{"id":606897,"date":"2026-04-16T00:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606897\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T00:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:59:14","slug":"trio-of-progressive-parties-agree-to-cap-candidates-in-upcoming-vancouver-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606897\/","title":{"rendered":"Trio of progressive parties agree to cap candidates in upcoming Vancouver election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Three progressive Vancouver political parties have agreed to limit the number of candidates they will run in October’s municipal election. <\/p>\n

But the agreement does not cover mayoral candidates and still leaves the door open for COPE, OneCity and the Vancouver Greens to end up in a battle this fall.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, each party will be allowed to nominate up to five candidates for city council. <\/p>\n

COPE and the Greens will be capped at four candidates for the school board while OneCity can run five. For the park board, the Greens and COPE are capped at four candidates while OneCity can run three.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Vancouver mayor Ken Sim pitches tax freeze if re-elected:\"\"<\/p>\n

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim promises tax freeze and community centres if re-elected<\/p>\n

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim made his final State of the City address for his first term to the Board of Trade on Wednesday, and with it came two big election promises. Justin McElroy reports on what the mayor is putting front and centre in his platform. <\/p>\n

“It was a hard-fought thing, and I know it’s in some ways an imperfect deal, but it’s the results of a good negotiation, and a fair negotiation is always going to be something that’s a little imperfect for everyone,” COPE campaign director Shawn Vulliez said. <\/p>\n

OneCity mayoral candidate William Azaroff said the issue was balancing vote-splitting concerns and voter choice. <\/p>\n

“I don’t think it’s fair to progressives to have no choice and just have 10 candidates all together,” he said. <\/p>\n

“We also have some really great people running. It would be very hard to have such a limited number getting through.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Green Party Coun. Pete Fry announces run for mayor of Vancouver<\/p>\n

The election for mayor of Vancouver has become a bit more crowded. Pete Fry, a two-term councillor, added his name to the list of people hoping to defeat Ken Sim in October’s election. He sat down with the CBC’s Justin McElroy to explain why. <\/p>\n

But the agreement allows the parties to nominate more candidates than seats available, meaning they are still likely to end up competing against one another. <\/p>\n

The agreed-to terms could see the parties fielding up to 15 candidates for 10 city council seats, 13 candidates for nine school board seats and 11 candidates for seven park board seats. <\/p>\n

Green councillor and mayoral candidate Pete Fry said while the math “doesn’t really add up,” the agreement was a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

“The central tenet is, like, non-aggression and really redirecting our attention to improving the lives of Vancouverites, improving the future for our city and taking out (Mayor) Ken Sim,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I think that\u2019s more important than the math.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three parties are slated to hold nomination votes to confirm their candidates in the first half of May. <\/p>\n

Mayoral question still unsettled<\/p>\n

The agreement also leaves plenty of room for conflict in the mayoral race.<\/p>\n

Azaroff and Fry have both secured their party’s nomination, while COPE says it will announce a candidate in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n

While the agreement allows each party to field a candidate, it also commits to “a good-faith effort” to determine the best placed progressive\u00a0mayoral candidate to compete.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

William Azaroff wins OneCity nomination, enters Vancouver mayor’s race<\/p>\n

William Azaroff wins OneCity nomination, enters Vancouver mayor’s race<\/p>\n

“The magic will come with when the parties can agree on a system or a series of metrics or some systemic way of judging who will be the mayoral candidate to beat,” said Azaroff. <\/p>\n

“So, if through that system that we all agree to that is not me, then yeah, absolutely. I will abide by whatever rules are set for it.” <\/p>\n

In the meantime, however, the competition appears to still be very much on. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel pretty confident in my chances, and I am hoping that as we get closer to election day in the fall, the other progressive parties will see the merit in my approach and either get behind it or get out of the way,” Fry said. <\/p>\n

WATCH | The crowded race for mayor in Vancouver’s upcoming election:\"\"<\/p>\n

Why are so many people running for mayor of Vancouver? <\/p>\n

On the Coast\u2019s Soapbox Social panelists Mo Amir and Kyla Lee weigh in with CBC’s Gloria Macarenko on the growing race for Vancouver’s next mayor, how things could shape up and who a crowded field favours.Crowded race <\/p>\n

The agreement comes ahead of what is shaping up to be a crowded race in the fall election, with at least seven parties vying for votes in Vancouver. <\/p>\n

Sim’s ABC Vancouver is running candidates again, along with the Vancouver Liberals, led by Sim’s former campaign manager Kareem Allam; Vote Vancouver, led by Coun. Rebecca Bligh; and TEAM For a Livable Vancouver, led by former councillor Colleen Hardwick. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-606897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-vancouver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}