll the Greens commissioned said 63 per cent of respondents agreed.
We’ll see how many agree enough to vote for the Greens come election day.
I've heard it’s the only poll that matters.
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