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Robertson stumbles as he tries to answer LaPointe question about union deal

October 27th, 2014 · 46 Comments

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson can be forceful about the issues he has convictions on, but something I’ve noticed over the years is how poorly he handles questions where he thinks he might be accused of doing something wrong but he isn’t quite sure. That was on display full force Sunday, when the mayor was asked […]

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NPA starts to hit hard, saying Gregor Robertson hates the city’s resource economy, lies about homelessness

October 16th, 2014 · 20 Comments

Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association ramped up its game this week, with mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe announcing his party’s positions on housing and the city economy. My Globe story here makes it pretty clear that the party will go into the election championing Vancouver as a home to LNG, mining, forestry, and so on. On housing, LaPointe […]

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First big campaign day: NPA talks about free parking on Sundays, Vision talks housing, free swim lessons

October 10th, 2014 · 70 Comments

Suddenly, the energy level has ramped up in the campaign and lots to do and cover the last two days. Things started off Wednesday with duelling newsers from Vision and the NPA, where Vision announced its “family-friendly” (you’d think in this province, they’d be wary of that phrase, but whatever) affordability platform, emphasizing their commitment […]

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Vancouver launches new legal challenge to CP Rail, saying it has no rights to use Arbutus corridor for rail any more

October 5th, 2014 · 30 Comments

Hoo boy, the Holy War between Vancouver and CPR heated up again Friday when the city launched a lawsuit claiming CP has effectively given up its right to use the Arbutus corridor as a rail line. I’m attaching the city’s statement of claim below so all the legal scholars on the blog can weigh the […]

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Tags: 2014 Vancouver Civic Election

The stealth marketing campaign by Vision Vancouver

September 30th, 2014 · 22 Comments

Warning: This post contains a mix of serious analysis and some whimsically imaginary facts mixed with real ones. If you can’t tell them apart or if the juxtaposition creates too much cognitive dissonance for you, STAY AWAY. The Vancouver election campaign has been so strangely underwhelming so far that it’s allowed many of us in […]

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Vancouver hurls millions of city money into housing and shelter as deadline approaches

September 26th, 2014 · 45 Comments

Since the first day that Vision Vancouver came into power, Mayor Gregor Robertson has turned up the flame on efforts to create new shelter spaces, interim housing, and permanent housing in the city. But this week, as the election and a Dec. 31 deadline for “solving street homelessness” approaches, the city has started doing something […]

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Tags: 2014 Vancouver Civic Election

Vancouver Greens: More from developers for low-cost housing, maybe luxury tax, lots more real talking with residents promised

September 18th, 2014 · 27 Comments

Feels like the municipal campaign in Vancouver finally started to pick up some speed today, as the Greens launched their platform and Vision Vancouver had the first news conference with real news, announcing more money for school lunches for poor kids. (And the NPA sniping away at that.) I mostly covered the Green announcement, as […]

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Tags: 2014 Vancouver Civic Election

Vision paints NPA’s LaPointe as inexperienced waffler, he paints Robertson as the guy who can’t deliver on his big promises

September 6th, 2014 · 48 Comments

I have to second the opinion of my colleague Mike Howell at the Vancouver Courier, who concluded his summary of this week’s election shenanigans with the question: Is it time for reporters to take a vacation until this campaign settles down to something reasonable? Vision’s Gregor Robertson held his first campaign news conference, accusing NPA […]

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Robertson: CPR is “bullying”; LaPointe: Vision has been “incompetent” on CP file

August 15th, 2014 · 174 Comments

So CPR sent out the bulldozers to take down the zucchini plants and raspberry bushes this week along its long-unused line, which apparently is now so critically in need of work that the clean-up couldn’t wait until, say, the end of the season. As someone on Twitter remarked, the PR in CPR sure doesn’t stand […]

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Gregor Robertson holds steady with 59 % decided voters but NPA’s LaPointe starts strong

July 31st, 2014 · 40 Comments

I went to get some of my crazed summer-frizzed hair chopped the other day, so got to talk to my hairdresser, my infallible guide to the mood of the city. He has a lot of west-side clients, so he gets a sense of things percolating before I do. He told me when the tide was […]

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