What does recent exodus mean for Vision party?
While commentators outside Vision Vancouver speculate, on and off the record, that Gregor Robertson’s decision not to seek re-re-election is only the latest sign that Vision Vancouver is running out of steam, the party faithful and the mayor himself insist the opposite is true.
Even before Robertson’s Wednesday announcement that his current term will be his last as Vancouver’s mayor — an aboutface after saying last year he’d run for a fourth term in October’s election — some observers and opponents speculated both the mayor and his party were at the end of their political shelf life after a decade in power. After all, Robertson isn’t the first Vision affiliate to recently step away from a role, just the latest and most high-profile.
Speaking to Postmedia in the hours after his announcement Wednesday, Robertson said he remained “bullish” about Vision’s future, emphasizing the “exciting ” opportunity for fresh leadership, sentiments echoed by party leadership.
But others paint a different picture: Current and past politicians affiliated with the rival Non-Partisan Association told Postmedia that Vision, in its 13th year, has passed its “best-by date.” Mike Howell, who’s covered Vancouver city hall for the Vancouver Courier for more than 15 years, wrote in his Thursday column that Vision “appears to be in disarray.”
Vision, which previously employed four full-time staffers plus part-time help handling everything from communications to youth outreach and digital strategy, was down to a single staffer last fall, interim executive director Nimmi Takkar.
As of this month, Takkar is no longer working for Vision: A B.C. government order-in-council signed just last week indicates her new position as a senior ministerial assistant for the minister of Public Safety.
No replacement executive director has been lined up yet, Vision Vancouver co-chair Sheena Sargeant said Thursday, but the party is considering options for Takkar’s successor.
Vision members, including former staffers, said staffing reductions are more a reflection of the realities of B.C.’s new, stricter campaign-finance rules, not an indication of diminished interest in the party.
“Certainly, the finance reform stuff has been a consideration for us, that’s undeniable,” Sargeant said. Asked what staffing levels will look like going forward, she replied: “We’re still working through that, figuring out what our limitations are.”
But, Sargeant emphasized, “I don’t think it’s a winding down of the party at all . ... We’re really excited about where Vision is headed in 2018.”
Takkar follows some former colleagues across the Strait of Georgia.
Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs, a party co-founder, departed 12th and Cambie in July to become Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff. A review of B.C. government orders in council over the next few months shows other staffers from both Vision and the mayor’s office moving to Victoria: The mayor’s communications director Katie Robb and communications strategist Sarah Zaharia both quit, as did Vision’s executive director of five years, Stepan Vdovine. All three moved to Victoria for provincial government jobs.
And the year before the B.C. NDP formed government, Robertson’s communications director Braeden Caley left for a job with the federal Liberals in Ottawa.
One longtime Vision member said the string of departures could merely be a reflection of the fact there are more opportunities for progressive-minded political operatives with the current alignment of senior governments in Victoria and Ottawa now.
But regardless of which side you believe — whether Vision’s in disarray or ripe for an exciting rejuvenation — it appears the party Robertson led to power a decade ago on a “message of change” is in the midst of its own profound change.