The NPA’s president was in a talkative mood June 9 but wouldn’t say when one of three men vying to be the party’s mayoral candidate will be revealed to the public.
Peter Armstrong was more interested in talking about the beauty of Vancouver than saying anything about Kirk LaPointe, Ian Robertson or Leonard Brody.
“You know, this morning I got to watch windsurfers in English Bay,” said Armstrong when asked to officially confirm the candidates’ names. “Don’t we live in a great city?”
When asked to comment on the NPA’s strategy to hold back on announcing the party’s pick, Armstrong paused before inexplicably revealing his fascination with birds of prey.
“Do you know there’s six or seven nesting eagles now in Vancouver?” he said. “Isn’t that amazing?”
On it went until Armstrong acknowledged the party will likely reveal its mayoral candidate before the end of the month.
“I don’t mean to be cute with you, and I appreciate your approach, but you’re 100% right - we’re not ready or willing to talk about things now,” he said.
LaPointe and Robertson told the Courier they are vying for the NPA’s top job while the party’s vice-president Rob Macdonald confirmed to the Vancouver Sun last week that Brody was a candidate.
LaPointe is a longtime newspaper executive and former CBC ombudsman and Robertson is executive director at Tourism Industry Association of B.C. and a former park board commissioner. Brody is the co-founder of “citizen journalism” company NowPublic and Growlab, a “start-up accelerator” that helps entrepreneurs build companies.
Two weeks ago, the NPA’s board of directors cast ballots in a private vote to determine the party’s mayoral choice.
Party insiders questioned by the Courier said only a handful of people, including a lawyer who monitored the vote, know the result.
LaPointe told the Courier Monday he didn’t know whether he would be the candidate to challenge Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson in this November’s civic election.
“The board is in control of that process,” he said from the downtown office of Self-Counsel Press, where he is the publisher and editor-in-chief. “And until the board has resolved all of it, then I don’t think any of the candidates yet know what will happen.”
LaPointe, former managing editor of the Sun, said he didn’t know Robertson but met Brody about six years ago. The Sun used a media platform from Brody’s company to track readership of stories posted online, as well as the paper’s social media reach.
LaPointe declined to answer questions related to politics, including how a person goes from an ombudsman to a leader of a political party.
“Sorry, I’m not going to discuss my politics,” he said. “I appreciate that you want to know more. If it turns out that I’m the selection of the board and the mayoralty candidate, then there’ll be many opportunities to discuss how I have made the shift.”
Added LaPointe: “I haven’t made the shift, yet. I’m still running Self-Counsel Press and I’m still the executive director of the Organization of News Ombudsmen and I’m still teaching at UBC [journalism school].”
Robertson said Monday he too hadn’t been given a timeline when the party will decide who is the best man to lead the party into this year’s campaign.
“I haven’t heard anything for over a week or so,” he said. “I guess I’m standing by the phone, by the computer like everybody else.”
The Courier sent an email request Monday to Brody via Growlab but had not heard back before deadline. The election is November 15.
Vancouver Courier
