VANCOUVER – Gregor Robertson was re-elected to a second term as mayor of Vancouver on Saturday, but the hold his Vision Vancouver party had on city council has been reduced.
Longtime Green Party activist Adriane Carr was declared elected to one council seat, while the Non-Partisan Association picked up two seats on the 10-seat council.
Carr has served the Greens as B.C. leader and as deputy leader of the federal wing, and has run repeatedly in elections at those two levels of government. But this was her first run at a seat on Vancouver council, where she is listed as a candidate for the Green Party of Vancouver.
The NPA, once the party that dominated Vancouver politics, spent months attacking Robertson for weak leadership over his handling of the Occupy Vancouver protest and the way the city managed events leading up to the Stanley Cup riot.
However it appeared voters weren’t willing to pin those two high-profile matters on Robertson.
“We have shown that we can manage budgets responsibly through a recession and still be environmental leaders,” Robertson said in his victory speech.
Suzanne Anton, who held the lone NPA seat in the last council, lost to Robertson by almost 19,000 votes.
She conceded defeat saying she was disappointed, but heartened that the party increased its strength inside the council chambers.
“There will be more balance now at city hall. I must say, being there with nobody to second your motions was a challenging position,” she said to laughter from supporters.
“It did mean that things like the Stanley Cup riot didn’t get debated and the Occupy Vancouver didn’t get debated. Now there will be debate at city hall.”
Vancouver’s reluctance to try someone new in the mayor’s chair was repeated throughout B.C. as incumbents were widely re-elected across the province.
Popular Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, who was once tabbed as a possible successor to former premier Gordon Campbell as Liberal leader, was re-elected with 80 per cent of the vote.
Dean Fortin was easily re-elected mayor in Victoria, more than doubling his nearest competitor’s votes.
Other incumbents in Burnaby, Delta and Richmond were also re-elected after being in office for more than a decade.
Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar was returned to office for a second term, but his margin of victory over last-minute opponent Dieter Dudy was a mere 200 votes. The organic farmer filed his nomination papers on the deadline day last month.
One notable exception was in Mission, a bedroom community east of Vancouver on the Fraser River, where two-term mayor James Atebe was defeated by Ted Adlem.
City council there had been embroiled in a controversy over a city bylaw that prompted some residents to launch a class action lawsuit over thousands of dollars they were billed in so-called inspection fees.
The fees were levied after city officials concluded they may be operating illegal marijuana grow-ops. One claimant said he was levied the fees after inspectors found a badly wired hot top. Others complained they had to pay after inspectors found potting soil on the floor.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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