13 candidates nominated for Vancouver City Council by-election | Daily Hive

13 candidates nominated for Vancouver City Council by-election this April

Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive

A total of 13 candidates are looking to run in the 2025 Vancouver City Council by-election for a chance to serve as a Vancouver city councillor for up to 18 months.

Following today’s nomination application submission deadline, the City of Vancouver released the list of preliminary candidates — people who submitted their nomination papers.

Two vacant city councillor seats will be filled in this upcoming public vote scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 2025.

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All candidates endorsed by major political parties over the last few weeks were included in the City’s preliminary list today.

This includes TEAM For A Livable Vancouver’s two candidates of former city councillor and mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick, as well as recent Capilano University graduate and Broadway Plan critic Theodore Abbott.

Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver governing party will also run two candidates, entailing Vancouver Police Union president Ralph Kaisers and tech business leader Jaime Stein.

As well, bike lane activist Lucy Maloney will be the sole candidate for the OneCity Vancouver party, Netflix actor Annette Reilly will be the sole candidate for the Green Party of Vancouver, and Downtown Eastside activist Sean Orr will be the sole candidate for the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) party.

Other individuals who submitted their nomination papers include Karin Litzcke, who previously ran as an independent for a Vancouver School Board trustee seat in the 2022 civic election, and for the Vancouver-Mount Pleasant riding’s MLA seat, representing the Conservative Party of B.C., in the 2023 provincial by-election. Also on the list are healthcare worker Jeanifer Decena, Guy Dubé, Charles Ling, Gerry McGuire, and Rollergirl.

However, these 13 names do not yet represent the finalized list of candidates that will appear on the ballot. The deadline for nomination challenges, candidate withdrawals, and the withdrawal of party endorsements is March 7 — the same day the City will conduct a random draw to determine the ballot order for the by-election. The by-election’s official campaign period will begin on March 8.

Saturday, April 5 is the general voting day for the by-election, which is scheduled to occur from 8 am to 8 pm across 24 community centres and at Vancouver City Hall.

There will also be an advance voting opportunity on Wednesday, March 26 and Tuesday, April 1 from 8 am to 8 pm at Vancouver City Hall only, as well as a vote-by-mail opportunity, with vote-by-mail package requests beginning on March 3.

The by-election 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.

Following this mid-term by-election, Vancouver voters will again head back to the polls in October 2026 for the general civic election.

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