North Shore Election 2026: Trio of incumbent mayors fend off challengers

It’s election day on the North Shore as North Vancouver and West Vancouver voters head to the polls to choose who will lead them for the next four years.

For everything you need to know about how and when to vote in the North Shore’s municipal elections, click HERE.

If you’re still undecided on who to vote for, check out our preview story about the major issues and priorities on the North Shore.

Then follow along with our live-blog HERE throughout the day and night for the latest election news from across the Metro Vancouver region, and check back here where we’ll keep this post updated all night with North Shore election results and reaction.

All three mayors on the North Shore hope to wake up tomorrow with the same job they had this morning, but each is facing significant competition from challengers hoping to unseat them.

In North Vancouver District, Mike Little is competing for his third term as mayor against four contenders: transportation planner Stephan Nieweler, businessman Max Zahedi, electrical engineer Graham Alexander and candidate Paolo Pucci.

In North Vancouver City, two-term mayor Linda Buchanan is facing off against three rivals: Dave Kurvers, a veteran of the film industry, Mike McGraw, a former school board trustee, and business owner Oliver King.

In West Vancouver, political veteran Mark Sager is fending off three people vying his job: his former council colleague Sharon Thompson, longtime journalist Kirk LaPointe, and marine lawyer Joe Spears.

When the ballots are counted this evening, West Vancouver may be the closest race on the North Shore, where a key issue is the lack of affordable housing in the middle- and upper-middle-class communities.

This term, West Vancouver council defied the province‘s housing targets of 220 new homes, approving only 58 in a district largely dominated by singe-family homes. But in April, the province overrode the council, paving the way for taller buildings along main corridors.

LaPointe, a former managing editor of The Vancouver Sun, promises to balance safeguarding the community’s character with approving “missing-middle housing” for seniors, young families and first responders.

Thompson, a two-term councillor, promotes “gentle densification” that respects existing neighbourhoods while exploring alternatives such as duplexes, townhouses, and small multi-family buildings.

Sager, who was mayor in the 1990s and re-elected in 2022, pledges “carefully managed” growth in the Ambleside neighbourhood and expanding housing for seniors and families.

The campaign website for Spears doesn’t specifically mention a housing plan, but promises to grow municipal revenue to pay for services.

Like West Vancouver, North Vancouver District has built only a fraction of the homes requested by the province. And in April, Little and a majority of councillors rejected a provincial request for bylaw changes that would allow more small, multi-unit housing in the district, over concerns of insufficient municipal services and transit.

Nieweler’s main goals are transportation and transit updates, but he also wants affordable housing near transit stops.

Zahedi’s priorities include holding property tax increases to below inflation, and getting 1,000 new affordable rental and co-op homes on district land.

Alexander is mainly focused on the North Shore treatment plant cost overruns, and has filed a $10-billion lawsuit against the municipality he wants to run.

Postmedia was unable to find any campaign information for Pucci, the fifth candidate.

In North Vancouver City, unlike its neighbouring municipalities, city hall has far exceeded the number of new homes requested by the province, it reported in June.

In her bid for re-election, Buchanan vows to continue delivering housing, citing her record of working with community groups and senior governments.

Kurvers is running against Buchanan on a platform of better managing the city’s growth, including using different building layouts to create larger apartments for families.

McGraw promises to plan child care and other community services before approving projects that increase neighbourhood density.

King, on his Facebook page, said he’d collect no salary as mayor. He would not agree to speak with a Postmedia reporter this week to answer questions about being charged by the RCMP in March with 18 firearms-related offences.