The deputy chair of the Green Party of Vancouver says his group will “very likely” run more candidates in the 2011 municipal election than it did in 2008.

However, Desmond Rodenbour also told the Straight in a phone interview that “it’s hard to tell at this point” whether or not the three-way alliance the Greens entered into with Vision Vancouver and the Coalition of Progressive Electors during the last civic campaign will make a return next year.

Park board commissioner Stuart Mackinnon was the only Green candidate in the 2008 election.

Rodenbour acknowledged that although Mackinnon’s independent streak hasn’t pleased some of the commissioner’s Green allies, “it was never our goal to make best friends with the other parties after the election”.

“It was our goal to represent Green politics, a Green vision of Vancouver, and I think Stuart has fought for that tirelessly,” he said.

According to Rodenbour, the party is actively organizing and may run candidates for all three elected civic bodies: council, park board, and school board. “We’re well situated,” he stated confidently. “The Green brand name is popular in Vancouver, and I think we’re going to get more support in the upcoming election than we ever had before.”

Mackinnon hasn’t always voted in lock step with either Vision or COPE. In March of this year, he supported a motion by lone Non-Partisan Association park commissioner Ian Robertson regarding the process for hiring a new general manager.

On May 19, Mackinnon blogged: “I see no enemies on the Board, and I do not belong to a coalition. I have been elected by the people of Vancouver as a member of the Green Party of Vancouver.”