2017 Vancouver municipal by-election

A municipal by-election was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on October 14, 2017. One empty seat on city council and all the seats on the Vancouver school board were filled.

2017 Vancouver municipal by-election

← 2014 October 14, 2017 (2017-10-14) 2018 →
1 seat on the Vancouver City Council 9 seats on Vancouver School Board
Turnout	11.0%[1] 32.4 pp
First party Second party Third party   NPA Candidate Hector Bremner Jean Swanson Pete Fry Party NPA Independent Green Seats before 3 N/A 1 Seat change 1 Popular vote 13,372 10,263 9,759 Percentage 27.83 21.36 20.31   Fourth party Fifth party   ONECITY VISION Candidate Judy Graves Diego Cardona Party OneCity Vision Seats before 0 7 Seat change 1 Popular vote 6,327 5,411 Percentage 13.17 11.26

These elections were held outside the normal four-year schedule. Unlike in full elections, voters were only asked to elect one councillor and nine school board trustees rather than the full complement of elected municipal positions. The by-election was necessary for two reasons: the resignation of Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs from City Council to become BC Premier John Horgan's chief of staff^[2] and the desire of the new provincial NDP government to reconstitute the Vancouver School Board, whose elected members had all been fired by the previous BC Liberal government.^[3]

The school board election marked the first time a OneCity candidate was elected to any position in Vancouver's elected government.

Background

The by-election was called to replace the single vacant council seat, due to Geoff Meggs' departure to take on the role of Premier John Horgan's chief of staff.^[4] The by-election was also meant to elect a new board of school trustees, who had been dismissed by provincial education minister Mike Bernier after failing to pass a balanced budget and allegations of workplace harassment arose.^[5]

Nomination process

Non-Partisan Association

On September 6, 2017, the Non-Partisan Association held a nomination meeting to decide their representative for the lone Council position. Hector Bremner, the successful nominee, beat out former school trustee Penny Noble and former leader of the Cedar Party Glen Chernen.^[6] Candidates for the five school trustee positions were announced at the same time.^[7]

Green Party

Pete Fry, who had unsuccessfully ran for Council in 2014, was the first confirmed nominee for council by any major political party in Vancouver. The Greens also nominated former incumbent Janet Fraser to run for re-election alongside Judy Zaichkowsky and Estrellita Gonzalez.^[8]

Results

Councillor

Candidate Name		Party affiliation	Votes	% of votes	Elected
Hector Bremner		Non-Partisan Association	13,372	27.83%	X
Jean Swanson		Independent	10,263	21.36%
Pete Fry		Green Party of Vancouver	9,759	20.31%
Judy Graves		OneCity Vancouver	6,327	13.17%
Diego Cardona		Vision Vancouver	5,411	11.26%
Mary Jean Dunsdon		Sensible Vancouver	1,737	3.62%
Gary Lee		Independent	886	1.84%
Damian J. Murphy		Independent	157	0.33%
Joshua Wasilenkoff		Independent	131	0.27%

School Board trustees

Each voter could cast up to nine votes.

(I) denotes incumbents prior to the dismissal of all nine School Board trustees by Education Minister Mike Bernier in October 2016.^[9][10]

Candidate Name		Party affiliation	Votes	% of votes	Elected
(I) Janet Fraser		Green Party of Vancouver	27,360	56.24%	X
Judy Zaichkowsky		Green Party of Vancouver	23,383	48.06%	X
Estrellita Gonzalez		Green Party of Vancouver	20,307	41.75%	X
(I) Joy Alexander		Vision Vancouver	19,709	40.52%	X
(I) Allan Wong		Vision Vancouver	18,678	38.40%	X
Lisa Dominato		Non-Partisan Association	18,258	37.53%	X
(I) Fraser Ballantyne		Non-Partisan Association	18,048	37.10%	X
Carrie Bercic		OneCity Vancouver	17,822	36.64%	X
Ken Clement		Vision Vancouver	17,583	36.15%	X
Theodora Lamb		Vision Vancouver	17,204	35.37%
Robert McDowell		Non-Partisan Association	17,140	35.23%
Erica Jaff		OneCity Vancouver	17,117	35.19%
(I) Mike Lombardi		Vision Vancouver	17,094	35.14%
(I) Christopher Richardson		Non-Partisan Association	16,839	34.62%
Diana Day		Coalition of Progressive Electors	16,683	34.30%
Julian Prieto		Non-Partisan Association	16,299	33.51%
Adi Pick		Independent	10,263	21.10%
Christine Arnold		Independent	9,209	18.93%
Jamie Lee Hamilton		IDEA Vancouver	8,590	17.66%

References

1. "Election results". City of Vancouver. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
2. Little, Simon (July 4, 2017). "Vancouver Councillor Geoff Meggs to be John Horgan's chief of staff". Global News. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
3. McElroy, Justin (September 7, 2017). "Who's running in Vancouver's October byelection?". CBC News. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
4. Vancouver Councillor Geoff Meggs to be John Horgan’s chief of staff
5. Vancouver School Board fired by B.C. education minister
6. Howell, Mike (September 7, 2017). "NPA council candidate focused on affordability". Vancouver Courier. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
7. Brown, Scott (September 7, 2017). "NPA names candidates for Vancouver council and school board byelection". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
8. Brown, Scott (September 7, 2017). "Green party will run three candidates in Vancouver school board election". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
9. 2017 civic election candidate profiles | City of Vancouver
10. 2017 By-election unofficial results