ABC Vancouver

ABC Vancouver
AbbreviationABC
LeaderKen Sim
PresidentStephen Mólnár
ChairpersonMarie Rogers
FoundedApril 14, 2021 (2021-04-14)
Split fromNon-Partisan Association
Ideology
Political positionCentre to centre-right
ColoursMagenta, blue, gold
City council
1 / 11
Park board
0 / 7
School board
0 / 9
Website
abcvancouver.ca Edit this at Wikidata

ABC Vancouver (fully named A Better City Vancouver Electors Association) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is led by incumbent mayor Ken Sim.

History

Formation

In the 2022 Vancouver municipal election, three of the five city councillors elected in 2018 for the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) – Rebecca Bligh, Lisa Dominato, and Sarah Kirby-Yung – joined and ran under ABC Vancouver. Ken Sim, the NPA's 2018 mayoral candidate, was acclaimed as ABC's mayoral candidate.

All ABC Vancouver candidates were elected. Sim was elected as mayor with 50.96% of the popular vote, defeating incumbent Kennedy Stewart by 36,139 votes (21.48% of the popular vote).

On December 20, 2023, ABC submitted an amended disclosure statement for the 2022 election, which indicated that their $1.008 million campaign had received over $116,000 in prohibited contributions.

In government

With the party forming a majority on council, ABC approved several of its key policy planks in the first few council meetings of the 2022–2026 term, including adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, green-lighting "urgent measures to uplift Vancouver's Chinatown," and directing city staff to budget $16 million to hire 100 police officers and 100 mental health nurses.

In early 2023, the ABC park board majority voted to remove most of the temporary Stanley Park bike lane in favour of replacing the bike lane with new, permanent cycling infrastructure. The first budget approved by the ABC-led council included increases in funding to the City's road maintenance, horticulture, mental health crisis response, and snow removal budgets, as well as funding increases to the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services. The council majority also voted to abandon the city's living wage certification and transition the City's base wage rate on a five-year average rolling living wage.

In May 2023, the ABC council majority voted to make numerous changes to the City's 'Empty Homes Tax,' including additional exemptions and a decision to maintain the tax's rate at 3%. Among the changes was a decision to retroactively exempt standing inventory from the tax, and return to developers $3.8 million that had been collected as empty homes tax for unsold condominium units.

Fulfilling an ABC election promise, the municipal government announced in June 2023 that the city's new Chinatown satellite office would open in July, bearing the name of Won Alexander Cumyow. The office, which will provide local services in Mandarin and Cantonese, will be located in the city-owned Chinatown Plaza mall on Keefer Street. The ABC-led Council also unanimously supported a motion from OneCity's Christine Boyle to support improved municipal services in South Vancouver and Marpole.

On December 6, 2023, three of six ABC Park Commissioners left the party to sit as independents following Sim's announcement of his motion to amend the Vancouver Charter in order to abolish the elected Park Board.

On August 8, 2024, Vancouver School Board chair Victoria Jung announced she was resigning as a member of ABC to sit as an independent trustee. Jung cited the controversy surrounding ABC's attempt to suspend Vancouver's Integrity Commissioner and freeze "any new or ongoing investigations", a move that was widely criticized, including by the B.C. Ombudsperson. It was subsequently revealed that as they were attempting to suspend the Integrity Commissioner, Mayor Sim and his Office were under investigation for a complaint that alleged bullying of an elected official.

On February 14, 2025, the party removed city councillor Rebecca Bligh from caucus, saying that "it has become clear that she is not aligned with the shared priorities and team-oriented approach that defines ABC Vancouver."

2025 council by-election

ABC contested both seats in the April 2025 council by-election, nominating Ralph Kaisers and Jaime Stein. Neither was elected, with Stein finishing sixth with 9,267 votes and Kaisers seventh with 8,915 votes. The seats were won by Sean Orr of the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) and Lucy Maloney of OneCity Vancouver.

2026 municipal election

In the October 2026 municipal election, ABC lost its council majority and retained only one seat, held by Mike Klassen. Sim was defeated in the mayoral election by Green candidate Pete Fry. None of ABC's candidates for the park board or school board were elected.

Before the election, COPE, OneCity and the Greens agreed to limit each party to a maximum of five council candidates to reduce competition among progressive candidates. The parties also committed to working towards a single progressive mayoral candidate. Following the withdrawals of COPE's Stephanie Allen and OneCity's William Azaroff, Fry was the only remaining mayoral candidate from the three parties.

Election results

Mayoral election

Election Candidate Votes % Status Result
2022 Ken Sim 85,732 50.96 1st Elected
2026 Ken Sim 67,467 32.7 2nd Not elected

City council

Vancouver City Council
Election Seats +/– Votes % Change Status
2022
8 / 11
 Increase 5 465,597 34.58 Steady Majority
2025
7 / 11
 Decrease 1 18,182 13.68 Decrease 20.90 Majority
2026
1 / 11
 Decrease 6 466,248 28.21 Increase 14.53 Opposition

References

  1. ↑ Howell, Mike (September 7, 2022). "Election 2022: Why Ken Sim wants to be mayor of Vancouver". Vancouver Is Awesome. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  2. ↑ Smith, Charlie (April 11, 2022). "Three former NPA councillors join the ABC Vancouver party". Georgia Straight. Archived from the original on July 16, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  3. ↑ Christopher Cheung, Jen St Denis (October 15, 2022). "Suddenly, Vancouver Is Sim City". The Tyee. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Register of Elector Organizations" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved November 3, 2025.
  6. ↑ Howell, Mike (April 22, 2021). "So now what happens to Vancouver's NPA party?". Vancouver Is Awesome. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  7. ↑ Azpiri, Jon (October 13, 2021). "Ken Sim to lead new party as mayoral candidate in 2022 Vancouver election". Global News. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Vancouver Election Results: Ken Sim rolls over Kennedy Stewart, vows to act fast to add police officers". Vancouver Sun, October 17, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Elections BC, Scanned Reports for ABC Vancouver". Elections BC. December 20, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Elections BC, ABC Vancouver 2022 General Election Disclosure Statement (amendment 2)" (PDF). Elections BC. December 20, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Vancouver council votes in controversial definition of antisemitism". vancouversun. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  12. ↑ "New cops and nurses, helping Chinatown among first items on new Vancouver council agenda - BC | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Vancouver council approves $16 million for 100 cops, 100 nurses". Vancouver Is Awesome. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Vancouver park board votes to remove temporary bike lane in Stanley Park". vancouversun. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  15. ↑ "City of Vancouver approves property tax hike of 10.7 per cent - BC | Globalnews.ca". CKNW. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Dan Fumano: Vancouver council under fire for abandoning living wage commitment". vancouversun. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Vancouver council looks to roll back five per cent 'empty homes' tax rate". Vancouver Is Awesome. May 5, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  18. ↑ "ABC Vancouver gives developers $3.8M tax break". Vancouver Is Awesome. May 11, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  19. ↑ "New city office in Chinatown to be named after first Chinese-Canadian born". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  20. ↑ "South Vancouver residents flood council chamber, demand lack of services be addressed". Vancouver Is Awesome. June 29, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  21. ↑ Fumano, Dan and Lee-Young, Joanne (December 6, 2023) "Move to abolish Vancouver park board reveals rift in Mayor Ken Sim's ABC party" Retrieved December 26, 2023
  22. ↑ Chan, Cheryl The Vancouver Sun (August 7, 2024) "Vancouver school board chair drops ABC amid integrity commissioner furor" Retrieved August 7, 2024
  23. ↑ Fumano, Dan. "Vancouver Sun". vancouversun.com. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  24. ↑ LaPointe, Kirk. "Business in Vancouver". biv.com.
  25. ↑ Southern, Lisa. "City of Vancouver Office of the Integrity Commissioner" (PDF). vancouver.ca. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  26. ↑ Fumano, Dan (February 14, 2025). "Vancouver city councillor Rebecca Bligh is out of ABC". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  27. ↑ Little, Simon (February 14, 2025). "ABC Vancouver boots Rebecca Bligh from council caucus". Global News. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  28. 1 2 2025 Local By-Election Results (PDF) (Report). City of Vancouver. April 15, 2025. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  29. 1 2 "Unofficial 2026 Vancouver Election results". City of Vancouver. October 18, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  30. ↑ "Vancouver's three left-wing parties agree to limit candidates in civic election". Daily Hive. April 15, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  31. ↑ Novak, Raynee (September 8, 2026). "William Azaroff exits Vancouver mayoral race, endorses Pete Fry". CityNews. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  32. ↑ "Burnaby Election Results 2026 Live: Mayor and Council". Poliwave. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  33. ↑ "2026 election unofficial results". City of Vancouver. Retrieved October 18, 2026.