(Statement by BC-PEC, April 21, 2026)

“The agreement on electoral cooperation issued by three progressive civic political parties in Vancouver (COPE, One City, and the Greens) falls profoundly short of the type of electoral unity which could throw Mayor Ken Sim and his anti-working class ABC party out of City Hall in October,” the Communist Party of BC’s provincial executive said in an April 18 statement. “With six months left before province-wide municipal voting day, time is running out to build alliances which could block further gains by far-right demagogues in Vancouver and other municipalities, both on city councils, but also at school boards which are being targeted by a range of Trump-style bigots fronting for right-wing federal and provincial politicians.

“The Communist Party believes that progressive movements urgently need to forge strategic and tactical cooperation to push back against this drive to the far right at the electoral level in British Columbia. This view is widely shared within the labour movement, Indigenous nations, environmental groups, youth and students, and advocates for equality for women and 2SLGBTQ+ people. This is particularly true at a time when NDP Premier David Eby is in full retreat under pressure from the resource extraction industry and from reactionary groups which seek to roll back every social equality victory achieved through struggles going back many years.”

“In many communities, it may be relatively simple to identify emerging far-right candidates in the October 2026 campaign, and to seek cooperation on the ballot among pro-people candidates. But Vancouver will be an important test for the capacity of progressive movements to defeat the well-funded far-right forces which want to elect larger numbers of city councillors and school trustees.

“Over the last decade, grassroots groups have advocated tactics to minimize vote-splitting among left and centre forces in Vancouver. After the major victory for ABC in the 2022 civic election, lengthy negotiations involved the three progressive parties which elected candidates in recent years. Their declared aim was to achieve some form of cooperation on the ballot, including for a joint mayoralty candidate. However, late last year some parties began to publicly discuss nominations for mayor and other positions.

“Now, a plan to minimize vote-splitting has been announced. The parties will engage in a good-faith assessment of support for one potential mayoralty candidate, and each party will have a limit on the number of candidates. If the deal is approved, with ten city councillors to be elected, the limit at that level will be five candidates each for COPE, One City and the Greens. But placing fifteen total names on the ballot automatically gives a huge advantage to ABC. This plan may help defeat Ken Sim, but we can only conclude that the rival progressive parties have put their own partisan interests ahead of practical unity on the council ballot.

“In these complicated circumstances, the Communist Party continues to advocate for realistic tactics to minimize vote splitting on the Vancouver ballot. Further, we will support the mayoralty nomination of Pete Fry, the long-standing Green Party city councillor who has the best chances to win broad voter support against Ken Sim. If there are no changes to the current electoral agreement, over the next few months we will assess the nominated candidates of the three progressive parties, and issue our
recommendations by early September.”