Supersized Vancouver Developer cautious about Robertson

One of the city's more influential political voices, Bob Rennie, is letting it be known that he's got the same concerns about Gregor Robertson that he did about Christy Clark. Rennie, whose condo-marketing efforts have shaped this city for the past 10 years, put big bucks into Sam Sullivan's campaign to help him win the mayoral nomination against Clark because, he said, Clark was an outsider who knew nothing about the city and was a "polarizing" influence. At the time, Clark, a former MLA and deputy premier, lived in Port Moody.

Rennie's got the same apprehensions about Robertson.

"Christy Clark wanted to just parachute into our city. Why shouldn't I think the same of Gregor?" says Rennie. "And why can't he just run as a councillor first?"

Rennie said that, for many people, Robertson comes across as little more than the NDP personified and Vancouver doesn't need that kind of politics. As well, Rennie said, he doesn't think Robertson knows enough about the city. (That's in spite of the fact that, unlike Clark, Robertson actually lives in Vancouver and has championed a number of local issues like Cambie businesses affected by the Canada Line and the loss of affordable housing.)