Allan De Genova ready for Vancouver mayoral battle

Allan De Genova is so confident he’ll bag the Vision Vancouver mayoral nomination that if he wins, he says, “I’ll ask for a recount.”

In an interview with the Georgia Straight, the former Non-Partisan Association member talked about what it’s like to be in a new party and what his new associates can expect from the 51-year-old park-board commissioner.

“It’s been a bit of a challenge,” De Genova responded when asked about the reception he has received so far from Vision Vancouver. “They can’t quite figure me out, I don’t think, yet.”

De Genova noted that although Vision Vancouver founding member and former mayor Larry Campbell has endorsed his bid for the party’s nomination, and former Vision mayoral candidate Jim Green has been “very supportive”, he still doesn’t have anybody within the party’s executive who is identified with him.

“Gregor has people; Raymond has people,” he said, referring to declared mayoral hopeful and Vancouver-Fairview MLA Gregor Robertson and city councillor Raymond Louie, who is widely expected to join the party’s nomination derby. “That’s okay. I’m the new boy on the block. I have to pay my dues. Give me a chance and I’ll prove to you that I will probably be the best thing that could happen to your party.”

As for himself, De Genova declared: “The difference about me over other candidates is my experience and [knowing] my way around this town and knowing every department and every department head.”

It’s not City Hall experience that really matters for a mayoral candidate, Robertson countered.

“City Hall needs some new energy and different kinds of experience to complement the experience that our current Vision councillors have,” Robertson told the Straight. “I bring experience at the provincial level and the business community and as a community activist—all of which I think are useful at City Hall.”