The city’s venerable Non-Partisan Association got quite a trouncing in the recent election, even worse, in some ways, than the one it got in 2002. Then, at least it had two councillors elected. This time, only one. As well, then, the NPA knew there was trouble ahead because people throughout the province were reacting to […]

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Links here to my Globe story on what’s up for the first week with the new Vision council (Olympic village and homelessness the big priorities), plus my Maureen Dowdish analysis of our desperate search for a datable mayor on my CTV blog

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It feels wrong to cover civic politics in Vancouver these days without mentioning that someone somewhere, at least once an hour, claims to have inside information that city manager Judy Rogers is going to be canned by the incoming crew. Some of the rumours seem to have originated in the city works yard and then […]

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It’s inauguration day for the new council and everyone’s preparing for it, including a couple of protesters outside city hall. One man has a sign proclaiming “I’m still looking for the leak … but all I see is a total lack of respect for the citizens of Vancouver.” Between the time I passed at 9, […]

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The Christmas party season kicked off last night with a bang. I was invited to, ran into or heard about six Christmas parties just in my own circle — everyone trying to get a jump on the main Christmas season, I guess. One of the more amusing double-events of the night was the B.C. Federation […]

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In my ongoing efforts to make sure everyone knows where everyone is on the chess board, I am pleased to inform you all that Ian Baillie is moving on from media-wrangling at the Vision campaign to being B.C. manager for the Bob Rae campaign for the Liberal leadership. This ought to help with the ongoing […]

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I’ve heard some people fretting that the province may be stalling on construction of all its fancy new social housing projects, specifically the 12 fast-tracked ones in Vancouver. But, au contraire, it seems as though they’re just working out a better deal. As the construction industry crashes in B.C., it’s not all bleak news, it […]

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Someone sent me a link to this New York Times article extolling the virtues of Vancouver as a second-home base for non-Canadians. Hmm, I guess the world economy isn’t dead yet. And how nice to see this early indication of the Olympics sell.

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The agenda for Monday’s meeting is up and the new council has put out its recommendations for who will sit on which boards and committees, which you can go through here if you’re that kind of detail-obsessed person. Interesting things of note: Gregor and the most senior members of the Vision team are going en […]

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The gorgeous new Peter Busby-designed building at Broadway and Cambie is nearing completion, with London Drugs already in one portion of the street-level space and Whole Foods due to move in first (thereby guaranteeing that the last of our disposable income will disappear in short order). Lululemon was supposed to be moving its headquarters into […]

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