Major candidates for Vancouver mayor gathered at UBC’s Robson Square campus for a debate Tuesday night, but incumbent Mayor Ken Sim was notably absent. Hosted by the university’s Sauder School of Business, and specifically its Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, the debate focused on real estate-related topics, including zoning, housing affordability, homelessness and public safety. Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals, Rebecca Bligh of Vote Vancouver, Colleen Hardwick of TEAM and Pete Fry of the Green Party of Vancouver were all in attendance at the well-attended event. William Azaroff, formerly the mayoral candidate for OneCity Vancouver, did not participate. He dropped out of the race and endorsed Fry earlier in the day Tuesday. Azaroff and former COPE candidate Stephanie Allen each dropped out of the race in an effort to unite left-leaning voters behind a single progressive challenger to Sim. Asked why he didn’t attend Tuesday’s debate, Sim’s ABC Vancouver party issued a statement that read, in part: “We get invited to a number of debates, and we’re participating in many of them. As we were determining which debates to attend, we were waiting on the full slate of candidates.” Nomination packages for October’s municipal election are due on Friday. Election day is Saturday, Oct. 17.
