After four years of Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver, Vancouver voters have an extraordinary opportunity on October 17 to restore compassion, competence, accountability and ambition to municipal government — and to elect a City Council capable of making this city more affordable, more inclusive and more livable for everyone.
There are moments in the life of a city when an election becomes about something much larger than the names on a ballot. It becomes a referendum on the kind of community its citizens wish to inhabit, on the values they expect their government to uphold, and on whether the people entrusted with public office understand that governing is, at its heart, an act of service.
For Vancouver, October 17, 2026, represents precisely such a moment.
The question confronting Vancouver voters is not simply whether Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver colleagues deserve another four years at City Hall. It is whether Vancouver can afford another four years of a municipal administration that, in the view of VanRamblings, has too often confused political theatre with leadership, publicity without accomplishment, and the exercise of power with the responsibility to serve.
In our October 5 editorial, The Cruel and Corrupt Administration of Ken Sim, and His ABC Vancouver Colleagues, VanRamblings made a forceful argument: the Sim administration has presided over a troubling erosion of the compassion, civic responsibility and public accountability that ought to define municipal government.
Those are serious criticisms. They deserve to be examined through the administration’s decisions, its priorities, and the consequences those decisions have had for the people who live, work and struggle to make a life in Vancouver.
But this election is about more than rejecting a morally corrupt administration. It is about what comes next.
On October 12, VanRamblings formally endorsed Kareem Allam, the Vancouver Liberals’ candidate for Mayor, arguing that his combination of government experience, policy knowledge, political sophistication and commitment to practical problem-solving offers Vancouver an exceptional opportunity for generational leadership.
And this time, the opportunity extends beyond the Mayor’s office.
Across the political spectrum, VanRamblings has identified 10 candidates for Vancouver City Council whose different experiences, political traditions, professional achievements and commitments to public service could, together, help rebuild a city government that has lost its way.
We call them The Change Brigade.
They are not a uniform political caucus. They do not agree on every issue, nor should they. What unites them is the potential to bring experience, energy, empathy, accountability and a renewed sense of civic purpose to a Council that desperately needs all five.
Our endorsements are an invitation to Vancouver voters to imagine something better — and then to go to the polls and make it happen.
I. The Mayoralty: Kareem Allam and the restoration of responsible government: Ken Sim and the cost of losing sight of the public good
There is an old understanding of municipal politics that ought never to have become controversial: a city government is judged by how it treats its people, particularly those with the least money, the least influence and the fewest avenues through which to make their voices heard.
By that measure, Ken Sim’s administration has failed Vancouver in ways that extend well beyond an argument over budgets, zoning or development approvals.
Consider the record.
One of the administration’s earliest decisions was to abandon the City’s Livable Wage Programme, withdrawing a commitment that required qualifying City suppliers to pay workers a living wage. The programme’s defenders understood something fundamental about public procurement: the City should not be indifferent to the working conditions of the people whose labour helps deliver public services.
Then came the closure of the City’s Renter’s Office, an especially troubling decision in a city where renters make up approximately 54 per cent of residents. At a time when housing insecurity and unaffordable rents are central concerns of everyday life, removing a dedicated source of municipal assistance sent a dispiriting message about whose needs mattered at City Hall.
There was the conversion of an Advisory Committee meeting room into a personal gym for the Mayor, a decision that prompted questions about priorities and the appropriate use of civic space. There was the widely criticized beer-shotgunning spectacle at Khatsalano Days, where the Mayor’s conduct raised entirely reasonable questions about judgment at a public festival attended by families.
There were persistent concerns about the Mayor’s attendance and participation in civic business, including his relationship with Metro Vancouver, where regional decisions affect transportation, housing, water, waste management and the long-term future of the entire metropolitan region.
And there was the treatment of political opponents.
The most disturbing example involved COPE Councillor Sean Orr.
As VanRamblings documented, Sim publicly associated Orr with allegations of handing out illegal drugs on the Downtown Eastside. The allegation was subsequently shown to be unfounded, and the matter led to an official sanction by the City’s Integrity Commissioner. Orr has maintained that he was away visiting friends and family on the Sunshine Coast during the period in question.
A Mayor is entitled to disagree with a Councillor. A Mayor is entitled to challenge a policy, criticize a vote and defend an administration’s record. But the power of the Mayoralty brings with it an obligation to exercise that power responsibly. Attacking an elected opponent with a damaging, unsubstantiated allegation crosses a line that should never be blurred by the heat of political combat.
Then there is the question of public investment.
VanRamblings has repeatedly criticized the administration’s decision to commit $13.4 million to FIFA hospitality packages while essential community services have faced difficult funding decisions. The City has argued that the packages were assets that could be resold to offset World Cup costs. That explanation deserves to be acknowledged. But it does not erase the larger question: what should Vancouver’s priorities be when its libraries, pools, community centres and other neighbourhood facilities need sustained investment?
The contrast becomes even more troubling when considered alongside the failure to provide the necessary urgency and funding for suicide-prevention barriers on the Granville Street Bridge, an issue with profound human consequences.
These are not unrelated complaints. Together, they raise a question about the values that guide a government.
When a municipality can find money for prestige and promotion but struggles to protect essential services, residents are entitled to ask whether its priorities have become detached from their daily lives.
When a government closes an office serving renters, withdraws a living-wage commitment and allows neighbourhood services to deteriorate, the consequences are not borne equally. They fall hardest on working families, people living on fixed incomes, students, low-wage workers and those already struggling to remain in the city.
And when political disagreement is answered with personal attacks rather than substantive argument, the damage extends beyond the individuals targeted. It weakens public confidence in the democratic process itself.
VanRamblings believes that Vancouver deserves better. We believe that municipal government must be capable of disagreement without vindictiveness, fiscal discipline without indifference, and ambition without neglecting the everyday needs of its citizens.
Most of all, we believe that kindness and competence are not competing values. They are the foundation of good government.
Why Kareem Allam represents a generational opportunity
Into this moment comes Kareem Allam, whose candidacy offers Vancouver voters the opportunity to replace political antagonism with practical leadership.
As VanRamblings outlined in its October 12 endorsement, Allam brings more than 25 years of experience working around government, public policy, public institutions, political campaigns and government relations. His background includes work with Fraser Health, public-policy leadership at the Vancouver Board of Trade, and experience in areas including health care, transportation, infrastructure and Indigenous relations.
Kareem Allam understands how the machinery of a municipal campaign operates, how public policy is developed, and how decisions made inside government can either improve people’s lives or fail them.
But experience alone is not enough. What matters is what a candidate intends to do with it.
The Vancouver Liberals’ programme puts affordability, frontline services, neighbourhood infrastructure, public safety, accountability and practical problem-solving at the centre of its agenda.
Allam has proposed limiting annual property-tax increases to inflation or less, adding 400 frontline workers, improving essential city services and increasing transparency in municipal spending. The party has also advanced a food-hub concept intended to improve access to affordable groceries and culturally diverse foods. These are campaign commitments, not completed achievements; the responsibility will be to implement them and demonstrate results.
That emphasis on implementation is important.
Vancouver does not need another administration that mistakes a press conference for a solution. It needs a Mayor who understands that an announcement about housing is not a home, a commitment to improve services is not a functioning library, and a promise to revitalize recreation is meaningless unless children can actually get into a pool, families can access a community centre, and neighbourhoods can depend on the facilities that make urban life worth living.
Allam’s proposed approach to food security also reflects a useful understanding of affordability. Hunger is not confined to the unemployed or those living in extreme poverty. It affects working families, students, seniors and people whose paycheques no longer stretch to the end of the month. A municipal government cannot solve every cause of food insecurity, but it can help build partnerships and neighbourhood institutions that make nutritious food more accessible.
The same practical thinking must extend to housing, childcare, public spaces and the preservation of community facilities.
Allam’s promise is not that every problem will disappear overnight. No responsible candidate should make that claim. His promise is that City Hall can become more focused, more competent, more transparent and more responsive to the people who pay for it.
VanRamblings believes Kareem Allam deserves the opportunity to prove it.
On October 17, we urge Vancouver voters to elect Kareem Allam as Mayor.
But a new Mayor cannot rebuild City Hall alone. The quality of the next Council will determine whether the promise of a new administration becomes a reality.
That is why our 10 Council endorsements matter.
Each endorsement below reflects VanRamblings’ editorial judgment about the candidate’s record, experience and potential contribution to City Council.
Mike Klassen occupies a particularly personal place in the history of VanRamblings. Over Christmas 2003, Mike created the website that would make its début in February 2004. Since then, he has served as VanRamblings’ webmaster, helping sustain a publication that has spent more than two decades examining Vancouver politics, culture and civic life. My friendship with Mike stretches back 35 years. That is a long time to know someone, to share experiences, to disagree, to learn, and to understand the qualities that define a person’s character. It is also a friendship that gives me a perspective on Mike that extends well beyond his public profile. In public life, Klassen has served on Vancouver City Council and as chair of the PNE Board of Directors. His work alongside fellow ABC Councillor Lisa Dominato to champion the integration of childcare centres into new developments approved by Council speaks to a practical understanding of the pressures facing young families. Childcare is not an optional extra in a livable city. It is essential infrastructure, as important to working parents as transportation, schools and safe public spaces. Mike’s professional experience in communications and civic affairs is an asset in understanding how institutions function and how public decisions are conveyed to residents. My endorsement of Mike is not an endorsement of every ABC Vancouver decision made during this Council term. VanRamblings has been unsparing in its criticism of Mayor Sim’s administration, and that criticism stands. But voters should evaluate candidates on their own records, their contributions and their willingness to work constructively. I know Mike’s commitment to the work he undertakes, and I believe Vancouver can benefit from that experience. His challenge, and his opportunity, is to help ensure that the next Council puts the needs of neighbourhoods ahead of partisan loyalty.
Some Councillors arrive at City Hall already fluent in the language of political compromise. Others arrive carrying the experiences of people who have spent years feeling that City Hall does not speak their language at all. Sean Orr belongs to the latter tradition, and Vancouver needs Sean’s voice. A poverty and housing activist before his election, Orr has built his political identity around renters, working people and residents whose circumstances rarely feature prominently in the glossy presentations of civic power. His victory in the April 2025 by-election, when he topped the poll with 34,448 votes, demonstrated that a substantial number of Vancouverites wanted an outspoken advocate who would challenge the assumptions of the political establishment. On Council, Sean Orr has continued to press for practical improvements in residents’ lives. He has advocated restoring Vancouver Public Library funding and working toward seven-day-a-week library service, recognizing that libraries are much more than book-lending facilities. They are places where children study, seniors find companionship, newcomers access information, and people without adequate space at home can participate in public life. Sean’s approach to public safety also challenges the false choice between compassion and order. A city can take public disorder seriously while acknowledging that homelessness, addiction and poverty require more than slogans and punitive gestures. The repeated attacks directed at Orr by Mayor Ken Sim have made his role all the more important. The unfounded drug-related allegations documented by VanRamblings were a serious assault on Orr’s reputation. Yet Orr has continued to focus on the work of representing Vancouver residents rather than allowing personal provocation to define his public service. That resilience matters. Council should be a place where a Councillor’s arguments are answered with evidence and reason, not personal vilification. VanRamblings heartily endorses Sean Orr because Vancouver needs a Councillor who remembers that democracy must include people who cannot purchase influence, hire lobbyists or command the attention of powerful interests. Sean Orr’s voice is necessary to a more humane, accountable and representative Council.
Jessica Walton is one of the most compelling candidates in the 2026 Council race because her understanding of economic insecurity is grounded in lived experience rather than abstract political theory. Jessica began working at 15, taking retail jobs to help support a family member living in poverty. Her early activism emerged from the student, environmental and feminist movements, where she became increasingly concerned about unequal access to education, the scarcity of affordable housing, the decline in well-paying employment and the rising cost of food. Jessica went on to lead a province-wide student lobbying organization, pressing municipal, provincial and federal governments to address the barriers confronting young people. Jessica Walton has worked on the front lines of government service, helping people navigate systems that can be difficult to understand and even harder to access. That is precisely the kind of experience that should inform municipal decision-making. Jessica has also managed two federal election campaigns in Vancouver Centre, undertaken years of unpaid, non-partisan voter outreach, and developed a strong interest in making government more accessible. Jessica’s experience establishing a small business, alongside her advocacy for disability inclusion and accessibility, gives her an understanding of the obstacles confronting entrepreneurs and residents who need public spaces and services to work for everyone. Jessica Walton’s candidacy is endorsed by UNITE HERE Local 40, one of British Columbia’s most progressive unions, a union representing workers in hotels, food services and airports across British Columbia. Local 40’s emphasis on fair wages, respect at work and family-supporting employment aligns closely with Walton’s longstanding commitment to working people. Jessica Walton is running at a time when many young families are questioning whether Vancouver remains a city in which they can afford to stay. She understands the connection between childcare, employment, accessible public facilities and the cost of housing. VanRamblings believes she is a must must must-elect candidate. Jessica would bring a strong progressive voice, practical labour experience and an inclusive understanding of public service to City Council. Vancouver needs more people who have fought to make institutions work for ordinary residents — and Jessica Walton has spent much of her life doing exactly that.
Vancouver’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths. Yet the composition of its elected institutions has not always reflected the communities that make the city what it is. Armor Valor’s candidacy offers an opportunity to strengthen Filipino-Canadian representation at City Hall while bringing practical experience from health care, small business, post-secondary governance and organised labour. Born and raised in South Vancouver, Valor works as a cook at BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital and belongs to the Hospital Employees’ Union. He understands the pressures confronting frontline workers: the demands of essential work, the importance of reliable public services and the need for workplaces that respect the people who keep institutions running. His experience extends beyond the hospital kitchen. Valor has served on the Langara College Board of Governors as a student-elected member since 2021 and previously served on the Vancouver Community College Board of Governors. Armor helped establish Langara’s first Filipino Student Association, participated in anti-racism initiatives and served as a Board member of Filipino BC. He has also operated a catering business and a small food enterprise, bringing first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs. These are not disconnected experiences. Together, they provide a perspective on how municipal decisions affect workers, students, small-business owners and culturally diverse neighbourhoods. Armor Valor has also spoken about the importance of neighbourhood representation in Vancouver’s at-large electoral system. The Vancouver Liberals have proposed a citizens’ assembly to examine a ward system, with a referendum contemplated for 2030. Such a process would give residents an opportunity to consider whether neighbourhoods should have a more direct connection to their elected representatives. It is long past time for Vancouver’s Filipino community to have a stronger presence in Council’s deliberations. Representation is not simply a matter of symbolism; it helps ensure that a wider range of experiences informs the choices a city makes. Armor Valor would bring working-class experience, community involvement, an understanding of South Vancouver and a commitment to inclusion. His candidacy deserves serious consideration from voters who want City Hall to look more like the city it serves.
Devin Clemens represents a generation of British Columbians who have had to make difficult choices about whether they can afford to build their lives in the province they call home. His personal experience of leaving British Columbia to pursue post-secondary education, studing political science and anthropological linguistics at the University of Saskatchewan before spending several years in Japan working as an educator. Devin subsequently returned to British Columbia to be closer to family and build a future here. Devin’s return to British Columbia informs his commitment to making Vancouver a city where young people can establish themselves and remain. At university, Clemens founded and led a student advocacy organization dedicated to protecting high-quality, affordable education. The organization grew to several hundred members and pressed for policy reform and institutional accountability. That experience helped shape his understanding of how organized, evidence-based advocacy can bring about meaningful change. Devin Clemens now works at the University of British Columbia, continuing his involvement in public policy and access to education. Devin brings 15 years of experience in public policy, community engagement and grassroots advocacy. His interests include improving access to essential services, strengthening partnerships across levels of government and making public institutions more transparent and effective. Devin has also raised the possibility of integrating the UBC Endowment Lands into the City of Vancouver as part of a larger conversation about regional planning and future transit connections, including the proposed SkyTrain extension to UBC. These are ambitious questions requiring careful consultation, collaboration and long-term planning. What makes Devin Clemens a valuable candidate is his understanding that municipal government must consider the lives of people who are trying to build, not merely the development projects appearing on planning agendas. Young people need affordable housing, reliable transit, accessible recreation and the prospect of a future in their own communities. VanRamblings endorses Devin Clemens as a thoughtful, policy-oriented candidate with the potential to contribute to a Council focused on practical solutions and long-term opportunity.
There are moments in public life when a person’s legacy is defined not by the number of motions passed, but by the determination to protect something precious to a community — and the courage to imagine what a city might become if its public spaces were truly accessible to everyone. For John Coupar, two causes stand out: saving the Bloedel Conservatory atop Queen Elizabeth Park in 2010, the campaign that brought him into public life and ultimately to his election as a Vancouver Park Board Commissioner, and his 2026 commitment to clean up False Creek, restoring its waters as a place where Vancouver families and children can once again enjoy the waterfront.
In 2010, John led the charge that saved the Bloedel Conservatory. As we wrote in our September 26, 2026 endorsement of John on VanRamblings, without the intervention of a then-apolitical John Coupar, who rallied Vancouverites to his cause, there would be no Bloedel Conservatory today. This remarkable heritage landmark, perched at the highest geographical point in Vancouver, has long served as a biodiversity sanctuary and community educational centre, offering residents and visitors a year-round tropical refuge. John’s campaign demonstrated what can happen when an ordinary citizen refuses to accept the loss of something that matters to a city. His achievement helped launch a career in public service rooted in the protection of Vancouver’s parks, natural spaces and community assets. Thank you, John.
Sixteen years later, Coupar is bringing that same determination to another cause of profound importance: cleaning up False Creek. How many Vancouverites realize that the city’s sewer infrastructure continues to discharge untreated sewage into waterways, including False Creek, under certain conditions? The problem is connected to Vancouver’s aging combined sewer system, which carries sewage and storm water in shared pipes and can overflow during heavy rainfall. Coupar wants the City to do more to address this longstanding environmental problem and restore the creek as a place for people, not simply a scenic backdrop to the downtown skyline.
John Coupar’s vision is particularly compelling around Science World, where children and families should be able to approach the water, enjoy the waterfront and, when environmental conditions safely permit, swim. That aspiration requires serious work on sewage infrastructure, water quality monitoring and public-health standards. Cleaning up False Creek cannot be accomplished with a campaign slogan alone; it demands sustained investment, accountability and a clear commitment to measurable progress. But it begins with a willingness to make the issue a civic priority.
The connection between these two signature causes is unmistakable. Saving the Bloedel Conservatory protected an irreplaceable natural and educational treasure. Cleaning up False Creek offers the prospect of reclaiming an urban waterway for recreation, environmental renewal and community life. Both speak to a vision of Vancouver in which public spaces are not expendable, nature is not an afterthought, and the city takes seriously its responsibility to future generations.
Coupar’s record also includes a commitment to inclusion in public recreation. When members of Vancouver’s gender-variant community described the barriers they faced in accessing swimming pools and recreation facilities, John responded with practical commitments. Upon becoming Chair of the Vancouver Park Board in December 2014, he pledged to establish inclusive swims, pursue more welcoming change rooms and washrooms, and work with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. In January 2015, Templeton Pool held its first inclusive swim, turning that commitment into a tangible improvement in access to public recreation.
As VanRamblings recounted in its January 17, 2024 article, #SaveOurParkBoard | Tender Moments of Change at Park Board, Pt. 1, this episode remains an illustration of how listening to communities can translate into meaningful change.
Vancouver’s parks, pools, community centres and waterfront are essential parts of what makes a city livable. They need investment, thoughtful stewardship and elected officials prepared to defend their value. John Coupar’s experience as a former Park Board chair, his successful campaign to save the Bloedel Conservatory, his commitment to cleaning up False Creek and his work on inclusive recreation offer voters a record of engagement with the places and public institutions that shape everyday life in Vancouver.
For all these reasons, VanRamblings enthusiastically endorses John Coupar in his 2026 run for Vancouver City Council. His story began with a fight to save a beloved civic landmark. His next chapter could help restore an urban waterway and advance a vision of public space that serves children, families, neighbourhoods and generations yet to come.
For those reasons, and more, John Coupar is a must must must-elect in 2026.
Some candidates arrive at City Hall with experience in campaigns. Others arrive with experience in business, community organizing or the daily struggles of working people. Dr. Moira Stilwell arrives with something that is particularly valuable to a city whose public services require both careful management and an understanding of human need: decades of medical practice combined with substantial experience in government. Stilwell is a physician specializing in nuclear medicine who has devoted more than 30 years to health care in British Columbia. Her career has included senior responsibilities at St. Paul’s Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital and Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre, as well as work at BC Women’s Hospital. Moira Stilwell’s public service extends well beyond medicine. Elected MLA for Vancouver-Langara in 2009, she served until 2017 and held provincial cabinet portfolios including Advanced Education and Labour Market Development and Social Development and Social Innovation. Her work encompassed education, economic participation, skills development and support for vulnerable populations. Dr. Stilwell also served in leadership roles with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and contributed to organizations concerned with breast cancer research and health-care advancement. Why does that matter to Vancouver City Council? Because Moira Stilwell understands the challenges facing the city cannot be solved through slogans or partisan positioning alone. They require people who understand how complex institutions work, how budgets affect services, how public decisions influence vulnerable residents and how to translate policy into outcomes. Vancouver needs Councillors who can ask difficult questions, evaluate evidence, scrutinize spending and work collaboratively to produce results. Stilwell’s professional background gives her the foundation to do all four. VanRamblings believes Dr. Moira Stilwell is a must must must-elect candidate who could emerge as a leader and a tremendous difference-maker for the better on Vancouver City Council, her experience, seriousness of purpose and longstanding contribution to British Columbia would serve to strengthen a new administration seeking to restore public confidence and deliver better services.
If Vancouver City Council has a fundamental weakness, it is that municipal government can become absorbed in its own procedures, language and political calculations, losing sight of how its decisions affect the people who live with the consequences. Frances Bula has spent decades explaining precisely how that happens. For many years, Bula has been one of British Columbia’s most respected journalists covering urban affairs and municipal politics. Here professional history matters enormously in this election. For approximately 30 years, Bula has observed Vancouver municipal politics: its personalities, its competing visions of the city, its development controversies, its budget debates and the often complicated relationships between elected officials, civic staff, neighbourhood organizations and the development industry. Candidate Bula understands how decisions emerge from the machinery of government. She knows the difference between a promising announcement and an implemented policy, between a budgetary commitment and a service residents can actually use. She has seen administrations arrive with grand plans, struggle with the realities of governance and leave successors to deal with the consequences. A Council with Frances Bula at the table would have a member capable of scrutinizing financial claims, identifying unanswered questions and explaining complex decisions in language ordinary residents can understand. That is not merely a communications advantage. It is an instrument of accountability. VanRamblings believes Frances Bula is a must must must-elect candidate. Her knowledge of Vancouver’s civic history, her professional understanding of public institutions and her commitment to making government more intelligible would be invaluable. When a city faces enormous challenges in housing, infrastructure, affordability and public confidence, electing someone who understands how City Hall actually works is not a luxury. It is common sense.
Stephanie Smith’s candidacy is rooted in a simple conviction: people should not have to surrender their homes, their dignity or their place in the community because the city they love has become unaffordable. Born at St. Paul’s Hospital, raised around her family’s small business on Granville Street and shaped by life in East Vancouver, Stephanie Smith has spent almost three decades working on behalf of tenants, workers and people confronting economic insecurity. Her experience is particularly relevant to the Downtown Eastside, where the intertwined challenges of housing, poverty, public health and displacement demand sustained attention rather than simplistic political answers. As a legal advocate, Smith has helped thousands of tenants facing renovictions, demovictions and other housing-related disputes. She has organized community legal clinics, trained advocates and law students, represented workers, negotiated collective agreements and worked with community groups, unions and governments to develop public-interest policies. Her service has included the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, the Vancouver and District Labour Council and REACH Community Health Centre. Stephanie Smith’s housing work extends beyond advocacy. Since 2022, she has served with the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC and the Community Land Trust, organizations involved in developing and supporting genuinely affordable, community-owned housing. As President of her own housing co-operative, she also understands the daily work required to sustain housing communities. Smith brings a particularly important perspective to a Council that must grapple with the consequences of rising rents, redevelopment and the loss of affordable homes. Stephanie understands that housing policy is not simply about units and density. It is about whether people can remain connected to their neighbours, their schools, their jobs and the communities in which they have built their lives. The Vancouver Greens selected Smith as part of their 2026 Council team, citing her decades of work in housing and labour advocacy. Stephanie Smith’s candidacy also reflects the party’s commitment to affordability, accountable governance and placing people at the centre of municipal decision-making. VanRamblings heartily endorses Stephanie Smith, as we did in 2022, because Vancouver needs Councillors who understand the lived realities behind the statistics. Her experience would help ensure that tenants and working people are heard when Council debates the future of the city. A more livable Vancouver must be one where ordinary people can afford to stay. Stephanie Smith, who is another must must must-elect has spent much of her career working toward precisely that goal.
We need her on Council.
At a time when municipal politics can look like an old person’s game, Solomon Yi-Kieran represents something Vancouver urgently needs: a younger generation prepared to enter public life, challenge established assumptions and insist that the future belongs to those who will have to live in it. In VanRamblings’ August 20 column, #VOTE for Solomon Yi-Kieran | A New Generation Steps Forward in Vancouver, we argued that Solomon’s candidacy speaks to a generation facing a convergence of crises: unaffordable housing, precarious employment, the climate emergency and the increasingly difficult task of building a secure life in Vancouver. Read the August 20 VanRamblings endorsement (linked above).When young people cannot afford rent, they cannot plan confidently for their future. When transit is inadequate or unaffordable, access to education and employment becomes more difficult. When climate policy is postponed, younger generations inherit greater risks and costs. And when decisions about artificial intelligence, data centres and technological development are left exclusively to powerful private interests, communities may find themselves dealing with the consequences without having had a meaningful say in the choices that produced them. Yi-Kieran’s generation has every reason to demand a different approach. His candidacy with COPE also places him within a political tradition that emphasises working people, tenants, social justice and democratic participation. Those perspectives are important on a Council where development pressures, public spending and the allocation of scarce resources will continue to produce difficult choices. VanRamblings believes that a city must be governed not only for those who already possess power, property and influence, but also for the people trying to establish themselves. Younger residents deserve a meaningful role in shaping the policies that will determine whether they can remain in Vancouver. Solomon Yi-Kieraan would bring fresh energy, a forward-looking perspective and a willingness to confront questions that municipal government cannot afford to ignore. Their election would be a vote for the proposition that young people should not have to leave their city to secure their future.
That is a proposition worth fighting for.
III. What The Change Brigade Could Accomplish Together
The 10 candidates endorsed by VanRamblings do not share a single political ideology.
Mike Klassen represents ABC Vancouver; Sean Orr and Solomon Yi-Kiernan come from COPE; Jessica Walton, Armor Valor, Devin Clemens, John Coupar and Dr. Moira Stilwell are Vancouver Liberals; Frances Bula represents OneCity Vancouver; and Stephanie Smith is a Vancouver Green.
That diversity is a strength.
Vancouver’s next Council should not be a collection of politicians who agree automatically with their party leaders. It should be a working assembly of people who bring different experiences to the table, argue seriously about competing priorities, examine the evidence, and then make decisions in the public interest.
Imagine what that Council might accomplish if its members shared a commitment to getting the basics right.
Imagine a municipal government that regarded libraries as essential neighbourhood infrastructure, with a serious plan to restore funding and expand public access. A government that recognized swimming pools, recreation centres, water-play facilities and community centres as fundamental to children’s well-being and the health of neighbourhoods, rather than as expensive obligations to be postponed.
Imagine a Council that treated childcare as essential infrastructure, understood the pressures confronting working parents, and made the preservation and expansion of affordable childcare a priority in its planning decisions.
Imagine a government that worked to restore a living-wage commitment, took the concerns of renters seriously, strengthened public accountability and ensured people struggling with the cost of living could find assistance before desperation set in.
Imagine a city that invested in its parks, maintained its public spaces, improved transportation, protected tenants and built genuinely affordable housing — while recognizing that public safety depends on functioning services, effective partnerships, and a willingness to confront difficult problems honestly.
These are not extravagant aspirations.
They are the ordinary responsibilities of a well-run city.
Nor should any of this be understood as a promise that 10 elected Councillors, or even a new Mayor and a majority of Council, could solve every problem confronting Vancouver. The city operates within financial constraints, legal obligations and the division of responsibilities between municipal, provincial and federal governments.
Meaningful progress will require negotiation, prioritization, careful budgeting and sustained public engagement.
But those limitations make capable leadership more important, not less.
A new Council must be prepared to examine the City’s spending with clear eyes, distinguish essential services from less urgent expenditures, pursue partnerships that deliver tangible benefits, and explain honestly what can be achieved and how it will be paid for.
It must also recognize that Vancouver’s livability cannot be measured solely through property values, development statistics or the number of international visitors who arrive for a major sporting event.
A city is livable when its residents can afford a home. When children have somewhere safe to play. When young people can imagine a future here. When seniors can participate in community life. When a person with a disability can use public facilities without unnecessary barriers. When workers receive fair treatment. When renters have access to support. When neighbourhood libraries and recreation centres remain open and accessible.
And when the people who are struggling most are treated with dignity rather than contempt.
The candidates endorsed here bring different pieces of that larger vision. Frances Bula offers an unusually deep understanding of municipal government. Dr. Moira Stilwell brings medical and Cabinet experience, as well as a deep understanding of governance. John Coupar brings a record of action on inclusion at Park Board.
Jessica Walton brings labour experience and a lifelong commitment to accessibility. Armor Valor brings frontline health-care work and Filipino-Canadian community leadership. Devin Clemens brings policy experience and a perspective shaped by the challenges confronting younger British Columbians.
Stephanie Smith brings decades of tenant and labour advocacy. Sean Orr brings a determined voice for renters and people on the margins. Solomon Yi-Kiernan brings the urgency of a younger generation. Mike Klassen brings years of civic and professional experience.
Together, they represent a formidable range of abilities.
The challenge will be to turn those abilities into a governing culture defined by cooperation rather than hostility, public service rather than self-promotion, and measurable improvements rather than political theatre.
Kareem Allam’s responsibility, should Vancouver voters elect him Mayor, will be to help create the conditions in which that work can succeed.
That means listening to Councillors who disagree with him. It means allowing scrutiny of his administration. It means acknowledging mistakes, correcting them and reporting honestly on progress. It means understanding that a majority at City Hall is not a license to disregard the minority, and that the authority to govern comes with a continuing obligation to earn the public’s trust.
The next Mayor must also remember that the people of Vancouver are not an audience to be managed. They are citizens to be served.
IV. October 17: A Choice About The City We Want to Become
There is something deeply moving about the prospect of a city finding its way again.
Vancouver has always been more than its skyline, its real-estate market or the spectacular beauty of the mountains and ocean that surround it. Its character has been shaped by people who have built community centres, organised neighbourhood associations, fought for affordable housing, opened libraries, created cultural institutions, defended public parks and demanded that government become more responsive to ordinary lives.
The city has been made better by people who refused to accept that things had to remain as they were.
It has been made better by the citizen who attended a Council meeting after a long day at work because a decision threatened the future of a neighbourhood. By the parent who organized other families to demand childcare. By the tenant who stood up to an unfair eviction. By the community activist who insisted that a public swimming pool should welcome people who had previously been excluded. By the journalist who kept asking questions long after the political excitement had passed. By the worker who joined a union and discovered that solidarity could accomplish what an individual could not.
These are the people who make a city worth living in.
And they are the people to whom municipal government owes its greatest obligation.
The 2026 civic election presents Vancouver with an extraordinary opportunity to renew that obligation. Voters can choose a Mayor who brings substantial government experience and a practical commitment to improving municipal services. We can elect Councillors whose combined experience encompasses medicine, journalism, labour, housing, community activism, public policy, inclusion and the everyday concerns of working families.
We can choose a Council that understands the future of Vancouver is not simply a matter of how much the city builds, but of whether the people who live here can afford to remain.
VanRamblings believes this is an opportunity of generational significance — a chance to elect one of the strongest combinations of civic leadership and experience Vancouver has been offered in more than half a century.
It will not be enough to change the name on the Mayor’s office door. The deeper task is to change the spirit in which City Hall operates.
To replace cruelty with compassion. To replace arrogance with accountability. To replace political spectacle with meaningful action. To replace the reflexive defence of a party’s reputation with an honest assessment of whether the public is being well served.
To remember that a city belongs to everyone who calls it home.
On October 17, voters have the power to begin that work.
We urge you to elect Kareem Allam as Vancouver’s next Mayor, and to give serious consideration to each of the 10 candidates endorsed here as The Change Brigade. Not because they will agree on everything. Not because governing will suddenly become easy. And certainly not because any political party should be granted unquestioning loyalty.
We endorse them because we believe Vancouver deserves a Council whose members can bring their different experiences to bear on a shared task: making this city more affordable, more inclusive, more compassionate and more livable.
A city where the promise of a good life is not reserved for the fortunate few.
A city where a young person can stay, find meaningful work, establish a home and imagine raising a family.
A city where an older resident can continue to participate in neighbourhood life, where children can discover the pleasures of swimming and sport, where libraries remain open to curious minds, and where community centres are places of connection rather than neglected buildings awaiting another capital plan.
A city where the people who clean its streets, care for its patients, teach its children, serve its food and keep its institutions running are treated as indispensable members of the community they sustain.
And a city where public office is understood not as a privilege to be enjoyed, but as a responsibility to be honoured.
That is the Vancouver we want.
That is the Vancouver we believe is possible.
And that is the Vancouver for which, on October 17, VanRamblings asks you to vote.
Because a city is never finished. It is made and remade by the choices of its citizens, by the courage of those who step forward to lead, and by the willingness of its people to believe that tomorrow can be better than today.
Let us choose a City Hall that understands this.
Let us choose a Mayor who will work for the whole city, and Councillors who will bring their knowledge, their convictions and their humanity to the task.
Let us build a Vancouver where kindness is not mistaken for weakness, where competence is measured in the lives improved, where public money serves the public good, and where no neighbourhood, no family and no individual is considered expendable.
Let us build a city that welcomes the young, respects the old, protects the vulnerable and gives working people a fair chance to prosper.
A city of open libraries and lively community centres, of accessible pools and beautiful parks, of affordable homes and safe streets, of shared opportunity and genuine belonging.
A city in which our differences become a source of strength, our public institutions reflect our highest aspirations, and our elected representatives understand their most important legacy is not what they say about themselves, but what they help make possible for others.
On October 17, Vancouver has a choice.
VanRamblings believes it is time to choose change.
Together, we can build a better Vancouver.
With Mayoralty candidate Kareem Allam and his Vancouver Liberals committed to opening the City’s Capital Expenditure funds — which has pretty much lain dormant for 18 years, through Capital Expenditure Budgets having been approved by voters in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022 — Kareem has told VanRamblings that he requires a Vancouver Liberals team of Park Board Commissioners to implement the Vancouver Liberals commitment to:
All of the above is just for a start. For the first time in a generation, should you elect a Vancouver Liberals municipal administration at Vancouver City Hall.
We can tell you for a fact that Vancouver Liberals Park Board Commissioner candidates Mark Halyk, Shayla Bird, Scott Jensen, Amanda Bains, Amir Bajehkian and Tricia Barker make regular use of their One Card, and are regular and frequent visitors to their local community centre, for working out in the gym, going for a swim (or a skate), and attending a community meeting.
The same is true for Vancouver Park Board Commissioner candidate, TEAM’s Wah Gee!
In addition, many of the candidates listed above sit on the Board of Directors of their neighbourhood community centre, and have regularly attended Park Board meetings over the past years and many many times in recent months, leading up to their run for office — and, as a consequence, are acutely aware of the issues Park Board Commissioners must address. Not to mention, the 40 – 70 hours a week that being a Vancouver Park Board Commissioner requires of our electeds. They’re ready! Sacrifice is the order of the day.
Mark Halyk is a must-must-must-elect to the Vancouver Park Board.
After spending more than a decade working inside the Vancouver Park Board as a senior leader in Commercial Services, Mark brings something increasingly rare to civic politics: real operational experience and firsthand knowledge of how the system actually works.
He has seen the challenges facing Vancouver’s parks from the inside — aging infrastructure, budget pressures, growing service demands, and the increasing need to balance environmental stewardship with affordability and accessibility. He also knows what is possible when public services are supported by practical leadership, smart governance, and responsible financial management.
Mark is passionate about maintaining an independent and financially viable Park Board, while modernizing how it operates to better serve residents across Vancouver. He believes Vancouver can protect community assets while creating new, thoughtful revenue opportunities, reducing pressure on taxpayers while improving recreation services for families.
One of Mark’s proudest accomplishments during his tenure with the Park Board was helping transform the concession portfolio into a more financially sustainable model. Projects such as the partnership with Batch at Kitsilano Pool demonstrated how creative thinking and public-private partnerships can revitalize public spaces while generating meaningful revenue to support parks and recreation programming.
A proud Strathcona resident, Shayla brings expertise in community engagement, social impact, sport and recreation, and education.
Shayla is passionate about investing in and revitalizing recreational centres and green spaces that reflect the diverse needs of Vancouver communities, while bringing back fun, accessible, and affordable festivals that create opportunities for connection across the city.
In her professional life, Shayla is a local educator, founder of PLANher Consulting, and a public historian specializing in Black history in British Columbia. She has spent the last several years leading work across education, sport, and community development; including developing curriculresources for the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care, creating educational experiences connected to Hogan’s Alley history, advising organizations on equity and community engagement
Scott Jensen is a sitting Park Board Commissioner, and is seeking re-election with the Vancouver Liberals. When first elected in 2022, Scott became Chair of the Park Board, making him the first ever Indigenous chair. With his leadership and dedication, the Park Board has been able to implement 90% of the infrastructure plan, which includes two new community centres coming to Vancouver.
Throughout his career, Scott has been committed to building community, and supporting Vancouver as a teacher, a leader, and now as an elected official.
Scott is a proud third grade teacher with the Vancouver School Board at Lord Robert’s Elementary School. He is also a lifelong, passionate lacrosse player. As an Indigenous person, Scott sees lacrosse as the medicine game. It is a way to connect with community, to sport, and with your teammates. As a teacher, as a lacrosse player, and a devoted Vancouverite, Scott is committed to giving back to the spaces where we get to make those meaningful connections — our parks and recreation facilities.
Scott knows that Vancouver’s parks are integral green spaces, but they’re also so much more. They’re gathering places for families, for our communities, for seniors, our kids. With Scott’s leadership, they can remain places where generations to come will continue to improve their health and well-being, and connect with each other in community.
Scott Jensen is a must-must-must-elect to the Vancouver Park Board.
Amanda Bains is seeking election for Vancouver Park Board Commissioner as part of the Vancouver Liberals team. She wants to bring the perspective of a community leader to the Park Board to strengthen Vancouver’s social fabric and protect the spaces that are the most important to us.
Amanda is a fighter, and as a Park Board Commissioner will fight for you and your family, working with Vancouver City Council where she will fight for restored funding to Park Board, and is committed to ensuring that Vancouver’s increasingly dilapidated community centres are renewed, repaired and renovated.
Amanda is committed to ensuring that seasonal and community pools are constructed in every neighbourhood, committed to the provision of outdoor swimming pools, wading pools and water-play areas in every neighbourhood across our city.
Amir Bajehkian is seeking election for Park Board Commissioner as part of the Vancouver Liberals team. Amir will employ his experience in advocacy at all levels of government, and in community engagement of New Canadians, to ensure our parks and facilities flourish for existing and future residents.
Amir grew up in Iran, often wondering how he could make a difference. Amir moved to Canada after beginning studies in aerospace engineering in Iran and completed his education here in physics, mechanical systems, and aircraft maintenance engineering. Amir’s career led him to work at YVR in various capacities including ramp agent, aircraft maintenance, and finally, as a flight data analyst, where he monitored helicopter flights for operational safety.
Amir’s community activism revolves around facilitating international credential recognition, human rights, election engagement, referendum campaigns, and bringing Farsi as a second language option to British Columbia’s schools.
Amir is running for Park Board Commissioner with the Vancouver Liberals because he believes our parks and recreation facilities are main hubs for people to connect with nature and their fellow Vancouverites. They enhance the lives of our residents and cannot be an afterthought for our municipal government. Amir is an ardent supporter of the Vancouver Liberals’ $1.35B plan to renew our community centres, parks, and pools as they need to be vibrant and usable for generations to come following years of neglect.
Amir also wants to protect the independence of the Park Board, to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity so that it functions properly as a democratically elected body.
Tricia Barker is seeking re-election for Park Board Commissioner as part of the Vancouver Liberals team. A core reason for Tricia’s candidacy is to be a voice and an advocate for seniors and people with disabilities (which categories VanRamblings currently finds ourselves in — and boy oh boy, can we tell you we need Tricia Barker to advocate for us, and for every other senior who uses our parks and recreation system).
In 2018, Tricia was elected as a Park Board Commissioner for the City of Vancouver where she worked to ensure that Vancouver’s parks were accessible to all, especially the elderly and vulnerable communities that she worked with as a healthcare practitioner. Tricia continues to work in fitness training and consulting to this day.
Quite simply, Wah Gee is one of our favourite people who live in the City of Vancouver. For months, Wah and a group of friends, each Sunday, went for a delicious and sumptuous dim sum lunch after church. Wah was always a favourite around the table.
Wah believes that essential to the livability of a city are safe, inclusive parks, streets, and community recreation facilities that are welcoming to people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Wah is committed to the restoration commitment made by Vancouver Liberals Mayoral candidate, Kareem Allam, and will work with his fellow Park Board Commissioners to ensure funding is restored to Park Board, ensure that community pools are built in every neighbourhood across our city, and the Vancouver’s community centres — adjudicated last year by Vancouver’s Auditor General, Mike Macdonell that 11 community centres are in a severe state of disrepair, and require the immediate attention of Park Board Commissioners, and the elected officials at Vancouver City Hall.
Wah has undergraduate degrees in marine biology and elementary education, and a Master’s degree in educational leadership and administration, all from the University of British Columbia. Wah teaches in the Surrey school district, where he is active coaching and sponsoring extracurricular activities, and is an Indigenous Lead Teacher. Wah also holds staff and union leadership positions in the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation.
Mayor Ken Sim’s majority ABC Vancouver administration at Vancouver City Hall is the most morally bankrupt and cruelest civic administration the woeful citizens of Vancouver have witnessed in the past 60 years, and perhaps even longer than that.
The Vancouver Mayor with the worst attendance record at Vancouver City Hall, and on the Metro Vancouver Board, in our city’s history, who in his first three years as Mayor, took off right after his early November 2022 Inauguration for Qatar, where he watched the World Cup with his well-heeled billonaire backers and friends, who when he returned to Vancouver three weeks later, decided to “take control”, coming up with one hare-brained (and, dare we say, illegal) scheme after another.
No wonder current Vancouver Mayoral aspirant, Kareem Allam — the mastermind of ABC Vancouver’s massive majority victory in 2022, who went on to become Mayor Ken Sim’s Chief of Staff, and now strongest opponent — lasted only 34 miserably short days in his post, so cruel and off-putting, so mean-spirited and just plain idiotic Ken Sim proved to be that Allam simply couldn’t take it anymore, and resigned, his heart broken, and his spirit wounded.
Allam drew up ABC’s Vancouver’s platform.
Yes, ABC Vancouver committed to removing the homeless from Hastings Street, early in their term of office. Allam was clear: no person living in a tent on Hastings Street would be “removed” without the permission of the individual, but would leave of their own volition when more than adequate housing had been found for the cruelly abused unhoused who had taken up residence on Hastings Street.
Kareem Allam’s plan was not dissimilar to that of the late Brenda Prosken, a senior official at BC Housing (and neighbour and friend of VanRamblings), achieved at Oppenheimer Park, or when Ms. Prosken died from cancer six months after being diagnosed with her terminal illness, BC Housing Vice-President, Stephanie Allen — COPE’s recent candidate to be Mayor — achieved at the Strathcona encampment.
A cruel Ken Sim had other ideas: bulldoze (literally, bulldoze) the unhoused on Hastings Street, send in Vancouver’s (reluctant) police force to “help” clear the street, which a cruel and heartless Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver Councillor colleagues managed to do.
Kareem Allam was aghast, disheartened and disgusted at the cruelty and inhumanity of Mayor Ken Sim and Mr. Sim’s ABC Vancouver colleagues.
Chief of Staff Kareem Allam and Mayor Ken Sim Arguing During Mr. Allam’s last day at City Hall.
The final straw came on Monday, February 6, 2023, when Ken Sim called Mr. Allam into his office, where current ABC Vancouver Council candidate David Grewal was standing excitedly by the Mayor’s side.
Mayor Ken Sim told his Chief of Staff the following …
“Kareem, David and I have come up with the perfect way to ensure that over the next four years, businesses and homeowners in Vancouver will not have to pay one red cent in property taxes. We’re thrilled with the idea we’ve come up with.”
Here’s what Ken Sim and David Grewal came up with: Mayor Ken Sim was going to order the sale of the 100 of the 242 parks in Vancouver that are not officially designated as parks. Not only that, Mayor Sim proposed to sell off billions of dollars of property owned by the City to his friends, at cents on the dollar, properties that constitute our city’s Property Endowment Fund, created by Mayor Art Phillips in 1972, a fund that sustains to this day.
As Kareem Allam turned briefly away from Mayor Sim, and rolled his eyes, he then turned to face the Mayor, telling him …
“With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, the Vancouver Charter, and both provincial and federal legislation would prevent you from carrying out your plan to sell off the officially non-designated parks, many of which sit on provincial and federal Crown land, or have been gifted to the City under a long term contract to be kept in place as parks.
As for selling property lodged in the Property Endowment Fund, that is something you might consider, or re-consider. There would be a big hue and cry were you to attempt to sell off properties in the Property Endowment Fund to your friends. Legal challenges would likely follow, and the stories around your plan would dog your days for the next four years of your administration. I would strongly advise you against taking this precipitous, and potentially calamitous course of action.”
By the time, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff had completed making his statement to the Mayor, Ken Sim was livid, firing Mr. Allam on the spot. Thus, February 6, 2023 was Kareem Allam’s last day serving as Mayor Ken Sim’s Chief of Staff.
Ken Sim’s Cruelty. Where Does It End? Hint: It Doesn’t.
Ken Sim’s Vancouver: The Cruelest City Hall in a Generation — And Why He Must Go
There is a word that increasingly defines Ken Sim’s Vancouver.
It is not “better.”
It is not “inclusive.”
It is not “compassionate.”
It is not even “competent.”
It is cruel.
And as Vancouverites prepare to go to the polls on October 17, we should all ask ourselves a profoundly simple question:
Do we really want four more years of Ken’s Sim’s ABC Vancouver administration?
In the more than half-century since Mayor Tom “Terrific” Campbell presided over Vancouver City Hall, it is difficult to think of a civic administration that has so consistently demonstrated such disdain for people with the least power, such contempt for political opponents, such indifference toward vulnerable Vancouverites and such extraordinary self-regard as the Ken Sim–led ABC Vancouver administration.
Campbell was a different kind of Mayor. He was brash, confrontational and openly hostile to the counterculture of his day. His administration became infamous for its treatment of Vancouver’s hippies, culminating in the 1971 Gastown Riot, when mounted police moved against a peaceful smoke-in and dozens were arrested. Campbell also tried to suppress the Georgia Straight, and championed the destruction of neighbourhoods in the name of development.
His was a politics of confrontation.
Ken Sim’s is something more modern.
It is the politics of indifference.
And sometimes, indifference is every bit as cruel as confrontation.
As a First Order of Business Ken Sim Undercut the Interests of Workers
The first great moral statement of the Sim administration came almost immediately after ABC Vancouver took power.
It was not a new housing programme.
It was not an investment in poverty reduction.
It was not an expansion of social services.
It was the cancellation of Vancouver’s Livable Wage Programme.
The programme required companies supplying goods and services to the City to pay their workers a livable wage. At the time it was approximately $25.68 an hour; today, the comparable living-wage figure is roughly $27 to $28 an hour.
Think about that.
In one of the most expensive cities in Canada, an administration elected promising to make Vancouver “a better city” decided that workers employed by companies doing business with the City did not need to be paid a wage sufficient to live in the city in which they worked.
The decision was made without the kind of public consultation one might reasonably expect for a policy with direct consequences for low-wage workers. City records subsequently included residents writing to the Mayor that they were “infuriated and disgusted” by the decision to withdraw from being a living-wage employer.
That is not merely a budget decision.
It is a statement of values.
And then came the renters.
Half the city rents. Ken Sim shut their office.
Again, more than half of Vancouver’s residents are renters.
Yet one of the first things ABC Vancouver did was eliminate the City’s Renters Office — an office that provided renters with information about their rights, referrals to organizations capable of helping them and assistance navigating the City’s rental bylaws and permitting system.
In January 2023, ABC Councillors voted as a bloc to discontinue the office.
Yes, ABC promised that funding would be redirected to the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre, and that TRAC would receive additional support and City-owned office space.
Surprise, surprise. Under Ken Sim, that did not happen. Renters were left high and dry by the Ken Sim-led ABC Vancouver administration.
But the larger political message was unmistakable.
The City’s own dedicated institutional resource for renters was expendable.
The people who rent — the 54% of Vancouverites who do not own the homes in which they live — would be told to find somewhere else to turn.
This is what structural cruelty looks like.
It doesn’t necessarily arrive with a fist.
Sometimes it arrives as a line item in a budget.
Sometimes it arrives as an office closure.
Sometimes it arrives as a decision made in a Council Chambers by people who will never have to worry about whether the next rent increase will force them out of their neighbourhood.
That was the argument made in VanRamblings’ August editorial, Cruelty vs. Kindness: The Moral Choice at the Heart of Vancouver Civic Politics.
Cruelty is not simply yelling at someone.
Cruelty can mean deliberately disregarding their well-being.
And when that disregard is embedded in government policy, thousands of people can suffer.
Then Came the Scandal of the Mayor’s Personal Gym
And while renters were losing a dedicated office at City Hall, Ken Sim found a rather different use for City Hall space.
A Committee Room used by civic Advisory Committees was converted into a personal gym for the Mayor.
When under the Vision Vancouver Gregor Roberston administration, then City Manager Dr. Penny — at a cost of more than $6 million — moved her office, which took up two-thirds of the third floor at City Hall, and moved her office to the newly-opened (at her outrageously expensive bequest) “renovated” fifth and six floors of City Hall, converting her old offices into a luxurious suite for the Mayor, replete with a large dining room, and the services of a chef and serving staff, not to mention a full suite with a luxurious bedroom, full spa bathroom, and comfortable living space with all of the amenities and latest hi-tech gadgetry.
Even so, living the life of Riley, a “Nothing is Too Good for Me” Mayor Ken Sim felt he needed additional space, converting a well-used Committee Room into a personal gym for himself.
At City Hall.
Converted for the personal use of the Mayor.
There is something almost breathtaking about the symbolism.
At a time when Vancouver faces a housing crisis, a homelessness crisis, an affordability crisis, a public-health crisis and a crisis of aging civic infrastructure, Ken Sim’s administration found space for the Mayor to work out.
That juxtaposition would be almost humorous if the consequences of this administration’s priorities weren’t so serious.
And Then There Is The Issue of Mayor Ken Sim Shotgunning Beer
Broadcaster and political commentator Jody Vance has gone on and on during the course of Rachael Segal’s Beyond a Ballot political podcast, where Ms. Vance, Ms. Segal and former Vision Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer are broadcasting daily, commenting on the current Vancouver civic election.
Ms. Vance was present for what she calls Mayor “Ken Sim’s egregious error in judgment earlier in his term if office.”
At Khatsalano Days in the summer of 2023, in front of a family audience that included impressionable young children, Ken Sim appeared on stage and shotgunned a beer, more than one, actually.
Some people thought it was hilarious.
Others did not.
For many parents in the audience, the spectacle was less “mayoral leadership” than an extraordinary lapse in judgment.
And that matters because leadership is not merely about policy.
It is also about setting an example as a municipal leader.
The Mayor of Vancouver is not simply another guy at a neighbourhood beer garden.
He is the city’s principal elected representative.
The office carries responsibilities of conduct, decorum and judgment.
And when a Mayor appears to revel in behaviour that causes families in the audience to recoil, it tells us something about the office-holder’s understanding of the difference between being popular and being responsible.
The Case of The Disappearing Mayor Who Fails to Turn Up for Work
Then there is the extraordinary question of attendance.
Ken Sim’s relationship with the job of Mayor has often seemed remarkably casual.
For much of his first three years in office, VanRamblings observed, he was rarely seen participating meaningfully in Council debate. When he did attend, the Mayor was often dressed casually in a T-shirt and sweatpants and, critics argued, appeared to remain in Chambers only long enough to vote before leaving.
More consequentially, in January 2025 Sim announced that he would boycott Metro Vancouver meetings, declaring that the regional government was “broken.” Global News reported that his attendance at Metro Vancouver had already been sporadic, with Sim attending roughly one-quarter of meetings the previous year.
This is not an argument that a Mayor must attend every meeting under every circumstance.
It is an argument that showing up is part of the job.
Vancouver did not elect Ken Sim to be an occasional Mayor.
It elected him to govern.
And then the attacks began
There is something particularly disturbing about what happens when political disagreement becomes personal.
Ken Sim filed formal complaints against then-OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle, requiring her to spend time and resources defending herself against the Mayor’s allegations.
And then came Sean Orr.
This may be the ugliest episode of the entire ABC Vancouver story.
In February 2026, Mayor Ken Sim told Chinese-language media that COPE Councillor Sean Orr had been handing out illegal drugs on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Christmas Day.
The allegation was false.
It was subsequently revealed that ABC Councillor Lenny Zhou had repeated the allegation in a Chinese-language video, which was later removed, and Zhou apologized, saying his comments were based on incorrect information. CityNews subsequently reported that the information had originated with Mayor Sim himself.
Orr has said he was not even in Vancouver at the time but was visiting friends and family on the Sunshine Coast.
The political implications are enormous.
A Mayor accusing an elected City Councillor of distributing illegal drugs is not ordinary political criticism.
It is not a disagreement over zoning.
It is not an argument over homelessness.
It is not even a nasty election-season barb.
It is an attack on a person’s reputation.
And it was made publicly.
In Chinese-language media.
The consequences were serious enough that Orr subsequently filed a defamation lawsuit against Sim.
This is the Politics of Cruelty in its Purest Form
When you disagree with someone, debate them.
When you think they are wrong, defeat their arguments.
When you believe their policies are harmful, expose them.
But do not invent or repeat allegations that can destroy a person’s reputation.
Political opponents are not enemies.
They are fellow citizens entrusted by voters to represent them.
The Granville Street Bridge Tells the Whole Story
And then there is the issue that, more than any other, exposes the moral bankruptcy of the Sim administration’s priorities.
Suicide-prevention barriers on the Granville Street Bridge.
For years, Vancouver has known that Granville Bridge is a suicide hotspot.
Health professionals know it.
First responders know it.
The Crisis Centre knows it.
Families know it.
And City Hall knows it.
The evidence for physical barriers is overwhelming. Vancouver’s own documentation has cited research associating bridge barriers with a 93 per cent reduction in suicide deaths.
There is also Vancouver’s own experience.
Barriers were installed on the Burrard Street Bridge in 2017.
There have been no known suicide deaths from the Burrard Street Bridge since.
Similar barriers were installed on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge in 2015.
Again, the evidence is striking.
Yet in March 2026, ABC Councillors voted to remove funding for Granville Bridge suicide-prevention barriers from the capital plan. VanRamblings subsequently documented that Vancouver had set aside $13.4 million for FIFA hospitality packages while the City continued to delay actual construction of the barriers.
Let us be absolutely clear.
The argument is not that FIFA is bad.
The argument is that a government that can find millions of dollars for international sporting hospitality ought to be able to find the political will and financial commitment necessary to protect people from dying at a known suicide hotspot.
Dr. Brandon Yau, Vancouver Coastal Health’s Medical Health Officer, described suicide deaths from the bridge as “preventable tragedies” and barriers as “critical, life-saving infrastructure.” Crisis Centre executive director Stacy Ashton has said, in substance, that the barriers work and save lives.
That is the moral test.
Not whether the project is convenient.
Not whether the Mayor gets good photographs.
Not whether FIFA executives are impressed.
Do we save lives?
A suicidal person standing on Granville Bridge does not care about FIFA.
Their family does not care about FIFA.
The police officers trying to talk them back from the edge do not care about FIFA.
The firefighters and paramedics who respond do not care about FIFA.
They care about whether that person lives.
And yet Ken Sim’s City Hall has demonstrated vastly greater urgency when the subject is a global sporting event.
That is not merely bad policy.
It is a question of values.
Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver Practice the Politics of Fear
And now, as the election approaches, ABC Vancouver has added another dimension to the politics of cruelty: fear.
The administration’s public-safety plebiscite, pushed through Council at a cost estimated at approximately $400,000 to $550,000, asks voters to weigh in on drug use and mental-health/addiction beds.
The questions are non-binding.
They do not themselves create a treatment bed.
They do not build a hospital.
They do not provide a mental-health worker.
They do not put a roof over anyone’s head.
They are, however, extraordinarily useful election-season political theatre.
The administration that had four years to govern is now asking voters whether they want the Mayor to govern.
That is not leadership.
That is campaigning.
What kind of city do we want?
This is the question VanRamblings posed in “Cruelty vs. Kindness.”
Politics is ultimately a moral choice.
A government can make life easier for people with less power.
Or it can make life harder.
It can expand dignity.
Or it can withdraw support.
It can build institutions that help renters.
Or close them.
It can protect low-wage workers.
Or abandon the living-wage standard.
It can protect people contemplating suicide.
Or delay.
It can disagree with political opponents.
Or attempt to destroy their reputations.
It can treat vulnerable people as human beings.
Or turn them into election props.
And it can govern.
Or campaign.
Ken Sim has shown Vancouver what his administration chooses.
Again and again.
And again.
This is why the comparison with Tom Campbell is not hyperbole.
Campbell’s Vancouver was an angry city.
Ken Sim’s Vancouver is increasingly an indifferent one.
Campbell fought the counterculture openly.
Sim’s administration too often appears to fight the people who have the least power to fight back.
Campbell’s police confronted the hippies of Gastown.
Sim’s political machine has made political capital out of the unhoused, the drug-dependent, renters, political opponents and people in crisis.
Campbell’s era was defined by confrontation.
Sim’s is defined by something colder:
the willingness to inflict pain, or simply not to care when pain is inflicted.
That is cruelty.
And cruelty should never be rewarded with another term in office.
Vancouver deserves better
The great lie of modern politics is that kindness is weakness.
It isn’t.
Kindness is recognizing that the renter facing eviction is not a statistic.
That the low-wage worker trying to live in Vancouver is not a disposable input in a procurement contract.
That the person standing on Granville Bridge is not a problem to be managed.
That a Councillor with whom you disagree is not your enemy.
That the unhoused person sleeping on a Vancouver sidewalk is still a human being.
That the people who disagree with you are still Vancouverites.
A Mayor’s job is not to punish those people.
It is to govern for them.
All of them.
The Ken Sim ABC Vancouver administration has had four years.
Four years is enough time to learn.
Enough time to correct course.
Enough time to demonstrate compassion.
Enough time to demonstrate leadership.
Instead, we have witnessed the dismantling of the Livable Wage Programme, the closing of the Renters Office, the attempted weakening of accountability mechanisms, the Mayor’s personal gym, the extraordinary conduct at Khatsalano Days, chronic questions about attendance and engagement, attacks on political opponents, the disgraceful Sean Orr episode, the abandonment of urgency on Granville Bridge suicide barriers, and an increasingly aggressive politics built around fear of the vulnerable.
There is a pattern here.
And patterns tell us more about governments than slogans ever will.
So, on October 17, Vancouverites have a choice.
Not merely between Ken Sim and another mayoral candidate.
Not merely between ABC Vancouver and another civic party.
We have a choice between two fundamentally different ideas of what government is supposed to be.
One says government exists to protect the vulnerable, strengthen communities, respect disagreement and reduce unnecessary suffering.
The other says government is about power, control, political advantage and winning the next election.
VanRamblings knows which Vancouver we want.
A Vancouver where government is measured not by the size of its FIFA hospitality budget, but by the number of people it helps.
A Vancouver where renters have a voice.
Where workers earn a living wage.
Where people in crisis are protected.
Where political opponents are debated rather than defamed.
Where the Mayor actually shows up.
Where City Hall belongs to the public — not to the Mayor’s gym.
And where kindness is not dismissed as weakness, but understood for what it really is:
the most basic responsibility of government.
Ken Sim has had his opportunity.
He has had four years.
He has shown Vancouver who he is and what kind of civic administration he has lead this past four years, and intends to lead for the next four years.
Now Vancouver gets to answer.
No more.
No more cruelty.
No more politics of division.
No more City Hall that turns its back on the people who need it most.
On October 17, Vancouver must turn the page.
Ken Sim must not be re-elected Mayor of Vancouver.
