Coalition of Progressive Electors
Encyclopedia
The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) is a municipal political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 city of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

.

Origins

Originally formed as the "Committee of Progressive Electors", COPE was formed in 1968, when a number of left-wing community groups and social justice organizations joined with the city's Labour Council
Labour council
A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level...

 to organize more effectively against the Non-Partisan Association (NPA)
Non-Partisan Association
The Non-Partisan Association is a civic-level electoral organization in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. There are, and have also been in the past, Non-Partisan Association political parties in the nearby municipalities of Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey.The NPA was established in 1937 to...

—a centre-right political party that had dominated civic politics in Vancouver. Frank Kennedy of the Vancouver & District Labour Council and Harry Rankin
Harry Rankin
Harry Rankin was a Vancouver lawyer and socialist alderman on city council.- Early Years:Rankin was born Harry Riffkin in Vancouver to a secular Jewish family which had immigrated from the Ukraine...

, an outspoken lawyer and city councillor, were key figures in shaping the coalition, along with activists from the British Columbia New Democratic Party and the Communist Party of British Columbia
Communist Party of British Columbia
The Communist Party of British Columbia is the British Columbia branch of the Communist Party of Canada. Its leader is Sam Hammond.From the 1945 British Columbia election to the 1956 election, it was known as the Labour Progressive Party....

. COPE is generally guided by social-democratic principles, and has a long history of championing issues like improving public transit and investing in affordable housing.

1970s and 1980s

For most of its history, COPE existed in an uneasy relationship with centre-left parties at the municipal level. From 1972 to 1986, the centrist party with which COPE competed was (The Electors' Action Movement
The Electors' Action Movement
TEAM was a centrist political party from 1968 to the mid-1980s at the municipal level in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It fielded candidates for the office of mayor as well as for positions on the city council, school board, and park board...

) which governed the city under prominent federal Liberal Mayor Art Phillips
Art Phillips
Arthur "Art" Phillips served as the 32nd mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 1973 to 1977. Prior to being elected to this post, he founded the Vancouver investment firm of Phillips, Hager & North. Phillips was instrumental in founding a reform-minded, centrist municipal-level...

 in the mid 1970s. By the late 70s, a breakaway faction of TEAM, comprising provincial NDP
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

 supporters and led by future premier Michael Harcourt
Michael Harcourt
Michael Franklin Harcourt served as the 30th Premier of the province of British Columbia in Canada from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of BC's major city, Vancouver from 1980 to 1986....

 formed an uneasy electoral alliance with COPE, from which both parties benefited. The Harcourt regime governed from the centre and, although it ran a unified slate with COPE, with the cooperation and support of the VDLC, Harcourt's small party of Civic Independents would sometimes vote with the NDP and the remaining TEAM councilors against COPE's more radical policies.

When Harcourt stepped down to become a provincial candidate and a renewed NPA led by future premier Gordon Campbell absorbed TEAM's two remaining councilors, COPE became the senior partner in its coalition with the Civic Independents. Nominating Rankin as its mayoral candidate, COPE fielded a virtually full slate of candidates (leaving three open spaces for the incumbent Civic Independents) but was badly beaten, the returning to power for the first time in 14 years, and deprived for the next two years of Rankin's leadership in the council chamber.

More alliances

In 1988, COPE entered the election an equal partner with the newly-formed Civic New Democrats, a party directly affiliated with the BC NDP; led by anti-poverty activist Jean Swanson
Jean Swanson
Jean Swanson is an anti-poverty activist living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia.Jean Swanson is a coordinator of Carnegie Community Action Project , an organization dedicated to the welfare of the Downtown Eastside, one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods...

, the coalition made few gains but under the leadership of Jim Green  in 1990, it came close to winning the election. But while all COPE council candidates were elected, no Civic NDP candidates were (since a 1983 byelection, COPE had consistently out-performed all other leftist candidates on the concurrently elected School and Parks Boards). At this point, Vancouver's civic left conceded that the COPE brand was now more popular than any more centrist group. Thus, following the 1990 election, COPE officially merged with the Civic NDP, changing its name from the Committee of Progressive Electors to the Coalition of Progressive Electors. At this time, COPE made an official overture to the Green Party of Vancouver
Green Party of Vancouver
The Green Party of Vancouver is a municipal political party in Vancouver, Canada who has nominated Green Party of Canada deputy leader Adrianne Carr as their sole nominee for Vancouver City Council...

, the local affiliate of the Green Party of British Columbia
Green Party of British Columbia
The Green Party of British Columbia is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. It is led by former Esquimalt municipal councillor, university professor and businessperson Jane Sterk, she was elected by the party in 2007. Penticton realtor and columnist Julius Bloomfield serves as the deputy...

, offering the group some minor policy concessions, joint billing in the party's ballot name ("COPE-Green '93") and assurances that important party members would ensure some Greens were nominated. The Greens turned the deal down.

Since 1993, COPE has nominated candidates for all civic offices (Mayor, City Councillor, School Board Trustee, and Parks Commissioner) but its closer affiliation with an incumbent provincial NDP government and inability to negotiate a deal with the Greens, who began siphoning votes in increasing numbers, resulted in flagging performance. Rankin's retirement from council also damaged the party. In 1993, COPE's representation fell to only one councilor, future MLA Jenny Kwan
Jenny Kwan
Jenny Wai Ching Kwan is a Hong Kong-born Canadian politician. She is currently a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and a senior member of the provincial caucus of the New Democratic Party.-Personal life:...

. COPE did not win any seats in 1996, thanks to a strong showing for the Greens and a left-right coalition called VOICE, led by Rankin's wife Connie Fogal
Connie Fogal
Constance Fogal is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. A lawyer and former teacher, Fogal lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where her late husband Harry Rankin was a long time progressive city councillor. She is an anti-globalization activist and was an opponent of the...

 and 1984 mayoral candidate Jonathan Baker
Jonathan Baker
Jonathan Baker is an American reality TV contestant, film maker and entrepreneur.-Early life and education:Baker studied film at NYC and USC.-Career:Baker was a contestant on the reality TV show The Amazing Race....

. With this fragmentation of the civic left, the NPA won all 27 contested seats in that election with only 43% of the vote.

Following COPE's 1996 defeat, the provincial Greens, reversed their policy of opposing coalitions with COPE and, over the strong objections of many longtime Vancouver Greens, pushed through a controversial plan to negotiate with COPE (this plan was a key factor in the 2000 defeat of party leader Stuart Parker
Stuart Parker
Stuart Parker was leader of the Green Party in British Columbia, Canada, from 1993 to 2000. In 2009, during the Ontario by-election to replace MPP Michael Byrant, he unsuccessfully sought the Ontario New Democratic Party nomination for the St...

). COPE ultimately accepted the Greens' proposal. (A factor in this acceptance may have been premier Glen Clark
Glen Clark
Glen David Clark is a politician in British Columbia, Canada who served as the 31st Premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999.-Early life and education:...

's backing of this deal and a similar one in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

.)

In 1999, COPE regained its footholds on School Board and City Council and the Greens gained a seat on Parks Board under the leadership of mayoral candidate David Cadman
David Cadman
David Cadman is a Vancouver city councillor, first elected in 2002. A social and environmental activist, Cadman is a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors....

. The two independent candidates who had also joined the coalition were defeated, although former NPA councilor Nancy Chiavario came close to keeping her council seat after being pushed out by supporters of Jennifer Clarke at the NPA nominating meeting.

First COPE Government

Due to Clarke's increasing hostility to moderates in the NPA, more and more centrist supporters of Mayor Philip Owen
Philip Owen
Philip Walter Owen was the mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1993 to 2002, making him one of Vancouver's longest serving mayors. His father was Walter S. Owen, who was Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1973 to 1978....

's moderate and innovative policies on crime, many mainstream Vancouverites shifted their support to COPE between 1999 and 2002. One of these was former Chief Coroner, RCMP officer Larry Campbell
Larry Campbell
Larry W. Campbell was the 37th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently a member of the Canadian Senate. Starting in 1969 Campbell worked for the RCMP in Vancouver and then in 1973 as a member of the Drug Squad...

 and a character on the CBC show Da Vinci's Inquest
Da Vinci's Inquest
Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series that aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. Seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes....

whom COPE nominated as its mayoral candidate. Although Campbell attempted to keep the Greens in the fold, a new provincial leadership had taken control and pulled the party out of its municipal coalitions.

But Clarke's takeover of the NPA and purge of its centrists was highly unpopular with Vancouver voters, especially her movement's deposition of the incumbent mayor, an ally of Campbell. Now led by a centrist for the first time, COPE defeated the NPA in every seat it contested.

COPE's only city government

In 2002, an unprecedented surge in voter turnout elected the first COPE mayor and board majorities in Vancouver's history. Every candidate running under COPE's banner was elected

City Council (2002 to 2005) (COPE candidates elected to 8 of 10 positions in all):
  • Larry Campbell
    Larry Campbell
    Larry W. Campbell was the 37th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently a member of the Canadian Senate. Starting in 1969 Campbell worked for the RCMP in Vancouver and then in 1973 as a member of the Drug Squad...

     (mayor)
  • Fred Bass
    Fred Bass
    Fred Bass is a former city councillor, environmentalist and a preventive medicine physician in Vancouver, Canada.-Background:Bass was born in New York City, attended Antioch College, Case-Western Reserve Medical School, Harvard,and Johns Hopkins. He served as a Preventive Medicine Officer in the US...

  • David Cadman
    David Cadman
    David Cadman is a Vancouver city councillor, first elected in 2002. A social and environmental activist, Cadman is a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors....

  • Jim Green
  • Tim Louis
    Tim Louis
    Tim Louis is a lawyer and municipal politician in Vancouver, Canada. He was elected to the Vancouver Parks Board in 1990 and 1993, and later to Vancouver City Council as a member of the Coalition of Progressive Electors in 1999 and 2002.-Education, Advocacy and Professional Life:Tim Louis...

  • Anne Roberts
    Anne Roberts
    Anne Roberts is a journalism instructor and former Vancouver city councillor. She was elected as a member of the winning majority of Coalition of Progressive Electors in 2002....

  • Tim Stevenson
    Tim Stevenson
    Tim Stevenson is a Canadian politician and United Church clergyman. He is currently an elected member of the Vancouver City Council as a member of Vision Vancouver. He is one of two openly gay city councilors in Vancouver, along with Ellen Woodsworth.-Background:He received a B.A...

  • Raymond Louie
    Raymond Louie
    Raymond Louie is a three term Vancouver City Councillor and a former school Trustee. Formerly a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors civic party, Louie broke away and was re-elected in 2005, and again in 2008, as a member of Vision Vancouver.-Background:Born and raised in East Vancouver,...

  • Ellen Woodsworth
    Ellen Woodsworth
    thumb|right|175px|Ellen Woodsworth speaking at a press conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada.Ellen Woodsworth is a former Vancouver City Councillor...


Note: The mayor and three other councillors left the party's caucus in 2005 to form Vision Vancouver
Vision Vancouver
Vision Vancouver is one of three parties represented on Vancouver City Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vision was formed in the months leading up to the 2005 municipal election.-Formation:...

.

Vancouver School Board (2002 to 2005) (COPE candidates elected to 7 of 9 positions)
  • Allen Blakey
  • Jane Bouey
  • Noel Herron
  • Angela Kenyon
  • Adrienne Montani
  • Kevin Millsip
  • Allan Wong.


Board of Parks and Recreation (2002 to 2005) (COPE candidates elected to 5 of 7 positions)
  • Heather Deal
    Heather Deal
    Heather Deal is a professional biologist and Vancouver city councillor who was elected as a member of the Vision Vancouver party in 2005 and 2008. She served as a Vancouver parks board trustee for the 2002 to 2005 term as a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors.Heather was born in England and...

  • Lyndsay Poaps
  • Eva Riccius
  • Anita Romaniuk
  • Loretta Woodcock


Mayor Larry Campbell
Larry Campbell
Larry W. Campbell was the 37th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently a member of the Canadian Senate. Starting in 1969 Campbell worked for the RCMP in Vancouver and then in 1973 as a member of the Drug Squad...

 (now a Liberal senator), delivered on a campaign promise in 2003 to open North America's first safe-injection site for intravenous drug users in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Downtown Eastside
The Downtown Eastside is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is known as "Canada's poorest postal code"....

. However, by late 2004, there were growing signs of disunity between the COPE mayor and some COPE councillors. Campbell formed an independent caucus along with three of his COPE colleagues (although they all remained as members of the party). The other COPE councillors remained in the original COPE caucus.

The maverick COPE councillors (dubbed "COPE Lite" or "Diet COPE" by the media) eventually separated and formed a new party, Vision Vancouver
Vision Vancouver
Vision Vancouver is one of three parties represented on Vancouver City Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vision was formed in the months leading up to the 2005 municipal election.-Formation:...

, to run in the 2005 municipal election. COPE did not run a mayoral candidate to challenge Vision nominee, former COPE concillor Jim Green .

In the election for Vancouver City Council held in November 2005, only one COPE councillor (David Cadman) was elected. The party was reduced to three seats on the city school board and two on the parks board, newcomer Spencer Herbert (who was elected an NDP MLA in Vancouver-Burrard at a by-election in 2008), and Loretta Woodcock.

More alliances: 2007–2008

In May 2007, a slate was elected to the COPE Executive, called "the group of seven" or "the facebook group" by some media (see http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/002411.html). Made up of former City Councilor, Ellen Woodsworth, CUPE activist Donalda Greenwell-Baker, arbitrator Dave Ages and youth activists Nathan Lusignan, Rachel Marcuse, Carlo Bodrogi and Lucas Schuller, all seven members of the slate were elected with a mandate to seek an electoral coalition with Vision Vancouver. From 2007–2008, 50% of COPE's Executive was under the age of 30, unprecedented for a major civic municipal party in Canada. From May 2007-spring, 2008, COPE made overtures to Vision Vancouver to enter into a coalition for the 2008 election "to defeat the NPA" with little success. It wasn't until Gregor Robertson was nominated as Vision Vancouver's mayoral candidate that formal negotiations between the two organizations began in early summer of 2008.

COPE and Vision Vancouver reached a tentative agreement in late summer, 2008, which was later ratified by the Vision Vancouver Executive and COPE membership. COPE agreed not to run a mayoral candidate to avoid splitting the progressive vote. The agreement included the following elements:

1) COPE, Vision, and the civic Green party will run less than a full slate of candidates for city council, park board and the board of education as follows:
a. Mayor: Gregor Robertson
b. City Council: Vision 8, COPE 2
c. School Board of Education: COPE 5, Vision 4
d. Park Board: Vision 4, COPE 2, civic Green party 1
2) Vision and COPE will co-operate around specific policy issues, including a strategy on homelessness. Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver candidates will publicly highlight Vision Vancouver’s co-operation with COPE and its candidates during the campaign and especially when speaking about common policy items. COPE candidates will likewise publicly highlight its co-operation with Vision Vancouver candidates during the campaign.
3) The understanding also outlines how Vision and COPE would be co-operating on elements of the campaigns, including aspects of voter contact, communications and Election Day.

2008 election

On November 15, 2008 Vancouver voters replaced the NPA-dominated council with a near sweep of COPE, Green and Vision Vancouver candidates. COPE elected six of nine candidates, running a new media and youth-oriented campaign. Much of its success was attributed to the electoral election. Those elected were:

Council: (COPE elected 2/2 candidates)

Gregor Robertson
Gregor Robertson
Gregor Aedan Robertson is a Scottish footballer who plays for Chesterfield. His favoured position is left-back but he can also play on the left side of midfield and more recently has enjoyed a successful spell at centre back....

 (Vision Vancouver Mayor)

David Cadman
David Cadman
David Cadman is a Vancouver city councillor, first elected in 2002. A social and environmental activist, Cadman is a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors....

 (COPE incumbent)

Ellen Woodsworth
Ellen Woodsworth
thumb|right|175px|Ellen Woodsworth speaking at a press conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada.Ellen Woodsworth is a former Vancouver City Councillor...

 (COPE — City Councillor 2002–2005)

Heather Deal
Heather Deal
Heather Deal is a professional biologist and Vancouver city councillor who was elected as a member of the Vision Vancouver party in 2005 and 2008. She served as a Vancouver parks board trustee for the 2002 to 2005 term as a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors.Heather was born in England and...

 (Vision Vancouver incumbent)

Tim Stevenson
Tim Stevenson
Tim Stevenson is a Canadian politician and United Church clergyman. He is currently an elected member of the Vancouver City Council as a member of Vision Vancouver. He is one of two openly gay city councilors in Vancouver, along with Ellen Woodsworth.-Background:He received a B.A...

 (Vision Vancouver incumbent)

Raymond Louie
Raymond Louie
Raymond Louie is a three term Vancouver City Councillor and a former school Trustee. Formerly a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors civic party, Louie broke away and was re-elected in 2005, and again in 2008, as a member of Vision Vancouver.-Background:Born and raised in East Vancouver,...

 (Vision Vancouver incumbent)

George Chow
George Chow
George Chow is a two-term Vancouver City Councillor who was elected as a member of the Vision Vancouver party in 2005 and 2008. Prior to being elected Chow worked at BC Hydro for over 30 years, where he currently works part time.-Background:...

 (Vision Vancouver incumbent)

Andrea Reimer
Andrea Reimer
Andrea Reimer is a Canadian politician, currently serving on Vancouver, British Columbia'sCity Council. She was first elected in 2002 to the Vancouver School Board as a Green Party candidate. She was defeated as a Green Party candidate in her re-election campaign in 2005 and then joined the Vision...

 (Vision Vancouver)

Kerry Jang
Kerry Jang
Kerry Jang is a Canadian politician, currently serving on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council. He currently serves as a Director of the Greater Vancouver Regional District Board. He was first elected in the 2008 municipal election...

 (Vision Vancouver)

Geoff Meggs
Geoff Meggs
Geoff Meggs is a Canadian politician, currently serving on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council. He was elected in the 2008 municipal election. He is also President of Tideline Communications, a strategic communications firm.-Background:...

 (Vision Vancouver)

Suzanne Anton
Suzanne Anton
Suzanne Anton is a city councillor for Vancouver, British Columbia. She is currently an incumbent city councillor, elected as a member of the Non-Partisan Association in 2005 and in 2008. From the 2008 civic election, she is the only elected NPA representative on the city council...

 (NPA)

Park Board: (COPE elected 1/2 candidates)

Loretta Woodcock (COPE)

Stuart Mackinnon (Green)

Constance Barnes
Constance Barnes
Constance Barnes is an elected Vancouver Park Board commissioner in the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and operations manager of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden...

 (Vision Vancouver)

Sara Blyth (Vision Vancouver)

Raj Hundal (Vision Vancouver)

Aaron Jasper (Vision Vancouver)

Ian Robertson
Ian Robertson
Ian Robertson may refer to:* Ian Robertson , former Australian rules footballer and currently a football commentator* Ian Robertson, Lord Robertson , Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 1966-88...

 (NPA)

Board of Education: (COPE elected 3/5 candidates)

Al Blakey (COPE incumbent)

Allan Wong (COPE incumbent)

Jane Bouey (COPE — Trustee 2002–2005)

Patti Bachus (Vision Vancouver)

Sharon Gregson (Vision Vancouver)

Ken Clement (Vision Vancouver)

Mike Lombardi (Vision Vancouver)

Ken Denike (NPA)

Carol Gibson (NPA)

2011 election

In the November 19, 2011 election
Vancouver municipal election, 2011
The City of Vancouver held its triennial municipal election on November 19, 2011, along with other municipalities and regional districts in British Columbia. The ballot elected one Mayor, 10 councillors, nine school board trustees and seven park board commissioners...

, a single COPE candidate was elected. The elected candidate was incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 Allan Wong, as one of nine school trustees. COPE ran a total of nine candidates in the election.

See also

  • List of mayors of Vancouver
  • Vision Vancouver
    Vision Vancouver
    Vision Vancouver is one of three parties represented on Vancouver City Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vision was formed in the months leading up to the 2005 municipal election.-Formation:...

  • Vancouver City Council
    Vancouver City Council
    Vancouver City Council is the governing body of the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.The city is governed by the Vancouver Charter, not the Community Charter and the Local Government Act which are used for other municipal governments...

  • Non-Partisan Association
    Non-Partisan Association
    The Non-Partisan Association is a civic-level electoral organization in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. There are, and have also been in the past, Non-Partisan Association political parties in the nearby municipalities of Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey.The NPA was established in 1937 to...

  • Green Party of Vancouver
    Green Party of Vancouver
    The Green Party of Vancouver is a municipal political party in Vancouver, Canada who has nominated Green Party of Canada deputy leader Adrianne Carr as their sole nominee for Vancouver City Council...

  • Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver
    Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver
    Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is running candidates in the Vancouver 2011 Municipal Election. The party is running a candidate for mayor , and four city council candidates...


External links

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