Record Turnout In Vancouver Municipal By-Election

Photo Credit: Vancouver Sun

On April 5, a by-election was held in Vancouver to fill two vacant seats on City Council. According to a release from the City of Vancouver, there was a record voter turnout for a by-election, with 67,962 votes, or 15.09 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots. The election was called following the resignations of Christine Boyle from OneCity and Adriane Carr from the Green Party.

Christine Boyle was first elected in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election. She resigned on Dec. 12, shortly before winning the election in 2024 as a member of the BC New Democratic Party (NDP) in the newly created riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain. While she was not forced to resign from her position on the Vancouver City Council, it is common for members of BC’s Legislative Assembly to resign from municipal positions to focus on their provincial government duties.

Adriane Carr, one of the Green Party’s founders and first leader, was first elected in the 2011 Vancouver municipal election. She stated that her reasons for her resignation included a desire to spend more time with family and her growing frustration with Mayor Ken Sim and his fellow ABC Vancouver party councillors.

“I have lost trust and confidence in the mayor, in my opinion. Some of his actions do not genuinely mesh with his mantra that we are all one team.” Carr highlighted the removal of herself and Green Party councillor Pete Fry from many external positions representing the City on the board and committees of the Metro Vancouver Regional District in the fall of 2024. These positions were subsequently filled by ABC city councillors. Carr added that recent conduct in private meetings was the tipping point in her decision to resign. She officially resigned on January 15. Carr was the longest-running sitting Vancouver city councillor up until her resignation.

13 candidates ran for council, two from ABC Vancouver, one from COPE, one from the Green Party, one from OneCity, two from TEAM, and six Independents. Jaime Stein from ABC was a former BC United candidate in 2022, and Ralph Kaisers from the ABC is a former president of the Vancouver Police Union. Sean Orr from COPE had previously run in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election for VOTE Socialist and came in 36th out of 58 candidates. 

Lucy Maloney, a prominent cycling activist and chair of Lord Roberts Elementary School Parent Advisory Council, ran for OneCity. Colleen Hardwick, who won a seat on the City Council in 2018 and ran for mayor in 2022, is the founder of TEAM. She ran alongside Theodore Abbott, TEAM’s director of Community Engagement. The six Independents were Charles Ling, Gerry McGuire, Guy Dubé, Jeanifer Decena, Karin Litzcke and “Rollergirl”. 

Advance voting was held on Mar. 26 and Apr. 1 in City Hall, and general voting day was on April 5. The official results were announced on April 9. COPE’s Sean Orr was first with 34,448 votes, or 50.69 per cent of the votes. Lucy Maloney followed with 33,732 votes — 49.63 per cent. They were officially sworn in as city councillors on April 15. Sean Orr and Lucy Maloney had a major lead from the other candidates, with the third-place finisher being Colleen Hardwick from TEAM, winning 17,532 votes, or 25.53% of all ballots cast. 

“The last thing we want to do is have a city that is divided, or people feel that they’re not being heard, or they’re not coming along for the ride,” Sim told reporters in response to ABC’s defeat in the by-election, “We want to do better. We will do better. We’re going to take a really hard look at how we present ourselves and what we do, and to be even more inclusive, and have those hard conversations.” 

ABC campaign strategist Stephen Carter, originally from Alberta, ran the campaigns of Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Alberta Premier Alison Redford. “I think it would be dangerous for ABC to walk away from this and say: ‘Nothing to see here, nothing to learn here.’ I don’t even think it’s a question as to whether or not ABC is going to listen to it, they’re going to have to,” he told the Vancouver Sun. There’s 18 months until the next election, and the message was sent loud and clear.”