Vision Vancouver is officially taking another run at the city’s mayoral chair.
The municipal party that controls the balance of power on Vancouver city council is planning on running a candidate to replace three-term Mayor Gregor Robertson.
Vision had been grappling over whether to run a mayoral candidate or work with other progressive partners to support a common candidate.
In a statement, the party said it received expressions of interest from numerous candidates for the top job at Vancouver city hall. Nominations have not opened officially.
“Vancouver is at a critical moment, and the out-of-touch NPA are gearing up to take Vancouver in the wrong direction, whether it’s cancelling the empty homes tax or ripping out bike lanes,” said Vision Vancouver Co-Chair Michael Haack.
“Based on the level of interest from candidates committed to Vision Vancouver, our members, and our principles, now is the right time for Vision to open the formal nomination process for a Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate.”
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The NPA are in the midst of picking a mayoral candidate. City Coun. Hector Bremner, park board commissioner John Coupar, entrepreneur Ken Sim and investor Glen Chernen are all vying to run on the NPA ticket.
The winner of the nomination battle will be decided on May 29.
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Vision Vancouver considered various scenarios, including the options of endorsing an independent candidate, or a candidate from another party, and ultimately decided to field their own.
“Vision received expressions of interest from independents and candidates from other parties seeking Vision’s endorsement for mayor, and considered each one carefully,” Haack said.
“However, with less than six months to the election, it is clear that none of the potential candidates has emerged as a consensus choice, and to date have not been able to secure cross-party support, which would be essential to the success of an independent campaign.
“While Vision is launching its mayoral nomination process, we have yet to determine the number of seats we will run for council, park and school board, or to finalize our policy platform. We will continue discussions with other progressive parties on opportunities for collaboration in the upcoming campaign to defeat the NPA in October.”
Robertson defeated NPA candidate Kirk LaPointe by more than 10,000 votes in the 2014 city election. But Vision was crushed in the 2017 city council by-election, with candidate Diego Cardona finishing fifth.
Independent candidate Shauna Sylvester has declared she is running for mayor. Vision Coun. Raymond Louie, Green Coun. Adriane Carr, former Conservative MP Wai Young and NDP MP Kennedy Stewart are all considering mayoral bids for different parties or as independent candidates.
Vision has set a deadline of May 11 for potential mayoral candidates to submit their nomination packages.
They’ll pick their mayoral candidate on June 24.
Municipal elections will take place across the province on Oct. 20.
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