New party testing appetite for indelicate political discourse
From amplifying disparaging messages calling homeless people “crackheads,” to publicly criticizing the wardrobe of a political opponent, senior members of the upstart Coalition Vancouver are bringing a new style of political discourse to the city’s looming municipal election.
In a recent example, Coalition Vancouver mayoral candidate Wai Young used her official Twitter account to spread a negative message about Vancouver’s temporary modular housing program. Last week, Young retweeted a message from a Vancouver-based Twitter user called Niko, sharing a news item about a temporary modular housing project in Strathcona, with the commentary: “In Vancouver if you stay clean, study, borrow, finish university, get a job & pay taxes, you’ll be renovicted to Surrey. But if you’re crazy, a crackhead or a criminal you get a free apartment in an expensive neighbourhood.”
Young, a former member of Parliament with the Stephen Harper Conservatives, told Postmedia News: “For me, what I sensed in that tweet — and maybe it wasn’t phrased very well by that person, whoever that person is — but the point is that there was a lot of angst there.”
Coalition Vancouver president Peter Labrie kept the ball rolling, publicly praising the tweet, writing his own post on Twitter describing the original message as “the most perfect summary of Vancouver.” Labrie also told the creator of the original tweet that if he was interested in running in the election, to “let me know.”
On Monday, Labrie turned his attention to Jean Swanson, a council candidate for the Coalition of Progressive Electors who recently completed a four-day jail sentence for violating a court injunction by taking part in the Trans Mountain Pipeline protest.
“Who dresses Jean Swanson?” Labrie wrote. “This is the only person who gets a wardrobe upgrade by going to prison.”
Swanson wasn’t the first female politician whose wardrobe Labrie has criticized. Last month, he responded to a photo of Hillary Clinton, writing: “Is that Hillary, or some senior singing karaoke in an old folk’s home? ... Hillary has strange fashion sense. But this is even worse than her Barry Manilow pantsuits.”
Asked Tuesday if he thought it was appropriate to publicly criticize Swanson for the way she dresses, Labrie said: “I think in politics you have to present a certain professionalism.”
Asked if he thought the comment was sexist, Labrie said: “No, I didn’t say she dressed poorly because she was a woman, I just said what I said. It wasn’t directed at anyone because of gender, it was just, basically, about apparel.”
In other recent public posts online, Labrie has written disparagingly of feminists and cyclists. Their approach may resonate with some, but political observers say it’s unlikely to play well with a large part of the Vancouver electorate. And, unsurprisingly, they’re already drawing heat from political opponents.
Reached Tuesday, Swanson said Labrie’s comment “is, of course, sexist.”
“I don’t really care what this guy thinks,” said Swanson, but she wouldn’t want to be affiliated with a party whose president made such comments.
“What’s relevant about politicians is what they have done in the past, and what they’re wanting to do in the future, and who they’re sticking up for. Not what they’re wearing.”
Independent mayoral candidate Shauna Sylvester, who spoke to Postmedia in April about the barrage of criticism she received about her appearance, weighed in.
“The comment by Labrie indicates a broader trend with how women are treated when they step in to run for public office,” Sylvester said. “Women have to contend on a daily basis with comments about what they’re wearing, what their hair looks like, how they appear and if their voice is shrill or not. Men do not have to deal with that.”
A public political discourse based on an aggressive “antipolitical correctness” stance may appeal to a certain segment of the population.
However, pollster Mario Canseco said it’s unlikely to find widespread support in the city of Vancouver, where voters have recently supported the B.C. NDP more than the B.C. Liberals, and the centre-right NPA has lost four of the last five civic elections to left-wing opponents.
“Maybe there is somebody out there who’s so dissatisfied with the way politics are going, or with people from the left, that they decide they want to vote for you, but it’s probably going to be a minority,” said Canseco, the president of Research Co.
“You choose the name ‘Coalition,’ which is supposed to evoke building bridges and talking to people who are different, and the first thing you do is talk about how people going into temporary modular housing are ‘crackheads,’” said Canseco.
“I don’t think this is the kind of discourse we want to have ... It does have that whiff of Donald Trump to it.”
Reached Tuesday by phone, the Twitter user Niko refused to give his full name, but said he doesn’t support any specific political party.
“This was sort of deliberately obnoxious in its choice of language ... If something is worded in a very thoughtful, low-key way, people don’t notice it,” he said.
“It’s kind of like a Trump approach to politics ... People, more and more, they talk like Trump. People, more and more, are beginning to say increasingly obnoxious things because at least they get attention this way.”