Tag Archives: cope: the coalition of progressive electors

#VanPoli | An Insight into the Top 3 Candidates Seeking the Mayor’s Office in Vancouver in 2026

#VanElxn 2026, #VanPoli Civic Politics, Housing, Kareem Allam, Park Board, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Liberals, Vancouver Votes 2026, , , , ,

There are only three serious-minded candidates seeking to become Vancouver’s next Mayor in the 2026 Vancouver civic election: COPE’s Stephanie Allen, the Vancouver Liberals’ Kareem Allam, and the Green Party of Vancouver’s Pete Fry.

Today we’ll turn our focus to those three outstanding candidates for civic office.

First up, the true change candidate in 2026, COPE’s Stephanie Allen, who is running on a platform committed to re-establishing the Renters Office; increasing the Empty Homes Tax; set to follow the lead of Montréal’s municipal government in establishing a programme that would — with the aid of senior levels of government — purchase purpose-built rental apartment buildings across the city, converting these buildings into permanently affordable public housing and housing co-operatives; in an age of increasingly powerful storms, forest fires, heat domes, and other extreme weather events, develop and implement a climate defense strategy; work towards fully-funded and free-to-ride public transit for all, starting with the expansion of free public transit for youth under the age of 18; support the expansion of active transportation and Vancouver’s cycling infrastructure; establish a lobbyist registry; protect and empower the office of the Integrity Commissioner; prioritize citizen participation in decision-making at City Hall; expand and democratize the City’s Advisory Committees; make public access to City Council chambers easier; improve livestreams of City Council meetings; and, overall, improve and transform transparency of governance at Vancouver City Hall, because democracy matters.

Given her years of service to the people of British Columbia in her role as a well-respected, ‘can do / get ‘er done‘ Vice-President of BC Housing — committed to the construction of social and affordable housing across our province — a Mayor Stephanie Allen would hit the ground running on her first day in office, as she works with Council towards transforming civic governance by putting power back into the hands of those of us who call Vancouver home, and not the billionaire class all Mayors of Vancouver this century have dedicated their political lives to bringing to fruition, at your expense and amoral degradation.

Just wait till you see and hear Stephanie Allen at next month’s and October’s Mayoral debates, those must-attend civic forums set to take place in neighbourhoods across our city. We guarantee Stephanie Allen — that mesmerizing voice, a powerful and resonant voice that envelops you — will simply knock your socks off, as the candidate of change you have longed for at the head of Vancouver’s civic government, ready to serve you each and every day, to make your life easier, better and more fulfilling — because that’s what an elected Mayor and Vancouver City Council committed to change for the better can and will do for you.

Make sure you read the Vancouver Liberals’ platform of change that will enhance your quality of life

What is the change that the Vancouver Liberals’ candidate for Mayor, Kareem Allam, the peerless, achingly intelligent and capable beyond all human understanding candidate for Mayor of our fair city, and his first rate slate of Council and Park Board candidates — and soon to announce School Board candidate slate — are committing to you, should the Vancouver Liberals form government following election night, this upcoming autumn evening, Saturday October 17th.

Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals are committed to extending the Millennium Line to UBC

In a century when very little of consequence has occurred in Vancouver — other than serving the avaricious interests of developers and their unwholesome, phallocentric commitment to building unlivable towers across our city while displacing residents from their affordable homes — finally, in Kareem Allam, we have a candidate for Vancouver Mayor whose sole interest is serving your interests, and the interests of your family, neighbours, friends and associates, your extended family, your co-workers and everyone, every single person you care about.

The Vancouver Liberals have committed to making $1.35 billion available through Vancouver’s well-funded capital budget — citizen approved monies that are readily available for construction purposes — in an investment over the next four years of a Vancouver Liberals-led civic administration that would renew the city’s aging parks and neighbourhood community recreation centres, reverse an unconscionable Park Board funding decline that began with the election of a Vision Vancouver civic administration in 2008 — monies that have never been restored to the Park Board budget — protect Vancouver’s elected, independent Park Board, build a new aquatics infrastructure, including a 50-metre Olympic size pool, as well as construct community pools in neighbourhoods across our city, and finally — after citizen capital expenditure approval at the polls in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022 — build the long-awaited, egregiously overdue Marpole Community Centre, which would be the first new community centre approved by a Vancouver civic administration in more than 20 years.

Having worked with the federal and provincial governments in senior policy implementation positions, as well as working in Metro Vancouver regional civic governments in a ‘can do’ administrative capacity, there is no individual seeking the Mayor’s office in 2026 who is more qualified, who better understands the intricacies of civic government decision-making and implementation strategy than the achingly bright and monumentally well-qualified Kareem Allam.

When Kareem Allam tells you he’s going to get something done you’ve been longing to see done at the municipal governance level, you can take it to the bank Kareem Allam is 100% guaranteed going to deliver for you, to get that project completed on time and under budget, for all the citizens of Vancouver.

A Kareem Allam-led Vancouver City Council will: restore public library hours; keeps annual property tax increases to 3.8%, or less — rather than the 26% property tax increase implemented by Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver over the past four years; ban foreign travel for Councillors and staff; focus on accountability, affordability, public safety, by delivering results people can actually see in their communities; promote transparency at City Hall by reducing the cost of Freedom of Information requests; put a referendum before the people of Vancouver at the next civic election, asking us if we want neighbourhood representation (sometimes called a ‘ward system’) at City Hall — as is the case with every village, town and city in every province and territory outside of British Columbia.

Remove all parking meters in front of beaches and community centres throughout the city; crack down on Bitcoin ATMs that are commonly linked to money laundering, fraud, organized crime, and drug trafficking; support proper staffing, long-term funding, and transparent deployment planning to ensure firefighters have the resources they need to keep Vancouver safe; work to ensure the Millennium line extension to UBC begins construction next year; protect local businesses during transit expansion by reducing property taxes by 50% during construction; deliver an effective food security programme in Vancouver (which VanRamblings will write about next Monday); and, reduce taxes on medical clinics.

On Day One, a Vancouver Liberals’ administration commits to reversing Ken Sim’s cruel ban on supportive housing to ensure our most-vulnerable citizens receive the supports they need to live a safe, secure and fulfilling life; tackle Vancouver’s rat problem, because rats are a major reason for the spread of disease and are a public health risk to citizens; introduce a tree canopy strategy in every neighbourhood across our city that is not treed, where our city’s west side is treed, and our east side neighbourhoods are not.

Bring back our city’s once thriving Festivals scene by legislating affordable policing for all community events; stop Ken Sim’s cynical plan to sell off our parks; protect Vancouver’s industrial land to keep jobs in Vancouver; create North America’s first Artist Land Reserve; modernize zoning and business rules to support small businesses, and the next generation of Vancouver’s economy, building a city where innovation is encouraged, not regulated out of existence.

Maybe this whole hopey changey thing that both COPE’s Stephanie Allen and the Vancouver Liberals’ Kareem Allam are promising is just a bit too much.

Maybe, the people of Vancouver don’t want a woman as Mayor — uh, yeah, we do! — or, maybe, the people of Vancouver don’t want some random Muslim-appearing guy, no matter how qualified he seems to be, as our city’s next Mayor.

Again, uh, yeah, we do!

Maybe we just want another white-appearing guy sitting in the Mayor’s chair.

After all, Vancouver has had 41 Mayors since it’s founding, and only one of those Mayors — and man, oh man did the first non-white guy to be elected Mayor of our city prove to be a bust (yeah, we’re talkin’ about you, Ken Sim) for those of us who give a good gall darn about our city.

What a walking disaster this Sim guy turned out to be.

Maybe Vancouver voters want to play it safe, maybe we don’t want change, maybe we have no interest in getting things done, maybe we could give a good gall darn about the state of our parks and recreation system, and we don’t care at all about the unhoused — yeah, that’s the ticket (not!) … like, get a job, will ya — maybe we simply want another kind of good lookin’ white-appearing guy.

How bad could it be, really?

No question: Pete Fry has name recognition. Eight years on Council, on the evening news almost every night, a good-spirited guy.

Look at the reassuring picture of the smiling Green guy in the photo above. Like, who wouldn’t want to cast their ballot for this warm-hearted guy?

Plug-in solar panels on your balcony to offset your electricity bills and power the myriad electrical devices in your home. Licensing mini electric shuttles in the downtown area. Bring back the Renter’s Office. Restore lifeguards at key Vancouver beaches. Hire a city comptroller to ensure transparent budget efficiency, and asset management. Enact a landlord licensing by-law to flush out bad landlords.

Restore essential postal services in Chinatown. Amend the Vancouver Charter to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections. Protect the Champlain Heights forest trail network. Bring back the Stanley Park bike lane. Strengthen Vancouver’s code of conduct legislation to restore public trust in decision-making at Vancouver City Hall. Phase out in-sink garbage disposals. Build more public washrooms across the city. Build a Japanese Canadian interpretive centre at Hastings Park. Re-introduce a Vancouver by-law that would forbid the use of methane gas to heat new buildings. A lobbyist registry. Climate action.

The decision is yours to make.

Come early October when Vancouver’s municipal election advance polls open, or during the course of Election Day on Saturday, October 17th, cast your ballot for the Mayoral candidate — and a few of the folks s/he is running with — who you believe represents your best interests, who will build the city in which you want to raise your children, make a living for yourself and your friends and neighbours, and when the time comes, retire in, to live out your life in peace.

Take back your power! Your vote is critical to building the city you love!

#VanPoli | Backgrounder on Vancouver’s 2026 Municipal Civic Election

#VanElxn 2026, #VanPoli Civic Politics, Politics, Vancouver Votes 2026, , , , , , ,

As is almost always the case, the 2026 race for power at Vancouver City Hall is shaping up as one of the most consequential elections in the city’s history.

Four years ago, voters handed a sweeping mandate to current Mayor, Ken Sim.

In 2026, the central question of this year’s civic election is a simple one: has Vancouver become a better, more affordable, more livable city under Ken Sim?

For Mayor Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver, the answer is yes. For many others — and certainly members of the opposition parties — the answer is an emphatic NO.

In 2022 Mayor Ken Sim’s party, ABC Vancouver, campaigned on public safety, housing approvals, reducing street disorder, and delivering major civic projects.

Mayor Sim has repeatedly highlighted the city’s efforts to hire 100 additional police officers — ABC Vancouver has, in fact, hired well more than 100 new police officers — and 100 mental-health nurses — the latter commitment would have to be considered an abject failure, with Business in Vancouver reporting that 41 mental health workers were brought on to staff various response teams … as of June 2026, only about half of those hires were registered nurses — to accelerate housing construction approvals, and prepare Vancouver for the  current FIFA World Cup.

ABC Vancouver has argued that it has brought a business-oriented approach to City Hall after years of political fragmentation.

Yet for many Vancouverites, the Ken Sim years have been anything but smooth.

Housing affordability remains the defining issue in Vancouver.

Despite record levels of housing approvals, rents remain high if not the highest in Canada, while home ownership continues to be out of reach for most young families and workers.

Public safety, homelessness, addiction, and visible street disorder remain persistent concerns, particularly in the DTES and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Concerns about transportation, climate policy, development pressures, and the spiraling costs associated with hosting FIFA World Cup matches have also entered the civic conversation. Polling released earlier this year suggested Vancouver residents remain sharply divided in their assessment of the ABC administration, with many polls registering  ABC Vancouver at 10% support among Vancouverites.

Those divisions have fueled a broad anti-Sim movement on the political left.

The most visible expression of that opposition has been COPE’s “Evict Ken Sim” campaign.

Led by COPE Mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen, the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) has framed the election as a referendum on what it describes as an increasingly corporate and developer-friendly City Hall. The slogan has become a rallying cry among activists who believe Sim’s administration has failed renters, marginalized residents, and neighbourhood communities. COPE’s fundraising appeals openly ask supporters to help “evict Ken Sim” as Mayor.

But make no mistake, COPE is not alone in its criticism of the Mayor.

Recognizing that vote splitting helped ABC achieve its landslide victory in 2022, Vancouver’s progressive parties have once again attempted something unusual.

COPE, OneCity Vancouver, and the Green Party of Vancouver have negotiated an electoral co-operative agreement intended to reduce competition among progressive candidates and maximize their chances of defeating ABC candidates. Sadly, the agreement has not proved entirely successful at the centre-left unity goal.

As we wrote last week, the Mayoral field itself remains crowded.

Ken Sim is seeking a second term and remains the clear front-runner — at least according to civic election commentators, lawyer Kyla Lee and This is Vancolour’s Mo Amir, a sentiment the two have expressed in their role as civic affairs panelists on CBC Vancouver’s On The Coast afternoon programme — in part because he benefits from name recognition, an established — if broken, in the eyes of many — political machine, and the advantages of incumbency.

OneCity Vancouver has nominated William Azaroff, an affordable housing advocate whose campaign has not only emphasized affordable housing, but protections for tenants (provincial jurisdiction), climate action, and expanding public services.

The Green Party has nominated popular incumbent Vancouver City Councillor Pete Fry, who has positioned himself as a pragmatic progressive focused on neighbourhood planning, sustainability, and balancing growth with livability.

COPE has put forward Stephanie Allen, whose campaign has focused on renters’ rights, social and affordable housing, labour issues — including re-instating the Livable Wage Programme jettisoned by Mayor Sim early in his term of office — working with the provincial and federal governments to implement an affordable $40 a month transit pass for those whose incomes fall below $40,000 a year — which is an laudable environmental initiative, as well — and challenging what Ms. Allen describes as the monied backers of ABC Vancouver, and the elites influence over civic politics that ill-serves the interests of most citizens.

Meanwhile, Councillor Rebecca Bligh has launched the new Vote Vancouver party, creating another centrist option that could attract voters dissatisfied with both ABC and the traditional left.

Colleen Hardwick, and her TEAM for a Livable Vancouver civic party, have also launched a campaign for elected office, focused on neighbourhood empowerment, and transparency in decision-making at Vancouver City Hall.

Perhaps the most hopeful campaign for office in 2026 comes in the form of Kareem Allam and his Vancouver Liberals party, whose platform is centred on fiscal discipline; a socially progressive approach to governance that is focused on making the city affordable again for working and middle-class families; addressing the drug crisis on the DTES by ridding our city of the cryptocurrency ATMs so well loved by Mayor Ken Sim and the offshore drug lords who fuel the drug crisis that has taken so many lives in our city and our region; ridding Vancouver of our city’s disturbing rat infestation; working collaboratively with opposition Councillors; requiring fewer managers while hiring more front line workers; strengthening the role of the City’s Integrity Commissioner, and funding Vancouver’s Park Board properly in order that Park Board Commissioners might work to repair and renovate Vancouver’s increasingly dilapidated community recreation centres.

The controversies surrounding Ken Sim are likely to dominate much of the coming Vancouver municipal election campaign.

Critics have accused ABC of excessive centralization of power, a lack of transparency in decision-making, and governing in a manner that has marginalized opposition Councillors. Debates over policing, housing policy, encampment responses, development approvals, and FIFA-related expenditures have all generated political friction. Former allies have occasionally become critics, and opposition parties have attempted to portray the Mayor as increasingly disconnected from ordinary Vancouver residents.

Mayor Ken Sim’s re-election strategy will likely emphasize stability, competence — it is but to laugh — and the argument that major reforms require more than a single four-year term.

The mechanics of the 2026 Vancouver civic election are already taking shape.

Vancouver has announced expanded voting opportunities for 2026, including more advance voting locations, larger voting sites, and more than 2,200 election workers. Election Day is Saturday, October 17, 2026.

While the city has not yet finalized all advance voting dates, advance polls are expected to open in the weeks leading up to Election Day, continuing Vancouver’s recent practice of offering multiple opportunities for early voting.

Voters will elect not only a Mayor but also 10 City Councillors, 7 Park Board Commissioners, and 9 school trustees. We will also decide several capital borrowing questions that could shape municipal infrastructure spending for years to come.

In many ways, Vancouver’s 2026 election has become a contest between competing visions of the city itself.

One vision, represented by Ken Sim and ABC emphasizing growth, public order, and managerial governance. The other, represented by the city’s progressive parties, argues for stronger social programmes, requiring landlords to repair pest infested and rundown SROs, legislating deeper affordability measures, taking an activist approach to rebuilding infrastructure, opening up City Hall to citizens, and adopting a community-driven approach to development in our city.

By the evening of October 17, Vancouver voters will have decided whether Ken Sim’s sweeping victory in 2022 marked the beginning of a new political era — or is merely an unfortunate interlude, a one and done for Mayor Sim’s right-of-centre civic party — in the city’s long tradition of progressive municipal politics.

The answer will determine not only who occupies the Mayor’s office through autumn 2030, but what kind of city Vancouver hopes to become in the decade ahead.