LONE COPE COUNCILLOR DOESN'T SEE THINGS SAM'S WAY

COPE Coun. David Cadman could be a lot of things.

He could be a mayoral candidate in 2008, he could be a member of
Vision Vancouver (he's been asked to join) and he could be more
effective in council chambers if a majority of councillors agreed
with his views.

But for the past 18 months-the halfway point of his three-year
term-the deep-voiced environmentalist has had a bit part in a reality
show dominated by the NPA's six characters, especially Mayor Sam Sullivan.

Even when Cadman votes with the four Vision councillors, the
combination of the vote is always one shy of winning or defeating a
motion. Six to five has become a common refrain in the council chambers.

"It's basically the dictatorship of six, and I suspect when I look at
the evolution of this, it is in fact the dictatorship of one, namely
Sam," Cadman told the Courier.

Last week, Sullivan and the NPA released a gushing statement on its
"achievements" since it became the majority on council in November
2005. Projects to reduce homelessness, reduce public disorder,
densify neighbourhoods and to introduce a three-digit phone system
for city hall were trumpeted as some of the achievements.

Cadman couldn't disagree more.

He cited the NPA's failure to keep taxes at the rate of inflation-a
demand Sullivan championed when he was a councillor-and the reduction
of social housing and two daycares in the Southeast False Creek
project as major failures. And "Ecodensity"-the mayor's plan to
densify neighbourhoods-is just a rebranding of what the city has been
doing for years, Cadman said.

"I can only declare profound disappointment in the lack of
leadership," he said.

He said the cuts to the Southeast False Creek project, which occurred
one month after the NPA was sworn in to office, set the tone for the
party's term. It confirmed to Cadman that the NPA government was an
administration set on undoing plans of the previous COPE-dominated council.

Cadman is also concerned with the mayor's work outside of city hall.
He pointed to Sullivan's proposal to treat addicts with prescribed
medication-which has not gone before council.

The mayor formed a non-profit to steer the plan and present an
application to Health Canada. Sullivan said last week that his plan
falls in line more with the direction of the Conservative government in Ottawa.

His belief that Insite, the city's supervised injection site, is only
a temporary measure and that he wouldn't lobby for a second site
flummoxed harm reduction supporters, including Cadman and Vision councillors.

"It puts the mayor in the very awkward position of raising money for
a non-profit as mayor of a city that is now announcing that it is
going to displace the Four Pillars [drug] strategy," Cadman said. "So
I think for all of us, it is profound confusion that he has created."

Council also had no say in the hiring of Geoff Plant, the city's
civil city commissioner, or on his contract for $160,000. Plant's job
is to lead the mayor's plan to reduce homelessness, the open drug
market and aggressive panhandling by 50 per cent by 2010.

In that plan, there is a brief mention of establishing a drug
treatment program for chronic criminals. Both the Vancouver Police
Board and council have approved "Project Civil City" and by doing so
have agreed to the mayor's drug treatment program, according to the mayor.

But VPD Deputy Chief Doug LePard said the police department wouldn't
comment on the treatment proposal because it hasn't seen the
proposal. Nor has council, Cadman said.

"That's a real stretch [to say both bodies support the drug plan],"
he said, noting he voted for components of Project Civil City,
including reducing homelessness. "What we have is this continual blur
between government business and city business and city process and
Sam's agenda that is run outside of the city, outside of government process."

The mayor's claims that his lobbying work was instrumental in the
provincial government purchasing 10 single-room occupancy hotels in
the Downtown Eastside for social housing is also a stretch, Cadman noted.

"He has this notion that [such announcements] allow him to be the
rooster that announces it was him who was responsible for the sun coming up."

Cadman said he will continue to challenge the NPA over the next 18
months. But he will spend a considerable amount of time attempting to
bring Vision and COPE together to run as a united slate against the
NPA in the November 2008 civic election.

"Vision asked me to join a long time ago, but I don't think that's
the solution. The solution is not in simply leaving COPE but in
working to unite these two forces."