Stick between the Spokes

Mayor Sam Sullivan was upended by Councillor Peter Ladner at Sunday's Mayoral nomination meeting for the so-called 'Non-Partisan Association' (NPA).

A couple of things - a coalition of anti-labour, anti-progressive poor bashing thugs shouldn't be considered 'Non Partisan'. Vancouver is the one major city in Canada where there exists a substantial number of people who realize that Liberals and Conservatives are cut from the same selfish, elitist cloth, so do us a favour, drop the charade, and exhort people to vote for the Board of Trade Whores we know you are. Secondly, when will we start calling these mayoral nomination contests 'primaries'? Given the hall-busting recruiting which has been going on, particularly on the Vision Vancouver, it seems that almost as many people could be voting for mayoral nominees as will be voting for Council, School Board and Parks Board positions in the fall.

Despite the fear-mongering from the likes of Ian King and Peter Tsukmanis, Citizen Sam's Army of Darkness, the one which allegedly left Carole Taylor trembling in fear and clutching her hat instead of throwing it into the ring, never materialized to take down Ladner. Don't get me wrong, this page is glad to see Sullivan sent packing, and hopefully as he goes so go his deluded synchophants on Council and such policy blunders-in-waiting as 'EcoDensity', a Skytrain line to UBC, and further privatization of police operations. However, the Enemy of my Enemy is not this page's friend when voters are about to be deluded that the NPA is tacking towards moderation. This will be the same NPA who thinks that City Hall should be subservient to the whims of our B.C. Liberal overlords in Victoria, and demand that hardworking, cash-stressed homeowners pay more property taxes to pay for tax cuts dished out from 12th and Cambie to the Likes of Best Buy, Canadian Tire, and Wal-Mart.

The other loser besides Sullivan (who sensible voters know was a loser long before Sunday's vote) is Allan De Genova, who bolted from the NPA after personal disputes with Sullivan to seek Vision's nomination for the big chair. Spite might make for a few passably readable paragraphs on a blog, but it's not credible logic to lead the third largest city in Canada.