Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is set to make his first public comments since voters dealt his ABC Vancouver party a blow in Saturday’s municipal byelection.
Sim is scheduled to hold a press conference unveiling a new business growth task force task force at noon on Monday. Global News will stream the event live here.
Voters braved hours-long lineups on Saturday to cast ballots in a byelection to replace two city councillors.
COPE’s Sean Orr and OneCity’s Lucy Maloney were elected, each drawing close to 50 per cent of the vote, about double the tally of their nearest challenger, Colleen Hardwick with TEAM.
ABC Vancouver’s two candidates, tech entrepreneur Jamie Stein and Vancouver Police Union president Ralph Kaisers, finished sixth and seventh with 13.6 per cent and 13.1 per cent of the vote respectively.
Orr and Maloney have both said voters sent ABC — whose majority on council was unaffected by the byelection — a clear message that they’re unhappy with how the mayor’s party is running the city.
On Sunday, Vancouver’s city manager, Paul Mochrie, issued a public apology for how the byelection was administered.
The vote saw turnout of 15.09 per cent, a 40 per cent increase over the city’s last byelection in 2017.
“I want to acknowledge that voting wait times that many electors experienced yesterday were unacceptable. The extended wait times at many voting places reflected flawed planning assumptions for this by-election that informed staff decisions and the plan presented to Council,” Mochrie said in a statement.
“These shortcomings are deeply regrettable and I apologize to all voters impacted by delays, as well as to candidates and civic parties.”
Mochrie said the city was committed to using the lessons learned from the byelection to better prepare for the upcoming 2026 municipal election.