Tim Louis going to go to battle against Vision/COPE deal
In case anyone had any doubts, The Tyee has extensive quotes from Tim Louis about how and why he’s going to try to negate the “co-operative agreement” that the parties have reached on slate-splitting.
Aboriginal community leader Ken Clement says he wants to run for school board with centre-left Vision Vancouver. He believes he would be the first person of First Nations descent ever to be elected in the city’s civic scene.
“We felt it was time to have our voices heard,” said Clement, a member of the Ktunaxa First Nation near Cranbrook and executive director of Healing our Spirit B.C. Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Society. “There has never been an Aboriginal voice in city politics.”
While Vision has been telling it’s candidates that a deal has been struck, this is the public word from Ivan Bulic of COPE when asked whether there was a deal in place or not.
The COPE Executive will be reviewing a number of recommendations from the COPE Negotiating Ctte.
Details of these recommendations and any subsequent decisions will be released after the Executive have had an opportunity to fully consider and decide on the recommendations.
COPE had been asked if they could “confirm the story that Frances Bula broke this morning on her blog regarding the numbers of seats allocated to each party in a COPE/Vision agreement?” It was suggested that the public announcement of the agreement was to take place this coming Tuesday. Perhaps Bula’s announcement will alter the way things work out.
Despite there still being [early Sept. 9] no notice on either COPE or Vision webpages, the press release has gone out confirming the details. The only hold back is that COPE’s general membership must vote in favour of the deal September 14.
Aboriginal activist to run for Vision :: The Hook
A long-time community activist hopes to become what he believes is the first person from the Aboriginal community to be elected in Vancouver city politics.
Ken Clement, executive director of Healing our Spirit B.C. Aboriginal HIV/AIDS society, will run for a school board slot with Vision Vancouver.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had an Aboriginal person on school board, park board or city council,” Clement said.
Clement said his candidacy is the result of meetings with executives from Aboriginal groups around the city.
“We felt it was time to have our voices heard,” he said. “There has never been an Aboriginal voice in city politics. I think the time is right for the Aboriginal community to step forward to present a lot of our issues.”
I had said ‘sells out’ school board, but thought it was, well, maybe too strong a statement. But it does seem clear that what I was afraid of is the case -Vision appears to be in fact more interested in controlling city council and the mayor’s office then they are in issues like public education. Throughout the year the executive advised the Vision Education Committee that the goal was a majority on all boards. When asked directly if school board would be traded for council seats the exec members who came to committee meetings hedged their bets and were evasive.
What has to be said is that the COPE negotiators have shown that they are experienced and know a thing or two about what is important. By working to establish a strong hold on School Board and extend their reach on Park Board COPE will be well positioned to move forward next time around. One or two council seats will keep them in the spot light (and also allow for the Gregor effect to wash across the rest of the COPE slate). It’s not a bad thing in the long run. COPE will have shown that it can stay the course, shape outcomes, and be the effective party of the progressive voice.
My admiration and respect goes up.
In light of these changes my earlier endorsements will have to switch. I had anticipated a short slate and named five Vision possibles that I would support: Luke, Bacchus, Vdovine, Clement, and Lombardi. To be honest, I’m not sure were to go on this one. I am going to wait until the Tuesday meet the candidate meeting to make up my mind. There are good reasons for all of these people. And no good reasons to remove anyone of them from the list. Its a shame that Vision brokered a deal to trade school board for city council and mayor.
From Frances Bula: Internal war breaks out among Vision candidates
The situation is ugly and tense, according to just about everyone I’m talking to, as Vision Vancouver members and candidates head towards the Sept. 20 vote for their slates. People are threatening to quit; Vision women are demanding a meeting with Vision leader Gregor Robertson; and there’s just a lot of unhappiness. What’s going on?
1. Robertson started calling candidates this weekend to tell them about the likely numbers negotiated for slate splits with COPE and Green Party. The multitudes of Vision candidates are supremely unhappy because it appears that COPE will get the majority of spots on the nine-spot school board slate, while Vision will only get a bare majority on the park board. That means even rougher competition than is already going on for the fewer spots now available. The numbers being put out: 8 Vision/2 COPE for council; 5 COPE/4 Vision for school board; and 4 Vision/2 COPE/1 Green for park board.
The NPA is still short three candidates for school board -unless they are only planning to run six candidate with the hopes of running up the middle between Vision and COPE.
2008 Candidates for Nomination – Vancouver Non-Partisan Association
The second 2008 Nomination Meeting of the Vancouver Civic Non-Partisan Association is being held on Saturday, September 13 to elect 5 candidates for City Council, 5 candidates for School Board and 3 candidates for Park Board.
To find the School Board nominees you will have to scroll right to the bottom of the list after city council and park board. I would have liked to take you right tot he school board, but the COPE web page doesn’t have it set up that way.
Vision Vancouver — School Board Candidates
Candidates approved by the Vision Executive are listed on this page. There will also be a ‘meet the candidate’ meeting Tuesday September 9. 7pm at Vancouver Community College, room 112 (250 West Pender Street).
Save Our Schools? Or Save Our Seats?
I received two quick responses yesterday to Premier Gordon Campbell’s announcement about the Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project. The first was a phone call from a General Gordon parent who wanted to refute suggestions that the initiative was political (because one of the participating schools, Queen Mary, is in the premier’s riding). He said the idea came from creative parents at General Gordon and gave most credit to architect Z Smith. (See his comments below.) Then I got the following from a regular poster on this site, Dawn Steele:
“This is just shameless pork-barrelling – a thinly-dressed excuse to throw $30 million in tax dollars at the well-connected parents in Campbell’s riding who complained that the facilities funding formula that was good enough for everyone else wasn’t good enough for them (e.g. Gordon parents who complained their proposed new school would be “aesthetically substandard”). How far will the $30 million go? Not much further than the extra reno costs that Gordon parents are demanding so they can have a new school that has all the extras AND is seismically safe AND preserves their gracious historical facade AND makes them feel self-righteously green.
NEIGHBOURHOODS OF LEARNING MAP NEW FUTURE FOR SCHOOLS
VANCOUVER – The future of B.C. schools is changing with the $30-million Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project, which will see education and community services brought together in a single neighbourhood hub, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today.
“This government has a vision for education in B.C. – one where schools and community organizations can create Neighbourhoods of Learning where people can access educational and community services under one roof,” said Premier Campbell. “Schools throughout the province will be able to adopt this model in the future to best meet the needs of their students and communities.”
Three school districts will be participating in the Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project. Vancouver school district will be the first to create three Neighbourhoods of Learning Model Schools by partnering with the Province. Queen Mary Elementary, General Gordon Elementary and Lord Strathcona Elementary – Vancouver’s oldest school – will undergo renovations to restore their historical buildings or replacement, and include services on site that will benefit students and the community.