NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe defended Thursday his party’s decision not to hold a nomination meeting to select its candidates for the civic election in November.
LaPointe said the party’s candidates were selected in a way equivalent to an executive recruitment search involving “hundreds of people” who were either approached by the NPA or contacted the party themselves.
“Out of that, we’ve selected the best of the best,” he told reporters Thursday as the party announced four more candidates for city council outside the Roundhouse community centre in Yaletown.
They are:
- Businessman Gregory Baker, the founder of PC Galore computers, owner of a toy store and son of former NPA councillor Jonathan Baker.
- Retired City of Vancouver engineer Ken Low, who also ran twice unsuccessfully for the federal Liberals in Vancouver-East and Burnaby-Douglas.
- Mediator Rob McDowell who works for the Health Professions Review Board. The former diplomat who served in China was NPA Coun. George Affleck’s campaign manager in the 2011 campaign.
- Suzanne Scott, former executive coordinator to the dean of the University of B.C.’s faculty of education. She has worked with UNICEF-Bangladesh and raised money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C.
The four candidates join current councillors Affleck and Elizabeth Ball, along with current park board commissioner Melissa De Genova and former park board commissioner Ian Robertson to form a nine-member council slate, which includes LaPointe.
The NPA has historically held nomination meetings to choose its candidates and LaPointe said the party will “look at ways of changing it” in future campaigns.
Vision Vancouver held a combination of meetings this year to choose its candidates, including a leadership review of its incumbents and a nomination race for park board.
The Green Party’s three council candidates were endorsed by its members while COPE will hold its nomination meeting in September, with activist Sid Chow Tan announcing his intention this week to seek a nomination with the party.
Asked how the NPA’s council slate reflects the multicultural makeup of Vancouver, LaPointe said that will be seen once the NPA rolls out the rest of its candidates for school board and park board.
“We have been very seriously committed to ensuring that we reflect the community we’re serving, and that will mean people of different backgrounds, different perspectives, different ideologies — we’ll all blend in,” LaPointe said.
Despite the steady stream of press conferences to roll out its candidates, the NPA has not announced any detailed platform policies.
But LaPointe did criticize Mayor Gregor Robertson for requesting an independent investigation into the massive SkyTrain shutdown across the region Tuesday.
“I heard explanations that were, in my view, not commensurate with the need for an independent investigation,” he said, referring to the shutdown being caused by an error made by an electrician. “I can only guess that there is something else that the Vision Vancouver folks feel is necessary to unfurl but I don’t see it, yet.”
LaPointe also weighed in on the controversy surrounding short-lived Vision Vancouver park board candidate Trish Kelly, who was ousted from the party last week after a video surfaced online of her talking about sex and masturbation.
“I think it was a mistake to bump her,” he said. “I think in 2014 that we not only have a sense of tolerance and inclusiveness, but this is a city that’s built and founded entirely on a respect for views — and I thought it was harsh.”
The election is Nov. 15.
mhowell@vancourier.com
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