{"id":936576,"date":"2026-10-17T15:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T15:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936576\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T15:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T15:48:12","slug":"vancouver-election-voters-head-to-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936576\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver election: voters head to polls"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s election day in Vancouver, with voting taking place between 8 a.m. and 8 pm.<\/p>\n

Voters can cast their ballots at any of the city\u2019s 85 voting places, which can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interest in the race is high, as a record-breaking 103,000 people voted in advance \u2014 up 60 per cent from roughly 65,000 voters over five advance days in 2022.<\/p>\n

The vote will determine, among other things, who will lead the city for the next four years. In the running are incumbent Mayor Ken Sim (ABC Vancouver), Pete Fry (Green Party), Kareem Allam (Vancouver Liberals), Colleen Hardwick (TEAM for a Livable Vancouver), Rebecca Bligh (Vote Vancouver), Muhammad Ahmad (Bright Future Vancouver), Amauri Caliman (Independent), and Scott Gilbert (Independent).<\/p>\n

Voters will also elect the 10 members of Vancouver City Council \u2014 with candidates from ABC, the Greens, COPE, OneCity, and others competing for seats \u2014 as well as seven Park Board commissioners and nine Vancouver School Board trustees.<\/p>\n

The election ballot includes two plebiscite questions on public safety and three Capital Plan borrowing questions.<\/p>\n

Main mayoral candidates<\/p>\n

Ken Sim (ABC Vancouver):
Sim, the incumbent mayor, is campaigning for a second term as mayor with his right-of-centre ABC Vancouver party. He says while he would be the first to admit he didn\u2019t get everything right during his tenure, he believes he can lead the city in the right direction. Part of his platform includes the promise of a zero-per-cent increase in property taxes. Earlier this month, he announced a plan for his first 100 days<\/a>, should he be elected for a second term.<\/p>\n

Pete Fry (Green):
Three-term councillor Fry, son of longtime Liberal MP Hedy Fry, has a platform focusing on housing, transportation, and the economy. \u201cFolks should be able to have a good life in this city,\u201d he has said.<\/p>\n

Kareem Allam (Vancouver Liberals):
Allam, Sim\u2019s former chief of staff, says he wants to bring youth back to Vancouver by improving affordability through jobs and housing, and investing in parks and community centres. He said his platform cuts across ideologies. Allam has distanced himself from Sim.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Bligh (Vote Vancouver):
Bligh is a two-term councillor who helped Sim get elected with ABC Vancouver in 2022 and is now running with Vote Vancouver. She says she is running to govern for Vancouver\u2019s ignored middle class and calls herself a progressive candidate with a centrist platform. She says Sim\u2019s property tax freezes protect wealthy landowners and undercut critical services. Bligh says she would work with the federal government to leverage city-owned land and provide free transit for youth.<\/p>\n

Colleen Hardwick (TEAM for a Livable Vancouver):
Hardwick is a former councillor who says the key to livability in Vancouver is effective city planning. She says she wants to repeal the city\u2019s official development plan and re-establish neighbourhood planning offices.<\/p>\n

Dead heat between Fry and Sim: poll<\/p>\n

A poll published Oct. 9 suggests a tight race for mayor, with Fry holding a one-point lead over Sim among decided voters.<\/p>\n

The Canada Pulse Insights poll, done exclusively for CityNews and OMNI TV<\/a>, puts Fry at 28 per cent and Sim at 27 per cent, within the poll\u2019s margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.<\/p>\n

Allam trails in third at 19 per cent.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Among decided voters who say they will definitely vote or have already cast a ballot, Fry leads Sim by the same narrow margin, 29 per cent to 28 per cent.<\/p>\n

Hardwick sits at 13 per cent among decided voters, followed by Bligh at seven per cent.<\/p>\n

The issues<\/p>\n

All five mayoral candidates\u2019 platforms address quality-of-life issues, including affordability and public safety.<\/p>\n

The Canada Pulse Insights poll found the top concerns among Vancouver voters are split along ideological lines, with Canada Pulse Insights CEO John Wright saying it is \u201cvery apparent there are two different streams going head-to-head here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have Pete Fry, who has a group of people who are more about the environment, more about ethics, more about accountability, more about affordability, more about housing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very distinct agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he says, those constituents supporting Sim are distinctly different.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability is the most important issue to them, but then it\u2019s crime, it\u2019s municipal taxes, it\u2019s accountability for the bottom line; they\u2019re more meat-and-potato issues,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose tend to be factors where people will get out more so and vote. If they\u2019re older voters, they oftentimes own homes and they are taxpayers, and they need to get out and vote because they take it more seriously. So it\u2019s a different group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plebiscite questions<\/p>\n

Public safety<\/p>\n

The election ballot includes two plebiscite questions on public safety.<\/p>\n

The non-binding questions ask voters if they\u2019re in favour of the city \u201cstrengthening its laws to forbid open-air hard drug use in public spaces,\u201d which is already illegal in B.C. The other asks if the city should ask the province to convert portions of the old St. Paul\u2019s Hospital into a \u201csecure medical facility\u201d with 100-plus involuntary care beds.<\/p>\n

Hardwick called the questions a \u201cpopulist election tactic,\u201d while other critics said they aren\u2019t realistic.<\/p>\n

Sim said strengthening the city\u2019s health bylaw \u2014 regulating conduct such as smoking in common areas \u2014 would allow officers to issue tickets or confiscate drugs without arrests. The involuntary care question, he said, is about asking the province to fulfil its accountability to people who pose a risk to their own safety or others.<\/p>\n

Fry said he supports managing drug use in public spaces, but differs from Sim in believing that people should be diverted to supervised consumption sites or shelters.<\/p>\n

Capital Plan borrowing<\/p>\n

The election ballot includes three questions relating to Capital Plan borrowing. They centre on: transportation and street infrastructure; community-serving and civic-essential infrastructure; and parks and open public spaces infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Votes across B.C.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just Vancouverites casting their ballots on Saturday; there are votes happening all across the province.<\/p>\n

Residents in all B.C. municipalities \u2014 like Surrey, Richmond, Burnaby and Abbotsford \u2014 are also voting for mayor and councillors.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n

Add CityNews Vancouver as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n

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