A socialist candidate came first with over 51 percent of all the votes in Vancouver’s recent byelection. This clearly shows that people are looking for real change.
On Saturday, April 5, Vancouver went to the polls to elect two councillors to replace two who had resigned. The campaign was dominated by two issues — the deep unpopularity of the ruling ABC party and how best to protect renters.
COPE (the Coalition of Progressive Electors), Vancouver’s long-standing, left-wing municipal party, won on both issues. COPE is the only Vancouver party that consistently defends renters. Sean Orr, COPE’s candidate, is a well-known housing activist and proud socialist.
ABC won a majority on council, led by Mayor Ken Sim in 2022, promising sensible government. Once elected, they delivered reactionary policies in favour of the rich and developers. In the byelection, ABC was crushed, coming bottom out of all the parties. Mayor Sim is hated — this was a big negative driver of the votes. COPE’s slogan, “Evict Ken Sim,” was hugely popular. We kept running out of buttons with that slogan.
| Party | Description | Candidate | Votes | % |
| COPE | Strong left, consistently fights for renters | Sean Orr | 34,448 | 51 |
| OneCity | Soft left, NDPish | Lucy Maloney | 33,732 | 50 |
| TEAM | Conservative, anti-developer | Colleen Hardwick | 17,352 | 26 |
| GREEN | Wishy-washy green | Annette Reilly | 15,045 | 22 |
| TEAM | Conservative, anti-developer | Theodore Abbott | 11,581 | 17 |
| ABC | Council majority, reactionary pro-developer | Jamie Stein | 9,267 | 14 |
| ABC | Council majority, reactionary pro-developer | Ralph Kaisers | 8,915 | 13 |
| Total | 67,962 |
Of the 25 polling stations open on election day, COPE and Sean Orr won 14. This included every poll in east Vancouver as well as the high renter areas such as the West End and some of the more working-class areas with single homes. OneCity’s Maloney won 7 polls, but several by only a few votes more than COPE. The better off Westside of Vancouver voted for TEAM. ABC did not win a single poll. Even in the rich areas, COPE got more votes than ABC.
The people of Vancouver decisively rejected ABC and solidly supported COPE’s Sean Orr.
The parties
COPE was founded in 1968 by an alliance of community activists and the Labour Council and over many ups and downs, fought for working-class people in the city. Socialist Alternative has been part of the coalition since 2018. There were two other parties that most people see as “progressive” contesting the election. OneCity, a rightward split from COPE in 2014, is left of centre and closely linked to the mainstream of the provincial NDP. The Greens, a moderate version of that party, have had a representative on the council since 2011.
Before the byelection the Labour Council’s leadership tried to pressure COPE not to run. Instead, these three parties each ran only one candidate for the two seats. If COPE had accepted the Labour Council’s pressure, it is probable that a TEAM candidate would have been elected.
TEAM, only founded in 2021, is staunchly anti-developer and politically conservative. In many ways it hearkens back to the Vancouver of 40 to 50 years ago.
COPE’s core program is to protect renters by closing the loopholes that allow landlords to evict tenants and jack up the rents. On every table people talked about reno-viction and demo-viction. If a building is replaced the existing tenant should have the right to return to a same size unit at the old rent. COPE wants a Mansion Tax, an extra tax on properties valued at over $5 million. This money would be used to build affordable public housing. COPE also supports keeping an elected Park Board and winning free transit for all.
During the election COPE wanted to buy billboard space to say, “Evict Ken Sim.” The billboard owners refused, claiming the slogan was violent. Yet every day landlords evict tenants. Sim’s cops regularly throw people’s tent and all their possessions in a dumpster. This is real violence, but it is okay in a city run for developers.
COPE ran, by far, the best campaign, with tables on street corners across the city, intensive canvassing in the renter neighbourhoods and an effective social media campaign. With bold policies and a strong candidate, there were plenty of volunteers to do the work. Even on finances, an area where the pro-developer parties usually do well, COPE far exceeded its fundraising targets. In 2024, the year before the byelection, ABC raised over $400,000 — the developers love it, but money cannot always buy elections. With strong finances, COPE ran radio ads and did successful targeted mailing to many potential voters.
Voter suppression failed
ABC tried to use voter suppression to save its skin. Many people across the city did not receive a voting card in the mail. This is usually sent to every voter in every election, saying there is an election, and how and where to vote. Even on polling day we met people who did not know there was an election.
ABC cut the number of polling stations in half compared to the 2017 byelection and the staff was cut even more, by 62 percent. Inside the voting stations there were half or fewer than half of the normal number of staff checking voter identity. They claimed this was to save money, a spurious excuse.
The turnout jumped dramatically from the last byelection in 2017. This time 67,962 ballots were cast for a voter turnout of 15 percent, up by 40 percent over 2017. Voters had a reason to turn out: they were both angry at ABC and positive about COPE’s program.
Especially in the more working-class areas that have a lot of renters there were long waits to vote, in some cases up to three hours. Usually in elections in Vancouver a wait of 20 minutes is a long time. Luckily it was a sunny spring day.
COPE’s program gave people a reason to vote, and the deliberate slashing of polling stations was not going to stop them. Most people, knowing about the cuts in voting places, were angry and even more determined to stay and vote.
The reality of ABC
ABC won a landslide victory in 2022 promising to provide a sensible politically middle-of-the-road government. The 2022 victory followed four years of a council with a “progressive” majority that was widely perceived as failing. COPE’s Jean Swanson was a consistent fighter for renters and working people. However, the “progressive” group of three Greens, one member of OneCity and Mayor Stewart, former NDP MP, somehow managed to ensure they did not all vote together on the key issues to protect the city’s residents from the ravages of developers.
Once elected, ABC showed its true reactionary colours. After promising to keep Vancouver’s elected Park Board, Sim proposed to abolish it. Three of six Park Commissioners left ABC. Their School Board chair resigned from ABC. Councillor Bligh was expelled from the party for having some humanity over her opposition to ABC’s callous policy decision to freeze supportive housing in the city. Kareem Allam, who managed ABC’s election win and then was Sim’s chief of staff, resigned his job after a few months, disillusioned with ABC’s actions. He posted of its defeat, “They finished dead last among all the parties. Why? The ABC administration has strong Trump overtones.”
Role of Socialist Alternative
This is the fourth city election where Socialist Alternative has been the backbone of the campaign in Grandview-Woodland, a key working-class part of the city. In the weeks leading up to the election, we did six shifts of tabling on Commercial Drive and eight shifts of knocking on doors in 45 apartment buildings, speaking to 450 people in their homes. We raised $383 for COPE and sold 74 copies of our magazine.
In addition, on election day there were 38 volunteers focused on getting out the vote. All day the zone house was busy with volunteers going in and out, with plenty of food and snacks to keep everyone going. We ran two tables on Commercial Drive, with the first starting at 7:45 am and both were up until just before the polls closed at 8:00 pm. Over the day we canvassed 66 buildings. On election day we sold 18 magazines.
Britannia polling station, in the centre of Grandview-Woodland, had the highest share of the vote for COPE in the city, 75 percent, tied with Carnegie, in the centre of poorest part of the city. The energy of Socialist Alternative is in clear contrast to most of the so-called revolutionary left in Vancouver who almost completely ignored the campaign, having no concern with the real daily needs of the city’s working class.
Lesson for the NDP
The big political lesson is that society is polarizing, and when a viable strong left puts forward bold policies it gets results. Too often in society the right dominates in a polarized society as there is not a viable left pole of attraction. Weak parties, such as the NDP in Canada or the US Democrats are no answer to the anger in society that the right has successfully tapped into.
The NDP federally is facing possibly its worse election result in decades. This is, in part, because for 2.5 years they propped up the Liberals. In the federal election they have not stood out with a clear program for working-class people during a trade war. No mention of public ownership, of a massive program to build publicly owned houses, to tax the rich or a drive for renewable energy.
Will some in the NDP after April 28 call out for a new direction, for a return to the NDP’s socialist roots? As the Vancouver election proves, there is a wide-open space in Canadian politics for a strong pro-worker socialist voice.
Looking ahead
ABC was humiliated but still has a majority on council. The four opposition councillors — one each from COPE, Greens, OneCity and Independent (Bligh, expelled from ABC) — cannot out-vote ABC. Of course, they can use the council chambers to highlight the many failings of ABC.
Especially for COPE, what will be most important is what it does outside of the council, on the streets and in the neighbourhoods. COPE is a campaign party so between now and the full council election in October 2026, it needs to build a movement. Mass pressure can push council to take different decisions. The issue of protecting renters is huge in this city. COPE needs to have a housing campaign now. This is also the best way to build for a victory in 2026. That is when Vancouver can “Evict Ken Sim.”
