Municipal byelection: Saturday April 5

First candidate announced is Lucy Maloney (OneCity)

TLDR: two councillors have stepped down from Vancouver city council, and there’s a byelection to elect two new councillors. ABC will continue to have a majority of at least 8/11 seats, but it’s an opportunity to send a message. Advance voting will be between March 26 and April 1, and election day will be Saturday April 5.

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In the 2022 municipal election, ABC’s Ken Sim was elected mayor, defeating Kennedy Stewart. Every one of ABC’s seven council candidates was also elected, with four new councillors replacing Colleen Hardwick (TEAM), Jean Swanson (COPE), Michael Wiebe (Green), and Melissa De Genova (NPA). Adriane Carr and Pete Fry (Green) and Christine Boyle (OneCity) were re-elected.

In the October 2024 provincial election, Christine Boyle ran for the BC NDP in Vancouver - Little Mountain, and was elected. Adriane Carr announced a couple weeks ago that she’s also stepping down.

There’ll be a byelection on April 5 to elect two new councillors. Byelections always have much lower turnout than regular elections, because the stakes are low - in this case, it’s not going to affect ABC’s majority. It’s more like an opportunity to send a message.

Personally, I’d like to see OneCity keep their foothold on council. I think ABC has been pretty good on housing (consistently voting Yes on housing and bringing in Josh White as director of planning), but it’s helpful to have a pro-housing opposition. Christine Boyle was a strong advocate for both market and non-market housing. With Forward Together, Vision, and Progress Vancouver (formerly YES Vancouver) having been shut out in the 2022 election, OneCity is the progressive pro-housing party that’s still standing.

To avoid vote-splitting, OneCity and the Green Party will each be running one candidate. The OneCity candidate is Lucy Maloney, who I’ve met - she’s from Australia, she’s known as a cycling advocate and a parent volunteer, but she’s also a lawyer with experience in both the public sector and private sector. If she’s elected, I expect she’ll be effective in understanding the problems that we face - especially housing being so scarce and expensive - and pushing hard to fix them, as well as scrutinizing ABC’s decisions.

I’m planning to volunteer for Lucy Maloney’s campaign.

None of the other parties have announced their candidates yet.

• I expect ABC will run at least one candidate, possibly two. They don’t need more seats, but it’ll be helpful in preparing for the 2026 municipal election.

• I haven’t heard anything about who the Green candidate will be.

• COPE is planning to run one candidate, likely Sean Orr (who ran for VOTE Socialist in 2022).

• TEAM (the housing-skeptical party) is planning to run two candidates. My guess is that they’ll be Colleen Hardwick (who has name recognition) and Theodore Abbott (who’s younger, and more from the Vancouver Tenants Union side).

More

• Vancouver Coun. Adriane Carr resigns. Chad Pawson, CBC News, January 15.

• Vancouver council confirms details of 2-seat byelection on April 5. Chad Pawson, CBC News, January 21.

• Bike lane activist to run for OneCity in Vancouver City Council by-election. Kenneth Chan, Daily Hive, January 28.

• OneCity website for Lucy Maloney. Reddit thread.

Campaign video for Lucy Maloney: