1st candidate in Vancouver's 2-seat byelection announced

OneCity is the first of Vancouver's political parties to announce its candidate for the city's April 5 byelection.

On Tuesday, it named environmental lawyer and transportation activist Lucy Maloney.

"We need leaders at city council who can stand up to Ken Sim and his broken promises and who can stop him from doing more damage," said Maloney outside city hall.

OneCity is the party of Christine Boyle, one of two Vancouver city councillors to resign their seats in the past two months.

Boyle was elected to the provincial legislature in October and formally resigned from Vancouver's city council in December.

The Vancouver Green Party's Adriane Carr followed her a month later, saying she had lost confidence and trust in the mayor. Carr had been the current longest-serving Vancouver councillor at city hall. She was elected in 2011.

The byelection sets up a de facto referendum on the current council, roughly two years into its mandate.

Do voters add another two opposition voices to council, or do they further strengthen the current ruling party with more seats?

ABC Vancouver has seven of the 10 council seats under Mayor Ken Sim. It ran on a platform of public safety and fiscal responsibility in 2022 but has recently attracted criticism over decisions around supportive housing, climate policies, championing bitcoin for the city, and a move to dissolve the elected park board.

Maloney was quick to pounce on ABC's record at the news conference announcing her candidacy.

"Ken Sim isn't working for us," she said. "He doesn't listen to the community. He doesn't listen to his own caucus. He only listens to his friends. We need leaders at city council who can stand up to Ken Sim."

Former ABC candidate Scott Jensen, a Vancouver Park Board commissioner, now sitting as an independent and at odds with Ken Sim, endorsed Maloney for city council.

"I've seen how she shows up time after time to defend our public land and community services in our parks," he said in a OneCity news release.

Maloney said a priority for her, if elected, would be to bring back a version of the city's Renter Office, which was disbanded in 2023 after council questioned its efficiency.

Maloney, who said she and her family were victims of a renoviction in the city's West End, where her children went to school, wants council to put in place a tenancy advocacy office as a one-stop shop offered by the city to help renters.

"Although we have some strong tenant protections in Vancouver, enforcement isn't clear," she said. "Tenants have been left to advocate for themselves."

When ABC councillors voted to end the renter office, council did increase grants to non-profits serving renters by $250,000. The renter office costs about $600,000 per year to run.

Other Vancouver political parties, such as COPE and the Vancouver Green Party, have said they would only run one candidate in the byelection to avoid splitting votes among progressive parties.

TEAM for a Liveable Party, which includes former councillor Colleen Hardwick, said it would run two candidates.

So far, ABC said it is in discussion within the party to figure out its plans.

OneCity said it was able to move quickly to announce its candidate because its members voted at a special meeting at the end of 2024 to allow its board to select a candidate rather than through a formal nomination process.

According to a staff report approved by council at its Jan. 21 meeting, all candidates must be declared by Feb. 28.

Mail ballot packages for any eligible voter will be available starting on March 18, with advance voting on March 26 and April 1. General voting day is April 5.