Hector Bremner

Last updated
Hector Bremner
Vancouver City Councillor
In office
2017–2018
Personal details
Born Edmonton, Alberta
CitizenshipCanadian
Political party Yes Vancouver
Other political
affiliations
Residence(s) Vancouver, British Columbia

Hector Bremner is a Canadian politician, who served as a member of the Vancouver City Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, from 2017 to 2018. [1]

Contents

Early life

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Bremner spent his early childhood years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. However, in the early 1990s, when Bremner was a young teenager, his home life became unstable and he "found himself couch-surfing with either his mom or his dad as they would stay with friends or move to different cities in search of opportunities", according to The Georgia Straight . [2] His experience with homelessness led him to develop a personal concern for the issue of housing. [2]

Career

Bremner started his working life as a used car salesman on Vancouver Island. Bremner pursued a career in business development and operations management. In 2007 he founded the now-defunct TOUCH Marketing, and he served as vice-president of public affairs at Pace Group Communications.

He fundraised for the Canadian Olympic Committee, and served on the BC Children's Hospital Foundation's 2017 A Night of Miracles Cabinet, [3] as well as other not-for-profit causes.

Politics

During the provincial elections of 2013, Bremner represented the BC Liberals in the riding of New Westminster, where NDP candidate Judy Darcy was ultimately elected. Following this, he was invited to join the provincial government as an executive assistant to B.C.'s then-Minister Responsible for Housing and Deputy Premier, Rich Coleman. [4]

Non-Partisan Association

In the 2017 Vancouver municipal by-election, the Non-Partisan Association selected Bremner to run for city council. He ran on a "Let's Fix Housing" platform directed at tackling affordability through increasing rental supply. [5] Bremner was elected with 13,372 votes. [6]

On February 19, 2018, it was announced that Bremner would be seeking the nomination for the position of mayor to represent the Non-Partisan Association during the 2018 Vancouver municipal election. [7] Shortly after announcing his candidacy for the NPA mayoral nomination, Bremner faced issues by the Non-Partisan Association Board of Directors. The NPA's Green Light Committee, which was charged with screening candidates, recommended approval of Hector Bremner's candidacy, but the board rejected this recommendation. [8]

Yes Vancouver

On June 28, 2018, Bremner announced that he would start a new political party, and call it "Yes Vancouver". [9] [10] [11] Controversy surrounded the branding because "Yes Vancouver" was also the name of a local women's philanthropic group that had been around for over ten years. On July 18, 2018, he revealed to The Georgia Straight that he would run for Mayor of Vancouver, with the aim of increasing the supply of housing in the city. [2] After Vancouver developer Peter Wall admitted he spent $85,000 on billboards for Bremner's mayoral campaign as a third party, Bremner's campaign could not contain the controversy. In spite of raising $197,122.50 in declared donations, Bremner received less than 6% of the popular vote.

Electoral results

Provincial

2013 British Columbia general election : New Westminster
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
New Democratic Judy Darcy 13,17048.84−7.52$126,704
Liberal Hector Bremner 8,99733.37−1.24$56,036
Green Terry Teather2,2528.35−0.68$1,417
Conservative Paul Forseth 1,3184.89$1,450
Independent James Crosty1,0383.85#3,530
Libertarian Lewis Dahlby1900.70$250
Total valid votes26,965100.00
Total rejected ballots1320.49
Turnout27,09757.81
Source: Elections BC [12]

Municipal

2018 Vancouver municipal election : Mayor
PartyCandidateVotes%Elected
Independent Kennedy Stewart 49,70528.71Green check.svgY
NPA Ken Sim 48,74828.16
Independent Shauna Sylvester35,45720.48
Coalition Vancouver Wai Young 11,8726.86
Yes Vancouver Hector Bremner 9,9245.73
Vancouver 1st Fred Harding5,6403.26
ProVancouver David Chen3,5732.06
Independent Sean Cassidy1,5360.89
IDEA VancouverConnie Fogal1,4350.83
Independent Mike Hansen9510.55
Independent Jason Lamarche6950.40
Independent Rollergirl6860.40
Independent Ping Chan6530.38
Independent John Yano5100.29
Independent Tim Ly3490.20
Independent Sophia C. Kaiser3360.19
Independent Satwant K. Shottha3310.19
Independent Lawrence Massey2330.13
Independent Katy Le Rougetel1810.10
Independent Gölök Z. Buday1780.10
Independent Maynard Aubichon1390.08
Vancouver municipal by-election, October 14, 2017 : City Council
Resignation of Geoff Meggs
PartyCandidateVotes%Elected
NPA Hector Bremner 13,37227.83Green check.svgY
COPE Jean Swanson 10,26321.36
Green Pete Fry 975920.31
OneCity Judy Graves632713.17
Vision Diego Cardona541111.26
Sensible VancouverMary Jean Dunsdon17373.62
Independent Gary Lee8861.84
Independent Damian J. Murphy1570.33
Independent Joshua Wasilenkoff1310.27
NPA gain from Vision Swing

References

  1. Bula, Frances (November 26, 2017). "Three mull bids to run against Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Smith, Charlie (18 July 2018). "Vancouver mayoral candidate Hector Bremner wants city to say Yes to his new party". The Georgia Straight . Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  3. "2017 A Night of Miracles Cabinet". A Night of Miracles. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  4. Lupick, Travis (September 7, 2017). "NPA's Hector Bremner elected to Vancouver council as Green candidates top school board race". The Georgia Straight . Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  5. St. Denis, Jen (September 11, 2017). "NPA's Hector Bremner calls for more supply, more varied housing in Vancouver". Metro . Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  6. "Official by-election results".
  7. Little, Simon (February 19, 2018). "NPA councillor Hector Bremner to run for mayor of Vancouver". Global News . Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  8. Zussman, Richard (May 8, 2018). "NPA drops councillor Hector Bremner as possible mayoral candidate". Global News . Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  9. Kurucz, John (June 28, 2018). "Hector Bremner says 'Yes' to new Vancouver party". Vancouver Courier . Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  10. "Hector Bremner, Yes Vancouver party". August 29, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  11. "Hector Bremner, YesVancouver". August 29, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  12. "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.