NPA rejection leads to new party

A new political party looks set to carve out space on the centre-right of Vancouver’s political spectrum.

In an open letter posted Wednesday afternoon to his official Facebook page, Hector Bremner says he and his team are “looking into what would be required to create a new municipal political party.”

Bremner is the Non-Partisan Association city councillor who was recently rejected by his own party as a potential mayoral candidate.

Last week, he writes, he met with a “wide group of supporters.”

“(From) that we’ve had an incredible group of people step up to help shape our future.

“This movement has never been about just me or just winning. It has always been about building a city where working people can afford to not just live in, but thrive.

“We all agreed that our #LetsFixHousing movement cannot be stopped. We have been getting more calls of support than ever before.”

Mike Wilson, Bremner’s campaign manager, told Postmedia that out of respect for the NPA’s process nothing would happen until after the NPA holds its nomination meeting, currently set for June 3.

Still, “we’re excited,” he said about what’s to come.

Bremner has set up a website where he pitches his campaign, with the tagline “Let’s Fix Housing.”

Bremner’s letter raises four “key principles” of what the party will be founded upon: on open nomination process for candidates, “a professional, uncorrupted candidate approval process” and a commitment to “fiscal responsibility, environmental protection and social progress.”

The party will focus on fixing housing and homelessness, “so that both middle-class and vulnerable people can live in Vancouver.”

Disenfranchised NPA members will be able to take up free membership in the new party, Bremner writes.

Bremner was previously a staffer for the B.C. Liberals and ran for the provincial party in 2013 in New Westminster.

He’s worked for Pace Group, a Vancouver-based public relations firm, since 2013.