Pubdate: Mon, 07 Oct 2002
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Allen Garr

IN WITH THE OLD NPA, OUT WITH THE NEW

So many cop cars were pulling up to the Italian Cultural Centre Wednesday 
that folks figured there was a security problem at the NPA's nominating 
meeting.

In fact, all those uniformed Vancouver police officers in city 
cruisers-along with deputy chief Gary Grier in civies-were probably there 
to vote for ex-cop Vern Campbell, who was running for a spot on the council 
slate. That included Toby Hinton and Al Arsenault, the boys from the police 
department's Odd Squad who have worked so hard to undermine Philip Owen's 
drug policy. Arsenault made a point of assuring me he was there on his 
lunch break.

While the boys in blue knew what to do, others were a lot less certain. Ray 
Hall, a retired UBC professor and member of From Grief To Action, a group 
for parents of addicted kids, was a typically puzzled voter. I found him 
chewing on council hopeful Peter Ladner's ear.

Hall bought an NPA membership solely to support Ladner. Once he arrived, he 
was told he had to vote for at least eight council candidates to have a 
valid ballot. (COPE had a similar rule.)

Ladner was kind enough, once I left, to offer him some tips. If he gave 
Hall the list of preferred candidates others on his team now deny handing 
out, it would not have included Duncan Wilson, Sandy McCormick or George 
Puil, all of whom won anyway.

Speaking of Puil, his line at the beginning of his speech-"Don't know what 
I'm doing here" -was on more than a few minds. His presence on the ticket, 
they figure, will do more to hurt than help.

Jennifer Clarke's speech was interesting for a number of reasons. She is, 
by the way, getting smoother in her delivery and I'm not just saying that 
so she'll renew my media parking pass when she wins. But the object of her 
exercise was quite conventional. She was there to define her team, define 
the issues and define her enemies. As far as her team goes, she has clearly 
shifted ground in the few months since she announced her candidacy. Back 
then, Clarke offered a "new generation of leadership."

Not any more.

Faced with a principal opponent-COPE's Larry Campbell-who has no elected 
experience, she's now offering "experience, knowledge, continuity and a 
track record of achievement."

As for Philip Owen's drug policy-an ongoing problem for her campaign 
because of the residual optics from his defenestration-she says that's not 
an election issue at all: "This is far too important to become a partisan 
political football."

And who is the enemy? She deliberately makes no mention of vcaTeam or 
Valerie MacLean. They are truly the wild cards in this election and the NPA 
obviously figures they will draw more votes from Clarke than from Campbell. 
I'm not so sure.

But Campbell is her main target. She insists he lacks civic experience and 
commitment to local issues, although you can't tell that from the TV show 
Da Vinci's Inquest, inspired by his work as a coroner here. And she 
continues to tar Campbell and COPE as a fiscally reckless NDP front-a line 
that has been successful in the past and may work again.

Let the battle begin.

HHH

Council has given Gordon Price one last slurp at the trough-a five week 
vacation with pay. Council granted him leave from Oct. 5 to Nov. 11 so he 
can join his partner as he competes in the Gay Olympics in Australia. 
Council grants paid leaves frequently and without explanation, but it's 
usually for urgent family matters, illnesses or conflicting civic duties. 
Price calls this a "working vacation. He says he'll look into Australian 
transportation matters and the Sydney Olympic experience. He'll report back 
to council, where he'll still hold a seat for a nanosecond before the election.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens