Vancouver’s 2026 civic-election ballot is set with 130 candidates in ballot order

Vancouver’s 2026 civic-election ballot has been finalized with 130 candidates seeking a mayoralty, 10 city council seats, seven park board commissioner positions and nine school board trustee positions. General voting day is Saturday, Oct. 17. Advance voting is scheduled for Oct. 3, 7, 10 and 13, and voters may also request a mail-in ballot package.

Eight candidates are running for mayor: Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, Pete Fry of the Green Party of Vancouver, Rebecca Bligh of Vote Vancouver, Muhammad Ahmad of Bright Future Vancouver, incumbent Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver, Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals, Amauri Caliman and Scott Gilbert. Caliman and Gilbert have no listed party affiliation. There are 56 candidates for council, 35 for park board and 31 for school board.

ABC Vancouver has nine council candidates, the largest party slate. TEAM and the Vancouver Liberals have seven each; Vote Vancouver and Bright Future Vancouver have six each; OneCity has five; and the Greens and COPE have four each. Earlier this year, OneCity, the Greens and COPE agreed to limit the number of candidates each would field for council, park board and school board. COPE’s Stephanie Allen and OneCity’s William Azaroff later withdrew from the mayoral contest. The moves were intended to reduce vote-splitting among progressive and left-wing candidates.

The 130 candidates are fewer than the 158 who ran in 2018 and the 137 who ran in 2022. The ballot order was determined by a random draw conducted by City election officials last week.

The ballot for elected offices will also include a question on the City’s capital plan, including proposed borrowing of $790 million to help fund new and improved community and recreation facilities and infrastructure. A second ballot will carry two non-binding public-safety plebiscite questions approved last month by ABC’s governing council majority. They ask whether the City should strengthen laws to prohibit open-air use of heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl and crack cocaine in public spaces, and whether it should formally ask British Columbia to convert part of the former St. Paul’s Hospital or a similar site into a secure medical facility with acute voluntary care and more than 100 involuntary-care beds for people who pose a serious risk to themselves or others because of severe substance-use and mental-health disorders.