Have you been thinking "Does this seem like the most bizarre Vancouver civic election of all time or is it just my imagination?" If so, you're not alone.
The reports I get from everywhere -- politicians, campaigners, city staff -- is that the past week has been like nothing anyone has experienced before. The scuffle over Gregor Robertson's SkyTrain fine (how long ago that seems) originally provided what seemed to be the only real controversy.
But the last seven days of convulsions over the city's decision to approve lending up to $100 million to the Olympic village builder is unprecedented, especially as it has evolved from outrage over the loan to a murder-mystery focused on who leaked the information about the loan to the Globe and Mail, with a new clue (or piece of misinformation) emerging on an almost hourly basis.
The question now is whether this campaign is just a blip, a strange combination of circumstances and personalities, or whether this is a sign of what the provincial election next May might bring.
Those who believe that the NDP has infiltrated Vision Vancouver and is using it as a Trojan horse to practice up for next May certainly think it's the warm-up act, a sign of the kind of no-holds-barred, aggressive campaign that the NDP is prepared to wage. And also a sign of how effective they are at it.
"Gordon Campbell must be scared watching this," was what I heard from one NPA type.
Even if NPA/'Lib types aren't totally sure Vision leaked the info, they're struck by Vision's disingenuous campaign strategy of raising questions and planting doubt about the deal in voters' minds (We need a public meeting to clear this up. We just don't know if we had good information when we made the decisions).
After all, the Vision councillors could have talked about the deal in a more nuanced way -- there are some pros, there are some cons. We all realize there's some risk. These are exceptional economic times and, no, we're not in a position we'd like to be but we have no choice.
Instead, they've chosen simply to raise the fear level.
It's just politics and everyone understands that, is the explanation I've heard from the Vision side. They get that we're just doing what we have to do to win and we'll be more reasonable after the election.
Whatever. What everyone's seeing is a very sophisticated campaign, the likes of which could be used just as well when the Liberals and NDP are fighting next spring.
And it's almost felt like a provincial election at points, with Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon doing a high dive into the pond in his usual understated way, calling Robertson a freeloader and a cheat over the SkyTrain fine issue.
Then Housing Minister Rich Coleman jumped in with criticisms of Robertson's idea of using the empty Little Mountain social housing units as temporary shelters for the homeless.
Before the campaign got going, I was told there was an agreement that provincial politicians of all stripes were going to stay out of the way. Guess that didn't work out so well.
Now the issue is, if Vision wins, how are the two sides going to work together? And they're going to have to. It's still not clear what is going to happen at the Olympic athletes village, with everything that's hit there financially, politically and otherwise. The city may end up calling on the province to help out between now and next October when it's supposed to be finished.
Of course, that may be moot if it turns out that the revelation about the Olympic loan was not political but personal. There is still that possibility. More than one political scandal in history has been generated by someone with a giant grudge who is actually apolitical.
