Back in April, while on an unfamiliar East Van walk, I ran into a journalist I knew from my days as an event promoter. He was digging out something rhizomatic on his front lawn and the conversation quickly turned to civic politics.
"As things stand," he began, "there'll be at least four serious contenders for mayor this fall, which means Stewart [our current mayor] will get re-elected with 30% of the vote, with another tenuous coalition council. So yeah, nothing will get done. But on the bright side, nothing will get un-done."
Yesterday I read that one of those contenders, NPA candidate John Coupar, has suddenly dropped out of the race, giving no indication as to why, apart from a short statement that ends with: "As I move on, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and friends." (Was he pushed?) Concurrent with that, the NPA issued a statement saying that it would be fielding a new candidate by next month's deadline.
Could Coupar's sudden departure be related to recent revelations that local entrepreneur Chip Wilson is raising money to build a new "pro-business" organization to defeat Vancouver's current "socialist" city council in October, before taking on the current "socialist" pro-business NDP government in 2024? I think I know which way I'll be walking today. There are times when it really matters to me just where our city is headed.
image by Rowan Melling
No comments:
Post a Comment