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Few pieces of news completely floor me these days. After more than a decade and a half writing about various issues, it takes a lot to completely surprise me, to hear something that makes me fall off my bike. 

That happened over the weekend when I first learned that Frances Bula, perhaps the face of civic journalism in this city, would be running for city council with OneCity. 

A disclaimer: One of my first jobs in journalism involved fact-checking Frances Bula’s pieces for Vancouver magazine as an intern. Sometimes I would nervously email her with questions like, “I can’t find that information anywhere; how do you know that?”

And her response would be something like, “It’s just known.” 

More recently, she wrote a real estate column for BCBusiness that I oversaw as editor in chief of that publication.

It’s hard for me to be objective about her—generally I think she’s at the very top of any list of the most knowledgeable writers in the city. 

At BCBusiness, it was almost like clockwork. Bula would pitch me a story, and then later that month it would become something that everyone was talking about. It was uncanny—see her pieces on laneway homes and the Broadway Plan, for example. 

I’ve been editor in chief at the Straight for about a year now, and while Bula hasn’t written anything for me at this publication, we maintain a professional relationship, and I sometimes seek her guidance, as, again, she is the most knowledgeable person on civic issues that I know. 

Here are five thoughts on the most shocking news I’ve gotten at least since 2026 started and probably much longer. 

1. That she picked OneCity says a lot

Bula has been observing municipal politics for a long time. She’s likely been asked to run for office before. Her first foray into politics after a storied and much-awarded journalism career will be with OneCity. That bodes incredibly well for the left-wing, pro-development party that has recently gained steam with the elections of both former councillor Christine Boyle and current councillor Lucy Maloney.

Technically, Bula will be “seeking a council nomination” with OneCity. But they’re holding a press conference today to announce her candidacy. She’s in. As much as anyone can ever have a star candidate for council, she’s it. 

2. Her goals in running for office seem pure

At this stage in her life, Bula doesn’t seem to need the money that being a city councillor brings. She’s also probably not planning some long political future in order to add to her financial stability. No, Bula, who recently had a couple of bouts with cancer, is likely running for her kids and grandkids. She wants to make the city a better place; that’s always been apparent in her writing and online presence. No one is going to be able to make an argument that anything else is the case. 

3. Some of her stances might not perfectly align with OneCity’s

Bula has been vocal about some of the effects of the Broadway Plan and how it doesn’t really work to just put up massive buildings in the middle of neighbourhoods without increasing amenities or making other changes. 

She’s been especially charged about the many big developments going up along 10th Avenue and how that street is not ready for the changes that they will bring. She’s right. Biking along it is already a nightmare (thanks for no protected bike lane on Broadway, ABC) and throwing in massive buildings with daycares that require parking spaces and everything like that is just not really going to work very well. 

Whether that fits with OneCity’s very pro-development stance remains to be seen. 

4. The pro-housing party just got a housing expert to be its candidate 

The flipside of that is that Bula being so knowledgeable about housing (and having personally stepped through the many hoops that exist in the system) is a huge get for OneCity. 

The party’s expertise on this issue, with William Azaroff as its mayoral candidate and voices like Bula running for council, is unquestioned. Again, whether they can combine and tackle Vancouver’s many housing issues is another question entirely. But they have the crew for it. 

5. As big as this is for OneCity, it’s bigger for William Azaroff

OneCity’s mayoral candidate Azaroff recently won the party’s nomination, and while we don’t know whether that influenced Bula’s decision, it’s likely safe to say that it did. Azaroff is the CEO of a housing nonprofit and speaks passionately about getting the right kinds of housing built in Vancouver. 

The recent talk of a progressive coalition between OneCity, the Greens, and COPE, where each party limits the number of candidates they run to not split the vote, may still happen. But here’s a prediction: it won’t happen with anyone but Azaroff as the group’s mayoral choice.