https://www.facebook.com/swanson4council/
Jean Swanson rolled out the class war wagon this weekend while announcing her intention to run for city council in October, for left-wing mainstay party .
Her campaign did up a cube van made to look like a box of tissues with the fictitious brand name "Jeanex" on the side (a take on Kleenex, get it?), along with the slogan "big house, big tissue". On the other side of the van were the words "the rich people tissue", capitalizing on the anger directed towards homeowners who are decrying the NDP's school tax by offering them a tissue.
Walking the walk, the 75-year-old hopeful showed up at the announcement event in Shaughnessy rocking a backpack and looking like she'd be just as comfortable talking about her platform at a rally as she would taking the bus to a friend's house off the Drive.
Jean Swanson brings the big tissues to the heart of Vancouver's mansion district.
— Ian Bushfield (@ibushfield)
Pitting people with money against those with less might not be the most helpful thing to do if we hope to bring together our community while also solving the housing crisis, but hot damn it seems to generate a lot of votes.
Some thought they were hearing a death rattle coming from COPE HQ after the 2014 election as 0 of their 19 candidates made it into office. However the recent byelection saw Swanson getting the second highest number of votes, in part due to her "tax the rich" campaigning that honed in on people's anger about the housing crisis. Hector Bremner of the NPA won a council seat with 13,372 votes in that election; Jean as an independent clocked in at a close 10,263 ().
After that campaign Mike Howell of the 麻豆传媒映画Courier awarded Swanson Best Attention-Grabbing Campaign in his roundup of :
Hands down, it was the independent candidate Jean Swanson and her band of young people whose 鈥渢ax the rich鈥� slogan resonated more with voters 鈥� and media 鈥� than, say, 鈥渨e need more inclusionary zoning and a city-wide plan, people!鈥� Yes, maybe some of Swanson鈥檚 ideas such as a 鈥渞ent freeze鈥� weren鈥檛 doable at city hall. She knew that but wanted to bring attention to issues of inequality and poverty. Holding a rally outside Lululemon founder Chip Wilson鈥檚 $75-million Point Grey home and calling for a 鈥渕ansion tax鈥� made for good television. Swanson placed second in the council race, with 21 per cent of the vote. Another 3,110 votes and she would be a councillor.
There may be some life left in COPE yet.
thanks in part to her rally outside Lululemon founder Chip Wilson鈥檚 $75-million Point Grey home calling for a 鈥渕ansion tax.鈥� Photo Dan Toulgoet
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This is part of Vancouver's Stupidest Politics Column. Further reading:
- Here鈥檚 why we just launched 鈥淰ancouver鈥檚 Stupidest Politics Column鈥�
