When it comes to civic elections in B.C. this year, we can be assured the Stanley Cup riot will not be forgotten – in Vancouver, at least.
It has become the gilded centrepiece of the campaign being waged by Non-Partisan Association mayoralty candidate Suzanne Anton against Mayor Gregor Robertson. Ms. Anton figures she has a winning issue with the debacle – "Robertson's Riot" as the NPA has dubbed it – and she may have a point.
There is no question that Mr. Robertson has been hurt politically by the mayhem of June 15. He has been repeatedly criticized by Ms. Anton and others for not accepting responsibility for what happened – even though he has.
Despite saying publicly on many occasions that as mayor, the buck stops with him, Mr. Robertson's foes continue to insist that he hasn't gone far enough in "owning" the issue. Ms. Anton is insisting that the mayor apologize for what happened because, as we all know, it was entirely his fault.
Even the media, which thumped the drum in support of the downtown celebrations as loudly as anyone, have been after the mayor for what happened. Surely, he could have predicted what was going to occur. All the signs were there. How could he not have seen them?
Is it possible his judgment was clouded by all the self-serving, street party propaganda being generated by every news outlet in the city?
Of course, everyone forgets that now. Everyone forgets how puffy-chested we all were over those images of tens of thousands of us in the streets peacefully watching the games. Pictures blasted around the world. It was the Olympics all over again. Wasn't it wonderful to see how much we had grown up in the 17 years since the end of a Stanley Cup game gave the city an international black eye?
This was the new Vancouver.
That was the narrative at the time. There wasn't anyone dumping on council back then for expanding the live sites. In fact, people running for the NPA today were tweeting about how awesome they were.
Since the riot, of course, the same media that were complicit in encouraging the massive downtown street festivals have been all over Mr. Robertson and his council for not doing enough to prevent the riot from happening. Now they are demanding the mayor fall on his sword and admit that he bungled things by fostering the celebrations in the first place.
It's all a bit much.
Has the mayor tried to deflect some of the blame in this fiasco? Undoubtedly. Partly it's because he isn't entirely culpable. (The police chief deserves as much, or more, criticism). And partly it's about political survival. In an election year, he doesn't want to give Ms. Anton and the NPA any more ammunition than they already have.
As for Ms. Anton, her attacks on Mr. Robertson have been among the most cynical and hypocritical I've seen.
This is the same woman who, amid the Cup hysteria, assured her fellow council members that there would be no Stanley Cup riot, no repeat of 1994. The same councillor who, after listening to a briefing by city manager Penny Ballem on the city's plans to implement crowd control at the downtown celebration sites, said the measures sounded like a "straight-up policing exercise."
Like this was a bad thing.
It was at this meeting when she famously said that she hoped the sites would have "stilt walkers," and "face painting." That would have stopped the riot.
So when is Ms. Anton going to apologize for what happened? Sure, the buck stops with the mayor, but this council, of which she is a member, also has to accept some responsibility, does it not?
Ms. Anton was out there wearing her Canucks jersey as proudly as anyone during that halcyon fortnight, when we all retired each evening exhausted from patting ourselves on the back all day. She was waving her Go Canucks Go pom-poms as furiously as the media in this town. Riot? There would be no riot. Crowd control? Let's not make this a policing exercise.
When is Ms. Anton going to admit she blew it too?
We all know the answer to that one. Meantime, the attacks will continue and any hope of an honest discussion about what happened one late spring night in this city will dissipate even further.
In that respect, it's business – and politics – as usual.
Gary Mason