Three Vancouver left-leaning parties clash over idea of 'unity' mayoral primary | Daily Hive

Three Vancouver left-leaning parties clash over proposed progressive 'unity' mayoral primary

William Azaroff (OneCity/Supplied)

With eight months remaining before Vancouver’s October 2026 civic election, the OneCity Vancouver party has declared what some have called an ultimatum for progressive/left-leaning municipal political parties to begin the process of uniting behind a single mayoral candidate.

On Tuesday, OneCity mayoral candidate William Azaroff announced his party’s proposal to the Green Party of Vancouver and the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) to stage a “Progressive Primary,” a concept first advanced by COPE city councillor Sean Orr and Green city councillor Pete Fry.

Azaroff, fresh off his victory against Amanda Burrows in OneCity’s internal leadership race last week, has given the Green and COPE parties until 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, to respond on whether they agree to OneCity’s proposed terms for such a primary. This includes requiring all three parties to compete, enabling current party membership as of Feb. 17 to vote for a single progressive mayoral candidate, and concluding the primary within 45 days (early April).

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Furthermore, this primary election would be administered by a jointly agreed and appointed independent third-party chief electoral officer, membership lists would be verified by an external, independent third-party auditor, and all related costs of running the election would be shared equally by the three parties.

Following the vote, the two losing mayoral candidates would permanently withdraw from the civic election race. This would provide a six-month window before the election for the winning candidate to ramp up and take their pitch to all Vancouver residents, with Azaroff suggesting this is a necessary step to prevent vote splitting and improve their chances of defeating Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver governing majority.

OneCity appears to be suggesting that they are the party with significant organizational momentum, with over $324,000 raised in 2025 and a membership of 2,800 people, with this month’s mayoral nomination race recording nearly 2,300 member votes.

Azaroff is the CEO of non-profit housing developer and operator Brightside Community Homes and a former executive at Vancity Credit Union.

On Jan. 20, the Green party announced Fry would be their mayoral candidate — the party’s first Vancouver mayoral candidate in 30 years. COPE has yet to nominate anyone.

“Ken Sim won’t be defeated by posts, polls or prayers. We took the proposal for a primary by Sean Orr and Pete Fry over the last month seriously. I like the idea of a democratic primary, and OneCity is prepared to follow through on it with a plan,” said Azaroff in a statement.

“In the 36 hours after my nomination, I asked the party to come up with a proposal for how we could do this, do it right, and do it fast. That’s what I directed our Board and Negotiating Team to table with COPE and the Greens.”

However, following Azaroff’s announcement on Tuesday, both the COPE and Green parties issued statements indicating the public announcement and the proposal based on internal discussions — now being daylighted to the public — came as a complete surprise to them. The other parties were not notified in advance.

“While we welcome a proposal from OneCity on how to unite progressives behind a mayoral campaign, we are also a bit confused by the full details and context of what is being proposed, in light of private conversations between parties,” said COPE co-chair Sam Smart, noting that talks of a “unity progress” among progressive candidates first began in 2024.

COPE co-chair Nate Stanley added, “COPE is a people-driven party, and we have a constitution and bylaws that empower our members to make these decisions. The COPE membership has given us a mandate on unity talks, a fair deal to limit and compete that prioritizes the choice of people in the city ahead of the aspirations of one party or another. We don’t know that COPE members would approve this unexpected proposal, but in any case, parties should probably talk to each other about it.”

COPE, for its part, has already taken several formal steps toward both a primary and candidate limiting. Last week, COPE members passed a motion endorsing, in principle, a “People’s Primary” and a fair limiting agreement between parties.

The COPE motion directs party bodies to table offers on both candidate limiting and defining the primary process, accelerate recruitment of a mayoral candidate, and prepare for scenarios in which candidates step aside “for the purposes of letting a stronger candidate take the lead, or vice versa.”

“In the event of an agreement, parties will focus their attacks on parties they do not want to collaborate with, instead of parties they do. Contrast between parties is explicitly allowed, and there is no expectation of mutual endorsement,” reads the motion by COPE.

Pete Fry. (Kenneth Chan)

The Green party said it is reviewing OneCity’s proposal but warned that “unity cannot be achieved with attention to a mayoral mechanism alone, particularly on a timeline proposed by OneCity that we are only learning about now.” The party also emphasized that “any agreement made in principle must be ratified by our respective memberships in accordance with our bylaws.”

The Greens argue that cooperation must go beyond the mayor’s race and include binding limits on the number of candidates each party runs across Vancouver City Council, Vancouver Park Board, and Vancouver School Board. “Progressive cooperation must include a binding limiting agreement across Council, School Board, and Park Board. Without this, any primary would be merely symbolic rather than substantive,” reads the statement.

They pointed to a proposed limiting framework tabled last week by COPE, which would cap the field at up to five combined mayor and city councillor candidates (there are 10 city councillor seats, plus the mayor’s seat), up to four Park Board commissioner candidates (there are seven commissioner seats) and up to four School Board trustee candidates (there are nine trustee seats).

“The Greens have agreed to this framework in principle,” the statement said, adding that it is meant to ensure no single party dominates any elected body.

“The time for broad statements has passed. The time has come for concrete commitments.”

Today, accountant and local activist Mike Tan, who is particularly known for campaigning against new developments in Chinatown, announced his intent to run for City Council under OneCity. As well, yesterday, Park Board commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky — formerly with ABC — announced he has joined the civic Liberals.

To date, other mayoral candidates in the race include Kareem Allam of the newly formed Vancouver Liberals, and sitting city councillor Rebecca Bligh of the new Vote Vancouver party.

Late last year, former mayor Kennedy Stewart told Daily Hive Urbanized he is seriously considering throwing his hat into the race. It should also be noted that his party, Forward Together, which was created ahead of the 2022 civic election, was dissolved in 2025.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver party — led by former city councillor Colleen Hardwick — and the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) are also expected to confirm mayoral candidates of their own.

The civic election is scheduled for Oct. 17, 2026.

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