Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association (NPA) has decided that city councillor Hector Bremner can not run on the party’s ticket as a mayoral candidate. The municipal party board decided not to approve the nominations of Bremner and George Steeves.
The party’s own Green Light Committee approved Bremner, who won a council seat in a byelection last year, as a potential candidate.
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NPA president Gregory Baker said in a statement that the party took the recommendations into consideration but voted against certain candidates.
“Baker would also like to thank the members of the Green Light Committee for their due digilence and thoughtful, well-considered recommendations,” reads a statement from the NPA.
Bremner is now considering his options, and sent a note to his followers on Facebook.
“We want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support. We are getting hundreds of calls and emails from supporters,” reads the Facebook message. “This situation is moving fast and we owe it to our team, candidates and caucus to meet first. We will be meeting this afternoon to decide next steps and will have more to say after that.”
Bremner has not ruled out running as an independent and says his team was “shocked” by the decision of the board.
“My team has tried to do the right thing at every step to keep moving forward in a positive direction, and signed up the most members to the NPA of all of the candidates, with over 2,000 supporters,” said Bremner in an online statement.
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The Vancouver mayoral race to replace Gregor Robertson has been a rocky one. Vision Vancouver recently announced it would be running a mayoral candidate. Adriane Carr, Kenned Stewart, Wai Young and Raymond Louie are all considering bids, some for Vision Vancouver and others as independent candidates.
The NPA’s decision to only approve candidates John Coupar, Glen Chernen and Ken Sim has created a ripple effect in the party. Council candidate Adrian Crook has sent a note to supporters saying he is no longer running for the NPA nomination but is still interested in becoming a city councillor.
“With Bremner out, the likely NPA Mayoral candidate is no longer someone I support as a progressive,” said Crook.
The city election is set for October 20.