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Vancouver
Suicide by neglect
By Reed Eurchuk
COPE, traditional party of the left in Vancouver, continues its strange self-inflicted slide to death
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COPE dithers as civic campaigns season heats up
In January 2008, COPE formally proposed to Vision Vancouver that the two municipal political parties run a joint candidate for mayor in the upcoming civic election. Now, months later, with pre-election campaigning in full swing, COPE, like a jilted lover sitting by the phone for the call that will not be coming, still awaits a reply. According to the Georgia Straight’s Carlito Pablo, Vision Vancouver co-chairs Mike Magee and Carolyn Askew replied in writing on March 14 and stated that they hope COPE members “will have an opportunity to decide on whether to support” the individual who will win Vision Vancouver’s endorsement. In other words, forget the joint mayoralty candidate, we’ll run our own and you can vote for us. Vision’s reply does not appear hard to parse. Still COPE waits. What are they waiting for?
The inability of the dithering COPE Executive Board to read the writing on the wall defies reason, but it should surprise no one.
The group controlling COPE at this time, for example, includes current COPE co-chair Ellen Woodsworth who supported COPE’s inept strategy during the 2005 election in which COPE disappeared itself by refusing to run a mayoralty candidate. As even a casual observer of civic politics knows, each party’s mayoralty candidate is the standard bearer for the party upon whom the media fixes its gaze. The media consequently ignored the 2005 COPE campaign. As ex-COPEster cum Vision co-chair Mike Magee said in a December 2007 interview with a webzine called NowPublic, “Whomever the mayoral candidate is, that’s where the attention is, it’s the center of gravity in every campaign.”
David Cadman, Mayoralty Candidate?
For the last couple of months, COPE Councilor David Cadman has
attempted to exercise common sense and simple political strategy by threatening to run for mayor under COPE’s banner. It’s obvious that Cadman is trying to force the issue of a joint mayoralty candidacy. But Woodsworth undermined Cadman’s strategy by telling the media, like local Vision editorialist Allen Garr, that “Cadman’s statements don’t reflect the executive.” In other words, Vision need not worry, Cadman is blowing hot air. It would be similar if, during a labour dispute, a union leader told the company that whatever they do, the union would not strike.
A recent interview Cadman gave to the CBC’s Rick Cluff seems to back up Woodsworth’s perspective. Cadman repeated ad nauseum the COPE mantra, to “work for a united victory” together with Vision. But when finally pushed to say whether he would run for mayor, he told Cluff, “if there is no unity, I’ll talk it over with the executive and in all likelihood I guess I will.” Cadman’s language—“in all likelihood” and “I guess”—is the language of equivocation.
But why would Cadman want to run for mayor? Cluff asked Cadman to explain the differences between Vision and COPE. Cadman said there were once difficulties with issues such as gambling and some personality clashes, “but fundamentally I think there is not that large a division.” Why then should COPE exist? Vision is better funded, the darling of the local media, and well-placed for the next election. Why should COPE continue on if there is no fundamental difference between the two parties?
Should COPE continue out of sentimentality, nostalgia, or to work off the crippling debt that Larry Campbell’s Vision group left the party when it split?
David Cadman, Kingmaker?
Currently COPE continues to poll about one-third of the decided voters. As many have noted, even if only 10 per cent of the electorate voted for a COPE mayoralty candidate, the NPA’s chances of winning the mayor’s chair would increase significantly. Visions’ mayoralty candidate Gregor Robertson has professed his close ties with COPE. Cadman is in a strong position to bargain with Vision, who badly need COPE’s support. Vision would surely pay a high price to keep COPE off the mayoralty slate. It is difficult to see what Cadman and the pro-Vision group in charge of COPE at this time would seek from Vision. Either way, with this group in charge we are assured another installment of COPE’s long, slow suicide.
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