statistics show<\/a> there were 8.58 violent crimes per 1,000 people in 2023, the first full year of Sim’s tenure.<\/p>\nBut total reported crime from January to August 2026 was up roughly five per cent compared with the same period last year.<\/p>\n
And some of Sim’s opponents argue public safety requires a different approach.<\/p>\n
Colleen Hardwick, who opposed Sim in 2022 and is running with TEAM again, described concerns around safety as “intergenerational,” particularly around violence against women.<\/p>\n
She is campaigning on stronger support for people recovering from addictions and managing mental health challenges, reintegrating people into communities “instead of isolating people in certain parts of town,” and strengthening block watches.<\/p>\n
“Community safety is a big concern for a lot of people and we have some solutions to address that proactively,” said Pete Fry, running with the Green party.<\/p>\n
Fry said addressing housing affordability and rising prices would help improve quality of life, and hopes to support struggling businesses with a local procurement strategy.<\/p>\n
All levels of government<\/p>\n
Rebecca Bligh is running with Vote Vancouver after being removed from Sim’s ABC caucus in February 2025.<\/p>\n
Bligh, a city councillor and former president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, said her experience working with other governments would be an asset.<\/p>\n
“This moment needs all levels of government working together,” said Bligh.<\/p>\n
Kareem Allam, mayoral candidate for the Vancouver Liberals, said people in Vancouver feel like they are “paying more and they’re getting less” under the ABC government.<\/p>\n
“We’re seeing a reduction in library hours, we’re seeing a reduction in community centre hours. And as the city densifies, the pressure on our park systems becomes higher.”<\/p>\n
Allam, who managed ABC’s 2022 campaign, is running on improving public services and frontline support while strengthening ties with senior governments.<\/p>\n
Party campaigns<\/p>\n
CBC News was not able to speak with the three other candidates Saturday: Muhammad Ahmad with Bright Future Vancouver, and independents Amauri Caliman and Scott Gilbert.<\/p>\n
Ahmad’s campaign aims to empower renters through protections from bulk-buyers and an equity program that “belongs to the renter.” The party also focuses on improving healthcare and supporting small businesses.<\/p>\n
Caliman is running on a platform focusing on housing and affordability. He aims to supply Vancouver with “more attainable homes,” and improve public safety on public transit.<\/p>\n
Gilbert is running as an independent, who believes he can bring humour into municipal politics while addressing serious issues.<\/p>\n
His campaign runs on a slogan of “end the nonsense,” citing a priority on improving cleanliness and safety in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Provincial election<\/p>\n
When it comes to a potential provincial snap election, several candidates found common ground.<\/p>\n
Bligh called it “not an ideal situation at all,” while Hardwick said the provincial government “can cool their jets.”<\/p>\n
“It’s just not the right time,” said Sim.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think it’s helpful at all,” Fry said.<\/p>\n
SFU political scientist Sanjay Jeram said “municipal elections come at a distant third to federal and provincial elections,” and an overlapping provincial campaign would likely draw attention away from local races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public safety has emerged as a key issue in Vancouver’s mayoral race, as candidates launched their official campaigns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,274880,204074,222043,66320,197025,312325,312326,50991,3552,274886,69865,55,296980,131438],"class_list":["post-902928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-colleen-hardwick","tag-ken-sim","tag-mayoral-candidates","tag-mayoral-race","tag-pete-fry","tag-provincial-election","tag-provincial-elections","tag-provincial-government","tag-public-safety","tag-rebecca-bligh","tag-snap-election","tag-vancouver","tag-vancouver-liberals","tag-vancouver-police-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902928","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=902928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}