Vancouver Election: Mayor Re-Elected, Vision Loses Control of Park & School Board

[DonLever]

From the CBC:

Gregor Robertson appeared to send a message Wednesday morning: he's worried he's losing votes, and he feels he needs supporters of the Coalition of Progressive Electors to vote for his Vision Vancouver party if he wants a third term as Vancouver mayor.

It was apparent from the opening moments of a debate at CBC Vancouver that Robertson had a new strategy. One that began with an unprompted apology.

"I want to start with a message to voters, directly. And that is that I have heard you," Robertson said.

"While we've done a lot of good things, we've done very well in the past six years, there's also things that we haven't done particularly well."

"And for those in particular, when I haven't met your expectations, I am sorry. And I know that if I am re-elected again, and honoured to have that position going forward, that I can do better," he continued.

[Tom Sestito]

will never forget when he pushed me cutting to the front of the line @ gate 10 of game 7 of the finals.

the little things..

[Denguin]

Not a good sign for someone to release that the night(s) before... Almost sounds like they're begging for votes.

[DonLever]

Yes, it is a sign of weakness when you have to apologize to voters a few days before the election.

Polls show Robertson and Lapointe are neck and neck right now, compared to the large lead the mayor had earlier.

It really come down to turnout. A large increase from the regular 30% turnout bodes bad for the mayor. It may mean voters are fed up with the mayor. Remember the Toronto mayor race had a record turnout of 60%, largely a result of wanting to get rid of the Ford brothers. Could something like that happen in Vancouver? We will find out tonight.

[Bruce Boudreau]

Let's all vote to kick out Gregor today. #NOMOREGREGOR

Vote NPA.

[Riviera82]

Looks like pretty soon he'll just be called Moonbeam rather than mayor Moonbeam.

[ckamo]

Not a good sign for someone to release that the night(s) before... Almost sounds like they're begging for votes.

Almost? Seems pretty blatant to me. Maybe if he and his crew had actually taken voter opinions into consideration it wouldn't have come to this.

Also, can anyone explain why Robertson has focussed so much energy on the Kinder Morgan pipeline? As far as I know, the mayor of Vancouver has no real power in this issue. Is he just trying to push the right buttons to get people riled up?

[Brick Tamland]

Good bye and good riddance...

[DonLever]

Let's all vote to kick out Gregor today. #NOMOREGREGOR

Vote NPA.

Actually, you don't need to vote for the NPA to get rid of Gregorson. If you really believe in leftwing causes, vote COPE. That should casue a split in the vote to allow for the Lapointe to win How could Vision be considered the representative of the left when they are in the pocket of the developers? We know the NPA is in the pockets of the developers but they don't hide it like Vision. Vision cloak it by using the green agenda and saying they are helping the homeless. BTW, homelessness has not really gone away despite the mayors promise of homelessness will end by 2015.

[DonLever]

From CKNW:

Surrey and Vancouver see increase in advance voting numbers

Vancouver, BC, Canada / (CKNW AM) AM980

Shelby Thom

November 14, 2014 11:42 pm

It’s voting day in British Columbia!

Voting will be open for Election Day from 8am to 8pm at nearly 120 locations across Vancouver, and 52 voting locations in Surrey.

Ten people are running for the Mayor of Vancouver, 49 candidates for city council, 31 people are vying for park board commissioner and 29 for school trustee.

In Surrey, there are seven mayoral hopefuls, 35 looking to fill the rest of the council seats and 23 candidates for school trustee.

Advance voting for Vancouver closed with a record voter turnout; a total of 38,556 ballots were cast.

That’s a 98 per cent increase over advance voting during the 2011 election with a total of 19,484 ballots cast.

Meanwhile, in Surrey advanced voter turnout also up from 2011. A total of 11,747 ballots were cast, compared to a little less than 6,400 in 2011.

Unofficial results will start rolling in online after 8pm.

Official results will be announced by Chief Election officials next week.

[Mr. Ambien]

Actually, you don't need to vote for the NPA to get rid of Gregorson. If you really believe in leftwing causes, vote COPE. That should casue a split in the vote to allow for the Lapointe to win How could Vision be considered the representative of the left when they are in the pocket of the developers? We know the NPA is in the pockets of the developers but they don't hide it like Vision. Vision cloak it by using the green agenda and saying they are helping the homeless. BTW, homelessness has not really gone away despite the mayors promise of homelessness will end by 2015.

Look forward to the entertainment of the equivalent green campaign, "reverse global warming by 2020".

[g_bassi13]

Voted for a variety of options that weren't Vision. Mostly NPA who were more likely to win, but a lot of Vancouver 1st as well, because that's the awesome thing about an election where you're voting for 27 people. You can make some strategic votes to go along with the more personal ones.

At some core philosophical level Vision should make sense, but they represented the most frustrating aspects of both left wing infrastructure meddling and right wing developer interests since they've been in charge. Maybe if they lose this election and wake up I could give them a look next time, but as it stands they're about as poor an option for myself as I could find on a ballot. Even if they win, hopefully a close election in what should have been an easy win would at the very least cause them to look at voter needs a little harder.

edit: Also, Vision called my household asking for bodies to get to the polling stations because it's too close. I found that interesting.

[DonLever]

Only two hours until polls close.

Please go and vote and make your voice heard!

[Offensive Threat]

I no vote for u Robertson. Every damn day I drive in bumper to bumper traffic jams while I stare at that completely empty bike only lane and it makes my head hurt. EVERY DAMN DAY!!!

[Violator]

Social media election day ban upsets Vancouver's mayor

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson says he wasn't happy to learn "at the last minute" about an Elections BC ban on candidates and their staff using social media including Twitter on election day.

Under the Elections Campaign Financing Act using social media to send out messages constitutes advertising which candidates are not allowed to do on election day.

The new rules have been in place since May and are outlined in the Guide to Local Elections Campaign Financing in B.C. on page 51.

But Robertson says the Vision Vancouver team only received final confirmation of the decision within the last 48 hours.

"It’s a last minute ruling that’s surprising and disappointing," he said. "I certainly wasn’t aware of this nor was council. There was no heads up on this well in advance which doesn’t make sense to me."

Robertson says getting young people to vote is already hard enough without limiting access to social media.

"That’s a world they spend a lot of time in," he said. "It’s public domain and I totally disagree that we should be banned from social media on election day. Hopefully we'll see that overturned soon."

"I hope it doesn't suppress the young vote today."

Robertson concedes it may not, "because there’ll be a lot of other people who will be talking about it on social media.

Voter turnout does appear to be good, with long line-ups being reported at many polling stations around the city.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/social-media-election-day-ban-upsets-vancouver-s-mayor-1.2836622?cmp=rss

moonbeam should stop smoking so much dope

[Neversummer]

Turnout pretty good ... 4 stations ran out of ballots, had to extend the hours.

Let the counting begin.

[Columbo]

I no vote for u Robertson. Every damn day I drive in bumper to bumper traffic jams while I stare at that completely empty bike only lane and it makes my head hurt. EVERY DAMN DAY!!!

You know, maybe more people would get off your bumpers and into those lanes if there was full, proper integration of bike routes. It's one thing to have a bike lane over the Burrard bridge but you need lanes feeding into it and off of it.

By the way I'm in those bike lanes every day and during peak hours they are PACKED with bikes. (My route is Point Grey, York then over the Burrard bridge so I can't speak to the whole city).

[WilliesStache14]

lol must be some tasty koolaid the moonbeam worshippers are drinking

audio proof of how corrupt this tool is and they still vote to re-elect him

[Mr.Habitat]

Jesus Christ.... How does this happen again??? Fucking ridiculous

[drummer4now]

Anybody read his life background on Wikipedia? Seems like he personally wrote it himself...

Gregor Robertson was born in North Vancouver in 1965.^[2] His father was an attorney with Russell Dumoulin, a prominent Vancouver law firm and his mother was a teacher.^[3]Gregor grew up in Portola, near San Francisco, after his parents divorced and he later lived with his father.^[3] In 1982 he graduated from Carson Graham Secondary School and enrolled at the University of British Columbia, but later transferred to Colorado College,^[4] where he earned a BA in English and Biology. After graduating, he intended to become a physician, but the University of British Columbia School of Medicine rejected his application. ^[3][5] Robertson claimed he didn't like medicine because he would have to work in end-of-life situations,^[3] despite the fact that few doctors work in those situations.

His ancestors include grandfather Dr. Emile Therrien, a pioneering doctor and Dr. Norman Bethune, his grandmother’s cousin, a noted anti-fascist and Communist famous for battlefield medicine in the Spanish Civil War and the second Sino-Japanese War.^[6] He is not related to Gordon Bethune.

After some soul-searching, he cowboyed in the Cariboo^[4] and sailed the Pacific for 18 months, accompanied by his wife, Amy, whom he had met in Colorado.^[3] They settled inNew Zealand, where he was attracted to, and began, farming as a trade.^[5] After turning 25, he returned to Canada, where he purchased land in Glen Valley near Fort Langley, and made his living as a farmer there.^[4]

Robertson went on to co-found Happy Planet, a Vancouver-based company that produces and markets organic fruit beverages.^[4] He was named one of Canada's "Top 40 under 40" by The Globe and Mail.^[7] He was also a Tides Canada director from 2002 until 2004, when he entered politics with the provincial New Democratic Party.

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2005 election as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party having defeated the trade union leader Judy Darcy in a high profile battle for the party's nomination. He then beat British Columbia Liberal Party's Virginia Greene in the general election. During his time as the MLA for Vancouver-Fairview, Robertson served as the Opposition Critic for Small Business^{[citation needed]} and as the Co-Chair of the Caucus Climate Change Taskforce.^[8]

The Vancouver Sun lists his mentors by writing "Although he might disagree, if there were only three names found in Gregor Robertson’s Rolodex apart from his family, they likely would be Joel Solomon, Mike Magee and Bob Penner. Now, after two terms, you might add a fourth, Bob Rennie, the condo mega-salesman. Solomon is a millionaire expat Tennessean who, with Rubbermaid heiress Carol Newell, built Renewal Partners, a foundation and charity-backed company that invests in socially responsible businesses. He put at least $250,000 into Robertson’s Happy Planet Foods, but his political influence and mentorship extends far beyond that." ^[9] According to the Vancouver Sun "Penner and Magee met in Toronto as activists in the 1980s and Magee introduced him to Solomon, who invested in his fledgling polling firm, Strategic Communications." ^[10]

I didn't know he founded Happy Planet.