Vancouver’s field of candidates in the 2018 civic election has just widened, now that Yes Vancouver (not to be confused with YES! Vancouver) has nominated its candidates.
Bios and backgrounds HERE.
What is striking is the absence of those I have in the past called the “density bros”, and the appearance of unknowns with (almost completely) zero name recognition.
For them, a common thread is small business ownership (see word cloud below). All this points to an unsurprising “I’m-a-biz-person” sort-of-rightish orientation, in an election where left-right might not matter so much as housing density yes/no.
The same goes for the NPA and their mayoral candidate Ken “Silent” Sim, who have, accordingly, had their potential voter base split again.
YES Vancouver Candidates
Mayor
- Hector Bremner
Council
- Brinder Bains
- Glynnis Chan
- Stephanie Ostler
- Phyllis Tang
- Jaspreet Virdi
School Board
- Julian Prieto
Park Board
- Leo Heba
The candidate bios make a useful word cloud. Apparently, the party-line emphasis is on “work”, “business” and “university”. The following words do not appear in the bio statements: pipeline, climate, house, housing, zone, zoning, density. The accompanying media blurbs do, however, continue to sport the hashtag #LetsFixHousing. So what the platform-related take-away is — I’m mystified.
A fun slant on this is from, who else, Charlie Smith in the Straight. To what extent, he wonders, is Mr. Bremner’s mayoral run a foundation-builder for his federal ambitions with the Liberals?
We’ve come a long way from massive rezoning.
Photo credit: Yes Vancouver
