Mike Howell at the Courier does a feature piece on that very question. He interviews Sandy Garossino, the former Crown prosecutor who chose to run as an independent for council in 2011 and looked to have a very credible chance to win. She did well, but not even close to winning a seat. Is the situation different this year? Here are her comments – and mine.
Finance reform, coupled with Mayor Gregor Robertson and the majority of his council team retiring, are factors Sandy Garossino believes could give rise to the election of one or more independent candidates this time around. …
A recent Research Co. poll supports Garossino’s belief, with 39 per cent of respondents saying they will “definitely” or “probably” cast ballots for independent candidates. A total of 49 independent candidates are campaigning to be elected as mayor, councillor, school board trustee or park board commissioner.
Still, the brands of the NPA and Vision Vancouver persist. The Greens have also emerged as a force, with representatives on council, school board and park board. A total of 11 political parties, including COPE, OneCity, Coalition Vancouver, ProVancouver, Vancouver First and Yes Vancouver, are running candidates in the Oct. 20 election.
“Generally speaking, I think that is true — brands do carry the day,” Garossino said. “But I think right now, the brands are weakened. Vision is a weaker brand and the NPA always has to throw a huge amount of money to establish their brand. I think the brands themselves are suffering, independent of the campaign finance rules.” …
On this year’s ballot, only one candidate affiliated to a party is listed in the top nine choices for mayor. In fact, only six parties are represented among the 21 candidates. Five of the first 10 names on the council ballot are independents. …
But never say never, said Garossino, who “would love nothing more than to see” an independent elected, although she was quickly reminded what she said earlier about people not paying attention to municipal politics.
“I could be falling to prey to what I described. Political junkies see things, but the average person on the street — the average voter — doesn’t.”
Independent council candidate elected in 1986
Back in 2011, before Garossino launched her campaign, she met for coffee with Gordon Price, who was an NPA city councillor from 1986 to 2002. Price talked to Garossino about her decision to run as an independent.
“She was absolutely adamant about running [as an independent], and I always thought that was such a loss,” said Price, the past director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University and current fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. “She’d make a great councillor, maybe a great mayor. But, no, she was insistent on running as an independent, and it went nowhere.”
He recalled that Carole Taylor was the last independent council candidate to get elected to council. That occurred in 1986 — the same year Price was first elected — but came after Taylor was left off the NPA’s candidate list and forced to run as an independent. The last independent mayor to get elected was Mike Harcourt in 1980, although he had the support of COPE.
A keen observer of local politics, Price is unable to predict what will unfold in next month’s election. There is evidence, however, that some independents could get elected, he said, citing many of the same reasons Garossino did.
“The conditions seem to be as good as they’ve ever been for the possibility of independents to win,” Price said. “You have so many vacancies, the new [finance] rules don’t give the parties as much of an edge as they did before — an edge, hell, an electoral bulldozer — and there are some good people running. Depending on your taste, there’s something on the menu for pretty much everyone.”
Mike also included by comments on the possible outcome if a council was dominated by independents:
That said, he noted the election of a variety of independents could create chaos in the council chamber.
“If people think that the free flow of ideas and exchange is something they would like, they will get very tired of what just appears to be argumentative back-and-forth, and no consistent governance,” Price said. “And that’s where I think the toleration for this would be pretty limited, unless a group of people get together to form a coalition that effectively becomes a party so they can govern, and you’re kind of back where you started.”
There’s a reason, Price said, that parties exist at all levels of government — and that’s to bring like-minded people together to create an identity or brand and govern.
“If you have a council of independents — and we can see this in other municipalities around the region where the party system is not in play — they very quickly find out who, more or less, falls within the same ideological or political direction that they want to take and they become a de facto party,” he said
