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Traditional lefty party precedes NDP make-up, school-closure delay, rent protest

December 6th, 2010 · 28 Comments

It seemed like just another Christmas party, but clearly there was a lot going on Saturday night at the traditional gathering, hosted by Bill Tieleman, Harvey McKinnon and Vanessa Geary among others, of the green/progressive/media/COPE/Vision/NDP crowd — which has also attracted NPA councillors Peter Ladner and Gordon Price in the past —  frequently called “the lefty party.”

The party included people on both sides of the NDP fracture, school-board chair Patti Bacchus, and Sharon Isaak, an activist with the Renters at Risk group. While I was downing martinis and talking about holiday plans with whoever came into my range (plus  hearing murmurs that it was “kind of tense” in the room as various factions of the left tried to get along momentarily), others were clearly working much harder than I.

When I woke up Sunday morning, the two halves of the NDP were hours away from backing off from their showdown. The Vision/COPE school board made an abrupt turn on school closures and delayed any decision on them til next March. And Mayor Gregor Robertson, who I saw last at 2 a.m. on the sidewalk conferring seriously with Sharon Isaak, was out at Isaak’s rally on behalf of West End/Seafield apartment renters — shades of past standing-up-for-the-people glory!

The evening also produced a memorable appearance by Vancouver’s former director of finance, Estelle Lo, who appeared to have been brought to the party by COPE councillor Ellen Woodsworth. It was Lo’s email to city manager Judy Rogers about the problem at the Olympic village, leaked by an unknown person to Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason, that set off a firebomb in the 2008 civic election, which ultimately led to Vision Vancouver’s victory at the polls.

(Lo, who was terminated by city manager Judy Rogers around the same time, always said she wasn’t the one who leaked the memo.)

Perhaps next year, perhaps some other politically minded group could organize a Christmas party issue an open invitation to all terminated, “took early retirement to be with his family,” or otherwise departed city staffers under Vision. Now that would be fun.

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