David Chudnovsky, a longtime COPE member, has mixed feelings about the 2011 civic election that virtually eliminated the left-leaning party from municipal office in Vancouver. Only one of COPE's candidates-school trustee Allan Wong-was elected, but Chudnovsky maintains the party can rebound by the 2014 race.
"Of course we're disappointed with the result of the election, although in an at-large system it doesn't take much of a shift to go from electing several people to electing not very many people and that's what happened," he told the Courier. "I'm disappointed but on the whole I think the party's in pretty good shape-there's lots of energy, lots of newer people and lots of communities that were involved in a way we haven't been before. So the future looks pretty good."
Chudnovsky's fellow party members will examine their election campaign and debate how the four-decade old party should move forward when they gather at Hastings Community Centre this Sunday for a special consultation meeting that precedes COPE's February annual general meeting.
"The purpose of [Sunday's] meeting is to give members and activists a chance to say how they feel and what they think we did right and wrong in the last election and how we can continue to do the work that needs to be done," said Chudnovsky, chair of COPE's fundraising committee.
He said COPE didn't put forward its independent positions on issues as well as it should have, but he also blames the differences in campaign spending between political parties.
"We are always going to be at a financial disadvantage because COPE didn't take any money from developers and big corporations and that means that while the NPA and Vision Vancouver spent between two and three million-we'll see when the amounts are made public-we spent just in excess of $300,000. So that's a very tough row to hoe for a party like ours. We depend on volunteers."
Chudnovsky maintains COPE's best strategy to counter that disparity is "doing the kind of grassroots work that we've always been good at."
Whether COPE continues to run joint slates with Vision Vancouver in future elections remains to be seen, but Chudnovsky doesn't regret the tactic. "That's a decision members make election to election. Speaking for myself, I think members made the right decision in the last two elections. While we have significant and important disagreements with Vision, we also know that they're different from the NPA and we think it's very important that we not set up a situation where the NPA, which is Stephen Harper at the municipal level, can win."
Brent Granby, who ran unsuccessfully for a COPE seat on park board, placing 13th in the race for seven positions, is equally disappointed in election results, but noted COPE increased its vote. Granby argues COPE's absence at city hall will be noticed by the public, but the party is determined to rebuild. "One of the results of the last election is the political spectrum has really moved further to the right. In the next three years what people are really going to notice is missing in the political discourse is people not speaking about affordability and how important it is to Vancouver. That's something that COPE brings to council," he said.
"We need to do some serious thinking as a party but I think we'll be back in the next election. COPE has such a long tradition, I don't ever see it disappearing."
noconnor@vancourier.com Twitter: @Naoibh
