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Mid-day from the Vancouver civic election

November 15th, 2008 · 4 Comments

It’s a lovely, rain-free day, warm enough for people to walk around with light jackets. That’s good news for voter turnout here, which is always seen as a crucial element in who wins. Last time, 132,000 people voted. In 2002, it was about 140,000 — a high that hadn’t been seen since the 1980s. What’s […]

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The Bonfire of the Olympics continues: The Raymond Louie chapter

November 14th, 2008 · 11 Comments

Okay, people, this may be a little incoherent because I’ve had a few glasses of wine — it’s all you can do under these conditions. But, really, aren’t you finding this Olympic-loan, hunt-for-the-leaker saga is all really like a Tom Wolfe novel? We have the mass media in full hyena mode (I’m one of them, […]

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Robertson posts his developer-free donor list

November 10th, 2008 · 3 Comments

In the battle for full disclosure of campaign contributions, Vision Vancouver has now posted how much Gregor Robertson got in financial contributions for his mayoral campaign. At $180,382.50, it’s about $20,000 more than the Non-Partisan Association’s Peter Ladner got for his race. But if you break it down by how much they spent per voter, […]

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Vancouver advance polls show signs of high turnout — the Obama effect?

November 6th, 2008 · 3 Comments

Everyone’s been predicting possible record low turnouts in the B.C. civic elections, with speculation that voters will be just too tired from the recent batches of voting to mark another X. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. I dropped by three of the four advance polls today where everyone was reporting higher turnout […]

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Tags: 2008 Vancouver Civic Election

NDP wins put some gas in Vision campaign

October 30th, 2008 · 10 Comments

It’s an all-politics night here in the home nest as we watch CNN on television for the Obama-McCain news, while checking Elections BC’s website for byelection results, after having just come home from umpteenth civic election debate. The debate in brief: Peter Ladner is more of a street-fighter in every encounter with Gregor Robertson, throwing […]

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Tags: 2008 Vancouver Civic Election

Split among council candidates on shifting business taxes to residential

October 29th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Sharper eyes than mine have noted that in the Vancouver Sun survey of council candidates, two of the seven Non-Partisan Association candidates who answered the question said they did not support shifting more of the business share of tax to residential. Michael Geller, a development consultant and expert on how real-estate economics work, is not […]

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Shaughnessy residents grill Ladner and the NPA

October 26th, 2008 · 17 Comments

Finally, some Vancouver council candidates in this year’s election got a chance to tell the public a bit about themselves on Friday when the Shaughnessy Heights Property Owners Association had their local campaign get-together. Three councillors from each party, along with the mayoral candidates, got to have a say, along with one independent who made […]

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Two mayor candidates’ visions of the Downtown Eastside

October 22nd, 2008 · 9 Comments

Another night, another debate. This one got hot a few times, though, thanks to giving mayoral candidates Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner a chance to argue with each other. As well, there were several good questions from the audience and moderator Gary Mason of the Globe & Mail. The most noteworthy one of the night […]

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Tags: 2008 Vancouver Civic Election

Ladner and Robertson: “Experience” versus “change and leadership”

October 17th, 2008 · 5 Comments

Vancouver mayoral candidates Peter Ladner and Gregor Robertson keep emphasizing a theme about their campaign. For Ladner, it’s “experience.” For Robertson, it’s “change and leadership.” I had a story in the Globe Friday that looks at why code words like that get used. As University of Victoria political-science professor Dennis Pilon points out, those kinds […]

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The campaign begins: Developers in disarray, Vision peppy, Peter sick

October 16th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Oh yes, another election. Don’t forget. The billboards are starting to go up. (There’s one a half block from my house with Peter Ladner and his smiling team saying something about creating a green and affordable city.) The Visionistas are happily out delivering lawn signs. Yes, it’s time for the main battle. Well, almost, as […]

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