Despite his nomination form and financial disclosure, Mayor Gregor Robertson doesn't live in Kitsilano anymore.
The documents, on public view at the city clerk's office, list his residence as the house he bought last year with wife Amy Oswald Robertson, but he moved out in the middle of this year to live in a downtown apartment building.
The discrepancy sparked a legal challenge by Cedar Party city council candidate Glen Chernen, but Judge Margaret Rae upheld the Mayor's nomination Oct. 16. Court documents filed by the Robertsons claimed he still has a key, sometimes returns for meals and pays the bills.
Rae accepted the broad definition of residential address under the Vancouver Charter and pleadings by Robertson's lawyer David Gruber that someone can have more than one residence. The court documents do not reveal the address of the Mayor's downtown apartment.
The property was assessed at $1.189 million last year, but jumped in value to $1.335 million after the partial closure of Point Grey Road for a controversial bike lane.
Robertson abstained from the contentious public hearing and vote on the matter in July 2013.
On July 5, the Mayor’s Office issued a news release that said the Robertsons had mutually split.
NPA challenger Kirk LaPointe’s only listed asset is an undisclosed quantity of shares in telecom Bell Aliant. His house is on the University of B.C. Point Grey campus. South Vancouver resident Meena Wong mentions only that she is a contract worker with Vancouver Coastal Health. Independent Bob Kasting’s form discloses bare land and recreational property on Thetis Island.
The disclosures forms are limited in scope. They do not require the candidates to reveal the value or amount of assets, liabilities, real property or corporate holdings. Real property does not include personal residence and liabilities do not include debt from residential property. Income need not be reported from sources outside the regional district.
Meanwhile, one of the candidates hoping to join Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr on city council has an investment portfolio heavy on industrial and mining stocks.
Cleta Brown lists ownership of one or more shares in 11 companies, including Barrick Gold, Oceanic Iron Ore, Encana, Petromanas Energy, and Canadian Pacific Railway.
Brown said she would be willing to divest shares of Arbutus Corridor owner CP if elected, but claimed her other investments are socially and environmentally responsible.
“A lot of the good things that we believe in, cycling and technology and so forth, the products of mining are all around us,” Brown said.
Green Party school board candidate Janet Fraser showed on her form that she has unspecified quantities of investments in snack companies Kraft and Mondelez and General Electric, which makes military engines through its GE Aviation division.
Coun. Raymond Louie reported in January that he had shares in Crescent Point Energy, Rainmaker Mining and Warrior Energy, but those companies are not listed on his election papers. Two Vision Vancouver school board candidates list extensive investments in resources. Allan Wong, who was elected in 2011 with COPE, has investments in Canfor, Placer Dome, Uranium One and Suncor Energy. Incumbent Mike Lombardi’s assets include shares in Encana, Husky Energy and TransCanada Corp., the proponent of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Cedar Party leader Glen Chernen, who is running for city council, lists his occupation in party literature as financial analyst. His holdings include shares in 10 publicly traded companies, including U.S. tycoon Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. While class A stock trades at more than $203,800 a share, Chernen said he holds the class B stock, which was trading at a modest $135.64 per share on Oct. 15.
Financial disclosure forms were filed simultaneously with nomination forms and should have been available for public view as they were received, according to provincial law. However, on Oct. 10, the deadline for registering candidacy, deputy city clerk Wendy Stewart refused to allow the Courier to view the financial disclosures. The documents were finally available for public view on Oct. 14, the deadline day for challenging nominations, but photocopies were not permitted. Candidate addresses are redacted from the versions published on the city’s website.
bob@bobmackin.
twitter.com/bobmackin
