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 and ten councillors elected to serve a four-year term. Monthly, a deputy mayor is appointed from among the councillors. The current mayo ...

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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

from 2017 to 2018.

Early life

Born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Bremner spent his early childhood years in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the 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 Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. 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; french: Comité olympique canadien) is a private, non-profit organization that represents Canada at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is also a member of the Pan American Sports Organization ( ...

, 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 The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia general ...

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 capi ...

, where NDP candidate

Judy Darcy Judy Darcy (born 1950) is a Canadian health care advocate, trade unionist, and former politician. Darcy was the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions of British Columbia. She was the fourth National President of the Canadian Union of P ...

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 (born c. 1956) is a Canadian politician and former police officer, who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in British Columbia from 1996 to 2020, and is a former interim leader of the British Columbia Liberal P ...

Non-Partisan Association

In the

2017 Vancouver municipal by-election A municipal by-election was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on October 14, 2017. One empty seat on city council and all the seats on the Vancouver school board were filled. These elections were held outside the normal four-year sched ...

, 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 Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) ...

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 28 June 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 18 July, 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

Results for MLA

Results for Vancouver City Council

Results for Vancouver Mayor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bremner, Hector Non-Partisan Association councillors Living people British Columbia Liberal Party candidates in British Columbia provincial elections Politicians from Edmonton Year of birth missing (living people)