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From 24 Hours
" It was a high-energy, successful event. Two of three candidates, Gregor Robertson and Raymond Louie, well exceeded expectations. Louie, while rigid and, at times, uncomfortable, was good. His credentials as a first-rate public servant are intact, certainly. His answers on everything from park space to density to Vancouver's affordability crisis made sense but were occasionally reviews of what's been done.
He's not yet mayoral material ... Perhaps not this go-around... On technical merit, he receives a B from me. Good performance and a very nice man.
Gregor Robertson on the other hand was calm, collected and composed. If this is the man the NPA think they can attack, they might as well advocate choking puppies or boiling kittens. His care for this city was obvious and palpable. He breezed through most issues, such as the Four Pillars, identifying that education, prevention and treatment are almost non-existent, and that this must change before the Downtown Eastside slides further into the abyss. He hammered Al De Genova on the issue of a Robertson-proposed tax on off-shore real estate "speculators", when De Genova, a well-known realtor, ridiculously referred to the tax as "punitive".
Robertson clearly wants your children to be able to live in Vancouver if they want to, while De Genova just doesn't get it. On technical merit and general performance, I'd give Gregor an A- (He needs a touch of Tabasco in his Happy Planet smoothies for the election in November).
He was the clear winner and his kindness was fulsome. If this guy came home with your sister, you'd kiss him first.
That, of course, leaves us with a review of Al De Genova. I went to the Norman Rothstein Theatre expecting that, with all his Vaudevillian schmaltz notwithstanding, Al would shine. But it wasn't to be.
I've known Al for a long time. He's an exceedingly bright man, with much charm, moxie and cunning. This was the perfect forum for him to show why he, above the others, should be mayor.
Unfortunately, Al was spotty with his responses, although with some substance, but habitually aloof, adding cornball euphemisms and, of all things, a twirl, once, when returning to his seat.
He even suggested at one point that he was preferable because he was a "team player". Really? Just ask Parks Chair Heather Holden, whom he relentlessly badgered for being a then Vancouver Aquarium employee two years ago, or Mayor Sam Sullivan, whom he ceremoniously dumped on in the middle of the last election, without a word of complaint to Sam beforehand. That's not a team player.
If that wasn't enough, after reading his entire closing statement, a monumental debating blunder, he then lost a supporter, whom I later interviewed. The man shot out of his seat, throwing his Al shirt on the ground, spewing venom galore.
Melissa, Al's daughter/handler, was clearly angry when I asked her about it, as much as his supporters (mostly from Christy Clark's old federal Liberal camp) were stunned and dismayed.
A D+ for De Genova, and I'm being charitable.
The calculus, then, is simple: If Vision wants to take the Mayor's spot in addition to surely sweeping council in November, there is only one name that can deliver their best chance ... Gregor Robertson.
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