Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but one wonders if the NDP members who make up a good chunk of the base of Vision Vancouver are uncomfortable shacking up with so many federal Liberals.
A number of Vision candidates will be voting for this guy in the upcoming federal election.
A number of Vision executive members and prospective candidates are leading organizers with Stephane Dion’s party, even with Peter Ladner offering a much more Liberal-friendly face on the NPA than the dethroned Harper Yes Man Sam Sullivan.
First up is veteran Liberal operative Greg Wilson, a supporter of Gregor Robertson and executive member of Vision. Wilson, before being dumped during the campaign, was in fact the 2005 campaign manager… for the NPA! He is better known as a long-time backroom Liberal.
Vision executive member Greg Wilson managed the 2005 NPA campaign.
And then there are the council candidates stepping forward to compete for a nomination with Vision Vancouver. Among them are a number of long-time NDPers, but also some staunch Liberals.
There’s Catherine Evans, who lost out to MP Joyce Murray for the Liberal nomination to replace Stephen Owen in the recent by-election. And there’s Demetri Douzenis, who at age 30 with little to no municipal issues experience is trying to jump straight into the big leagues, a long-time Canadian Forces reservist who has also served on the Liberals Quadra executive.
I guess this shouldn’t be too surprising, since Vision Vancouver did start out as the Friends of (Liberal Senator) Larry Campbell.
It will, however, be interesting to see how the internal dynamics play out within Vision, especially if there’s a federal election this fall. Meanwhile, no word on whether Vision will be offering any kind of unity deal to COPE, whose executive continues to leave the door open to such an arrangement (while some disgruntled COPE members lose patience with their years-long ordeal). Could it be that the Liberals within Vision are blocking any kind of unity with COPE?
