Vancouver Civic Election 2026

[GenWhy?]

"“We've learned a lot,” he said Monday. “We didn't realize the bureaucracy that we'd be facing and how difficult the province would be on this one issue.”"

Fair enough and seems reasonable to me.

[whatnext]

So the cowards at ABC cancelled the last planned council meeting so there will be no official council business dealt with until after the next election. Worse, it was on a motion put forward by the useless Kelowna-dwelling Brian Montague. They need to be turfed.

'Shameful': ABC Vancouver unexpectedly nixes final meeting before months-long pre-election 'quiet period'
Dan Fumano: ABC councillors said they needed to cancel a scheduled July council meeting to handle a very busy agenda. But it's not clear why they can't conduct council business by meeting some time in the next three months, as other city councils do

Author of the article:By Dan Fumano
Published Jul 15, 2026

https://vancouversun.com/news/abc-vancou...eak?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

[GenWhy?]

Guess the date that Council ended in 2022

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Guess the date that Council ended in 2022

Oh, and they took an extended FIFA break in 2022 also?

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Oh, and they took an extended FIFA break in 2022 also?

Seems like Council ends at the end of July each year.

In October of 2025 Council voted for the current 2026 schedule (including FIFA delays) and looks like they've run out of time to hold the new Standing Committee on Policy meeting for July 29 (with newly introduced Motions), and I assume they're using the two reserve meeting dates (July 30 and 31) for the ongoing hearings.

Villages will need another 1-2 days I guess.

There is a new Public Hearing tonight, and one reconvening on the 22nd from a July 14 meeting

[whatnext]

Hold the presses L’il Ken has uncovered a vast foreign conspiracy. No time for council meeting but time for emergency meetings apparently.

‘Foreign interference’: Vancouver mayor calls emergency meeting after California residents call in to public hearing
By Emma Crawford
Posted July 23, 2026 7:49 am.
Last Updated July 23, 2026 8:51 am.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says he has organized an emergency meeting with the City Manager and Vancouver Police Department Chief Steve Rai after several individuals from California called in to speak at a public hearing on the city’s Villages plan Wednesday.

“At tonight’s public hearing, there were numerous individuals obstructing council business. It is clear that this is foreign interference,” Sim said.

“Only those affected by land-use decisions should speak before council, not those calling….

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/07/23/vancouver-mayor-foreign-interference/

[madog222]

“What is your personal motivation for speaking and calling into a foreign country and another city that you have not been to?” Kirby-Yung asked.

Christina responded, “I’m concerned about the precedent that these things can set.”

[csbvan]

The internationalization of NIMBY. These people have absolutely lost it. Calling not just in to a different city BUT A DIFFEREMT COUNTRY. Deranged people.

[GenWhy?]

Unite 40 paying people again?

[Feathered Friend]

AI slop, Californians, and bogus 'translators': Vancouver council went off the rails this week
Dan Fumano: After a very weird week at Vancouver city hall, a local labour leader confirmed to Postmedia that her union asked allies from outside of Canada to phone into Vancouver council in an attempt to influence a contentious urban planning decision.

Author of the article:By Dan Fumano - Published Jul 23, 2026 - Last updated 18 minutes ago - 6 minute read

AI slop and foreign influence arrived at Vancouver City Hall on Wednesday evening in what may have been the city’s strangest council meeting in at least a decade.

Tuesday’s public hearing was bizarre enough, when several representatives of a local hotel workers’ union were accused of filibustering, which included the use of supposed “translators” — one of whom confessed when pressed by councillors that they did not actually speak the language they purported to be translating.

But then Wednesday’s late-night meeting blew away the previous evening in terms of weirdness, when several people phoned in to address council, and then confessed, when asked, that they were phoning from California.

When pressed by councillors, many of these speakers admitted they had never been to Vancouver. When asked why they decided to phone in from California to attempt to influence an urban planning proposal in Vancouver, they offered very similar, flimsy, and seemingly scripted explanations.

At Tuesday evening’s public hearing, several members of Unite Here Local 40 addressed council. At least three of them — Local 40 president Zailda Chan, as well as organizers Cristina Figueroa and Preet Sangha — spoke through translators on Tuesday, although all three addressed council in fluent English at a May meeting to oppose fast-tracking small hotels in different neighbourhoods. ABC Coun. Brian Montague accused the speakers of using translators they did not really need — who, in some cases, weren’t even actually translating — in order to “waste time” and “filibuster.”

The names of several speakers who identified themselves Wednesday as out-of-town callers match with people affiliated with Unite Here’s Los Angeles chapter.

But Unite Here opposes more than just the villages. The union scheduled a rally Thursday outside Cty Hall to oppose Holborn’s four-building proposal, which features Vancouver’s tallest skyscraper and includes 1,546 market homes, 237 social housing units, and a 920-room hotel.

There's more information in the article.
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columni...couver-council-really-goes-off-the-rails

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

There's more information in the article.
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columni...couver-council-really-goes-off-the-rails

Not only absurd, but bad tactics. The news story no longer is "Opposition to X Development/Plan", it instead becomes "Coordinated Campaign Against Local Decisions by Foreign Groups", which makes it politically easier to pass the rezonings.

[WarrenC12]

I doubt this passes. Every statement I've heard is waffling on it. Nobody wants to stand out in an election year.

[RedArbutus]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Not only absurd, but bad tactics. The news story no longer is "Opposition to X Development/Plan", it instead becomes "Coordinated Campaign Against Local Decisions by Foreign Groups", which makes it politically easier to pass the rezonings.

100% this. I was just thinking about this this morning. Once the average low-information voter learns about what's going on, it drives their motivation on the issue where previously they had none. I think it's a bad strategy long-term by Unite 40.

[kikin]

I don't agree with everything Sim has done (crypto distractions were nonsense), but overall I think he has been doing a good job and I am really thankful he won versus the alternative that would have seen things way worse in this city by now.

He is the logical choice for re-election imho

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by kikin

I don't agree with everything Sim has done (crypto distractions were nonsense), but overall I think he has been doing a good job and I am really thankful he won versus the alternative that would have seen things way worse in this city by now.

He is the logical choice for re-election imho

What specifically has he done that you like? Are you a CoV property owner/taxpayer?

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

What specifically has he done that you like? Are you a CoV property owner/taxpayer?

I'm one and I think Ken Sim is a meathead but I'm also a tactical voter planning to vote down ballot not just for mayor. My hard no's in October as a YIMBY are anyone having to do with TEAM, COPE, or the Greens. I hate the fact that OneCity are extending olive branch after olive branch to COPE and the Greens and are intentionally handicapping themselves to try to get the others into office which makes me uneasy to vote for them this election.

Who else is there to vote for?

For me it's between the proven but faulty ABC or the unproven Vancouver Liberals who as far as I can tell are ABC in all but name anyway. I can't tell if they have any momentum so I'll be making my decision at the ballot box I guess.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I'm one and I think Ken Sim is a meathead but I'm also a tactical voter planning to vote down ballot not just for mayor. My hard no's in October as a YIMBY are anyone having to do with TEAM, COPE, or the Greens. I hate the fact that OneCity are extending olive branch after olive branch to COPE and the Greens and are intentionally handicapping themselves to try to get the others into office which makes me uneasy to vote for them this election.

Who else is there to vote for?

For me it's between the proven but faulty ABC or the unproven Vancouver Liberals who as far as I can tell are ABC in all but name anyway. I can't tell if they have any momentum so I'll be making my decision at the ballot box I guess.

I don't necessarily disagree with you but I would love to hear kikin actually explain the specifics of what he wants or what he thinks ABC is doing.

Ken Sim absolutely said the right things leading up to the 2022 election. It's no surprise ABC totally ran the table on council and the vote totals show it. However he delivered very little if anything he actually said he was going to, and even flip flopped the wrong way on things like the Park Board. He seems spineless and easily distracted.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I can't entirely blame OneCity for the coalition, because so far they've never had more than one seat at a time. Maybe they'll try and go it alone in 2030 if they have a big enough share.

[kikin]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

What specifically has he done that you like? Are you a CoV property owner/taxpayer?

just bought our first home ( 1 br condo) 2 years ago after saving and skrimping to build a down payment together for the last 10 years, no parental help or generational money at all

After seeing the shitshow that Stewart was before him, it is very impressive to me to see Sim standing up to the province on the SRO's and drug consumption sites and street disorder, I'm sick of the ideological nutcases in this part of BC that think more taxes and more government and more catering to the lowest possible denominator is a good thing

Sim isn't perfect, but the last thing our economy needs is a mayor that discourages business and investment here (and I do realize that the provincial government has more power in this overall, but it is good to have a mayor that is standing up for our city)

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by kikin

just bought our first home ( 1 br condo) 2 years ago after saving and skrimping to build a down payment together for the last 10 years, no parental help or generational money at all

After seeing the shitshow that Stewart was before him, it is very impressive to me to see Sim standing up to the province on the SRO's and drug consumption sites and street disorder, I'm sick of the ideological nutcases in this part of BC that think more taxes and more government and more catering to the lowest possible denominator is a good thing

Sim isn't perfect, but the last thing our economy needs is a mayor that discourages business and investment here (and I do realize that the provincial government has more power in this overall, but it is good to have a mayor that is standing up for our city)

I would attribute all of that to the Province and listening to voters in general. They went into an election seeing a popular Conservative party and adjusted accordingly.