Mayor Gregor Robertson and his wife Amy issued a joint statement Saturday confirming rumours the longtime couple recently agreed to separate.
The statement from the mayor’s office said “this is a personal and private matter for our family, and contrary to false rumours being spread online, it is a mutual decision that we made amicably and together.”
The statement was followed by a separate news release from the mayor’s party, Vision Vancouver, calling on “the leadership of the NPA to explain the spreading of false rumours and personal attacks” on the mayor and his family.
The release from Vision included a copy of a June 16 email from NPA vice-president Rob Macdonald, who responded to the party’s invitation to attend a forum on Kinder Morgan’s pipeline proposal. (Vision regularly sends updates via email to anyone who signs up for the party’s announcements about upcoming events and forums.)
Macdonald wrote that he couldn’t attend the forum because “I have been asked to go to a different meeting to discuss some terrible gossip that I find very disconcerting, if correct.”
Macdonald goes on to list the gossip that centres around rumours related to Robertson’s break-up of his marriage.
In the same email, Macdonald — who was considering a run for mayor with the NPA — accused Robertson’s chief of staff, Mike Magee, of planning to destroy his reputation, if he became the party’s mayoral candidate.
Magee denied the accusation.
“This email [from Macdonald] is a sad representation of the current state of the NPA,” said Marcella Munro, Vision’s campaign communications director, in the party’s release. “Instead of talking about their plans for the city, the NPA leadership has launched a campaign of personal attacks.”
The NPA hasn’t named its mayoral candidate but former newspaper industry executive Kirk LaPointe is believed to be the frontrunner.
“Mr. Macdonald needs to explain this email, and Mr. LaPointe should show some leadership and explain how this disappointing campaign of personal attacks represents the NPA,” Munro continued.
In an email Saturday to the Courier, Macdonald said “the NPA is not involved in any personal attacks on Gregor Robertson, nor am I. But certainly there are rumours about Gregor floating around and I have heard them from several sources, including from mutual friends of Gregor’s and mine. I have great respect for Amy Robertson, who has been exceedingly kind to my son, and I wish her all the best.”
The Courier left a message for NPA Coun. Elizabeth Ball, the party’s caucus spokesperson, who was not immediately available before this story was posted.
Robertson, who was first elected in 2008 and won a second majority in 2011, is seeking re-election Nov. 15. He and his wife recently sold their home near 23rd and Oak to move to Kitsilano. The couple, who met in Colorado while attending university, has three adult children.
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