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Peter Ladner |
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Peter Ladner (born 1949-02-12) is a Vancouver city councillor, first elected as a member of the Non-Partisan Association in 2002 and re-elected in 2005. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of Vancouver in the Vancouver municipal election, 2008.
The NPA's electoral platform suggests that, as mayor, he would focus on reducing crime, improving housing affordability, leveraging the 2010 Winter Olympics, protecting the environment, advancing the city's arts and culture sector, and working collaboratively with senior levels of government, community groups, and the private sector.1 His campaign has also emphasized the importance of experience and fiscal prudence during an economically tumultuous time. The NPA's core message has been distilled to the promise of "a safer, greener, more affordable, more internationally competitive Vancouver."2
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Descended from the eponymous founding partner of what has now merged into Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, a prominent Canadian law firm, Peter Ladner grew up in the Shaughnessy neighbourhood of Vancouver. His ascendants also originally settled and gave their name to the eponymous community of Ladner, British Columbia. He briefly attended the nearby St. George's School, before graduating from the prestigious Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island, and proceeding on to the University of British Columbia where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Master's Degree in Urban Planning.
Ladner joined the Vancouver Sun as a journalist after university but was fired in 1969 when he quipped publicly that many Sun staff smoked marijuana. 3 He later worked at newspapers on Vancouver Island and was editor of the Victoria alternative weekly Monday Magazine from 1981 to 1986. He has written for The Globe and Mail, Canadian Business and Saturday Night.
Peter Ladner founded the weekly newspaper Business in Vancouver in 1989 and continues as Business in Vancouver Media Group's vice-president. With a weekly readership of 60 000, Business in Vancouver is branded as Vancouver's leading source of business news, targeted at senior decision-makers. It is responsible for several prominent recognition events including the Top 40 Under 40 awards and the Influential Women in Business awards. Business in Vancouver Media Group also publishes Green Space magazine, which focuses exclusively on sustainability business opportunities, initiatives and challenges.
Ladner has served on the boards of the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, Leadership Vancouver, the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, the University of British Columbia Alumni Association, New Media BC, the International Association of Area Business Publications, and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. He participated in the Vancouver City Planning Commission, the capital campaign committee for Vancouver Public Library and the Central Valley Greenway.
Ladner is a long-time environmentalist, healthy living enthusiast, and advocate of the smart city concept of using technology to make government more efficient and effective. He blogs about issues of sustainability and civic governance in Vancouver and elsewhere on his website.
As a member of Vancouver City Council Ladner has been a director of TransLink and is currently vice-chair of Metro Vancouver, the Regional District. He has been vice-chair of the Metro Vancouver Sustainable Region Initiative and a member the World Urban Forum Committee. On City Council, he chairs the budget committee and is a member of committees on transportation and traffic and planning and environment. He is also a member of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission.
During his time on Vancouver City Council Ladner has been a sustainability and liveability advocate on issues such as transportation, green buildings, energy use, and waste reduction. He championed greenhouse gas reduction, setting a goal of making Vancouver carbon neutral by 2030. An avid cyclist, Ladner commutes by bicycle, is Council Liaison to the city's Bicycle Advisory Committee, and has been an advocate of cycling issues on City Council. He came under fire from some in the cycling community when he withdrew support for a bicycle lane on the Burrard Bridge due to public outcry and concerns over cost versus benefit. He has advocated for a bike sharing program built on the successful model used in cities such as Paris.4
Building on theories about the knowledge economy championed by Richard Florida, Ladner has spoken about the importance of keeping Vancouver internationally competitive. The 2010 Winter Olympics have been identified as an opportunity to attract new investment in local industries with high growth potential. This includes clean energy, new media, and information technology, and would presumably deliver high-paying jobs. Attracting and retaining head offices and their attendant support for the local culture industry was noted as a key priority.
On 2008-06-08, Peter Ladner won the Non-Partisan Association's mayoral nomination for the 2008 municipal election, defeating incumbent mayor Sam Sullivan in a surprise upset. He defeated Sullivan by 1,066 to 986 votes, after convincing NPA members that Sullivan would be defeated in the upcoming election. However, he was defeated soundly on November 15, 2008 by Gregor Robertson, the mayoral candidate of Vision Vancouver.
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