Non-Partisan Association (NPA) mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton wants to have an on-air debate with Mayor Gregor Robertson about how the taxpayer-funded fan zones were established in the lead-up to the June 15 Stanley Cup riots.
Her main beef with Robertson is that he did not involve council in the decision to hold the live sites downtown, which drew tens of thousands of people.
"His mistake the first time was not bringing the public viewing sites to council and let council chew them over," Anton told Business in Vancouver July 4. "His mistake was treating it in an executive way and running it out of his office."
She vowed that if, she were mayor, every major decision that involves hundreds of thousands of public dollars would be brought up at council.
NPA candidates have tried to brand the riot as "Robertsons's Riot" - a description that the mayor told BIV June 29 was "laughable."
"The NPA is predictably trying to turn this into a political issue and to grandstand on that," Robertson said. "The responsibility here is with the rioters. They need to be held accountable and that's where the focus needs to be."
He added that he is looking forward to the independent review that former 2010 Winter Olympics organizer John Furlong and former Nova Scotia deputy justice minister Doug Keefe are set to conduct.
The city and the Vancouver Police Department are also set to conduct internal reviews.
Anton, however, remains unimpressed at how the city's internal review was created.
"Gregor failed to bring the internal review to council for direction," she said. "He brought it to council for input, limited input, but no direction, no budget, nothing. In 1994, [former NPA mayor Philip Owen] brought a review to council within two or three weeks with a budget and a whole plan for public consultation."
Glen Korstrom
Twitter: GlenKorstrom