~ COPE — Harcourt — labor alliance

- decisive in.election breakthrough

By FRED WILSON

The parties stretched long into
Sunday morning. Vancouver’s left
ad real cause for celebration, and
the profound significance of Satur-
day’s election results were under-
Stood.

It was not just the end of the Non
Partisan Association (NPA) ma-
Jority on Vancouver city council
and the consequences which flow
from that — a new look at the be-
hemoth projects which had hung
Over the city, anew commitment to
housing and rapid transit, and,
Most important, a new majority in |
favor of a full ward system which |
will dramatically alter the shape of
Civic politics — the qualitative,
change was the emergence of the
Committee of Progressive Elec-,
tors.

After 12 years of struggle,
COPE is firmly the second force in

ancouver politics with 34 percent
of the popular vote and 10 elected
Officials, including a clear majority
On the school board. .

The NPA had lost before. But
this time, with COPE’s working
class outlook and affiliation, the
balance of class forces in the life of
Vancouver had been shifted.

As important as the outcome
Was how it was done. For COPE’s
breakthrough also crowned success
On a 12-year-old strategy of build-
ing a broad electoral alliance based
On the labor movement and com-
munity organizations.

That strategy survived years of
half-hearted support from organiz-
ed labor, six years of direct compe-
tition from the New Democratic
Party which spurned the very con-
cept of unity, and countless reluct-
ant partners in each alliance COPE
established.

There can be no doubt that the
_ decisive, overwhelming factor op-

erating in this election result was
the alliance of COPE, Harcourt

and the Vancouver Labor Council.
The single united slate which the:
election
*Denotes labor endorsed candidate.
Mayor — elect 1
1. Michael Harcourt* 50,203
2. Jack Volrich 47,107
3. Martin Zlotnick 5,022
Council — elect 10
1. Harry Rankin* 64,817
2. May Brown 51,434
3. Bruce Eriksen® 44,275
4. Margeurite Ford 41,400
5. George Puil 40,806
6. Helen Boyce 39,487
7. Warnett Kennedy 38,155
8. Bruce Yorke* 37,171
9. Don Bellamy 36,409
10. Nathan Divinski 35,478
15. Jean Swanson® 31,280
18. So} Jackson* 25,864
9. Carmela Allevato* 25,853
1. Delicia Crump* 22,504
22. David Schreck* 22,290
23. Jim Quail* 21,540
P4. Joe Arnaud* 20,251
School board — elect 9

1. Tom Alsbury 44,479
2. Phillip Rankin® 44,165
3. Pauline Weinstein® ‘40,245
4. Kim Campbell 38,340
S. Jonathon Baker 37,743
6. Mike O’Neill* 34,094
Bill Brown 34,012

8. Wes Knapp* 33,623
Onstad* 33,465

12. Connie Fogal* 32,465
16. Margaret Chunn* 28,482
18. Mike Chrunk® 25,658
20. N. Nicolopoulos* 23,488

Parks Board — elect 7

1. George Wainborn 39,769

* Russ Fraser 39,299
3. Andy Livingstone 37,678
Libby Davies* 35,961

5. Allan Bennett 35,419
6. Patricia Wilson® 35,101
Doug Mowatt 33,751

11. Don Jang* 28,874
12, Dave Stone® 21,512
13. Peter Marcus* 24,802
14. Hugh Comber® 23,431
16. Doug Laalo* 19,279

TRIBUNE PHOTO— FRED WILSON

Victorious
trict Labor
elect Mike Harcourt. LtoR, B

Libby Davies, Thompson, Pauline Weinstein,

Wes Knapp and Harry Rankin.

VLC provided reform minded vot-
ers created a real alternative. There
was a slate which tens of thousands
could support without divided
loyalties.

The fact that Harcourt never
could bring himself to respond to
COPE’s endorsement or even to
acknowledge the VLC slate could
not remove it from the minds of
voters.

At every meeting COPE candi-

commodation with COPE. That is
a serious misreading of the situa-
tion and can only lead to defeat for
the reform movement.

Of course the truth is that elec-
toral victories are not shaped on
election day, or even in campaigns
alone. All of the struggles over the
past two years around key issues, in
the main organized and led by
COPE, were the prelude to Satur-
day’s vote. The organized outrage

ANALYSIS 7

dates hammered away at the labor
council slate; it was stressed in all
COPE literature, and it was carried
into every home in the city by the
VLC poll card, printed in 150,000
copies. °

Throughout the city, the VLC
slate was welcomed. It was what
was wanted because not only un-
ions, but major community organ-
izations and masses of voters al-
ready supported both COPE and
Harcourt. At least two NDP pro-
vincial constituency associations,
where Harcourt drew his campaign
troops, had voted to support
COPE.

In the end COPE and the VL
were successful in building unity at
the polls. It could be argued strong-
ly that Harcourt’s refusal to unite
with COPE on the platform block-
ed the election of one or more other
COPE candidates and the
possibility of a clear reform majori-
ty on city council.

The Harcourt committee was
justified in taking credit for the im-
pressive election day machinery
which they assembled. Between
500 and 600 campaign workers,
mostly members of the NDP, were
mobilized for the task. The NDP
cooperated by turning over its can-
vassing lists, reportedly some
28,000 confirmed NDP voters in
the city.

Harcourt’s electoral apparatus 1s
not to be underestimated. To the
extent that the NDP provincial vote
was mobilized for the Vancouver
election, an important new element
has been added to civic politics
which will help ensure that the
NPA never regains a majority. But
the implication of mayor-elect
Harcourt’s statements election
night is that his NDP machinery
can elect anyone he chooses and
that he will not have to find an ac-

on the ward system issue which

dominated the Eckardt Commis-—

sion hearings, the battles over com-
munity grants,-that of the Down-
town Eastside Residents Associa-
tion in particular, and the system-
atic pressure on the city to act on
the housing crisis were all vital ele-
ments in COPE and Harcourt’s
success.

In fact COPE’s advances are
rooted in alliances which extend far
into many communities. An im-
portant example was the work of
the school board committee which
had monitored, analyzed and or-
ganized around education issues
for six years. When COPE’s over-
all vote climbed to 34 percent on
Saturday, the school board slate’s
vote was at 37.7 percent. The alder-
manic candidates polled 34 per-
cent, buoyed up by Rankin’s re-
markable 70 percent of the vote,
and the parks board candidates
won 31 percent.

COPE’s campaign strategy was
to concentrate its efforts on raising
voter turnout and increasing its
share of the vote in 30 key polls
stretching from Kitsilano across
Fairview, the Downtown Eastside
Grandview and a part of Hastings
Sunrise.

A partial analysis of the poll by
poll results indicates considerable
success in meeting those objectives.
Poll 16Bin Grandview, north of Ist
Ave. and between Commercial Dr.
and Nanaimo St., registered a 22
percent increase in voters. COPE’s
candidates took 47.8 percent of the
vote.

In poll 20 in Hastings Sunrise,
south of the PNE, the number of
voters increased by 23.5 percent
and COPE’s popular vote increas-
ed from about 30 percent two years
ago to 47.1 percent.

The huge COPE vote in the
north east sector of the city were

COPE candidates pose Tuesday with Syd Thompson, president of the Vancouver and Dis-
Council, whose unity slate helped open the way to COPE’s electoral gains and that of mayor-
ruce Eriksen, Phillip Rankin, Bruce Yorke (with labor council's poll card),
Mike O'Neill, Gary Onstad, Patricia Wilson. Missing are

matched by considerable gains in
other key areas of the city. In poll
32, near Champlain mall in South
Vancouver the number of voters
was up 11 percent and COPE’s
vote increased from about 25 per-
cent to 41 percent.

In a Kitsilano poll, poll 58, the
number of voters was up 15.8 per-
cent and COPE’s vote also increas-
ed from about 25 percent to 41.8
percent. In neighboring Poll 79
which extends from western Kit-
silano into West Point Grey,
COPE’s vote was also a whopping
40.3 percent of the popular vote.
There was a similar pattern in West
End polls.

In the polls where COPE surged
ahead, TEAM was devastated.
Overall, TEAM’s popular vote, ex-
cluding the mayoralty, dropped to
16.6 percent. During the campaign,
TEAM’s Bill Dronsfield listed the
organization’s membership at just
350. The organization is clearly in
deep crisis, but the hard core
Liberal vote it attracted will con-
tinue to be an important factor in
Vancouver politics.

The crash of liberalism as a
reform alternative in Vancouver
politics on Saturday night, was
matched by the fall into futility of
red-baiting.

From the NPA’s opening cam-
paign press conference when they
declared communism the main
issue in the election, their red-
baiting tactic won them no friends.
In fact a poor media response to the
red-baiting forced the NPA to con-
siderably back off the tactic.

When it was clear Saturday night
at COPE’s election party that
Bruce Yorke would join Rankin
and Eriksen on city council, a tre-
mendous high swept through the
hall. The election of Yorke, a well
known member of the Communist
Party, adds a new feature to the
political life of the city. For the left,
his victory represents more than
just another seat on council.

There can be no question that
Vancouver politics has been
radically changed. Harry Rankin
and his COPE colleagues will
emerge as the leaders and initiators
on city council. The new COPE
majority on the Vancouver school
board will usher education into .a
new era.

As Harry Rankin told cheering

COPE members Saturday night,

Vancouver will never be the same.

* Denotes labor endorsed candidate.

. Alice Bullen

. Wm. Vincent

. Gary Richardson
. Fred Pearson*

Awn=

School Dist. 71-elect 1
1, Francis Patrick
2. Wayne Bradley*

KAMLOOPS
Council — elect 8
1. Howard Dack*
2. Cliff Branchflower*
3. Dianne Kerr
4. Kenna Cartwright*
5. Bob Chalmers
6. Gordon Rye
7. Helen Kerr*
8. Patricia Wallace
10. Cam Murray*
13. Don Ellsay*
14. Andy Lapa*
16. Jack Kersens*

School Board — elect 6
. M. Rothenburger *
. Meryl Matthews
Don Gavin*
. Russ Gerrard
. Chuck Kuhn
Tom Balsam*

Awhun-

NANAIMO

Departure Bay ward
1, Les Mottishaw
2. Bill Holdem*
Hairwood ward
1, Jack Little*
Northfield ward
1. Jim Moffatt
2. Nelson Allen*
Wellington ward
. Alf Flett
. Ada Howden®
Old City ward — elect 3
. Don Winkleman
2. Owen Kennedy*
3. Gino Sedola
Ward plebiscite

Ne

Full ward system
At large system

School Board — elect 5
Joy Leach*
S. Honeyman
J, Buckingham
Ed McGougan*
G. Miltari
Larry Whaley*
Archie Simpson*

NAWReDe

NEW WESTMINSTER
Council — elect 3
Tom Baker*®
Betty Toporowski
- Mal Hughes
. Wes Janzen*

Pepe

School Board — elect 3
- Dianne Hill
. Art Sweet*
. Val Macdonald*
. Vasant Saklidar*

hw

NORTH VAN DISTRICT

. Phillip Joe*

1. Dorothy Lynas*
2. Crawford Kilian*

PRINCE RUPERT
3 Council — elect 3
- Dan Millar*
. Evelyn Basso
. Daphne Scott
. Michael Darnell*

hwne

School board — elect 3
1. Dorothy Graham
2. Joy Thorson*
3. Kathy Booth

PORT ALBERNI
Council — elect 3
. Walter Behn*
. Roberty Eyford
. Paul Reitsman
. Len Nelson*
. Bill Young*

CUwWn—

PORT COQUITLAM
Council — elect 3
. Michael Wright
. Len Traboulay®
. Ann Muldoon

wn

SURREY
~ Council — elect 4
1. Gary Watkins
2. Bonnie Schrenk
3. Bob Bose
4. John Whittaker
8. Betsy McLure®
10. Joan Smaliwood*
11. Pat Nicholls*
13. Jo Arland*
14. Lee Immerzeel*

School board — elect 4
1, Barbara Girling
2. Jock Smith

3. Laurae McNally
4. Hollis Kelly

9. Steve Gidora*
0. Vi Swann*

VERNON
Council — elect 3
. James McCarther
. Gordon Clement
. Ken Danchuk
. Bert Nilsson*

Swne

Council — elect 1 per ward

School board city — elect 1

School board dist. — elect 2

Municipal
vote count
around B.C.

1,718
1,708
1,600
1,223

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOV. 21, 1980—Page 3