And then there were three....

Scott Howell has become the third mayoral candidate to announce his intentions for the Oct. 18 municipal vote, hinting at what at least part of his campaign strategy will entail in a statement released this morning.

"Right now, Whitehorse is looking for leadership,” the 50-year-old single father of four said in an interview this morning.

"Starting with the announcement of a plan addressing the local housing crisis on Thursday, which would allow citizens to buy and own a new house instead of perpetually renting, announcements comprising the planks in my campaign will come out consistently over the course of the campaign,” Howell said.

He plans to get out to as many community functions as possible over the next several weeks.

He's also making use of social media to get his election message out with the Scottie For Mayor Facebook group. It had 58 members as of this morning.

Residents can also expect to hear announcements about athletics, mentorship for youth and leadership programming over the course of the campaign, he said, stressing the importance of recruiting young Yukoners back to the territory.

Howell is coming into the election just two years after graduating from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta (though his studies were combined with two years at Vancouver Island University) with a degree in political science and a minor in sociology.

He said when he left the Yukon for Alberta – following his defeat as a Yukon Party candidate in the 1996 territorial election, won by Piers McDonald's New Democrats – he was frustrated with how it looked like things were going to go for the Yukon.

He was gone for almost 13 years and in that time, especially the last six years he was gone, he found himself trying to understand the frustration he had felt before he left.

Howell continued to keep up on what was happening in the territory during his time Outside.

He's been back in the territory for a year and a half and said that while he had considered seeking a councillor's position in October's election, friends encouraged him to go after the mayoralty.

He is now halfway through a master's program in intercultural and international communications with Royal Roads University in Victoria, focusing on the intercultural capabilities of northern students for his thesis.

It's his goal to eventually assist in better preparing northern teachers and students "for the realities and cultural differences between varying elements of Canadian society and northerners.

"Having completed a degree in political science, I am finally able to recognize the shortcomings of my past political experience: for any individual to staunchly declare themselves to be of one stripe or another, without understanding the motivations of other political spirits, is a mistake made in arrogance,” he commented.

He then went on to note the role of mayor has to be "a nonpartisan representative and consensus lobbyist” for city residents.

"Well, after six years of school in three universities, digging for a full circle of understanding, I finally feel able to say that today I am truly that a – political man,” Howell said.

"Equally important, I am confident that my strong rapport across party and cultural lines will go a long way in the quest for a common direction between all elements of governance.”

Looking at issues from more of a nonpartisan view, Howell said he sees the mayor's position as one that could help pull the various levels of government in the territory into a more cohesive direction.

Howell's political involvement goes back to his school days when he was growing up in Whitehorse.

"I was as biased as anybody,” he said of his involvement with the Yukon Party during his earlier years in the territory.

He was defeated in a run for council as well as in his search for a seat in the legislature under the Yukon Party banner in both 1992 and 1996.

In 1996, he placed second in the McIntyre/Takhini riding, losing to McDonald.

The New Democrat took 441 votes compared to Howell's 250, with the Liberals' Rose Couch taking 182 votes and independent candidate Clinton Fraser garnering 21 votes in the riding.

Howell acted as the president of the Yukon Party in the 1990s.

A goalie, he was also the president of the Whitehorse Senior Hockey League, as well as serving on a number of boards and committees and raising "tens of thousands of dollars as a volunteer for a variety of worthy causes.”

Howell graduated from F.H. Collins Secondary School in 1979. He went on to have a 10-year career in real estate, reaching the associate broker's level in Alberta.

Along with working on his master's degree, Howell is currently working as a consultant and renovations contractor.

Rick Karp, the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, was the first to announce his intention to seek the mayor's seat this fall, with Dan Curtis, Skills Canada Yukon's executive director announcing last week.

Mayor Bev Buckway has said she will not seek a third term as mayor.

By STEPHANIE WADDELL

Star Reporter