The city of Vancouver, Canada, held municipal elections on November 16, 1996. Canadian citizens who were over 18 years of age at the time of the vote, and had been a resident of Vancouver for the previous 30 days and a resident of British Columbia for the previous six months, were able to vote for candidates in four races that were presented on one ballot. In addition, Canadian citizen non-resident property owners were eligible to vote.
The ballot elected one mayor, ten councillors, nine School Board trustees and seven Park Board commissioners. Each elector could vote for as many candidates as there were open seats (e.g., an elector could vote for ten or fewer councillors).
There was no fee associated with registering as a candidate at this time. Brian "Godzilla" Salmi, a freelance journalist for publications such as Terminal City, The Stranger, The National Post and The Georgia Straight, publicly offered to buy a pitcher of beer for anyone who ran for office, resulting in numerous joke-candidates appearing on the ballot that year.
As well, Vancouver voters voted on several referendum questions. A majority of voters voted against electoral system reform and in favour of retaining the at-large districting.
Elections to Vancouver City Council
Overall council results All figures include votes cast for both mayor and councillors PartyParty leaderor mayoralcandidate# ofcandidatesCouncil seatsTotal popular vote1993Before electionElectedChange#%ChangeNPAPhilip Owen1010 COPECarmela Allevato100 GreenPaul Watson2-- Jonathan Baker8--- Independent--- Total10- 100.0-
Mayoralty election One to be elected. CandidatePartyVotes%Philip OwenNPA50969Carmela AllevatoCOPE26143Jonathan BakerVOICE10703Paul WatsonGreen3117Marc EmeryIndependent1125Sage AdviceIndependent340Dhavide Arjunan AruliahIndependent311Gilbert BaileyIndependent287Zippy the Circus ChimpIndependent264Jay MangIndependent168Ronald F. McDonaldIndependent145Jennifer E. DunnawayIndependent136Yummy GirlIndependent130Greg WesterlundIndependent127A. Red Hot PepperIndependent106Randy Oliver O'GradyIndependent103Barb E. DollIndependent101Sarah WhittamIndependent99Kellee Lynn ColeIndependent94Jason BenjIndependent90Tony MontanaIndependent78Michael J. FosterIndependent71Lupo The ButcherIndependent69Mr. XIndependent68Allison Jane MclennanIndependent59Samantha FoxxIndependent57Lorna Marie PotterIndependent57Eddie FernandesIndependent55Frank The MooseIndependent50John M. McgoldrickIndependent49Gölök Zlf BudayIndependent42BuzzIndependent42Michel LeblondIndependent42BuggerIndependent39Roger Stewart ReimerIndependent38Ryan S. BiggeIndependent38Christina Louise SharlowIndependent36ZaiusIndependent36Gaston GingrasIndependent32Jurgen T. SchaubIndependent28Pete FishburgerIndependent28Kenneth P. ThomasIndependent27Stuart MaxwellIndependent26L. Ron MoonbeamIndependent25Tho BuskervilleIndependent24Pete ChezankremeIndependent24Nicholas PodbreyIndependent24The Trash TerminatorIndependent24John A. TweedIndependent22Tamas R. RevocziIndependent19Dylan RymerIndependent18James OcteauIndependent15IngridIndependent15Steve WansleebenIndependent14Sebastian TemplerIndependent12Figgg FreudIndependent11Jeff D. NixIndependent10The StainerIndependent10
Councillors election Ten to be elected. CandidatePartyVotes%Jennifer ClarkeNPA46700Gordon PriceNPA45118Don BellamyNPA44051George PuilNPA43541Lynne KennedyNPA43284Nancy ChiavarioNPA42680Sam SullivanNPA40846Daniel LeeNPA40405Don LeeNPA39319Alan HerbertNPA36174Tim LouisCOPE28483Mel LehanCOPE26593Michael WalkerCOPE23666Jamie Lee HamiltonCOPE23510Sean R. McEwenCOPE23329Merrilee RobsonCOPE22833Shane SimpsonCOPE22761Frances WasserleinCOPE22202Blair PetrieCOPE21961Nina KhajuriaCOPE21402Frederic BassGreen14476Connie FogalVOICE14434Raymond LeungVOICE14370Valerie JeromeGreen13863Stephen F.Y. ChongIndependent9531Bev BallantyneVOICE8887Brian Lee BuchananVOICE7996Wendy M. TurnerIndependent7895Sarah J. FarrisVOICE7794Harkirpal S. SaraVOICE6843Manuel A. AzevedoVOICE6308Jenny ShawIndependent5706Arno D. NeumannVOICE5033Gordon T. KennedyIndependent4071Mike BellIndependent3434Ann LivingstonLWF3159Lorelei HawkinsIndependent2924Maureen G. DawsonIndependent2560Heather Inglis BaronIndependent2547Julia Ann MarksIndependent2425William W. KayLWF2414Martha RobertsLWF2383Shane DelarueLWF2192Mike LawrenceIndependent2192Iqbal SaraIndependent2031Jeffery D. BerwickIndependent2004Matt McGrathLWF1961Cowboy EllisIndependent1927Joan L. RowntreeIndependent1900Howard DahlIndependent1881Mike McleanIndependent1684Sharai MustatiaLWF1681Guy WeraIndependent1476Robert Martin McCallumIndependent1465Anthony J. RyderLWF1383Joseph XLWF1334Lani RusswurmLWF1292Gator McCluskieIndependent827Total100.0
Elections to the Vancouver Park Board Seven to be elected. CandidatePartyVotes%IndependentIndependentIndependentTotal 100.0
Referendum results
Vancouver voters voted on question of electoral system reform.
A majority of voters voted against electoral system reform and in favour of retaining the at-large districting. A little more than 59 percent voted in favour of "keeping the existing system of electing councillors 'at large', whereby all voters can vote for all councillors."
If reform had received more than 60 percent, then the results of the supplementary question "which method of electing councillors would you prefer?" would have been considered:
the option "Ward system, whereby only the electors of the ward vote for only one member of Council" received approval from 56 percent of voters the option "Mixed system, which combines some councillors elected 'at large' and some ward councillors" received approval from 48 percent the option "Proportional System, whereby the make-up of Council is determined in part by the percent of the popular vote obtained by each political group during the election" received approval from 37 percent the option "Other system of electing councillors" received approval from 25 percent of valid votes cast
References
External links City of Vancouver election results 1996 Vancouver charter Vancouver School Board (School District #39) Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation