Fred Bass drops out of mayoral race

Former Vancouver city councillor Fred Bass will not be in the running to be the next mayor of Vancouver.

Bass, a COPE councillor from 1999 to 2005, told the Straight he was dropping out of the 2008 mayoral race, for which he had hoped to gain the endorsement of the Coalition of Progressive Electors and the Vancouver Greens.

"First of all, it's a long time between now and then," Bass said. "And I think I have found something that I think is top priority, and that is the global-warming cafés that I have been involved in."

Bass made his decision shortly after the election of a new slate of COPE directors with ties to COPE politicians who have worked cooperatively with supporters of former mayor Larry Campbell. In December 2006, Bass told the Straight that he intended to run in 2008, mainly due to the global-warming "emergency".

Bass organized a community event on global warming at the Kitsilano Community Centre on May 26, and another event is planned for August 15. "One of the things I am convinced of is we are not going to get leadership on this from politicians, businesses, and from bureaucrats," Bass said. "The only people who are really going to lead on this are the communities themselves."

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