James Crosty makes it four in New West mayor's race

James Crosty hopes a “labour dispute” will give him the votes he needs to become New Westminster’s next mayor.

Crosty, one of four mayoral candidates in the 2011 civic election, hopes to unseat incumbent mayor Wayne Wright and beat three-term councillor Jonathan Cote in the mayor’s race. Some supporters have suggested Crosty would have a good shot at getting elected to council, but he’s set his sights on the mayor’s seat.

“If it was just Jonathan running I’d have a hard time going up against him, and I might have taken that option. When you look at the numbers, it’s clear there’s a 45 per cent group that does not support either Wayne or labour,” he said. “The family is having a fight and I am going to stand back and watch them duke it out, and hope that people go, ‘I don’t like this, I’m going to go for something that’s not associated with it.’”

The New Westminster District and Labour Council is endorsing Cote for mayor. While Wright hasn’t been officially endorsed by labour in the past, labour candidates have supported him.

“He has been supported by them for the past three elections,” Crosty said. “In the last election, 2011, there wasn’t an in-your-face campaign like the previous two.”

Crosty said he’s crunched the numbers and believes he’s got a real shot at becoming mayor if the labour vote splits between Wright and Cote. Crosty garnered more than 3,100 votes in his 2011 mayoral campaign.

“I don’t see a difference between Jonathan and Wayne. I think labour has to sort out their little family. I think the battle for the labour support is going to be between Wayne and Jonathan, and they are going to be sharing those 6,600 votes. There’s a good 40 to 45 per cent of the population that’s looking for change, they are looking for something new, they want balance and they want somebody that can lead the city in another direction – or to keep going in this direction while honouring the taxpayer.”

If elected, Crosty said he will work to address traffic and taxation. He’s pleased the city has taken on issues such as railway noise and the coal transfer facility proposed in Sapperton, issues he says he pursued before the city.

“I went through my brochure from the last election. One of the things that struck me is I led a lot of the issues which the city is now tackling,” he said.

While Cote is campaigning on putting more emphasize on policy, Crosty said Cote has been responsible for many of the policies created in the city in the past nine years.

“I have very rarely, if at all, seen Jonathan oppose anything that the District Labour endorsed candidates have proposed. Wayne and Jonathan and District Labour are having a little family spat,” he said.

“When a group has enough power to take a person’s ability to win, which is what Wayne has been enjoying for the past three elections, and put in another young candidate up against him and say ‘We no longer want you to be mayor,’ I think democracy is hurt.”

While Crosty considers mayoral candidate Vladimir Kras to be a “protest vote,” he views himself the “unofficial opposition” as he’s advocated for many issues in the past two decades.

Although Crosty is concerned about the increasing budget for city staff salaries, he’s already thought of at least one person to hire – Wright. While he thinks Wright should have retired as he’d indicated he would do after serving his fourth term as mayor, Crosty thinks he’s done some “good stuff” for New Westminster.

“When he first came in here he had to fight the image of New Westminster. To his credit, he has done well,” Crosty said. “If I was fortunate enough to get the support of the people … the first thing I would do is ask him to be our economic development manager. He’d be perfect for that. This is a man that knows how to go out and get businesses in to New Westminster.”