OneCity’s progressive primary plan described as ‘ultimatum’ by left-leaning Vancouver parties

Fractures appear to be forming in the effort to unite the political left in Vancouver.

A Vancouver municipal party has shared its plans for a progressive primary, but it’s not landing well with the two left-leaning parties meant to be part of it.

On Tuesday, OneCity’s first mayoral candidate William Azaroff announced the party would be submitting a letter to The Green Party of Vancouver and The Coalition of Progressive Electors with details about the proposal.

“We’re putting together what we believe is the right answer to a progressive primary,” he said.

For months, the three parties have discussed working together to prevent a vote split by rallying around one mayoral candidate ahead of October’s municipal election.

No one from COPE or The Green Party of Vancouver attendedTuesday’s news conference or knew about the plan prior to the announcement.

‘It’s very autocratic’

Pete Fry, the Greens’ mayoral candidate, said he was surprised by the news conference.

“I think that this approach is gaming the response towards an outcome that OneCity wants to see, but it’s not really something that has been communicated to us,” he said. “It’s not a collaborative approach. It’s very autocratic and kind of an ultimatum that doesn’t sit very well, I think, with anyone.”

Fry has previously stated his support for a primary, referencing it in his January mayoral announcement.

“I’m happy to step back if it looks to me that the people of Vancouver are more supportive of one specific candidate on the left,” he said. “But right now, it doesn’t look that way.”

Shawn Vulliez, COPE’s campaign director, said all three parties have been engaged in discussions on and off since last summer.

He said COPE tabled a plan recently regarding a primary that the Greens signed onto.

The document shared with CTV News states: “The ‘People’s Primary’ concept has been agreed to, in principle, by two of the three parties in negotiations at this time, with the third party holding out so far on committing to a scenario where they may not run.”

‘We need to act’

When asked Tuesday about OneCity’s position regarding the discussions, Azaroff said: “This is all new to me.”

He added that it’s less about focusing on the past and more about focusing on next steps.

“I believe we’ve had enough talks,” he said. “We need to act.”

Per OneCity’s proposal, “OneCity, COPE and Greens must all accept and compete in the Progressive Primary for it to proceed.”

The contract also adds: “Current party membership as of the date of this offer will be eligible to vote, and it will be one member, one vote, for a single candidate.”

Vulliez said he takes issue with this, due to COPE’s bylaws and plans to nominate a mayoral candidate in May.

“To agree to a deal on a short timeline without the mandate of the membership is something we can’t do by our bylaws,” he said.

OneCity’s contract states the primary must be concluded “inside 45 days from today, so that the victor has six full months to campaign.”

The party is also requiring an answer no later than 11:30 a.m. on Friday.

CTV News asked both COPE and the Greens whether they would agree to OneCity’s deadline, and both were hesitant to say yes.

“I can’t definitively speak for the Greens, but I would say no,” said Fry. “I don’t think it’s a reasonable deadline.”

Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at The University of British Columbia, said while it makes sense to hold a primary, OneCity’s approach could be risky.

“This is not a very collaborative approach,” he said. “It is negotiating out in public through a press release, and if you are serious about trying to find common cause and to build trust, this is not normally what that looks like. So, I don’t think it’s a great sign for co-ordination on that progressive side of the ledger.”