Newcomers vying to fill power void in Vancouver’s ‘weird’ election race: expert
VANCOUVER — As election campaigns kick off across British Columbia its largest city is facing a race unlike any other, experts say.
A proliferation of new parties and independent candidates are crowding the Vancouver race in a widespread turnover of the existing council.
“It’s really weird, it’s not common to anything I’ve ever seen,” said David Moscrop, a political scientist in the department of communications at the University of Ottawa who recently left British Columbia.
The city’s political system is already unusual in Canada. It operates under a party system and voters elect council members at-large because Vancouver hasn’t had wards since the 1930s.