Bright Future Vancouver
Muhammad Ahmad
Ahmad’s campaign biography describes him as a communications professional and community advocate raised in Lahore. He is running for Bright Future Vancouver.
Read the profile →Vancouver votes · October 17, 2026
Vancouver Election 2026: Your Voting Guide
A tax freeze, more apartments, a bus lane on your route. Here’s what the campaigns are proposing, what they told us, and how to get your vote in.
What changes on your block?
The questionnaire asks about small shops on residential streets, room for apartments and how we use street space. The campaigns’ explanations help show what those choices would mean.
The local election is October 17. B.C.'s snap provincial election is October 24, and provincial advance voting starts October 16. These are separate ballots with separate voting places. Read why both votes matter and plan your dates.
Plan your Vancouver vote
Check the City’s official voting information for dates, eligibility and where to vote. Then use these guides to work through the choices.
New · Candidate questionnaire
Compare the answers we received
8 candidates and 4 parties replied. Compare their answers, including the conditions they attached.
City of Vancouver · Municipal election 2026
Vancouver election compass
Answer 16 questions about homes, buses and City spending. Compare your choices with the replies and published positions we’ve collected.
Take the municipal compass 16 questions · No signup
Compare candidates and parties side by side
This compass covers Vancouver’s city election.
The election, briefly
Vancouver elects a mayor and ten councillors to make decisions about City services, taxes and streets. The City finalized the candidate list and ballot order on September 18. The B.C. provincial election on October 24 is a separate vote, with its own ballot, voting places and advance voting from October 16 to 21. Elections BC has the details ↗
Housing rules and delivery, transportation choices and public safety are themes across the campaign sources below. A municipal promise can also depend on the Province, TransLink or a health authority.
The full ballot also includes seven Park Board commissioners, nine School Board trustees, three Capital Plan questions and two plebiscite questions. This guide does not yet compare Park Board or School Board candidates, or evaluate the Capital Plan questions.
For Park Board candidates, the Burrardview Community Association publishes a rolling collection of replies to seven questions about consultation, accountability and parkland use. Read the original questions and background alongside the full replies. This is a separate community association questionnaire, with its own scope and qualifications; its answers are not included in Side Street’s compass. The association does not score, rank or endorse candidates.
The plebiscite questions concern public drug use and care and are non-binding. Read the official wording and voting information directly; our policy statements are not the ballot wording.
Pools and the election
The Aquatic Centre is heading for demolition. What comes next for swimmers?
Read about the replacement pool, places to swim during the rebuild and the campaigns’ different promises for swimmers.
Read the news brief →Where to swim during the rebuild · Compare the campaigns’ pool promises
What happens after the election
Send a tipThe decisions and changes I’m following next. If you know something about one of them, tell me.
- City Hall · Coverage planned
What happens after a Council promise?
Follow a specific commitment through a motion, a budget and a change people can see on their block.
Read the commitments on record - Homes · Coverage planned
What happens next at the former Point Grey Safeway?
Follow the permit process and material changes to the proposed homes, grocery space and walking connections.
Read the proposal explained - Streets · Coverage planned
Which missing bike connection comes next?
Follow one useful route through its design, funding and construction decisions.
Suggest a missing connection - Parks · Coverage planned
How much swimming access survives the Aquatic Centre closure?
Follow lessons, clubs and public swimming access as replacement plans develop.
Read the swimming guide
Who is running for mayor?
Vancouver Liberals
Kareem Allam
Allam is a political strategist who managed ABC’s 2022 campaign and served as Ken Sim’s first chief of staff. He is now running for the Vancouver Liberals.
Read the profile →Vote Vancouver
Rebecca Bligh
Bligh’s campaign biography identifies her as a two-term Vancouver councillor, Metro Vancouver director and former president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. She is running for Vote Vancouver.
Read the profile →No party listed
Amauri Caliman
Caliman appears on the City’s mayoral candidate list with no party affiliation listed. The official entry links his public Instagram and TikTok accounts.
Read the profile →Green Party of Vancouver
Pete Fry
Fry was first elected to Vancouver City Council in 2018. He is the Green Party of Vancouver’s mayoral candidate.
Read the profile →No party listed
Scott Gilbert
Gilbert is listed by the City with no party affiliation. His campaign website describes his work in public-interest investigation and civic advocacy.
Read the profile →TEAM for a Livable Vancouver
Colleen Hardwick
Hardwick served on Vancouver City Council from 2018 to 2022. Her campaign biography describes a career in film production and the founding of the public-consultation platform PlaceSpeak. She is running for TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.
Read the profile →ABC Vancouver
Ken Sim
Sim is Vancouver’s incumbent mayor, elected in 2022. The City biography records his business background as a co-founder of Nurse Next Door and Rosemary Rocksalt. He is seeking another term with ABC Vancouver.
Read the profile →Official mayoral candidates ↗ · Complete council candidates and affiliations ↗
The parties and their platforms
Open the party guide and questions to follow →
All ten party labels found in the council research are included, regardless of polling or seat count. They are listed alphabetically.
ABC Vancouver
Its September platform pledges a 2027 property-tax freeze and stronger public-drug restrictions. The September 28 family plan adds childcare, recreation and infrastructure commitments; it does not settle the conditional tax-versus-service-cut question.
ABC Vancouver: first part of 2026 platform ↗
City: 2027–30 Capital Plan approved ↗
ABC earlier platform, not reaffirmed for 2026 ↗
Affordable Housing
October 3 text and browser checks exposed no readable current platform on the linked site. The 2022 voter-guide platform remains historical; no current compass answers are invented from the party name.
Bright Future Vancouver
The Blueprint supports City-owned rental housing, co-op zoning and civilian crisis teams. Missing-middle apartments, land pricing and bus-lane conversion are optional estimates. Its luxury-property levy requires legal authority and is distinct from the general property-tax levy.
Bright Future Vancouver: Blueprint ↗
Bright Future: Pure Vancouver ↗
CityHallWatch / FSGAC: Bright Future Vancouver ↗
Bright Future: The Roots Project ↗
COPE
The September 28 platform commits to City-owned affordable housing, new co-ops on City land and funded peer-assisted crisis teams. Broader zoning, bus lanes, taxation and low-barrier housing interpretations remain optional estimates where the exact question is not settled.
Stephanie Allen / COPE priorities ↗
COPE: platform meeting notice ↗
COPE: Fight for Vancouver — 2026 platform ↗
COPE: Fight for Vancouver — 2026 platform ↗
COPE: Fight for Vancouver — 2026 platform ↗
COPE: Fight for Vancouver — 2026 platform ↗
COPE: Fight for Vancouver — 2026 platform ↗
Green Party of Vancouver
The full September platform supports four- to six-storey homes, affordability before maximum City-land returns, publicly owned housing bonds, co-op expansion and non-police CROW response. Some transit, traffic and supportive-housing conditions remain estimates; current station-area height comparisons remain gaps.
Greens: Fry proposes overdose-prevention operating standards ↗
Greens nominate 2026 council candidates ↗
CityHallWatch / FSGAC: Green Party of Vancouver ↗
Green Party of Vancouver: Building the Housing We Need at Home ↗
Daily Hive: Pete Fry unveils Green Party of Vancouver's housing plan ↗
Greens: CROW and Office of Community Safety ↗
Greens: 2026 platform release ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
Greens: A City That Works for You — 2026 platform ↗
OneCity Vancouver
September housing, safety and budget releases propose citywide low-rise homes and corner stores, a municipal housing builder, non-police crisis response and taxes supporting services. Conditions not settled by these releases remain visible as estimates or gaps.
OneCity: You Belong in Vancouver ↗
OneCity: public housing-builder proposal ↗
OneCity: Labour Day commitments ↗
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver
Current plans propose repealing major growth and transit-area plans, retaining RT zoning and restricting multiplexes, alongside co-op housing and local speed bumps. Several zoning and land-pricing directions are estimates; public land support does not establish City ownership of homes. Its recovery plan remains separately qualified.
TEAM: Respect for Neighbourhoods ↗
TEAM: Hastings-Sunrise traffic barriers ↗
TEAM: Restoring Order to Our City (public safety and recovery plan) ↗
Daily Hive: Colleen Hardwick unveils TEAM's public safety plan ↗
TEAM: Finance and Administration 2026 ↗
TEAM: Respect for Neighbourhoods ↗
TEAM: Respect for Neighbourhoods ↗
TEAM: middle-income housing plan ↗
TEAM: Respect for Neighbourhoods ↗
TEAM: transportation details ↗
TrueBlue Vancouver
The platform stresses cost control, policing, treatment and road capacity. Its site describes registration as incomplete; use the official City roster for candidate affiliations.
Vancouver Liberals
The October 1 platform proposes co-ops on more City land, residential shops, fifteen additional financial-crime police officers and expanded peer-assisted crisis teams. Bus-lane tradeoffs and low-barrier eligibility remain estimates; City ownership and housing height permissions remain gaps.
CityHallWatch / FSGAC: Vancouver Liberals ↗
Vancouver Liberals: full 2026 platform ↗
Vancouver Liberals: full 2026 platform ↗
Vancouver Liberals: full 2026 platform ↗
Vancouver Liberals: full 2026 platform ↗
Vancouver Liberals: full 2026 platform ↗
Vancouver Liberals: full 2026 platform ↗
Vote Vancouver
Proposes community ownership of public land, more co-ops, completing the Broadway bike lane and improving cycling connections.
Vote Vancouver: Housing & Belonging ↗
About this guide and its sources
10 parties · 8 mayoral names · 16 questions · 26 draft answer placements out of 160 possible comparisons. Evidence updated 2026-10-03.
The profiles draw on public campaign material. We’re still researching many of the answers; you can see what we’ve found below.
Compare party answers and sources · How the comparisons work
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