Stewart names first Vancouver City Council candidates under new party

Mayor Kennedy Stewart names first three Vancouver City Council candidates under his new party

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart (@kennedystewart/Twitter)

Over the weekend, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart named the first three city councillor candidates running under his new Forward Together party.

Joining Stewart in the campaign will be software developer Russil Wvong, Harvard University women’s studies graduate and MIT city planning graduate Dulcy Anderson, and Vancouver Community College science educator Hilary Brown.

Since 2017, Anderson has been working as the constituency assistant for David Eby, who is the BC NDP MLA for the Vancouver-Point Grey riding, the Attorney General, and the BC minister responsible for housing.

Brown is noted as an advocate on accessibility issues, ever since an accident when he was 22 years old, the first year he moved to Vancouver, turned him into a paraplegic.

Tackling housing affordability is noted as a key issue for all three candidates.

Over his term as an independent, without the clear backing along party lines from other councillors, Stewart at times struggled to push policies forward in City Council. The creation of Forward Together is integral to Stewart’s strategy of governance, should he be re-elected.

“I know residents want a council that is united around an ambitious vision for a city for all of us,” said Stewart. “My Forward Together team is ready to work with councillors from other progressive parties, so we can make Vancouver more affordable, sustainable, caring, and prosperous.”

In the 2018 civic election, Stewart narrowly won his mayoral bid, just 957 votes ahead of Ken Sim, who represented the NPA at the time and is now running under the ABC Vancouver banner ahead of the 2022 civic election.

The upcoming civic election is scheduled for October 15, 2022.

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