2014 Vancouver Municipal Election Thread

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Who do you want to be the Mayor of Vancouver after the 2014 Municipal Election?

Poll ended at Sat Nov 15, 2014 5:19 pm

Gregor Robertson (Vision Vancouver)
3
60%
Kirk LaPointe (Non-Partisan Association)
2
40%
Meena Wong (Coalition of Progressive Electors)
0
No votes
Meynard Aubichon (Stop Party)
0
No votes
Mike Hansen (Independent)
0
No votes
Jeff Hill (Independent)
0
No votes
Cherryse Kaur Kaiser (Independent)
0
No votes
Bob Kasting (Independent)
0
No votes
Tim Ly (Independent)
0
No votes
Colin Shandler (Independent)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 5
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Robbie
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Political threads appear to be very popular on this board and there's been extensive discussion on the federal and the provincial level. How about on the municipal level?

I'm sure a fair amount of Canadians are interested in the midterm elections happening today. But don't forget that Vancouver has its own election on November 15, 2014. Adding a poll and I know that some of you do not live within the city limits of Vancouver but I'm sure you have strong thoughts about the incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson and whether you want him to win a third term.

There's no doubt that Robertson has been a very vocal and active mayor of Vancouver who has made some significant changes - for better or worse and has caused a fair amount of opposition and protest. He's certainly angered residents of certain parts of the city such as Kitsilano with the many bicycle-only lanes. Local merchants were angry about the Canada Line construction in Cambie. And Marpole residents were furious about his proposed rezoning plan.
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No doubt there are those who want a change. The problem is that I'd say residents probably don't know the biggest opponent, Kirk LaPointe, all that well. But for those who are furious with Robertson I'm sure they will be taking their chances with LaPointe.

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Who do you want to be the Mayor of Vancouver after the 2014 Municipal Election?
Last edited by Robbie on Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Coast Mountain Lion
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Canada Line construction was well under way long before Robertson was elected mayor. The only people who don't want bike lanes in Kitsilano are the people whose front yards would be across the street. And Marpole is one of the prime neighbourhoods in Vancouver for densification, no matter whether Robertson, Lapointe, Wong, or Mike Benevedes is mayor.
TheLionKing
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Anybody but Mayor Moonbeam and his Vision council
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Sir Purrcival
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I have no issue with bike lanes but I do have issue with they way they have been implemented. Shutting down lanes on busy streets and bridges to accommodate bikes is ill considered. There is also the issue of how bikers are going to pay their share of the costs for such things. Mr. Robertson has had his vision. Hope he moves on. Tired of his schtick.
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notahomer
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Been actively interested in politics for decades. My grandfather (since he was a City of Vancouver of employee who LIVED in Burnaby) actively ran the ADVANCE POLL for the Vancouver throughout the 70s & 80s. When I was ten years old I spent all-Saturday watching (quietly) my grandfathers crew COUNT ballots. Even then it was so exiting to see this happen (the electoral process).
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Municipal politics are VERY important, IMO. We ALWAYS get options (Capital Plan for e.g.) on whether we want certain projects built etc....

I would like to see a change in our municipal system too. I'd like simliar changes to the provincial/federal levels of politics too. There has been a history, as long as I have been following politics in Vancouver, of East versus West on lots of issues.

Some have said bringing in a 'ward'system would fix this and I MILDLY agree. I say mildly because one of the MAJOR reasons why Vancouver has its current 'at-large system' is it was introduced to FIX corruption issues that were happening when Vancouver DID have a ward system (back in the 1930's, IIRC).

I would like to see Vancouver elect people via a combined at-large/ward system. Go ahead carve the city up into WARDS (municipal name for RIDINGS or SEATS). There will always be arguements over where to draw the lines but one benefit is particular areas would have a DIRECT representative. So if you live in Chinatown and you have a Chinatown specific issue, there probably will be a Chinatown Councillor to hear your concerns......

Where I like the 'at-large system' is it forces people to look at the city as a WHOLE. There is no question that there are particular issues best served by someone who understands a particular neighboorhood or area but at the same time, I think responsible politicians have to balance what is good for a neighboorhood versus the greater good (in this case the City of Vancouver versus all these seperate but equal neighboorhoods).

I think this is where an elected Senate could be of value. Instead of electing BC senators, have senators elected WITH THE EXPRESSED PURPOSE of representing Canada as a whole (as oppossed to BC or Vancouver/Kingsway).
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Way off track here. I'm voting for the so-called Mayor Moonbeam. I always vote for a RANGE of candidates based on how they present themselves. For e.g. I voted for Michael Geller (I think thats his name?) based on him making comments on urban planning and other issues that really made sense to me. I get frustrated as a political follower simply because I feel a lot of these political issues are not the black/white ones that they are portrayed as. Geller was an NPA candidate but I still fully respected his concepts/ideas. Unfortunately, IMO, Geller did NOT get elected.....
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notahomer
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I made a mistake and SPOILED my first attempt at casting a ballot. I mistakenly marked 11 candidates for council :bang:

What puzzles me and is a known BIAS is the automated maching WAS WILLING TO ACCEPT the ballot. Apparently the first 10 candidates would have been counted and the eleventh nullified WITHOUT ME HAVING TO DO ANYTHING!

This is wrong on a few levels for me. First of all it discriminates against people whose last name is further along in the alphabet. Secondly, I marked too many members. IMO, my ballot should have been accepted as is and then ALL my choices for council nullified and this mistake was only caught because its an electronic voting machine.

If I was running the election candidates names would be listed in random order. When doing market research we randomized which candidates names we read first because some people are biased by these types of things. Obviously having a late lettered last name did not hurt the re-election of the mayor but lets make these things as fair as possible......
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sj-roc
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notahomer wrote:I made a mistake and SPOILED my first attempt at casting a ballot. I mistakenly marked 11 candidates for council :bang:

What puzzles me and is a known BIAS is the automated maching WAS WILLING TO ACCEPT the ballot. Apparently the first 10 candidates would have been counted and the eleventh nullified WITHOUT ME HAVING TO DO ANYTHING!

This is wrong on a few levels for me. First of all it discriminates against people whose last name is further along in the alphabet. Secondly, I marked too many members. IMO, my ballot should have been accepted as is and then ALL my choices for council nullified and this mistake was only caught because its an electronic voting machine.

If I was running the election candidates names would be listed in random order. When doing market research we randomized which candidates names we read first because some people are biased by these types of things. Obviously having a late lettered last name did not hurt the re-election of the mayor but lets make these things as fair as possible......
When I voted I was told up front I could request a replacement ballot if I spoiled the first one. I gather this wasn't the case for you.

I've talked before about how ballots can be biased in their set-up and I even mentioned this order bias. When California had their recall gubernational election that installed Arnold S, there were something like 100 candidates (but only a few serious contenders) on the ballot as alternatives to incumbent Grey Davis. IIRC, rather than listing everyone on the ballot alphabetically starting from A, they printed up and randomly distributed an equal number of ballots with each candidate's name listed first and then everyone else listed thereafter in alphabetical order with looping back to A as necessary. I watched some of the election night coverage and there was speculation from at least one pundit that this bias might favour candidates like Affleck and Ball. It can be noted that:

• the top 5 vote-getters for council all had surnames starting no later in the alphabet than D,
• the top 3 vote-getters for park board all had surnames starting no later in the alphabet than E, and
• the top 3 vote-getters for school board all had surnames starting no later in the alphabet than C.

I'm not saying they were assisted to some degree by order bias but one can't rule out the possibility outright based on these results. It's certainly not like a bunch of Ys and Zs won landslide mandates and you could completely dismiss the hypothesis.

I felt there was a bias problem with our HST/GST referendum. I've never liked yes/no questions as the question can be leading depending on how it is framed. I would have far preferred "do you want A or B?" with A and B as the choices and half the ballots listing each option first.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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notahomer
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sj-roc wrote:When I voted I was told up front I could request a replacement ballot if I spoiled the first one. I gather this wasn't the case for you.

I've talked before about how ballots can be biased in their set-up and I even mentioned this order bias. .......
Yes, I think I've been told up front that I could request a replacement ballot at every election/referendum I have voted in at all levels, (municipal, provincial & federal). That is my problem because I take voting so seriously I'm kinda emberrassed I messed up my first ballot and it was a machine that caught my error.

UNKNOWINGLY, I spoiled my first ballot. I was then given the option of having the computer just count the first 10 of the eleven candidates or redo a new ballot. I chose the latter. HOWEVER, I don't feel I should have been given this option. I cast a ballot that was wrong, I would have completely understood had they stated "Your votes for council have been rejected because you cast eleven votes". I do wonder how many people did like I did, by mistake, but didn't bother to re-vote. Therefore the first 10 would have been counted, strongly biasing against names later in the alphabet.

I certainly agree that framing IS OFTEN the crucial part in determining whether a question will win in a referendum.....
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