For Immediate Release: April 28, 2011
COPE and Vision Vancouver Reach Agreement
The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) and Vision Vancouver have reached an agreement in principle to once again cooperate on election efforts and run a common slate of candidates.
“COPE has a long history of cooperating to ensure progressive politics in Vancouver, and we’re pleased to have reached an agreement with Vision Vancouver to continue this history,” said COPE External Chair Marcus Youssef.
Youssef said that this agreement reflected the hard work COPE Councillors had done at City Hall. “We needed to grow our numbers to keep up that work, and this agreement provides for that,” he said. “City Hall is better with COPE, and having a chance to expand on our team there is going to be good for Vancouver.”
Number of Candidates
Vision has agreed to run 7 for Council, 5 for School Board, 4 for park board
COPE has agreed to run 3 for Council, 4 for School board, 2 for Park
It is proposed that The Green Party run 1 for Park board. If an acceptable agreement cannot be worked out with the Green Party then Vision Vancouver will run 5 for Park board.
Within a cooperative framework, COPE has been able to direct many critical policies, especially around emergency shelters and housing, civil liberties, preventing school closures, and ecological initiatives.
“Political cooperation has been a very good thing for this city,” said Youssef. “Unlike the divisive and backward-looking politics of the NPA, COPE’s goal of creating a Vancouver for everyone is best served by working collaboratively.”
The agreement still requires final ratification by COPE’s membership. Youssef said that COPE would be setting a date for that meeting shortly.