NPA councillor Suzanne Anton jumps into Vancouver mayoral race

Lone NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton has decided to take a run at Mayor Gregor Robertson’s job.

She confirmed the bid at a press conference in a Vancouver hotel Wednesday morning.

Anton said she is running because she thinks the city can do more with its natural assets.

"Vancouver can be an even better city than it is today," she said in a press release. "[It] can be an amazing cosmopolitan city, not just a city that tries to make it on good looks alone."

She also touted its potential as an Asia-Pacific gateway.

"Look where we sit on the planet – a short distance to the world’s biggest markets, and people living here already connected to that part of the world," she said.

Anton didn’t return calls Tuesday, but NPA council candidate Mike Klassen acknowledged the buzz was that she would run.

"I don’t think I could say anything at this point . . . [but] I think your logic is going in the right direction," Klassen said.

Simon Fraser University political science Prof. Patrick Smith says Anton – a two-term councillor and former park board chairwoman – might seem to be the logical choice for the NPA to run against Robertson.

She’s got "good name recognition" and has been "reasonably effective" as the only real voice of opposition on council, Smith said, after the NPA was decimated in the 2008 election.

But he believes Robertson seems a sure bet to win in November due to broad support and after successfully weathering opposition on bike-lane construction and woes around the Olympic Village.