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Robertson, Vision high in polls but vulnerable over homelessness, bike lanes

September 7th, 2010 · 29 Comments

In keeping with my sense that the civic-election campaign has already started, more than a year from the election, here’s some news from the polling front. This poll from Barb Justason confirms that Vision and Gregor Robertson are still riding high with the public. But, in spite of that strength, she says there are signs […]

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Details on the NPA’s no-name-change vote

June 30th, 2010 · 8 Comments

If the Non-Partisan Association was hoping that a debate over changing its name would draw attention and crowds, that strategy didn’t totally work. A grand total of 42 people appeared at the Vancouver Museum last night to vote on whether to change the name to Vancouver First. (I don’t think attracting crowds was the strategy, […]

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NPA to become “Vancouver First”?

June 22nd, 2010 · 29 Comments

Members of Vancouver’s oldest civic political party get to vote June 29 on whether they want to change their name from the Non-Partisan Association (or Civic Non-Partisan Association legally) to Vancouver First. (Full wording of the motion here.) This is the follow-up to a membership meeting a couple of months ago where there was extended […]

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Vancouver’s two main political parties plan the future

April 29th, 2010 · 45 Comments

My assignment: Compare and contrast the annual general meetings of Vancouver’s two major political parties, the Non-Partisan Association, once all-powerful, now hunting for its way forward, and Vision Vancouver, the new ecocapitalist party, still riding high on its 2008 win. (Someone once said being a journalist is like having homework the rest of your life. […]

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NPA makes a move to get more members

August 24th, 2009 · 9 Comments

Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association sent out a notice late last week saying it plans to lower its membership fee from $20 to $10 a year, in an apparent move to compete with Vision Vancouver’s successful membership drive that brought in 17,000 new members last year at as low as $5 apiece. This seems to be part […]

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Musing about NPA mayoral candidate begins

July 30th, 2009 · 9 Comments

The folks over at the Georgia Straight had this interesting item about park board commissioner Ian Robertson thinking aloud about running as the mayoral candidate for the Non-Partisan Association next time around. It’s actually not too early to start planning for that — a bare year and a half away, really, or only 18 Critical […]

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Campaign finance disclosures: Louie and DeGenova

April 10th, 2009 · 14 Comments

I apologize that it’s taken me so long to put this up, but here, at last, are the campaign finance disclosures that mayoral candidates Raymond Louie and Allan DeGenova filed with Vision Vancouver. (My late-night struggles with blog technology are finally paying off.) They aren’t available at the city clerk’s office because the city clerk […]

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Tags: 2008 Vancouver Civic Election

The $5-million civic election comes to Vancouver

March 13th, 2009 · 8 Comments

Not all the financial disclosures are in yet — still waiting for many of the Non-Partisan Association candidates — but there’s now enough in to show that the spending reached unbelievable new levels. Vision Vancouver spent almost $2 million, as I report in the Globe this morning. (The documents will be filed with the city […]

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NPA spends $1.3 million or so; Vision Vancouver rumoured $1.5

March 10th, 2009 · 9 Comments

That most exciting point in the three-year cycle of any civic reporter approaches, as the deadline for disclosing campaign finance donations for all candidates and parties in the last fall’s election draws nigh. I know that the folks at Beyond Robson will mock me again for beating them repeatedly with long lists of numbers, but […]

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Many fresh faces on new NPA executive

February 26th, 2009 · 3 Comments

This post is a little belated, since NPA types told me early last week that a new executive was going to be chosen and on Thursday, just on schedule, the list of new names came out, which you can read, along with new president Michael Davis’s message, here. It’s interesting that the new executive is […]

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