VANCOUVER MUNICIPAL GREEN VOTERS DISCOURAGED
Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC
VANCOUVER MUNICIPAL GREEN VOTERS DISCOURAGED
In the aftermath of the backroom deal cut by COPE, Vision and the municipal Green party, Green party members who I have spoken to are discouraged by their executive members selling out Green principles for mere crumbs.
In the deal, Green supporters will have one person on the ballot registered as the Green party in the upcoming November 15 election.
Registered Vancouver voters can vote for 27 municipal positions and Green supporters are infuriated with Vancouver municipal Green Chair, Ben West and past Chair, Stuart MacKinnon for bending to the wishes (demands) of Andrea Reimer to join forces with Vision.
Ms Reimer had dumped the Vancouver Greens party in favour of greener pastures with Vision, a loose consortium of special interests fronted by the former Friends of Larry Campbell group, Union leaders, Developers and Casinos.
Stuart MacKinnon, who was Chair of the Green party until May 2008 has publicly announced his intention to seek a Green park board nomination which is perplexing considering that in a May 2008 interview with Matt Burrows of the Georgia Straight , he stated he was resigning so younger people could become the public face of the Green party. Hm.
One wonders if Mr MacKinnon has received a benefit as some Green members allege for his ass-licking up to Vision. All the while, they allege--while suppressing the Green membership--while a deal was being brokered. Whether Mr MacKinnon is an ass-licker is unknown, what is fact though is that he and Ms Reimer shared a house together until very recently.
Is it possible that Ms Reimer and Mr MacKinnon had discussions about merging the Vancouver Greens with Vision?
For clarity purposes it must be noted that Ms Reimer and Mr MacKinnon are not partners.
Other Green members claim that Mr Ben West may have been the point man in the Vision deal-making as it is also being alleged that he wants to run for the Vancouver park board as the Green nominee. Mr West still hasn't stated his intentions.
Green members must ratify the deal negotiated supposedly on their behalves. This is a mere formality though since the Vancouver Green executive hasn't consulted with the membership in quite some time and as one Green put it, this Executive isn't interested in expanding our membership base, being transparent or accountable.
With the federal Green party in BC now running second to the Conservatives--at least--according to latest polls--I bet the municipal Greens must be feeling mighty foolish for cutting such a dumb deal.
As one Green member puts it, I can't wait to see Adriane Carr elected and Andrea Reimer go down to defeat.
It seems like the Greens are not one happy family these days.
Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com
posted by Jamie Lee Hamilton @ 8:24 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Putting party allegiances aside... I still prefer and hope that people vote for the candidate, rather than along party lines.
I had an old website a few years back that picked Andrea Reimer as one of my top picks because of her intelligence and commitment to our environment.
I believe that Andrea still has these fine qualities. So Green party, NPA or Vision...The party is not that important to me, unless there are no decent candidates... then I base my selections on party platform and track record.
I will still support Andrea (Vision) and I will also support a few NPA candidates.
Partisan politics is ripping our fine City apart. They're all saying the same damn thing anyways... just look beyond their slagging and vote for the individual.
If you vote along party lines, you will most definitely allow in some fools - as is quite obvious with some of the "ethnic" candidates being touted about now.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi David
Agree with you for most of what you say. I think Andrea Reimer has to look within herself to justify dumping the Greens which had suppported her for many many years.
Imtiaz Popat ran for the Greens, and is now seeking a COPE nomination.
Sharon Gregson served as a COPE School Trustee, and now won the Vision nomination.
Al De Genova was an NPA Parks commissioner, then tried to become the Vision mayoralty nomination candidate.
Melissa De Genova had intended to be a Vision Parks candidate. She said that Andrea Reimer inspired her. Now she is back with NPA.
Jamie Lee-Hamilton formerly ran as a COPE candidate, and recently tried to be an NPA candidate.
Everybody makes choices that suit their needs and advances their issues. Teams change and leaders change. Vision is grabbing the center and candidates will shift with the tide, or be shifted by force.
Great leaders will attract great candidates and supporters. Andrea became co-chair of Gregor's mayoralty nomination, and in so doing, had to become a Vision member. But now the Greens will become part of a 3 party slate with increased visibility and credibility - something they didn't have before.
Hi Todd of gunghaggisfatchoy
I agree candidates want to get elected but the issue becomes how far will they go to get elected?
In Andrea Reimer's case she appears to have sold out her principles in order to get elected.
Here are a number of concerns regarding her candidacy with Vision:
1) Ms Reimer claims to be an Green but joined a party which is funded by the development and casino industry where their bottom line is about profit and not necessarily green space or the environment. Just ask the Hastings Park Conservancy.
2) What is really galling though in regard to Ms Reimer is she heads up Women's Campaign School which pushes to have Women elected and properly represented in our political bodies, however, when push came to shove Ms Reimer instead promoted men over very qualified women when it came to the Vision Council slate.
I think the situation with Imtiaz Popat running with COPE is ok since COPE has since 1996 worked with the Greens in coalitions.
In terms of myself, I chose the NPA after running three times as an Independent. I stated I could not run for an NPA Council spot as that would have compromized my principles as I would need to vote en block but if you look at past NPA Park boards they haven't voted all in step. Moreover, they didn't fundementally differ from my own principles. They elected many independent and progressive minded officials including Nancy Chiavario, Duncan Wilson, Laura McDiarmid, David Chessman, Alan Featherstonhaugh and Andy Livingstone.
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