COUPAR QUITTING PUTS NPA MAYORAL CHANCES IN DOUBT

Backer of once-dominant party says he'd bet everything against a win now

Peter Wall was gung-ho at the Non-partisan Association's 2022 municipal election campaign launch in May, the only supporter in a crowd of hundreds to take the microphone.

Just as NPA mayoral candidate John Coupar prepared to introduce the party's slate of Vancouver council and park board candidates that evening at the Italian Cultural Centre, Wall's voice piped up from the audience.

“Who has a microphone?” Coupar asked from the stage, in what may or may not have been a prepared bit. “Peter? Do you have something to say, Peter?”

Wall, one of Vancouver's most prominent developers and philanthropists for decades, shouted from the audience: “Go get 'em, John! Go get 'em!”

The crowd erupted in applause, and Coupar replied: “Thank you Peter, and I know you have the best interests of our city.”

But on Friday, just over two months after the campaign launch and less than two months before election day, Coupar was suddenly no longer the NPA'S mayoral candidate, and Wall was far more dire about the party's chances of regaining the mayor's seat in October.

Wall, a thoroughbred racing enthusiast and one-time part-owner of Hastings Racecourse, wagered Friday that the NPA changing horses at this point in the race effectively kills their chance at the mayor's seat in October.

“I would take every bet anybody wants to take. I would take all the money that I have and bet against it,” Wall said.

“There's no chance of them getting a candidate out there that can win.”

Party leadership, as expected, put a different spin on the latest development. In a news release announcing Coupar's resignation — 15 months after the board anointed him to lead the party into the 2022 election — the NPA said it “will announce our mayoral candidate at a future date to build on the combined strengths of our accomplished team of candidates.”

For most of the past century, the NPA has been Vancouver's most successful party, a political home for centrist and right-leaning voters, and much of the city's business establishment. But despite the party's historic dominance, Coupar's surprise resignation is another in a series of road bumps for the NPA in recent years, and Wall the latest erstwhile supporter to level criticisms at its board of directors.

Wall said he only knew a few board members personally, “but their actions were so atrociously stupid, basically John had to resign, because they were working against him.”

Wall believes Coupar would have been a great mayor, he said, and could have had a good chance at winning.

“He wants to be mayor,” said Wall. “I suggested he should run as an independent.”

Weeks after the May campaign launch at the Italian Cultural Centre, the NPA opened its campaign offices in the landmark downtown skyscraper complex bearing the magnate's surname, the Wall Centre.

On Thursday afternoon, Coupar's larger-than-life face and purple NPA logos and slogans were wrapped around the entire outside of the Wall Centre ground-floor offices on the corner of Helmcken and Hornby streets. By Friday morning, shortly after the announcement of Coupar's resignation, men in suits were outside the Wall Centre tearing the purple NPA posters off the windows.

In the 2018 Vancouver election, NPA mayoral candidate Ken Sim narrowly lost to current Mayor Kennedy Stewart, and the NPA saw five councillors elected in 2018, more than any other party.

But since then, Sim and four of those five one-time NPA councillors have quit the party to run against it in this year's election, all publicly citing the same reason: various concerns about the board, after party members elected several new directors in 2019. Sim is now running for mayor with the upstart ABC Vancouver, along with former NPA councillors Rebecca Bligh, Lisa Dominato and Sarah Kirby-yung, while former NPA councillor Colleen Hardwick is the mayoral candidate for another new party, TEAM.

Coupar did not answer calls Friday or reply to questions sent about Wall's comments regarding his resignation and the NPA board.

But in a statement issued online, Coupar expressed gratitude to the NPA for the opportunity to run alongside “wonderful” candidates, adding: “I love this city and have enjoyed serving the residents of Vancouver over the last 11 years. I have always strived to walk with the utmost integrity and with an unwavering commitment to those I serve.”

Elizabeth Ball, a former threeterm NPA city councillor who joined the board late last year and is now vice-president, said Friday she was surprised by Coupar's resignation the night before.

“This is John's choice. It wouldn't be our pick, but we really support him in whatever he chooses to do, because he's a great guy,” said Ball, who served in the NPA caucus with Coupar for years.

Asked about Wall's criticisms, Ball said: “I know they're not an incompetent board, I can tell you that. … The whole board, I never heard anything but positive things about John.”

Ball said she still feels good about the party's prospects, and the well-known figure in Vancouver's performing arts community chose a theatre metaphor.

“You're in the middle of rehearsal and one of your lead actors leaves or gets another job or something, you have to respond to that,” Ball said.

“We must respond to that, by moving forward and seeking another candidate.”

“But the show must go on.”