Sam Sullivan

Sam Sullivan CM ( born 1960 ) was from November 2005 to November 15, 2008 Mayor of Vancouver, Canada. He belongs to the Non -Partisan Association ( NPA). Since a skiing accident in 1979, he is a quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair.

Sullivan studied Business Administration at Simon Fraser University and founded six charitable organizations who work for the disabled. He was elected to the city council of Vancouver 1993. In the preliminary round for the mayoral election of 2005, Sullivan was able to beat numerous prominent candidates, including Christy Clark, the former Deputy Prime Minister of British Columbia. In the elections on 19 November 2005, he won against Jim Green, the candidates from Vision Vancouver; at around 130,000 votes cast Sullivan scored a narrow margin of 3,747 votes.

Gained international recognition Sullivan at the closing ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The ceremony requires that a representative of the next host city of the Olympic flag swings in reception and this eight times back and forth. Sullivan left the flag instead attach to his wheelchair, holding the flag with one hand and moving the wheelchair eight times back and forth. He did the same during the closing ceremonies of the Winter Paralympics 2006.

Before the city council elections in 2008 Sullivan failed in the internal party excretion and was not nominated as a candidate for mayor.