Many intriguing mayoral candidates for a united left
With the parties on the left side of Vancouver’s political spectrum looking at an unprecedented co-operative deal ahead of this year’s election, it raises the question of who could be the one candidate they can all get behind for the top job.
There’s been talk of co-operation among five left-leaning groups — Vision Vancouver, the Green Party of Vancouver, COPE, One-City and the team around possible independent candidate Jean Swanson — to boost their chances of preventing a city government dominated by the traditionally right-leaning Non-Partisan Association.
The Vancouver and District Labour Council is “very concerned that the NPA will win the Oct. 20 election in Vancouver if the progressive parties and groups continue to fracture and run more candidates than there are seats on city council, school board and park board,” according to a recent statement from the organization. So, to that end, the VDLC is working behind the scenes to broker an “accommodation plan” between those “progressive parties and groups,” including, among other things, an agreement on how many candidates each party runs for the 10 positions on city council, seven on the park board, and nine on the school board.
But there’s only one mayor’s seat.
In the past two weeks, at least three prominent politicians who had previously said they were considering a mayoral run have taken themselves out of the race. First, Spencer Chandra Herbert, B.C. NDP MLA for Vancouver-West End, announced that after mulling a mayoral run this year he’d decided against it, followed days later by retired veteran NDP MP for Vancouver East Libby Davies, and then by Don Davies, the NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway. All three had publicly voiced support for co-operation between “the progressive parties” to beat the NPA.
With the field narrowed, the three most likely contenders now to get the endorsement of the unified left could be Green Coun. Adriane Carr, Vision Coun. Raymond Louie and Shauna Sylvester, director of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue.
Sylvester could possibly run as an independent with the backing of the VDLC-led group of five. Asked Monday if she’s considering a run for mayor, Sylvester said she’s giving the question “the serious consideration it deserves.”
Louie was also weighing his options this week, he said, and trying to decide whether to run for council again this year, or to take a shot at mayor.
“Many people have approached me to run for mayor, but what is most important for me is to ensure that we continue to have a progressive council that cares and works for our city,” Louie said.
At the Green Party of Vancouver AGM this month, a motion was passed on the floor with 100 per cent approval to run Adriane Carr for mayor, which she said she’s “ready and willing ” to do. Now she has to weigh the risk, she said, “because running for mayor would mean, of course, giving up the ability to run for council again, and I love my work, I love serving this city and I want to continue serving this city.”
Carr said she’s heard from the VDLC and made it clear to them that if she did run for mayor with their backing, she would run as a Green, not an independent.
Carr, the top vote-earner among all councillors in the last municipal election, is confident she can draw support from centrists.
And she would also have more support from the far left than Vision and Louie would.
Tim Louis, who was a COPE councillor in 2005 when Vision Vancouver began as an offshoot from COPE, said last week he believes “Vision’s brand is toxic” now.
“Adriane Carr would be my top person,” said Louis, who last year left his position on COPE’S executive after more than 30 years. “She would be a fabulous mayor.”
If Raymond Louie were to run for mayor, Louis said, “he would be more of the same. More Vision.”
“I’m looking forward to an alliance of progressive parties, but that alliance would not include Vision Vancouver,” Louis said. “They’ve been aligned with the developers of Vancouver . ... In my view, they are not a progressive party, in the same way that the NPA is not a progressive party.”
Louis, who’s been involved in local politics since the 1980s, said the VDLC’s attempt to broker co-operation between the five different groups was unprecedented in Vancouver political history as far as he was aware.
Pete Fry, who plans to run with the Greens for a council seat, also expressed hesitation about Vision, which he has called a “big-money party” backed by the real estate industry. He’s open to the idea of a co-operative plan, but not a coalition.
Discussing the deal-making talks going on now behind the scenes among Vancouver’s leftleaning parties, Fry said: “We’re very much in uncharted territory. And, I’ll be frank, there’s some tricky navigation here.”