Progressives have swept municipal elections in Vancouver, with Pete Fry chosen as the city’s first Green mayor after a massive turnout.
Fry will be working with an overwhelmingly progressive council, with Greens and candidates from the Coalition of Progressive Electors, or COPE, each taking four seats out of 10, and OneCity Vancouver claiming a ninth seat for the left-of-centre camp.
The business-friendly ABC Party was decimated, with Ken Sim ousted from the mayor’s office and only one councillor elected.
That’s a stark turnaround from 2022, when ABC won seven seats on council.
While no single party will have a majority on the new council, the progressive parties have already demonstrated an ability to work together, with COPE’s Stephanie Allen and OneCity’s William Azaroff ending their mayoral campaigns to give Fry a better chance.
Preliminary results show Fry won handsomely with more than 98,000 votes, about 31,000 ahead of Sim, while the turnout of 209,000 was up 36 per cent compared to four years ago.
Fry hugged his mother, Liberal MP Hedy Fry, at his campaign’s party in downtown Vancouver, telling his supporters the Greens would “fight for the city.”
Green and COPE candidates won all seven commissioners’ seats on the Park Board, while Green, COPE, and OneCity candidates won all nine school trustee positions.
Green Party of Vancouver mayoral candidate Pete Fry celebrates on civic election night in Vancouver, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
COPE’s Sean Orr, a socialist council incumbent who is suing Sim for defamation after the mayor falsely accused him of handing out illegal drugs, was the top vote-getter on council with more than 83,000 votes.
He celebrated by sharing a meme on social media showing him staring down Sim with laser eyes.
The inauguration for the successful candidates will be on Nov. 2.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.