Mayor Gregor Robertson's ambitious plan to make Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»the "greenest city in the world" by 2020 is missing a key ingredient to achieving that goal, says someone who spends a lot of time preaching the green gospel.
That someone is federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who is the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands. And the key ingredient, according to May, is Adriane Carr, who is running for city council in the Nov. 19 election.
"You really need a Green party member on city council if you're really serious about being the greenest city," said May in an interview Wednesday at a coffee shop at the Olympic Village.
May made the comment with Carr, who is deputy leader of the federal Greens, sitting next to her at a table. May was in town on a one-week break from Parliament in Ottawa, where she is the only Green MP in the country.
May said she was encouraged by a recent poll conducted by Justason Market Intelligence that showed 19 per cent of respondents favoured the Greens in the municipal election. The Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Firefighters Union, Local 18, has also endorsed Carr.
"It's an electable moment to get a very high profile Green in a level of government that frankly really matters because municipal governments do more for us in our day-today lives than the federal government," May said.
Carr is the only Green candidate for city council but believes, if elected, she could be "very persuasive" in driving the party's agenda, which includes creating more affordable housing-a major focus of all the city's mainstream parties in this campaign.
Carr and May teamed up after their interview with the Courier to announce a petition calling for immediate changes in Canadian tax law to support the growth of affordable rental housing options.
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»has one of the lowest vacancy rates in Canada, according to May and Carr. And with real estate prices rising faster than inflation, affordable housing options are shrinking, they said.
Carr said she is opposed to the Vision Vancouverled Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing Program, which also provides incentives to developers to building rental housing. Carr said the program has created controversy by allowing spot rezonings for highrises that don't respect neighbourhood character, zoning or citizens' wishes.
The city has predicted rents for the projects under construction will range from $780 to $1,800 a month.
Carr, a former international campaigner with the Western Wilderness Committee, is no stranger to election campaigns, having run unsuccessfully seven previous times, mainly at the provincial and federal levels. She ran for a school board spot in 1984.
This time, she said, voters have 10 choices to fill 10 council seats and she believes residents want to see a more diverse council than the current one dominated by Vision Vancouver. The same poll that showed she had 19 per cent of respondents' support also concluded Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»could see a divided council after Nov. 19.
Carr said the local Greens' membership have agreed not to endorse any candidates for mayor. Carr said she and her two fellow candidates, incumbent park board commissioner Stuart Mackinnon and realtor Louise Boutin who is running for school board, are willing to work with whomever is elected mayor.
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