A familiar face is to reintegrate Vancouver’s policy, this time at the federal level.
Former mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson will present itself for the Liberal Party in the new Driving of Vancouver Fraouthow-South Burnaby. The outgoing liberal deputy Harjit Sajjan is currently representing the region.
“We are in unprecedented times, our country is literally besieged by the president (Donald) Trump, our sovereignty is on the table, which is unthinkable,” Robertson told Global News of his decision to enter the political arena.
“It’s a time when we all have to get up.”
Robertson was mayor of Vancouver from 2008 to 2018 and was a provincial deputy in Vancouver-Fairview from 2005 to 2008 before that.
He is also known for his entrepreneurship, as co-founder of the Happy Planet Juice Company.
It is a CV that Robertson said would make it an ideal deputy.
“As a former mayor and also elected in British Columbia, I know how provincial and municipal governments work and I can bring this voice to Ottawa,” he said.
“This is the moment when we need expertise, we need experience and bring my own business and table entrepreneurship and know how cities work will be useful, I think for Canada.”
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Not everyone agrees.
The Conservative Party was quick to attack Robertson’s appointment, accusing him of being a green “extremist” which presided record increases in the prices of houses, taxes and drug deaths in the region.
“If it is a star candidate, I am worried, but I am not really surprised because it is a government that really praises so many values that the former praising mayor,” said Frank Caputo, Conservative candidate Kamloops-Thoston-Nicola.
“A safe supply that turned out to be safe, cutting our resources – these are the types of things where the Liberals do not have a plan in terms of prosperity for Canadians.”
The conservatives have not yet exploited a driving candidate, while the NPD directs the founder of young drivers Manoj Bhangu.
Robertson undertook to “put an end to roaming” in Vancouver by 2015. A decade later, the problem only won.
When asked if he regretted having made the commitment, Robertson told Global News that he thought it was important to set “big goals”, something he would continue to pursue at the federal level.
He also defended his record in power, saying that Vancouver had the strongest municipal economy in Canada during his mandate, built more affordable housing than any previous administration, and was on the world scene for both the 2010 Olympic Games and the Women’s World Cup.
“We had a very aggressive and ambitious approach with homelessness and affordable accommodation,” said Robertson.
“We did not do it at the time, but we were at the front of a global housing crisis, which has now spread through British Columbia, through Canada, around the world.”
UBC political scientist Max Cameron said that the choice of liberal leader Mark Carney to draw the former mayor suggests that he wanted to bring a new stamp on the outgoing party.
“This will be part of a Carney effort, in particular, to show that even if he presents himself for the Liberal Party, which has been in office for 10 years, he represents change, so he will want to bring new faces,” he said.
Calling on someone who had previously been elected as a new provincial democrat could also point out that the Liberals want to be considered a “big tent” party, he added.
Canadians will go to the polls on April 28.
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