B.C. NDP nomination battle brewing between former and current Vancouver city councillors

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Environment Minister George Heyman will not run again in the next election, opening the door for a B.C. NDP nomination battle between current and former Vancouver city councillors.

Shortly after Heyman announced on social media Monday morning that he would not run in October’s provincial election, Vancouver city councillor Christine Boyle and former Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer announced they’re both vying to replace him.

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Reimer served on city council with the Vision Vancouver slate from 2008 to 2018 and Boyle, a OneCity councillor, was first elected in 2018 and is in her second term.

The Vancouver-Fairview riding, held by Heyman since 2013, will be redrawn and renamed Vancouver-Little Mountain for the next election.

Heyman, who previously led the Sierra Club B.C. and has held the environment portfolio since the NDP came to power in 2017, has thrown his support behind Reimer.

He said Reimer, a three-term Vancouver city councillor who served as deputy mayor, has a strong record as an environmentalist, an affordable housing advocate and has built strong connections in the community.

On her campaign website, Reimer said she sees the gaps in the system “because I lived them.”

Reimer was adopted at six months old and only discovered her Cree and Métis ancestry in 2015. She said grew up seeing the challenges her working-class parents faced, lived on the streets in her youth and was renovicted more than a dozen times.

“I’ve dedicated my life to closing gaps,” she said.

Boyle, a social justice advocate who spent years working on the Downtown Eastside and the most left-leaning member of Vancouver council, was endorsed by veteran federal NDP MP Libby Davies.

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Boyle said on X she considers Premier David Eby a personal friend. She pushed for Vancouver council to declare a climate emergency and for the city to ramp up its emission reductions efforts. She’s also been a strong proponent for more affordable housing and higher density buildings in residential neighbourhoods.

Asked by reporters why he decided not to run again, Heyman said: “I think I have one more career in me and I’d rather start at 75 than 79.” Heyman did not say what his future career plans are.

He also said there are “a lot of really good people in caucus who I know are eager and have all the skills and enthusiasm to do the kind of work that I and others have been fortunate to do.”

Heyman is one of the highest profile B.C. NDP cabinet ministers to announce he’s not running again.

Selina Robinson, former minister of post-secondary education, announced last month she’s not running again in the riding of Coquitlam-Maillardville. Robinson was forced to resign following comments she made about pre-1948 Palestine.

kderosa@postmedia.com

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