So, thanks to the resignation of Geoff Meggs from council, as he goes off to be chief of staff for John Horgan in the new NDP government, there will be a by-election sometime in mid-October. Even though whoever wins won’t make a difference to the balance of power on council — Vision will still have […]
Expect a lot of jockeying among candidates to be the preferred “anti-Vision” vote in by-election
July 12th, 2017 · No Comments
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Vancouver sets off into the choppy waters with an empty-homes tax, one of a few cities around world
September 15th, 2016 · 2 Comments
So here we go. Vancouver will become the first city in Canada and one of a very select group around the world to charge an empty-homes tax as a way of trying to curb the effects of speculative investment and to get some housing stock back on the market. I wrote two stories this week […]
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Greens step up efforts to get seats on Vancouver council, COPE sets new policy
April 1st, 2014 · 188 Comments
All of us who care about politics in the city are waiting to see which of the potential Vision challengers will mount the most effective, publicly appealing option for those wishing to park their votes somewhere besides with the ruling party. The two parties on what some would describe as the left were in action […]
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Peter Ladner’s impressions of Cuba: great health, services, crippled economy
May 8th, 2009 · 6 Comments
Our two-term councillor and recent mayoral candidate went to Cuba for the 50th anniversary of La Revolucion — a return trip after a visit in 1970, where Peter Ladner had the dubious pleasure of staying in the same hotel as FLQ refugees, if I’m recalling the story he told me correctly. Always great to get […]
Tags: City Hall Talk
How did Tim Louis come so close to winning?
September 28th, 2008 · 11 Comments
That was the question in a lot of people’s minds when he came within six votes of being the second COPE candidate along with David Cadman. Louis’s camp had not seemed that strong two weeks ago, when there was a vote on whether to accept the deal with Vision to give that breakaway party over […]
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Tim Louis loses by a whisker
September 28th, 2008 · 1 Comment
It took three rounds of voting to finalize the results, but in the end, David Cadman and Ellen Woodsworth, who have championed the conciliation efforts with Vision Vancouver, will be COPE’s two council candidates. Woodsworth edged out Louis by only six votes. More in a moment.
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COPE goes to runoff with Cadman, Louis in lead
September 28th, 2008 · 1 Comment
The 322 voters here just heard the results of the first round. No one has got the required 162 votes needed to win. David Cadman has 161. Tim Louis has 157. Ellen Woodsworth has 126. Meena Wong, 118. Terry Martin, who had 82, has now been dropped and the second round is underway.
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COPE rules for voting today
September 28th, 2008 · No Comments
I’ll be down at the Coalition of Progressive Electors meeting this afternoon to get the results of voting for their part of the slate that’s been agreed to with Vision. The toughest race and the one everyone’s watching is, of course, for the two city-council spots. At the moment, there are five people competing for […]
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COPE members overwhelmingly endorse deal
September 14th, 2008 · 1 Comment
It wasn’t even close, which some people thought it might be. Nope, the huge majority of the 400 Coalition of Progressive Electors members voted in favour of the Vision-COPE-Green non-aggression pact. Even Tim Louis, when I talked to him afterwards, acknowledged that the vote was “strongly in favour.” So you know it’s true. We in […]
Tags: 2008 Vancouver Civic Election
Why one COPE member disagrees with Tim Louis
September 14th, 2008 · 1 Comment
At the risk of bringing a shitstorm of furious debate onto Bill Bargeman’s head, I’m posting his comments here for those who don’t think to click on the comments section: My first venture into the blogsphere: The question of whether or not COPE should run a mayoral candidate and the number of council, school and […]
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