68% approval: Vancouver votes 'Yes' in public safety plebiscite questions | Daily Hive

68% vote 'Yes' in Vancouver public safety plebiscite on tougher public drug-use laws and secure treatment facility

ABC's press conference on Aug. 13, 2026, announcing the public safety plebiscite during the October 2026 civic election. (Kenneth Chan)

Vancouver voters have backed Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party’s proposal for stronger laws against the public use of hard drugs and a proposal to seek a secure medical treatment facility, voting “Yes” to both questions in the City of Vancouver’s public safety plebiscite held during the October 2026 civic election.

While the election results for who will fill the seats of mayor, city councillors, Vancouver Park Board commissioners, and Vancouver School Board trustees were counted on election night this past Saturday night right after the polls closed, the separate ballot forms for the public safety plebiscite were not scanned and counted until after election night, with voters dropping those ballots into a cardboard box at the polling stations.

The public safety plebiscite results were announced for the first time this afternoon, as part of the City’s release of the official election results — replacing the preliminary results made on election night.

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The first public safety plebiscite question asked whether Vancouver should strengthen its laws to prohibit open-air use of heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and crack in public spaces. There were 137,178 “Yes” votes, as opposed to 62,880 “No” votes — an approval rate of 68.6 per cent.

The second question asked whether the City should formally request the provincial government’s action to convert portions of the old St. Paul’s Hospital, or a similar site, into a secure medical facility. It would provide acute voluntary care and 100-plus involuntary care beds for people whose severe addictions and mental health disorders put themselves or others at serious risk. There were 135,509 “Yes” votes and 63,722 “No” votes — an approval rate of 68 per cent.

New mayor and City Council highly unlikely to take action on plebiscite results

The results give the incoming Vancouver City Council a significant measure of public support for both proposals, although the plebiscite is non-binding and merely advisory. The vote itself does not automatically change the municipal government’s laws or approve the creation of a treatment facility.

However, both “Yes” results stand in stark contrast to voters’ rejection of Mayor Sim and his ABC party, which championed the plebiscite.

While both of ABC’s public safety proposals received very strong support, Sim lost the mayoral race to the Green Party of Vancouver sitting city councillor Pete Fry, and Mike Klassen was the only ABC councillor re-elected. There is now a left-wing and progressive supermajority in City Council for the next four years; the Greens, COPE, and OneCity Vancouver parties will hold 10 of the 11 seats on City Council, including the mayor’s seat, leaving decisions on how to respond to the non-binding vote largely in their hands.

All three parties repeatedly voiced their very strong opposition to staging the public safety plebiscite — during the summertime debate and vote in City Council on whether to stage the plebiscite, and throughout the campaign trail. This makes it highly unlikely they will take any action as proposed by ABC.

Mayor-elect Pete Fry indicated the plebiscite’s outcome would not substantially change his approach to public drug use and treatment.

In an in-depth and wide-ranging post-election interview with Daily Hive Urbanized yesterday, Tuesday, Oct. 20, before the plebiscite results were released, mayor-elect Fry was asked whether he would do anything differently depending on the outcome. He replied: “No, not really.”

He described the non-binding plebiscite as an opinion poll and “a bit of a cynical election ploy” by ABC, arguing it asked residents to weigh in on issues beyond the City’s authority.

On treatment, Fry said the provincial government had already committed to secure care beds in Vancouver. He also pointed to projects already underway, including the withdrawal management facility at the corner of the intersection of Clark Drive and East 1st Avenue under construction and the new St. Paul’s Hospital set to open in Spring 2027.

Mayor-elect Fry’s approach to reducing public drug use would centre on giving people somewhere else to go, alongside better access to shelter and support. He called for lifting ABC’s bans on consumption sites, overdose prevention sites (OPS), and net new supportive housing, as well as expanding daytime shelter access so people living outside can use toilets and connect with services.

“As far as open-air drug use, of course, we don’t want open-air drug use. Part of that is finding solutions and giving people better places to go,” Fry told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Fry questioned the value of using police resources to arrest people for drug use, which he described as largely treated as a health issue. He instead emphasized directing people away from public spaces where they should not be consuming drugs and towards appropriate alternatives.

He also wants greater attention paid to helping people before their circumstances deteriorate. Drawing on his community work with vulnerable families near the Downtown Eastside, Fry pointed to help with food, employment, counselling, and children’s learning needs as ways to address problems earlier.

While acknowledging that Vancouver cannot solve addiction and mental health challenges alone, he argued that earlier support could reduce the need for costly responses involving police, firefighters, and City cleanup crews.

Voters approve new borrowing to help fund the capital plan

Separately, Vancouver voters approved all three capital borrowing plebiscite questions in the civic election, giving the municipal government the legal permission to borrow a combined $790 million for new and improved community and recreational facilities, infrastructure, and utilities.

The borrowing will fund a portion of the City’s $3.5 billion, four-year capital plan from 2027 to 2030.

The request to borrow $292 million for transportation and street infrastructure received 147,559 “Yes” votes and 41,669 “No” votes, representing 78 per cent support.

The largest borrowing request, for $438 million for community facilities and essential civic infrastructure, passed with 79.4 per cent support. There were 150,309 votes in favour and 38,914 against.

The $60 million borrowing request for parks and open public spaces received the highest approval rate, with 80.7 per cent support. It attracted 152,969 “Yes” votes, compared with 36,590 “No” votes.

Unlike the non-binding public safety plebiscite, these approvals give City Council authority to borrow up to the specified amounts for the purposes outlined in each question during the four-year period.

Final election turnout results

Today’s official election results also confirmed that a total of 209,711 ballots were cast in Vancouver’s 2026 civic election, representing a turnout of 43.4 per cent among 483,324 registered voters. That is up from 36.3 per cent in the 2022 civic election and matches the 43.4 per cent turnout also recorded in the 2014 civic election, which was the previous highest turnout.

Mail-in voting also increased substantially, with 17,238 completed voting packages received before the deadline — nearly 2.4 times the 7,217 returned in 2022. This year’s total represents an 84.7 per cent return rate among the 20,344 active packages, excluding those cancelled by voters.

The newly elected City Council, Park Board, and School Board will be inaugurated on Nov. 2, 2026.

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