Soul-searching ahead for Mayor Ken Sim and ABC after blowout byelection loss

Vancouver’s newest city councillors say their byelection wins give them a mandate to push against the policies of Mayor Ken Sim.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim promised to take a hard look at what went wrong in this weekend’s byelection as his party’s candidates finished a distant sixth and seventh in the race for two council seats.

Left-leaning candidates Sean Orr of the Coalition of Progressive Electors, and Lucy Maloney of OneCity, claimed victory after receiving more than 33,000 votes each.

Former Vancouver Police Union boss Ralph Kaisers and one-time BC United MLA candidate Jaime Stein, running under Sim’s A Better City banner, finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

Stein received 9,267 votes and Kaisers got 8,915, finishing last among candidates endorsed by one of the civic political parties.

In total, 67,962 ballots were cast – 40 per cent more than in the last Vancouver civic byelection in 2017.

“It’s really a decisive victory for progressives in Vancouver. The people of Vancouver have made their views very strongly felt about the performance of this mayor, Ken Sim, and his party ABC,” Maloney said.

During the campaign, both winning candidates framed the byelection as a referendum on the performance of the mayor and ABC councillors.

Orr even used ‘Evict Ken Sim’ as his campaign slogan.

“I’m blown away by the people of Vancouver. They stood in line for three hours to really send a message to Ken Sim and ABC that what they’re doing isn’t working for them and they want change,” Orr said.

• Read more: Vancouver’s newly elected city councillors say they have a mandate to push back against Ken Sim, ABC

Some voters told CTV News they were motivated by opposition to rapid developments under the city’s Broadway Plan, saying they fear people evicted from affordable rentals will be forced out of the city.

Others said ABC’s pause on all new supportive housing units drove them to the polls.

At an unrelated news conference Monday afternoon, Sim said he’s proud of his party’s accomplishments – but doesn’t take the byelection results lightly.

“There are people in the city that don’t feel that way and that’s definitely not the intent. So yeah, we’re taking a really hard look as to why people feel that way and what we can do to be better,” Sim said.

If Saturday’s results truly reflect the electorate’s disappointment in the party’s policies and personalities, it doesn’t have much time to right the ship.

Some political watchers aren’t sure they can before the next civic election in just 18 month’s time.

“I think a miracle would have to happen to keep Ken Sim in the mayoral seat and at the head of ABC,” said political commentator and former Non-Partisan Association city councillor George Affleck. “I think internally the battle’s already beginning. You can see some backstabbing within the caucus.”