The NPA is officially looking for its next candidate for Vancouver mayor.
The party launched its open nomination process today.
“We’re making every effort to improve diversity in our candidate selection by reaching out to a wider group of Vancouver residents. We want to get it right and have the best candidate represent a new, revitalized NPA,” said NPA president Gregory Baker Baker in a press release. “The people of Vancouver deserve a leader who champions the interests of all its citizens, not just a handful of special interest groups.”
The party says Vancouver’s political landscape is changing and it must change with it.
“The NPA has to move with the times,” Baker said. “We have a new provincial government, and with so many current members of council not running again in 2018, we’re looking at a substantially new city council. It’s a great opportunity for the NPA to rebuild and renew.”
Current NPA councillor George Affleck announced last November that he is not running for mayor.
Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and councillors Andrea Reimer, Tim Stevenson, Kerry Jang have also said they are not running.
At Vision's annual general meeting on Jan. 16, Robertson said that it was important Vision join forces with other "progressive" parties in Vancouver, including the Green Party, OneCity and COPE to keep the NPA from winning city hall in October.
Green Party councillor Adriane Carr, who topped the polls in the 2014 municipal election, told the Courier that her party is currently going through a "robust" planning process that will look at questions such as how many candidates to field and which incumbents are interested in running.
Anyone interested in the mayoral nomination process is asked to call 604-637-7951, email [email protected], tweet @npavancouver, or visit Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/npavancouver/. Prospective mayoral candidates can request an application package by emailing [email protected].
The NPA will set up acandidate selection committee to review applications and interview prospective candidates. The committee’s recommendations will be brought forward to the association’s members at a nomination meeting in the spring.
The process for selecting NPA candidates for city councillor, Park Board commissioner, and school trustee will be announced at a later date. Interested parties can contact the association as noted above.
With files from Mike Howell.
