“Gregor. Gregor. Gregor.”
That’s what hundreds of Vision Vancouver supporters chanted Saturday night as Gregor Robertson earned the right to be the city’s mayor for another three years.
“Thank you people of Vancouver for electing every single candidate on the Vision Vancouver team,” a beaming Robertson told a raucous crowd at the party’s election night headquarters at the Sheraton Wall Centre. “We’ve shown that Vancouver is a city that cares. We can accomplish great things.”
Robertson, who edged out NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton by more than 18,000 votes, said he was optimistic all the way along.
“Our team worked super hard and we had enormous volunteer support and that really held us together,” Robertson told reporters after his victory speech. “It really gave us solid momentum all the way through, no matter what the issues were that arose.
“I was glad my team really stayed on a positive message and stayed focused on what we wanted to do for our city and running on our record.”
He said work resumes Sunday and he wants Vision to work more closely with communities.
“We definitely want to focus on community engagement, working with neighbourhoods,” Robertson said. “The city is growing, we’ve got a lot of pressure to grow and develop. Our economy is strong and we have to do that very carefully and thoughtfully working with our neighbourhoods.”
Robertson thanked his “sweetheart” Amy and his four kids for understanding why he misses dinners, helping him through the campaign by giving out flyers and keeping him grounded.
Vision supporters also cheered for the defeated Anton when Robertson thanked her for all the years she spent in public service.
Re-elected Vision City Coun. Kerry Jang said he’s excited and humbled by how Vancouverites voted. He didn’t let the NPA get to him and just focused on the campaign, he added.
“I don’t know if I worried, I just worked hard,” Jang said. “They kept us so busy on the campaign trail, getting our message out and talking to as many people as we can.”
Vision Vancouver swept up the top seven council seats, five school trustee seats and five parks board seats. The Non-Partisan Association secured two council seats and Green Party candidate Adriane Carr rounds up the list.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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