Vancouver park board commissioner John Coupar nominated as NPA’s mayoral candidate

The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) has announced it has nominated John Coupar as its mayoral candidate in the next municipal election.

The longtime Vancouver Park Board commissioner says one of the reasons he decided to run for mayor is to restore a sense of pride in Vancouver.

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“We’re in a beautiful place and I’m always so proud to live here and grow up here but I feel like the shine has come off a bit,” he said.

Coupar said places like Yaletown need support for the homeless and Gastown needs to be spruced up.

“Now is the time when we don’t have the cruise ships in town that it may be the right time to do some rehabilitation work on the streets down there,” Coupar said of Gastown.

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He also opposes cutting the police budget.

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“They’ve got a lot of challenges and they need to be properly funded,” he said.

The NPA’s candidate in the 2018 municipal election, Ken Sim, was narrowly defeated by current Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Sim earned the 2018 NPA nomination by defeating Coupar in a party election. This time around, an election was not held and Coupar was selected by the party executive.

Stewart has already announced that he will be seeking re-election.

The next municipal election is scheduled for the fall of next year.