Colleen Hardwick to seek Vancouver City Council seat in by-election | Daily Hive

Colleen Hardwick joins by-election race for Vancouver City Council comeback

Colleen Hardwick (left) and Theodore Abbott (centre). (TEAM For A Livable Vancouver)

Colleen Hardwick is throwing her hat back into the ring, announcing her candidacy in the April 2025 by-election when Vancouver residents return to the polls to fill two vacant seats in Vancouver City Council.

Her party, TEAM For A Livable Vancouver, held a nomination meeting on Saturday afternoon and selected two candidates to run for the vacant Vancouver City Council seats.

Hardwick was a city councillor from 2018 to 2022, initially under the Non-Partisan Association party. She ran for mayor in the 2022 general civic election after reviving the TEAM party banner.

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In addition to the familiar contender of Hardwick, TEAM has also selected Theodore Abbott as its second candidate in the by-election.

Abbott, who is the party’s director of community engagement, is a recent graduate of Capilano University, majoring in the Bachelor of Arts with focuses in urban geography and multi/interdisciplinary studies.

He hosts the “On Site Report” podcast that focuses on the “globalization and gentrification of the city of Vancouver,” with the latest episode in December 2024 discussing his opposition to the significant densification strategy of the municipal government’s Broadway Plan. As well, he is a co-organizer of the “Pause the Plan” activist group against this area plan.

TEAM For A Livable #Vancouver council by-election candidates Colleen Hardwick & Theodore Abbott at nomination meeting Saturday with 200 in attendance angry at ABC Vancouver, Greens & One City support for #BroadwayPlan #vanpoli #bcpoli ⁦@CllrHardwick⁩ pic.twitter.com/ac3KLh8gER

— Bill Tieleman (@BillTieleman) February 1, 2025

Attending the @vote4team nomination meeting at Kits Neighbourhood House, the room now packed, TEAM Vancouver by-election candidates Theodore Abbott and former Vancouver City Councillor Colleen Hardwick are currently rallying those gathered. #vanpoli

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— Raymond Tomlin (@raymondtomlin.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 2:08 PM

Currently, TEAM has no elected representatives, but over the past year, the party has been highly active and vocal in its criticism of Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver party’s methods and policies — particularly Sim’s style of governance, his proposal to abolish the separately elected Vancouver Park Board, and the City’s continued implementation of the Broadway Plan.

This includes mobilizing existing renters potentially displaced by future redevelopments under the Broadway Plan, which reached a pivotal moment in December 2024 when City Council approved policy amendments allowing greater density and building heights. The party has also raised concerns about the high volume of rezoning proposals for redevelopment and the provincial government’s housing-related legislation that support such projects and reinforces the policies of the Broadway Plan.

The Broadway Plan is anticipated to be a key topic for Hardwick and Abbott on the campaign trail.

As well, last summer, in a rare address as a public speaker to City Council, Hardwick voiced her opposition to changes in the protected mountain view cone policies, with these changes now allowing taller buildings to increase residential and employment density.

“Listening to the staff report today, I’m glad I was at home, because I wanted to cry. First, the use of the term modernize is a mischaracterization and deliberate. View cones are not obsolete,” Hardwick told City Council via the phone, during the July 2024 public meeting on view cone amendments.

“So why are we doing this? Because it’s all about profit. Profit. Promoting growth is about profit. In contrast, managing growth is about livability, balancing housing, mobility, community amenities and commercial activities. It’s not the City’s job to promote growth, nor is it the provincial government’s. For that matter, it’s the City’s job to manage growth in the best interests of its present and future residents.”

Colleen Hardwick. (TEAM For A Livable Vancouver)

Over the years, including during her previous term as a city councillor, Hardwick has questioned the effectiveness of the conventional strategy of increasing housing supply to improve affordability. She has also criticized the municipal government’s over-reliance on developer-driven revenues to fund community facilities, amenities, and infrastructure.

Currently, only one other party has formally named their candidate running in the by-election. On January 28, the OneCity Vancouver party confirmed bike lane activist Lucy Maloney will be their sole candidate.

The ABC Vancouver, Green, and COPE parties are also expected to make their candidate nominations in the coming days and weeks.

The municipal government’s deadline for filing candidate applications is February 28, which is also the same day the City will announce the candidates that will appear on the ballot. The official campaign period will begin on March 8.

This by-election to fill the two Vancouver city councillor seats will be held on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Advance voting and mail-in-ballot opportunities will also be provided.

This mid-term vote is being held due to the resignation of OneCity councillor Christine Boyle on December 12, 2024, after she was elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Little Mountain under the BC NDP last fall. On January 15, 2025, Green councillor Adriane Carr also announced her resignation, citing frustrations with working alongside Sim and the ABC-led majority in City Council and a desire to spend more time with her family.

In the 2022 general civic election, Hardwick came third in her mayoral bid, earning 16,769 votes — behind the 85,732 votes of Sim and the 49,593 votes of incumbent Kennedy Stewart under Forward Together.

No city councillor candidates for TEAM were elected in 2022, with Cleta Brown securing the most votes among the party’s city councillor candidates — 20,854 votes or 24th place. By comparison, Green councillor Pete Fry secured 37,270 votes, which was the fewest number of votes among the 10 elected councillors.

After the April 2025 by-election, the next scheduled general civic election will be held in October 2026.

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