Hector Bremner is a Canadian politician, who served as a member of the

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, from 2017 to 2018.

Early life

Born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta, Bremner spent his early childhood years in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Saskatchewan. However, in the early 1990s, when Bremner was a young teenager, his home life became unstable and he "found himself couch-surfing with either his mom or his dad as they would stay with friends or move to different cities in search of opportunities", according to ''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools ...

''. His experience with homelessness led him to develop a personal concern for the issue of housing.

Career

Bremner started his working life as a used car salesman on Vancouver Island. Bremner pursued a career in business development and operations management. In 2007 he founded the now-defunct TOUCH Marketing, and he served as vice-president of public affairs at Pace Group Communications. He fundraised for the

Canadian Olympic Committee The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC; ), also known as Team Canada, is a private nonprofit organization that represents Canada at the International Olympic Committee. It is also a member of the Pan American Sports Organization. History Cana ...

, and served on the BC Children's Hospital Foundation's 2017 A Night of Miracles Cabinet, as well as other not-for-profit causes.

Politics

During the provincial elections of 2013, Bremner represented the BC Liberals in the riding of

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

, where NDP candidate Judy Darcy was ultimately elected. Following this, he was invited to join the provincial government as an executive assistant to B.C.'s then-Minister Responsible for Housing and Deputy Premier,

Rich Coleman Richard Thomas Coleman is a Canadian politician and former police officer who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in British Columbia, representing Fort Langley-Aldergrove from 1996 to 2017, and Langley East from 2017 to 2020 ...

Non-Partisan Association

In the 2017 Vancouver municipal by-election, the

Non-Partisan Association The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by the city's business leaders in 1937 to challenge the democratic socialist British Columbia CCF, Co-operative Commonwe ...

selected Bremner to run for city council. He ran on a "Let's Fix Housing" platform directed at tackling affordability through increasing rental supply. Bremner was elected with 13,372 votes. On February 19, 2018, it was announced that Bremner would be seeking the nomination for the position of mayor to represent the Non-Partisan Association during the 2018 Vancouver municipal election. Shortly after announcing his candidacy for the NPA mayoral nomination, Bremner faced issues by the Non-Partisan Association Board of Directors. The NPA's Green Light Committee, which was charged with screening candidates, recommended approval of Hector Bremner's candidacy, but the board rejected this recommendation.

Yes Vancouver

On June 28, 2018, Bremner announced that he would start a new political party, and call it " Yes Vancouver". Controversy surrounded the branding because "Yes Vancouver" was also the name of a local women's philanthropic group that had been around for over ten years. On July 18, 2018, he revealed to ''

'' that he would run for

Mayor of Vancouver The mayor of Vancouver is the head and chief executive officer of Vancouver, British Columbia, who is elected for a four-year term. The 41st and current officeholder is Ken Sim, who has held office since November 7, 2022. List indicate ...

, with the aim of increasing the supply of housing in the city. After Vancouver developer Peter Wall admitted he spent $85,000 on billboards for Bremner's mayoral campaign as a third party, Bremner's campaign could not contain the controversy. In spite of raising $197,122.50 in declared donations, Bremner received less than 6% of the popular vote.

Electoral results

Provincial

Municipal

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bremner, Hector Non-Partisan Association councillors Living people BC United candidates in British Columbia provincial elections Politicians from Edmonton Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian municipal councillors