Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 7/8/2014 (2236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Activist David Sanders formally entered Winnipeg’s mayoral race with pledges to hire a qualified chief administrative officer and sever ties between city hall and developers.

The 67-year-old former provincial bureaucrat and management consultant became the eighth person to register a mayoral run, a move that allows him to raise and spend money on a campaign. The move does not place him on the Oct. 22 ballot — all candidates must file nomination papers in September.

Sanders said if he’s elected, he would overhaul the senior ranks of Winnipeg’s public service, starting with a new person to lead the city’s 8,000-person workforce. Sanders has attended city council and committee meetings to express dissatisfaction with administrative and political decisions.

Sanders dismissed the idea he could raise issues more effectively as an activist, rather than a politician, and claimed he is not merely running as a protest candidate. He said he believes he can win Winnipeg’s mayoral race, even though he has no campaign manager or volunteer corps as of yet.

He said he will announce a manager "in due course."

He also said he is better qualified to serve as mayor than the other registered candidates: lawyer Brian Bowman, booking agent Michel Filion, Charleswood-Tuxedo Coun. Paula Havixbeck, university administrator Robert-Falcon Ouellette, former St. Vital councilor Gord Steeves, funeral-home director Michael Vogiatzakis and former NDP MLA and MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis.