More candidates announced for Vancouver's 2-seat byelection

Two more Vancouver political parties have named their candidates for the city's April 5 byelection.

The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) announced Sean Orr, while TEAM for a Livable Vancouver will run Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott.

"The 2025 byelection is a referendum on Ken Sim and ABC," said Hardwick, who placed third in the 2022 mayoral race and was a Vancouver city councillor from 2018 to 2022.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver party have a super majority on council with seven of 10 council seats.

The byelection comes two and a half years into council's four-year mandate, with OneCity's Christine Boyle resigning in December after being elected to the provincial legislature.

The Vancouver Green Party's Adriane Carr quit in January, saying she had lost confidence and trust in the mayor. 

Like OneCity, which announced environmental lawyer and transportation advocate Lucy Maloney as its candidate in late January, Hardwick and Abbott said the target of their campaign was Sim and ABC's record.

"If you talk to people in Vancouver … and ask them if they think Ken Sim has done a good job, it's an almost constant no," said Hardwick.

"Is the city more affordable? No. Taxes have increased beyond the level that they did under Kennedy Stewart. Are we still dealing with crime? Are things cleaner? The infrastructure aspects of the city have not improved at all."

Joining her in the race is Theodore Abbott, a recent Capilano University graduate who grew up in East Vancouver and studied urbanization, housing policy, land use and social change. He's also the host of the On Site Report podcast about urbanization.

"A big part of what I'm running on is to advocate for the housing that Vancouverites actually need," he said. "And they'll tell you what the last thing that Vancouver needs more of are high-rise luxury towers. Like what we see in the Broadway plan."

So far, TEAM is the only party to announce two candidates in the byelection.

OneCity, COPE, and the Greens (yet to announce a candidate) said they would only run one in order to avoid splitting progressive votes as happened in the 2017 byelection.

Hardwick and Abbott said they weren't worried about splitting votes, possibly denying either of them a seat. They want voters to see them as a duo on council supporting each other in opposition.

"You need someone to make motions and someone to second motions for one thing," said Hardwick. "And being a one-off in a solo act is certainly inconsistent with being part of a team."

COPE's candidate

On Monday, COPE confirmed that Sean Orr would be its candidate after a unanimous vote from party membership.

Orr, a recent SFU graduate in geography and political science, is a dishwasher who has been blogging about local politics since 2005.

"I've used my writing and my past to scrutinize those in power and amplify social movements, and I think we really need someone who will be a voice for the people.

"Usually, it's landlords and affluent insiders that are shaping our policy, and I think people should shape policy."

COPE last elected a city councillor in 2018, Jean Swanson, who was not re-elected in 2022. Orr also ran unsuccessfully for council in that election with VOTE Socialist, garnering eight per cent of the vote.

"COPE's values are my values," said Orr about the progressive party, which was formed in 1968 with labour, housing and the environment as key values.

He wants Vancouver to implement a mansion tax, a type of real estate transfer on high-value homes, and more equitably fund social programs in the city.

In 2022, ABC ran on a platform of public safety and fiscal responsibility but recently attracted criticism over decisions around supportive housing, climate policies, championing bitcoin for the city, and a move to dissolve the elected park board.

All candidates must be declared by Feb. 28. Mail-in ballot packages for eligible voters will be available starting on March 18, with advance voting on March 26 and April 1. General voting day is April 5.