[Echoes]

City councillor Charlie Clark to announce mayoral bid next week

Andrea Hill, Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Phil Tank, Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Published on: May 13, 2016 | Last Updated: May 13, 2016 7:57 AM CST

Three-term city councillor Charlie Clark is expected to announce his mayoral bid next week.

Clark, who was widely expected to run, will take on the sitting mayor, Don Atchison, who became Saskatoon’s longest-serving leader last year. No one else has yet announced they will run for the city’s top job in October’s municipal election.

“I’m not surprised Charlie says he’s running,” Atchison said in an interview Thursday.

In a note obtained by the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Shift Development owner Curtis Olson invites those with whom he’s discussed the future of Saskatoon to contribute to Clark’s campaign and attend Clark’s formal announcement of his bid for mayor on May 18.

Olson writes Saskatoon needs a leader “who can open the door to citizen engagement, new ideas and evolving policies to make our city an amazing and wonderful place” and that he is “taking a very public position” in supporting Clark’s mayoral bid.

Olson and Clark’s campaign team declined to comment in advance of Clark’s formal announcement. Clark did not respond to a request for comment.

First elected to council in 2006, Clark represents Ward 6, which includes the downtown, Nutana, Buena Vista, Varsity View, Grosvenor Park, Haultain and Holliston.

Clark, who has degrees in conflict resolution, education and environmental studies, has pushed for more balanced development in the city instead of almost all growth taking place in the suburbs.

He’s been a vocal advocate for embracing Saskatoon as a winter city, exploring new, more cost-effective ways of policing and investing in active transportation, public art and solar energy.

With Clark and Atchison both appearing on the mayoral ballot, it would be “very surprising” for any other candidate to win, said Joe Garcea, a political studies professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s St. Thomas More College.

“They will both have a very strong organizational base, a strong and loyal base of support and it would be quite difficult for somebody else to run,” he said.

Atchison, who enjoyed comfortable victories in his first two re-election bids, took 52 per cent of the vote in 2012, while agricultural researcher and political newcomer Tom Wolf nabbed 47 per cent.

The race between Atchison and Wolf was largely viewed as one between right and left: Atchison promoted a pro-development platform while Wolf wanted more money diverted to quality-of-life issues.

A race between Atchison and Clark could take on a similar dynamic, Garcea said.

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