Green Party candidate Stuart Mackinnon has run for office five times — twice federally, thrice municipally — and was elected to the Vancouver park board in 2008.
He lost his seat in 2011, the year party running-mate Adriane Carr became the first Green candidate elected to Vancouver city hall. Both are running again, this time with more Green candidates on the ballot: Cleta Brown and Pete Fry for city council, Michael Wiebe for park board, and Mischa Oak and Janet Fraser for school board.
This election is different, said Mackinnon. For the first time, voters are addressing him by name to say they picked his name on the ballot.
“People drove by, rolled down the window and said, ‘I voted for you.’ I was mentioned by name three times. Dozens others said they voted for me. That’s never happened before.”
Mackinnon, a school teacher at Killarney secondary, was the first candidate to arrive at the Creekside community centre, the party’s election night headquarters. He was wearing a pair of sneakers in bright Kelly green and brought the same plastic “Vote Green” sign he’d been toting around during the campaign.
“You know you’re in the Green Party when you have to bring your own sign,” said Mackinnon.
