It has been a record-breaking turnout for the Vancouver civic election so far, and final voting day is nigh, with a plethora of council candidates to choose from.
For voters who haven’t yet cast a ballot and who are still undecided, we’re doing a quick councillor check-in, as there are well over 50 candidates to choose from.
Here’s a quick look at all the parties and the candidates the parties are putting forward.
Vote Vancouver
Rebecca Bligh, Oct. 2, 2026. (Greater Vancouver Board of Trade)
Vote Vancouver, led by Rebecca Bligh as the party’s mayoral candidate, lists six council candidates on its official website.
You can read about Bligh’s plans to park “bro culture” and represent the middle class if elected mayor in our one-on-one interview.
John Boychuk
Vote Vancouver’s website states that Boychuk has been working in housing operations, small business, and community leadership for over 30 years. The party says his focus is on people, creating opportunities for residents to get involved.
Dr. Rebecca Hasdell
A public leader, researcher, and community advocate, Hasdell currently works as a leader at the BC Centre for Disease Control. Vote Vancouver says her work has focused on creating healthier communities, strengthening local food systems, and advancing policies that improve everyone’s quality of life.
Vote Vancouver also says she’s a “proud Vancouverite.”
Steve Jedreicich
Jedreicich is a real estate development and acquisitions executive. He has decades of experience “shaping communities across Metro Vancouver,” Vote Vancouver says.
Currently, he advises clients on development strategies and has “extensive expertise in architecture, construction management, negotiations, acquisitions, and working collaboratively with local governments.”
While born and raised in New York City, Vancouver has been his home for over 20 years, and he’s passionate about creating sustainable communities.
Keerit Jutla
Lawyer, business leader and community advocate, Jutla has experience negotiating with governments and forming partnerships with Indigenous communities in Canada. He’s also the CEO and founder of Invicta Metals Corp (appointed January 2026), which was built on consent-first partnerships with First Nations.
Bhavna Solecki
Solecki is referred to as an entrepreneur, clinical researcher, and community leader with “decades of experience.”
Her Vote Vancouver profile states that she has volunteered her time to numerous non-profit organizations and has been advocating for seniors’ affordable housing solutions.
“She firmly believes neighbourhoods deserve someone who has walked alongside the community members and fought for them,” Vote Vancouver states.
Geoff Teoli
Teoli is a name some might recognize, as he has previous ties to Vancouver City Hall.
Teoli is the former Vancouver Film Commissioner, as well as the former senior leader for the City’s film and special events.
He hopes to help reduce red tape, improve transparency, and foster an environment where businesses can grow.
COPE Vancouver
COPE’s former mayoral candidate, Stephanie Allen. (COPE/Supplied)
COPE, which formerly presented Stephanie Allen as the party’s mayoral candidate before she dropped out of the race for strategic reasons, has a smaller slate of council candidates.
Sean Orr
Orr, who has been a councillor since the 2025 municipal by-election, assumed office in April 2025. COPE’s website states that he has been an advocate for affordable housing, justice, and public integrity.
Notably, Orr has gone toe to toe with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim on several issues, including filing a defamation case against the mayor after he accused Orr of handing out illegal drugs to people in the street. The trial is scheduled to take place in January 2028.
Chloe Leslie
Leslie is a food security worker and also a poverty reduction advocate. COPE says she has years of experience working in Vancouver’s non-profit sector.
Devyani Singh
Singh is a climate scientist and a financial analyst. She is a senior researcher with Stand.earth and says she’s helped stop millions of dollars in financing for deforesting the Amazon.
She plans on making life more affordable by pushing for free transit and better libraries, as well as climate-safe affordable housing.
Solomon Yi-Kieran
If you’ve followed any political social media over the last month, you’ve probably seen some campaigning from Yi-Kieran.
He’s an on-campus student organizer at UBC. He helped lead a student team to campaign for the UBC SkyTrain, collecting over 15,000 signatures.
Green Party of Vancouver
Pete Fry. (Hanna Hett/Daily Hive)
Most are calling Green Party of Vancouver leader Pete Fry the primary frontrunner against Sim. You can read about Fry’s plans and why he believes he’s the Sim “antidote” on Daily Hive Urbanized.
The Vancouver Greens are running four council candidates.
Annette Reilly
Reilly has worked in the film industry, and her Green Party profile calls her an award-winning filmmaker. She’s also credited as a community organizer and lives in East Vancouver.
“Annette believes local government should be grounded in public service, integrity, and transparency.”
Her profile also says that she’s a cancer survivor and an advocate for young adults facing the disease.
Camil Dumont
Dumont’s name might ring some bells for folks tuned into Vancouver politics. Earlier in his career, Dumont worked at the Vancouver Park Board and then, in 2018, he was elected to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation as a Green member.
“During his term, he was twice elected as Chair of the Park Board and once as Committee Chair. He chose not to run again in the 2022 election, primarily for health reasons. He is strong and ready again now to get back in the arena,” the Vancouver Greens say.
Bridget Burns
Burns believes that people who keep this city running “deserve the opportunity to build a life here.”
According to her profile, Burns is a renter and understands the pressure people living in the city are facing.
“She knows what it’s like to spend most of her income on housing and to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.”
Burns says that City Hall should be putting people first by treating housing as a human right. Burns was a notable figure in the Vancouver hospitality industry, working as a server, bartender, host, and event organizer.
Stephanie Smith
Smith says that Vancouver is her city and that she grew up around her family’s small business on Granville Street. Smith says she has seen Vancouver become a harder place for everyday people to survive.
Smith has served with the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, the Vancouver and District Labour Council, and REACH Community Health Centre. She has also been a director of the Co-Op Housing Federation of BC and the Community Land Trust.
She hopes to make Vancouver a city that everyday people can afford.
Vancouver Liberals
Kareem Allam, Oct. 2, 2026. (Greater Vancouver Board of Trade)
Kareem Allam, leader of the Vancouver Liberals, was formerly the campaign manager for Sim and ABC Vancouver. He helped Sim win a landslide victory in 2022, and now hopes to take him down to become the next mayor.
The Vancouver Liberals have seven candidates for Vancouver council, with some familiar names.
John Coupar
One of those familiar names is Coupar.
Coupar has spent time at the Vancouver Park Board, with two years as Park Board Chair. He also helped fight a potential move to close the Bloedel Conservatory, for which he was a very active and vocal proponent.
Coupar says he’s a strong voice for practical, common-sense leadership, fiscal responsibility, and livable communities across Vancouver.
Victoria Jung
Chair of the Vancouver School Board, Jung says she came to the city as a young person and knows how tough it can be.
Jung believes the lack of childcare space is the single biggest issue for young families in Vancouver.
“As a member of the Vancouver Liberals, Victoria will be your advocate to make sure young people and families have everything they need to live thriving and healthy lives in our beautiful city,” the Vancouver Liberals say.
Devin Clemens
Clemens grew up in a low-income household and has studied political science and anthropological linguistics at the University of Saskatchewan.
Today, he works at UBC.
“He is running with the Vancouver Liberals because he believes in a practical, transparent, and collaborative approach to city-building,” his profile states.
Clemens wants to restore trust in City Hall and strengthen partnerships across all levels of government, including delivering policies that improve everyday life for Vancouver residents.
Armor Valor
Valor calls himself a proud lifelong South Vancouver resident. He’s running because he thinks Vancouver should be a city where people who keep it alive can afford to live, work, and build a future.
He previously ran for nomination with OneCity. He says he was drawn to the Liberals’ plan to explore a ward system, which would divide Vancouver into local districts, allowing each neighbourhood to elect its own dedicated councillor.
Valor works as a cook at Children’s Hospital and says he’s running for the people who serve Vancouver, “and still deserve a future in Vancouver.”
Dr. Moira Stilwell
Stilwell is practicing nuclear medicine at St. Paul’s Hospital. In her career as a medical professional, Stilwell says she’s seen the pressures people are facing firsthand, including rising costs and a decline in services.
She also served as an MLA between 2009 and 2017 in Vancouver-Langara and held senior cabinet roles. She was formerly Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, as well as Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation.
Stilwell says she is running to get Vancouver back on track.
Michael Wu
Wu says he became a business owner at just 19 years old, and at the height of his career, operated five companies with over 60 employees.
Wu has also previously run as an MLA candidate for a major B.C. party. He was once a member of the RCMP as an auxiliary constable, and in that role, provided 24/7 translation services in Mandarin and Cantonese while assisting officers across the community.
He’s running in the hopes of seeing safer communities, stronger local business, and “a city where young people and future generations have the opportunity to build their lives.”
Jessica Walton
Walton believes City Hall should be less focused on partisan politics, “and more on what’s best for the people of Vancouver.”
Walton says she has been a long-time advocate for fair wages and inclusive workspaces, and was once a shop steward for the BCGEU where she bargained directly with the provincial government. She is also an expecting mother and was considering leaving the city due to the lack of child care and schools in her neighbourhood.
“Jessica knows we need more advocates and regular working people at City Hall, not more politicians looking to take a crack at the job to feed their own egos,” her profile states.
OneCity
William Azaroff. (Supplied)
Former mayoral candidate William Azaroff stepped aside to allow Fry to be the progressive unity candidate for OneCity, COPE Vancouver, and the Green Party of Vancouver.
OneCity is still running five candidates for council, including someone who already is a member of Vancouver City Council.
Lucy Maloney
Maloney was elected to council in 2025 and is a former environmental lawyer.
She’s been a vocal road safety advocate, and true to her cause, we’ve spotted her riding to council meetings and City events on her bicycle.
Maloney has lived in various cities and is running for re-election to fight for “affordable housing, safer streets, climate action, and infrastructure Vancouverites depend on.”
Frances Bula
Another familiar face running for council is Bula. She is known for being a respected journalist in B.C. and has spent decades covering issues in Vancouver’s real estate market and civic politics.
“Now she’s running to bring that clear-eyed pragmatism to topics like housing and good governance at the council table,” OneCity states.
Jarrett Hagglund
Hagglund is hailed as an affordable housing champion and an advocate for the arts. His OneCity profile calls him a dedicated leader in the queer community and says he’s currently making co-op housing happen with the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC.
“He’s running to make Vancouver homes permanently affordable for those who live and work here,” OneCity adds.
Caitlin Stockwell
Another long-time climate advocate, Stockwell is a lawyer for Indigenous governments. She’s also a cyclist and Strathcona resident.
“Caitlin is running because she believes City Hall can and must do more to make sure young people, families, workers, and seniors have a place and a safe, sustainable future in Vancouver.”
Stockwell was also a OneCity park board candidate in 2022, “on a platform to increase investments in community centres.”
Iona Bonamis
Bonamis has experience as an urban and transportation planner, helping people get to where they need to go whether they’re walking, biking or taking public transit.
She has previously worked at the City of Vancouver as a senior transportation planner.
OneCity says she’s running to ensure everyday people across Vancouver have safe and affordable housing and transportation options.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver
Colleen Hardwick. (TEAM For A Livable Vancouver)
Led by Colleen Hardwick, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver is promising livability if she is elected next mayor.
You can read more about Hardwick’s plans if elected mayor in our one-on-one interview.
TEAM is running seven candidates for council.
Charles Kelly
Kelly has experience in the public sector, and TEAM says he also brings business experience to council.
He led a national management consulting firm for over 30 years, and also served as a commissioner general for the UN World Urban Forum on Sustainable Cities, which took place in Vancouver.
Kathleen Larsen
Larsen has been a member of TEAM for four years, and was the party’s park board candidate in 2022.
She was born in Vancouver and raised in Victoria, with a double major from UVIC in urban geography and psychology.
Larsen also served on the Committee of Adjustment for Toronto, appointed to that position by Toronto City Council in 2017. Larsen put her name forward as a council candidate “due to a very real feeling of desperation about the future of Vancouver.”
Raj Mundra
Mundra is hailed as a civil engineer with over 30 years of experience. He’s running with TEAM “because of its commitment to serving Vancouver residents.”
He wants to bring “constructive, informed, and community-driven leadership to City Hall.”
Amanda Boggan
Boggan is a Vancouver resident and former president of the DTES Neighbourhood Council.
Her TEAM profile says she has spent years actively engaging with civic issues, which include attending public meetings, reviewing public documents, and studying administrative law to get a better understanding of how government decisions impact residents.
“In her view, public trust depends on decisions being made within legal authority, through proper process, and for reasons that can be explained to the public,” TEAM says.
Jonathan Weisman
Weisman is a lawyer and “committed community organizer” who moved to Vancouver 17 years ago.
His running for council is based on his idea that families and youth in Vancouver, regardless of whether they’re long-term residents or newcomers, deserve to grow, thrive, and find homes in “one of the most naturally-gifted places in our country.”
Josh Gordon
Gordon has a degree in political science from the University of Toronto, and was also an assistant professor at the SFU School of Public Policy for seven years. He joined Statistics Canada in 2021, where he worked on housing data.
Currently, he works on measuring poverty in the country.
Gordon’s profile states that he has been studying the Vancouver real estate market for over 10 years.
Patrick Sauriol
Sauriol is running with TEAM because he identifies with the party’s values and approaches to addressing various issues facing the city, like affordability, growth, and potential.
His profile states that he never envisioned running for office, but sees how his background with digital and tech “prepared him to achieve his goals of reducing the complexity and clutter of bureaucracy.”
He wants to help the city diversify in industries beyond tourism and real estate.
ABC Vancouver
@kensimcity/Instagram
Sim, the current Vancouver mayor, has been the city’s leader since 2022 after a landslide victory against former mayor Kennedy Stewart.
ABC Vancouver is running the most candidates for council of any party, at a whopping 12 people.
That includes five people who are already councillors.
Lisa Dominato
Dominato is a three-time elected official in Vancouver and has held senior management roles in the BC Public Service.
She has also been a board member for sex years and board chair at Kettle Society, “helping improve the availability of affordable housing and mental health supports.”
Sarah Kirby-Yung
Kirby-Yung served as a councillor from 2018 to present, as well as on the park board between 2014 and 2018.
She says she has spent her entire career working to improve and promote Vancouver, “consistently championing issues that have made Vancouver safer, more affordable, and more vibrant.”
She has also served on the boards of TransLink, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the UBCM. She has also served as chair for the PNE.
Mike Klassen
Klassen has served as VP of the BC Care Providers Association between 2016 and 2022, and also as Vice Chair for the Vancouver City Planning Commission between 2007 and 2008.
He was elected councillor with ABC in 2022.
Earlier in his career, Klassen worked in the film industry, serving on TV and film sets. He also worked on the NBA Live franchise, once a popular EA Sports game that ended up failing miserably and was cancelled altogether after the 2018 release.
Peter Meiszner
Meiszner was also elected councillor back in 2022 with ABC Vancouver. Earlier in his career, he worked as a producer at Global News in the online division. He was also a publisher and director at UrbanYVR.
ABC says he’s passionate about architecture, urban design, and city-building, and thinks Vancouver can grow in a way that protects its character while creating more housing.
ABC adds he works closely with BIAs across the city to help strengthen local businesses and help neighbourhoods thrive.
Lenny Zhou
Zhou, also elected in 2022, is an East Vancouver resident. ABC says he was motivated to run because of the rise in the cost of living, violent crime, and racism in Vancouver.
“He wants Vancouver to be an affordable and safe city for his son and the next generation to grow up in.”
Zhou was the source of headlines earlier this year, after allegations were made that he called some of his opponents drug users in a social media video on WeChat. He apologized and deleted the video following the criticism.
Joyce Gillepsie
A newcomer to the ABC team, Gillepsie is an entrepreneur.
She has lived in the West Side since 1994 and has run volunteer organizations in her neighbourhood for the past two decades, including as president of the Dunbar Little League.
“She believes City Hall should run the way a good organization does: focused on the basics, accountable for results, and respectful of taxpayers.”
David Grewal
Another newcomer with ABC is Grewal, and like Gillepsie, he is another entrepreneur.
Grewal served as chair of the West End Business Improvement Association, where he worked closely with local businesses and residents.
Over the past four years, Grewal has been an advisor to Sim, “providing strategic advice on key municipal priorities and helping advance initiatives that support economic development, community engagement, and effective local governance.”
Lorraine Lowe
Lowe is likely another familiar name for many living in Vancouver, as she has worked for several local organizations, including the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (which she is taking a leave of absence from for the sake of running for council), and is vice-chair of the Vancouver Police Board.
She has also been executive director for the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens, where ABC says she became a trusted community voice and bridge builder.
Arezo Zarrabian
Zarrabian is a senior crime analyst with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and is the second ABC council candidate to come from the VPD.
Previously, Brian Montague served with the VPD and retired in May 2022, before deciding to run for council later that year. He succeeded and was elected.
Before her work at the VPD, Zarrabian studied criminology and political science at SFU. ABC says Zarrabian believes in the importance of the growth of Vancouver’s business community and has collaborated with various BIAs. She’s also a strong advocate for small business owners.
Other parties and interesting candidates
Bright Vancouver
Bright Vancouver / @Muhammad_Ahmad2/X
Bright Vancouver is another party running some candidates, including a mayoral candidate, Muhammad Ahmad, in the 2026 Vancouver election.
There are a total of six council candidates running for council under the Bright Vancouver banner. Most of the candidates are community builders and community advocates, and all come from racialized backgrounds.
“Bright Future Vancouver was created in response to the rising cost of living, persistent public safety concerns, and the feeling many residents have that City Hall is no longer close enough to the people it serves,” the website reads.
Bright’s council candidates include Andy Lin, Judith Kasiama, Ibrahima Cisse, Yadwinder Mangat, Mohadeseh Gharib P. Arasi, and Bilal Khan.
TrueBlue Vancouver is another party that hasn’t garnered a lot of media attention.
An Instagram post suggested that TrueBlue candidates were attending a vigil for Charlie Kirk in September.
There’s also John Jones, who is running under the party Vote Palestine Vancouver.
Other candidates
Roller girl Angela Dawson (YouTube)
The official City of Vancouver website also lists several other candidates that aren’t affiliated with any particular parties.
One candidate who made waves during previous elections is once again running for council. It’s Angela Dawson, who is listed on the City of Vancouver website as ROLLERGIRL, which is what most Vancouverites know her as. Dawson ran for mayor in 2018.
Noi Soudarack is one more council candidate who seems to be running as an independent.
Other candidates have no public profile listed, but you can see the full list on the City website.
Final voting day takes place this Saturday, Oct. 17. One week later, final voting day for the provincial election will take place on Oct. 24.