Vancouver voters elected Green Party councillor Pete Fry as the city’s 42nd mayor on October 17, 2026, defeating incumbent Ken Sim. The municipal election swept an overwhelmingly left-of-centre council into power alongside a non-binding public safety plebiscite where residents overwhelmingly supported stricter rules against open-air drug use.
Pete Fry secured a decisive victory in Vancouver’s civic election on Saturday, capturing roughly 47 per cent of the vote compared with Sim’s 32 per cent, and finishing thousands of ballots ahead of incumbent Ken Sim. The two-term city councillor becomes Vancouver’s first Green mayor. Voter turnout exceeded 43 per cent, surging higher than in the previous municipal vote four years prior.
The incumbent’s support collapsed dramatically. Sim saw his vote share drop from 51 per cent during his 2022 victory down to 32 per cent, shedding backing as progressive parties coalesced around a single mayoral contender. Public opinion surveys showing most locals felt Vancouver was headed the wrong way, combined with the 2025 council byelection outcome where his two candidates managed under 15 per cent of the ballots, meant Sim entered this race facing constant vulnerability. Before winning election to City Hall in 2018, Fry spent his whole professional life working in or managing small businesses; he told attendees at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade mayoral forum earlier in the month that his experience as an independent graphic designer equips him with a deep understanding of local enterprises.
Progressive Supermajority Sweeps Vancouver City Council
The electoral shift dismantled the business-oriented ABC Vancouver majority that had dominated municipal governance since 2022. Out of 10 city councillor seats, left-of-centre and progressive parties captured nine (as reported by Daily Hive). The newly configured council includes four members from the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), four Greens, one OneCity councillor, and a lone ABC survivor in incumbent Mike Klassen (The Globe and Mail noted).
According to the City of Vancouver’s preliminary count, COPE’s Sean Orr secured the highest individual vote count among city councillor candidates, winning 83,038 votes. Annette Reilly of the Green Party followed closely with 78,476 votes, Chloe Leslie of COPE received 67,791 votes, Devyani Singh of COPE obtained 65,473 votes, Stephanie Smith of the Green Party gathered 64,070 votes, Lucy Maloney collected 63,143 votes, Camil Dumont of the Green Party secured 62,540 votes, Solomon Yi-Kieran of COPE attained 60,361 votes, Mike Klassen of ABC won 57,798 votes, and Bridget Burns of the Green Party notched 57,788 votes. Just trailing Burns—who captured the final available council seat—were Joyce Gillespie of ABC with 54,981 votes, Peter Meiszner with 54,507 votes, Sarah Kirby-Yung with 54,453 votes, and Lisa Dominato with 54,446 votes. Parallel sweeps on the Vancouver Park Board and Vancouver School Board placed those bodies entirely under Green, COPE, and OneCity control (according to preliminary tallies).
Voters Back Non-Binding Public Safety Plebiscite
Alongside the candidate races, ballots included two questions requested by Sim’s administration (Yahoo News Canada reported).
- Nearly 70 per cent of 200,058 respondents voted yes on Question 1, supporting strengthened municipal laws to forbid open-air hard drug use in public spaces.
- Sixty-eight per cent of 199,231 respondents voted yes on Question 2, asking the province to convert portions of the old St. Paul’s Hospital or a similar site into a secure medical facility providing acute voluntary and 100-plus involuntary care beds.
Mayor-elect Fry dismissed the ballot questions as a cynical sort of get-out-the-vote election ploy
(Yahoo News Canada quoted him saying).
Overwhelmed, but also very humbled and very grateful to the people of Vancouver, who clearly delivered me a very solid mandate and support. It makes me feel good about our city, because we ran a very positive campaign in the face of some very negative attack ads and very negative messaging.
Pete Fry, Vancouver Mayor-elect, via CityNews Vancouver
Priorities for Local Business and Community Safety
Fry brings a background as a self-employed graphic artist and small business operator (BCBusiness noted). Ahead of the vote, he laid out specific commitments to assist enterprises squeezed by bureaucratic hurdles, including the introduction of a municipal business navigator
at City Hall and efforts to fast-track change-of-use permits (reported by BCBusiness).
His comprehensive policy agenda focuses on improving public safety by increasing the availability of daytime facilities and shelters to offer individuals refuge and access to essential amenities such as restrooms, while concurrently pushing for stricter operating guidelines at supportive housing properties and overdose response sites to minimize their disruption to surrounding neighborhoods.
Vancouver’s first Green Party Mayor Pete Fry is laying out some of his priorities in a one-on-one interview with our Sarah Jones, and at the top of the list – the city’s budget. https://t.co/vnIKhbFsFt
Mayor-Elect Fry and Council Inaugurate on November 2
The outgoing ABC-led council retains one final scheduled public meeting on October 27 (Daily Hive confirmed). Final official civic election results are scheduled for release on Wednesday, October 21 (according to municipal election updates). The formal inauguration for Mayor-elect Fry and the newly elected council is set for November 2 (reported by CFJC Today Kamloops).