Photo Credit: Mike Howell via Business in Vancouver
On Oct. 17, municipal elections were held across BC. In Vancouver, the Green Party’s Pete Fry was elected mayor, replacing Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver. Several other key races also played out across the province, and results are summarized below
Vancouver
There were eight mayoral candidates this year, representing the Liberal, Green, ABC, Bright Future Vancouver, TEAM, and Vote Vancouver Parties, with the remaining two candidates running independently.
Fry, Vancouver’s newly-elected mayor, won by a 15.1 per cent margin over runner-up Ken Sim, according to The Vancouver Sun. Fry amassed a total of 98,494 votes, winning 47.8 per cent of the total.
According to CityNews, Fry’s campaign focused on issues like housing costs, climate action, public safety, and greater government transparency. On his website, he said that he was campaigning most strongly for “sustainable growth,” and promised that he “will support a full range of housing options, while protecting green space and advancing climate action.”
He has criticized Sim’s administration and its conservative-leaning agenda, seeing as the Green Party identifies as progressive. As per CBC News, Fry was “the only candidate to call himself a progressive and had the implicit support of other self-described progressive parties.”
Nine Vancouver School Board (VSB) trustees were also elected on Oct. 17. The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) received the most votes overall. Three OneCity Vancouver candidates were elected to the board, and the Green Party holds the remaining two spots.
The same can be said about Vancouver City Council. According to Daily Hive, “Left-wing and progressive candidates won nine of the 10 councillor seats. Including Fry’s mayoral seat, they will hold 10 of the 11 seats on City Council.” The progressive councillors on city council are from COPE, the Green Party, and OneCity. The ABC’s Mike Klassen is the sole conservative member of city council. Sean Orr of the COPE Party received the most votes, with a total of 83,038, according to the City of Vancouver’s preliminary count.
Burnaby
Independent candidate Mike Hurley won the election in Burnaby, securing his third term as mayor. Hurley’s campaign was focused on housing, public safety, arts and culture appeal, and more. He won by a large majority, with 58.3 per cent of votes going toward him, according to the City of Burnaby. The runner-up, Heymann Yip of the Burnaby First Party, won 18.6 per cent of the popular vote.
North Vancouver (District)
In the District of North Vancouver, Mayor Mike Little of the Conservative Party was re-elected for a third term. He won by a 20.7 per cent margin with 10,431 total votes, while his runner-up, Stephen Nieweler, received 6,145 votes.
Surrey
Doug McCallum won his fifth term in Surrey this election, regaining his post from the previous mayor, Brenda Locke. According to Surrey Citizen, he has plans to halt the building of her $360 million proposed arena, and also to “reverse course on the city’s demolition of the horse barns at Cloverdale Fairgrounds.”
Richmond
The Richmond Forward’s Rob Howard was elected mayor of Richmond. According to his website, he is campaigning for a stronger economy, safer streets and public spaces, better support for seniors and families, fiscal accountability, and more. He received 19,676 votes (34.5 per cent) of votes, beating Alexa Loo of the Richmond Strong Party by 1.6 per cent.