Vancouver mayor loses party nomination

ROD MICKLEBURGH Globe and Mail Update June 8, 2008

A little more than two years after he won worldwide acclaim for flying the Olympic flag from his wheelchair, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has been dumped by his own party. In a shocking upset Sunday, Mr. Sullivan lost the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) nomination for mayor to challenger Peter Ladner, a two-term NPA councillor. The vote, after a spirited campaign that disclosed deep divisions within the municipal party that has governed Vancouver for most of the past 70 years, was 1,066 for Mr. Ladner and 986 for Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Ladner, a former journalist who was once famously fired by the Vancouver Sun for telling a public meeting that many people at the Sun smoked marijuana, was stunned by his victory.

“I didn't think I was going to win,” he said moments after the results were announced after a day's voting at a Vancouver hotel. “I am in a bit of a shock right now.” A fiscal conservative who is also a strong advocate of bicycle lanes and public transit in the city, Mr. Ladner runs a weekly business publication. In a concession speech, Mr. Sullivan immediately pledged to work with his rival to defeat the party's opponents in this fall's municipal election. “I enjoy democracy. I enjoy the battle of ideas,” he told the quiet crowd, most of whom had expected him to win. “But the membership has spoken. They want a new vision and a fresh direction.” The NPA now faces the awkward situation of having a mayor presiding for the next five months who has been defeated by one of its own councillors.
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Don Quixote Note: Is there any possibility that one of the sitting Vernon or Coldstream Councillors will challenge their Mayors for the top spot in November ? Stay Tuned.