Vancouver city councillor David Cadman says he'll likely throw his hat in the ring in a campaign for mayor that is getting even more crowded.
Cadman says he would have liked to stay out of the race but rival slate Vision Vancouver hasn't agreed to run a single candidate for mayor against the dominant Non-Partisan Association.
"It appears Vision does not want unity," said Cadman. "And if there's no basis for unity, COPE should run a mayor, council, and school board candidates.
Cadman says when he announces his run after the party's general meeting in June, he will run on a platform of fighting homelessness, dismantling the mayor's EcoDensity plan in favour of sustainable development, and fighting for local transit.
"I've made no secret that I think I'm a candidate who can draw on the progressive side of the slate... I'm a likely candidate for COPE," Cadman told CTV News.
Right now, Cadman is the lone city councillor for the Coalition of Progressive Electors, a city party that dominated city politics under Larry Campbell in the 2002 Vancouver election.
Campbell and several others split from COPE and ran as Vision Vancouver in the 2005 election. Vision Vancouver won four seats, and COPE ran one.
Cadman is the latest to announce he's ready to run in November. Over the past two weeks provincial NDP MLA Gregor Robertson has announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Vision Vancouver party on a platform of fighting homelessness, targeting gridlock, and making Vancouver a greener city.
Incumbent Mayor Sam Sullivan wants to stay in the mayor's chair, but NPA councillor Peter Ladner offered a challenge from within when he declared that the city was "headed for the rocks" under Sullivan's leadership.
And former NPA parks board commissioner Allan De Genova has also declared he wants Vision's leadership.
Splitting the centre-left vote was one reason that the two parties didn't win a majority on council in 2005, said Cadman.
But he acknowledged that COPE's poor showing was in part due to the fact that the party had no recognizable leader going for mayor.
Cadman says he wants to run to fight homelessness and says issues apart from the Olympics have been ignored.
"The mayor seems to be totally focused on a 17-day event in 2010," said Cadman. "I think the substantive, fundamental issues of this city are not being attended to in the meantime."
And transit is so bad that university students are referring to their 'U-Pass' as the 'Pass-U,' he said.
"That's the situation that has to be dealt with under Sam Sullivan," he said. "And it has not been dealt with."
Vancouverites go to the polls on November 15, 2008.
