Greens' Adriane Carr won't run for mayor of Vancouver, but will seek council seat

Vancouver Green Party councillor Adriane Carr says she will run for council, but not mayor, in the upcoming municipal election in October.

Carr, a two-term councillor, said focusing on a council bid makes the most sense at this time.

"People have said to me over and over they don't want to lose my voice in council chambers," Carr said.

"I'm not running for mayor because the chances of me winning in a very crowded field are getting slimmer and slimmer as the field gets more crowded."

'No unity' on mayor question

Carr was cited by some as a good choice to unite Vancouver's progressive parties after incumbent mayor and Vision Vancouver leader Gregor Robertson decided he would not run again.

Earlier in the race, political scientist David Moscrop said Carr had the name recognition, organizational capacity, and appeal to the median voter.

But Carr said she didn't receive the same endorsement from Vancouver's centre-left.

"There's no unity that I can see on the mayor question. I tried to get that unity. I approached the different parties on the centre-left and asked for their support — by which I meant not running another candidate for mayor — and I didn't receive it," Carr said.

So far on the centre-left side, Vision Vancouver has chosen hereditary Squamish Chief Ian Campbell as party leader of Vision Vancouver. Burnaby South NDP MP Kennedy Stewart — known for his strong opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project — has also confirmed his run for mayor of Vancouver as an Independent.

Former Simon Fraser University Centre for Dialogue executive director Shauna Sylvester is also running as an Independent. COPE has yet to select a mayoral candidate.

The city's centre-right party, the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), chose Ken Sim to be party's mayoral candidate on June 3.

An election of change

Some Vancouver progressives are nervous for a repeat of the October 2017 byelection where the progressive vote — at 67 per cent — was split between four candidates. The seat was ultimately won by NPA candidate Hector Bremner, who received 27 per cent of the vote.

Regardless of how the progressive vote gets divided, Carr said the 2018 election will usher in changes after 10 years of Vision Vancouver in power.

"I hear over and over that people think a party like Vision ... holding a balance of power with a majority of seats means that they have really had the power to make all the decisions without having to listen to anyone else whether it's at the council table or at the public," she said.

"People are very distraught about that."

Carr said she hoped the upcoming election would bring a range of candidates from a variety of different parties that would inspire more collaboration.

"I think that will be better for politics and restoring that trust."

The municipal election takes place on Oct. 20.