No Green mayor this time around, Carr says
Adriane Carr hadn’t yet poured her morning coffee on Friday when the radio in her kitchen announced, around 6 a.m., that a right-wing populist had been elected to lead a majority government in Canada’s most populous province.
By that time, Carr, Vancouver’s only Green councillor, had already made her decision about whether or not to run for Vancouver’s top job. But the news of the Doug Ford Progressive Conservatives’ victory in Ontario, she said, re-affirmed her decision.
Ford’s win, Carr said, was “a really good example” of votesplitting on the left leading to a big electoral victory for a rightwing candidate.
“That’s exactly what I don’t want to see happen in the October election,” Carr said in an interview on Friday. “In a crowded field of mayoral candidates, you could end up with somebody squeaking through who really doesn’t really represent ( Vancouver).”
Carr has spent months mulling whether to seek a third term on council or to run for mayor. She planned to announce her decision to Green party members at a meeting Friday evening: 2018 will not be the year Vancouver elects its first Green mayor. A few months ago, Carr appeared primed to make a run at becoming Vancouver’s first female mayor. Mayor Gregor Robertson had announced he wouldn’t seek a fourth term in office, and his party, Vision Vancouver, announced in March they were considering supporting another party’s candidate or an independent instead of running their own candidate.
Also in March, the Green party of Vancouver unanimously approved Carr to run for mayor, if she chose to do so.
The following month, a Research Co. poll found Carr with the highest support among 11 potential candidates. A subsequent poll showed her leading, apparently gaining steam.
During the spring, Carr gauged her support among not only the voting public, but also other leftleaning parties, who all publicly espoused the importance of progressive forces uniting. Meanwhile, two viable left-leaning independents launched mayoral campaigns: first Shauna Sylvester, then Kennedy Stewart.
Carr was unable, she said Friday, to secure the support of other centre-left parties.
During her conversations with Vancouver voters, many raised the same concern: By taking the gamble of running for mayor, Carr — council’s top vote-winner in the last election — risked giving up a safe Green council seat.
Carr said she won’t publicly endorse a mayoral candidate because she wants to be able to collaborate with whoever does win.
One of the largest factors influencing Carr’s decision was when, after Vision first suggested it might support another party’s candidate for mayor, she learned, through a news release, it had instead decided to run its own mayoral candidate under the Vision banner after all.
“I remember thinking at the time: ‘Wow, that’s disappointing,’ ” Carr said.
“Frankly, I thought there might be more effort to be more collaborative in this election. Especially for Vision, they’re coming into an election where if they don’t get that it’s a change election, then they’re not talking to people on the street . ... People have indicated very clearly they’re at the end of their rope and the end of their support for Vision as a majority on council.”
It would be difficult for Carr to win with a Vision candidate in the race, she said. “My sense is that their popularity has plummeted, but they have a machine and they would mount a very effective campaign.”
Carr has heard, secondhand, that different factions inside Vision have disagreed on whether or not they should run a mayoral candidate under the party banner this year.
“From what I’ve heard, there are two different points of view: one is to look at this election as a building election, and work with others,” Carr said. “The other is to go for the full enchilada again.”
“Obviously,” she said, the “full enchilada” side won out.
Even without Carr, 2018’s mayoral race is already crowded.
“And we don’t even know if there’s going to be other ones coming forward,” Carr said. “I mean, there’s talk of Patrick Condon?”
Condon, a professor of urban design at UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, told Postmedia in April he’d been in talks with the Coalition of Progressive Electors about the possibility of running for mayor with their backing. Although Condon still hasn’t officially launched a campaign, he’ll appear Sunday at a mayoral debate hosted by COPE, alongside Sylvester and Stewart, who are vying for COPE’s endorsement. COPE’s event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Trinity Anglican Church at 1440 West 12th Ave.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver and District Labour Council announced Friday they’ve obtained signed agreements from five left-leaning organizations — Greens, COPE, Vision, OneCity and Jean Swanson for Council — setting out the number of candidates each will run for council, school board and park board, “building progressive cooperation.” The agreements do not deal with mayoral candidates.
(Doug Ford’s win was) a really good example (of vote-splitting). That’s exactly what I don’t want to see happen in the October election.