Members of Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association decide this weekend whether Mayor Sam Sullivan or Coun. Peter Ladner will carry their party’s banner into November’s civic election.
The party’s nomination meeting, which will determine its mayoral and half of its council, school board and park boards candidates, begins Sunday at 10 a.m. Voting closes at 4 p.m. and results are expected that night.
Sullivan, who became mayor in 2005 after defeating Vision mayoral candidate Jim Green by less than 4,000 votes, feels that the fact he is an incumbent is a double-edged sword.
“As opposed to Coun. Ladner, I’ve done some difficult things,” Sullivan said yesterday. “We’ve done it together, actually, but I’m the guy who takes the hit for it —such as changing tax to supporting small businesses.
“But when things do start to show improvements, with the Canada Line being completed, the new conventions centre, upgrades … all those things … will help me.”
Ladner, 59, however, believes the NPA cannot win if Sullivan is leading the party.
“I wanted to put together a winning team for the NPA,” said the two-term councillor, who announced he would seek the nomination on Feb. 21.
His polling suggests that less than 13 per cent of people would pick Sullivan as their first choice for mayor.
– jeff.hodson@metronews.ca
WITH FILES FROM KRISTEN THOMPSON
