Vancouver's 2026 election: a guide to the choices

I'd like Vancouver to have more homes above shops, fewer gaps in its bike routes and more places where an ordinary errand is an easy walk. An election is a chance to ask the people seeking office what they would actually do to get there.

This guide starts with the practical details, then looks at the parties through housing, streets and public services. My interests shape the coverage. The sources are here so you can reach your own conclusions.

Voting at a glance

Election day is Saturday, October 17, 2026. Vancouver voters will elect one mayor, ten councillors, seven Park Board commissioners and nine school trustees. There are also three capital borrowing questions and two plebiscite questions. City election page

Advance voting is on October 3, 7, 10 and 13. Advance and election-day voting hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can vote at any Vancouver voting place open on your chosen day. Check the City's map for locations and accessibility. Voting places and hours

To have a mail ballot package posted to you, apply by noon on October 5. The City must receive your completed ballot by 8 p.m. on October 17. Its voter guide explains registration, identification, eligibility and arrangements for people without a fixed address. UBC and University Endowment Lands residents have different voting entitlements; check those before using a Vancouver ballot guide. Official voter guide

Who is running for mayor?

The City lists eight mayoral candidates. This is an alphabetical reference, not the ballot order.

The City's September 18 draw will determine ballot order. Its candidate pages are the authority for names, affiliations and any changes. Mayoral candidates

Council deserves attention too. The City lists 56 candidates for ten seats, including parties without a mayoral candidate and people with no party affiliation listed. Council candidates

The parties

These are selected commitments from the material linked below. Some campaigns have detailed policy pages; others have published announcements and individual candidate priorities. A promise is attributed to the person or party making it. Claims about achievements in office need to be checked against the record.

ABC Vancouver

Mayoral candidate: Ken Sim

ABC's current priorities centre on public safety, core services and taxes. It promises property-tax freezes in 2026 and 2027, followed by increases tied to inflation, and continued investment in police and mental-health nurses. ABC priorities

Sim also advocates stronger restrictions on public drug use and provincial action on voluntary and involuntary care. ABC's August safety proposal

A tax freeze makes the spending choices especially important. The campaign's investment language does not establish how much the next police budget would grow after inflation, or which housing and cycling projects would receive funding.

OneCity Vancouver

No mayoral candidate on the City's current list

OneCity's September 13 transportation announcement proposes a connected walking and cycling network, transit-priority streets with TransLink, and investment directed first to neighbourhoods with poorer access. It would publish a neighbourhood mobility report card and explore public ownership of Mobi. Connect Vancouver

Its August housing and climate announcement proposes direct installation of cooling in roughly 500 high-risk homes. The campaign estimates a gross cost of $4 million to $7.5 million; funding contributions and the eventual City cost are not established here. Built to Last

OneCity's older full platform remains online and refers to 2026 as a future election. Its detailed housing permissions should not be read as newly confirmed promises without an updated statement. Older platform

Green Party of Vancouver

Mayoral candidate: Pete Fry

Fry's current campaign page stresses housing, renters, small businesses, climate and accountability. A more specific example is his July proposal for a staff report on restoring a renters office, with a role in coordinating help and tracking problems. Council rejected the report-back motion on July 28. Council minutes, page 8 · Campaign page · Renters-office proposal

The separate Green priorities page identifies its update as May 2023. This guide does not present that document as a complete 2026 platform. Dated priorities page

COPE

No mayoral candidate on the City's current list

COPE's Council page gives several concrete candidate priorities. It describes Sean Orr pursuing tenant purchases of rental buildings for conversion to co-ops. Chloe Leslie supports public groceries, tool libraries and repair cafes. Devyani Singh supports free transit and better libraries. These are attributed candidate positions, not proof that the proposals have been enacted. COPE Council candidates

The separate Fight for Housing page is explicitly a 2025 by-election platform. It provides background, but it does not by itself settle every current policy question for the 2026 slate. 2025 housing platform

Vancouver Liberals

Mayoral candidate: Kareem Allam

The Vancouver Liberals propose consolidating housing approvals, aligning the local building code with provincial rules, adding 400 unionized frontline workers and making SkyTrain to UBC their top transportation priority. Campaign plan

In a May interview with The Tyee, Allam called for police-budget accountability before settling the funding question. That does not amount to a promise to cut the budget. The Tyee interview

For housing, the distinction worth following is between processing an application faster and allowing something that could not previously be built. The approvals proposal does not establish unrestricted six-storey permission on residential side streets.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver

Mayoral candidate: Colleen Hardwick

TEAM proposes neighbourhood-led planning, protection of older rental buildings, additional co-ops and restored parking minimums. It says development should fit neighbourhood scale and context. Housing and planning

Its transportation platform prioritises bus access, sidewalks and parking. Its safety page supports enforcement of public-drug-use laws and working with the Province on care beds. Transportation · Safety

The housing test is how much additional capacity those neighbourhood plans would permit. On drug policy, enforcing existing laws is a different commitment from strengthening them. The distinction matters when comparing parties' answers.

Vote Vancouver

Mayoral candidate: Rebecca Bligh

Bligh proposes working with community land trusts and other community organisations on co-op and community housing while retaining community ownership of public land. Her transport platform promises to complete the Broadway bike lane and improve its connections. Housing · Transportation

The named route gives readers a specific promise to follow. Its budget, design and delivery timetable remain important details.

Bright Future Vancouver

Mayoral candidate: Muhammad Ahmad

Bright Future proposes putting 20 per cent of monthly rent into renter equity and fare-free transit for Vancouver residents. These are campaign proposals. Eligibility, financing and agreements with other bodies need to be established before readers can treat them as benefits they would receive. The Blueprint

TrueBlue Vancouver

No mayoral candidate on the City's current list

TrueBlue's platform overview emphasises spending control, policing, treatment and recovery. It proposes protecting road capacity and parking and auditing underused bike lanes. An audit proposal does not establish opposition to every new cycling connection. Platform overview

Affordable Housing

No mayoral candidate on the City's current list

Eric Redmond is listed under Affordable Housing in the City's Council directory. Side Street has not yet established enough substantive current policy material to provide a useful summary. That gap should not be read as a lack of views or a refusal to answer. Official Council listing

Candidates without a party listed

Amauri Caliman and Scott Gilbert are on the mayoral list without party affiliations. The Council list also includes candidates without a party label. Their official entries link the public campaign material they have supplied. They deserve the same attention to individual positions as candidates running with a slate. Mayoral entries · Council entries

Three comparisons worth making

Housing permission and housing delivery. A party can favour co-ops while limiting building scale, or favour quicker permits without changing what a site allows. Compare both the homes that could be built and the way they would be financed and owned.

A transport ambition and a street plan. Rail advocacy, better buses and connected bike routes can all matter. A named route, a budget and a timetable make a promise easier to assess. So does a plan for the space it needs.

Police spending and the response to a crisis. Officer numbers, total spending and spending after inflation are different measures. Support for care beds does not answer whether someone favours supervised consumption services. A comparison should keep those choices visible rather than reduce them to a single safety label.

The other questions on your ballot

The three capital questions seek approval to borrow a combined $790 million: $292 million for transportation and street infrastructure, $438 million for community-serving and civic infrastructure, and $60 million for parks and open public spaces. This borrowing is part of the larger 2027 to 2030 capital plan. Official borrowing questions

The two plebiscites concern stronger laws against public drug use and asking the Province for a secure medical facility with voluntary and involuntary care capacity. They are non-binding. The City says the results do not change laws or require Council to act. Those descriptions are summaries; read the exact wording before voting. Official plebiscite wording

About this guide

Side Street is an independent Vancouver publication. This edition focuses on mayor, Council and selected party proposals; it is not a full assessment of the Park Board or School Board races. Use the City's candidate directory for the complete ballot. Who is running

Campaign sources establish what someone has proposed. They do not independently verify their claims about crime, costs or past results. No party questionnaire responses have been received for this edition, and the guide does not rank candidates or endorse a slate.

If a policy is missing or something here needs correcting, send the original source through Side Street's tip page.

Standards & Corrections explains how Side Street researches, edits and corrects its coverage.

Vancouver election guide · Try the Vancouver election compass · Standards and corrections