Fred Harding to run as NPA's replacement candidate for Vancouver mayor

Fred Harding (Social Trade Media Vancouver Video Production/YouTube screenshot)

Three weeks after John Coupar’s sudden resignation, the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) today formally named Fred Harding as the replacement candidate for the mayor of Vancouver.

Harding, a former officer of West Vancouver Police, previously ran for office in 2018 under the Vancouver 1st party. He secured 5,640 votes for the mayoral seat, coming sixth — behind YES Vancouver’s Hector Bremner.

In the lead-up to the 2018 civic election, Harding saw controversy for comments he made over the provincial government’s launch of SOGI 123 — a school curriculum resource for teachers to reduce discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). At the time, Harding said he was supportive of the resource but that it lacked consultation.

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Harding’s candidacy announcement with the NPA was held in the Granville Entertainment District, at the same location where a machete attack on August 6 left four people with severe injuries.

This reinforces the party’s campaign platform of being tough on crime.

The NPA previously named Cinnamon Bhayani, a former intelligence officer with Canada Border Services Agency, and Arezo Zarrabian, a crime analyst for the Vancouver Police Department, as two Vancouver City Council candidates with a law enforcement background.

Shortly after Coupar’s resignation, Mauro Francis, the executive director of the South Vancouver Community Policing Centre, moved his City Council candidacy from the NPA to Mark Marissen’s Progress Vancouver party.

Based on the NPA’s website, there are currently five candidates for City Council, including incumbent Melissa De Genova, and four candidates for the Vancouver Park Board, including incumbent Tricia Barker.

Coupar, a longtime Park Board commissioner, resigned after the NPA board’s meeting early this month to “discuss the progress of the campaign.”

Several public surveys conducted in late July showed Coupar was trailing far behind Forward Together incumbent mayor Kennedy Stewart, ABC Vancouver’s Ken Sim, and TEAM’s Colleen Hardwick.

The municipal government’s nomination registration period is between August 30 and September 9. On September 16, the candidates will be announced, and a random draw will be conducted for the order of the candidates listed on the ballot.

The civic election is scheduled for October 15, 2022.

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