VANCOUVER ELECTION

Continued from page 1 west end polls came in, and COPE candi- dates plummeted in the standings.

“Tonight it was the reverse,” Rankin declared to a wildly cheering crowd of sup- porters, “And the secret to that success is unity, unity, unity.”

In fact, it wasn’t until 3:30 a.m. that the full success of the unity slate campaign was realized, when the last four polls reported in and the election of COPE Ald. Bruce Yorke was assured.

In addition to Yorke, elected were Ran- kin, who topped the polls with 71,232 votes, followed by Civic Independent Bill Yee at 68,308 votes. Four candidates from the Civic Independents, the coalition aligned to Mayor Mike Harcourt, ran with six con- tenders from COPE for the 10 council seats, with the backing of the Vancouver and Dis- trict Labor Council.

Also returned were Ald. Bruce Eriksen, who captured fifth place with 60,806 votes and Ald. Libby Davies, in eighth place with $7,375 votes.

Together with Harcourt, whose 87,782 votes provided a stunning defeat to Bill Vander Zalm, the very right-wing candidate from the right-wing Civic Non-Partisan Association (NPA), they constitute the majority that during the past two terms has kept city services and jobs intact, and has helped place Vancouver in the limelight as the “peace capital of Canada.”

Their latest initiative, the election plebis- cite on cruise missile testing, helped keep Vancouver’s peace status when voters approved by 57 per cent — 75,711 votes in favor — city council petitioning the federal government to cancel tests of the United States’ nuclear weapon in Canada.

In terms of stunning upsets, the focus was on the school board. COPE captured five of the nine seats, regaining the majority the civic alliance held after the 1980 election and providing a powerful rebuke to the provin- cial Social Credit government’s unpopular cutbacks in education financing.

The proof was in the results. The two

COPE incumbents, whose voices had been raised throughout the past two years in defence of public education, topped the polls, with trustees Pauline Weinstein gar- nering 61,692 and Phil Rankin taking 60,330 votes. : : The other COPE victors weren’t far behind. Gary Onstad,a trustee from 1980 to 1982, was fourth with 55,428 votes while newcomers John Church and Carmela Allevato occupied sixth and seventh places, with 51,706 and 51,409 votes respectively.

COPE also made inroads into the parks board, cutting into a traditional NPA stronghold that had been severely wea- kened by splits within its own ranks over the controversial rubber-stamping of the Van- couver Aquarium’s expansion plans.

COPE, which campaigned on a platform of low user fees for parks facilities and a strong opposition to NPA efforts to privat- ize park services, took three of the seven seats. Commissioner Pat Wilson increased her standing, from seventh in 1982 to third place this time with 51,821 votes. She was followed in the fourth spot by newcomer Sue Harris, a community worker for the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, with 50,790 votes, and Connie Fogal, the 1982 runner-up who took sixth place with 49,775 votes.

The success of the progressive forces came on the heels of a campaign that had, COPE organizers have pointed out, a number of key winning ingredients. Some of these were the tried and true: the financial and material support of the labor council, which again produced the handy “unity slate” card listing the COPE and Civic Independent candidates, as well as urging

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COPE VICTORY RALLY. . .anxious supporters gather around one of several TV night; newly-elected school trustee Carmela Allevat parks commissioner Connie Fogal checks returns wit

success

Divided right, COPE’s program key in unity slate’s

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sets in Plaza 500 ballroom early in electiO" ‘0 (top inset) checks returns with campaign workers; (bottom left) ne“ h school board contender Bill Darnell (second from right) and Ald. Har

Rankin; Vancouver and District Labor Council president Frank Kennedy (bottom right) gives words of encouragement.

the “yes” vote on the cruise issue. The VDLC’s support, historic since the forma- tion of COPE in 1968, was instrumental in the civic alliance’s victories in 1980 and 1982.

This year the support of labor increased significantly, enabling COPE to reach every Vancouver household with campaign litera- ture and launch an unparalleled campaign of press and broadcast media advertising.

But perhaps the most important contri- bution this time was the unity achieved among the city’s centre and left-of-centre forces. While the nod to COPE from New Democratic Party constituencies had been seen in previous campaigns, this year saw the active support of several NDP riding associations.

More than ever, unity became the byword as the thousands of volunteers spread out from “unity slate” offices around the city to knock on doors, provide transportation to the polls, and scrutineer on election day.

While the unity forces did not achieve the hoped-for extra seat on council, vacated by retiring right-winger Warnett Kennedy, they kept the status quo in a campaign against a right-wing opposition well- financed by the city’s big business interests.

Certainly some of the NPA’s machina- tions contributed to its defeat at the polls. Divisiveness among the monied interests over the future of the Expo, B.C. Place and

2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 21, 1984

ALRT projects did not help the right-wing effort. Neither did the more public splits over policy.

That became most evident when the ultra-right among the NPA — including Vander Zalm and professional anti- Communist aldermanic candidate David Levy — engaged in the anticiptated red- baiting cmapaign, which drew, ironically, some of the loudest disclaimers from the re-elected NPA aldermen, Don Bellamy and George Puil.

Contrasted with the NPA’s divisiveness and red-baiting was the unity slate’s policy — and its record — of keeping the city budget balanced with no cuts in services or jobs. Despite the NPA’s consistent attack onthe method — taking some money from the interest accrued by the property endowment fund — voters showed they

appreciated a city that has managed to sur- —

vive the worst years of Social Credit cut- backs.

Added to that were recent policy initia- tives from COPE, regarding such items as civic financial autonomy and plans to enhance the city’s industrial base without resorting to the tax giveaways promised by Vander Zalm in his “free economic zone” program. That platform, rejected by the voters, was one of the few concrete propos- als from the NPA campaign, which other- wise was utterly lacking in policies. i

But the unity forces can also feel accomp-

lishment in their victories in the face 9 right-wing onslaught that, in spite © above-mentioned divisions, fielded a st set of candidates who were thems¢? organized into a loose “unity slate.”

This time around, the NPA left vac seats either occupied or sought by ho from The Electors Action Movement, ™ notably aldermen Marguerite Ford 4 May Brown. And in 1984, there wer rival right-wing alliances to take away ¥ from NPA and TEAM candidates.

That allowed the right wing to ma some gains, including the surprise elect of realtor Gordon Campbell to Kenned vacated council seat. :

Yorke had already shown a lead earlie! the morning, when candidates, inclu some from the Civic Independents, 84", around Rankin on the stage at the P 500.

Although it was not until nearly 3 that Yorke’s lead over Owen assure th progressive majority on council, more 2,000 COPE supporters jammed in Sheraton 500 ballroom had been juP! throughout the evening, sensing the toral victory that was later assured.

The emotional rally, during which $ porters at one point broke into a spon” ous singing of “Solidarity Fora applauded as Rankin noted that “W! iid the unity slate, and COPE, this city co been taken over by a block of develop”