The 2014 Vancouver municipal election took place on November 15, 2014, the same day as other municipalities and regional districts in British Columbia selected their new municipal governments. As with previous elections, voters elected one mayor, 10 councillors, nine school board trustees, and seven park board commissioners through plurality-at-large voting. Voters also voted on whether to approve a capital budget.
Outcome Incumbent Mayor Gregor Robertson sought re-election with the Vision Vancouver Party, which swept the 2011 election when it elected him and all of the party's city council, park board and school board candidates. In this election, Robertson was re-elected as mayor; however, Vision representation decreased with only six councillors, four school trustees, and one park board commissioner elected. In total, ten Vision candidates were not elected, including five incumbent candidates: one councillor, three school trustees, and one park board commissioner.
The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) came into the election as the second largest party in Vancouver, with two city councillors, two park board commissioners, and one school trustee. Their mayoral candidate was journalist Kirk LaPointe who lost to Robertson in the mayoral race by 10,086 votes. The NPA team gained ground electing three councillors, four park board commissioners, and four school trustees.
The Vancouver Green Party sought to improve on its 2011 results which saw the first-ever Green Party city councillor, Adriane Carr, elected. Carr was re-elected as councillor and was actually the councillor elected with the most votes at 74,077. Additionally, two park board commissioners and one school board trustee were elected, giving the Green Party of Vancouver its best result in the history of Vancouver municipal elections.
The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), which officially cut ties with former ally Vision Vancouver in 2012, lost its only elected official when school trustee Allan Wong switched from COPE to Vision Vancouver on December 8, 2013, ending decades of COPE representation in the city. COPE contested this election with its first mayoral candidate since 2002, community organizer and former NDP candidate Meena Wong. The party also had candidates for every council seat. Wong placed third in the mayoral race, and no COPE candidates were elected.
New Party Vancouver 1st ran a slate of candidates for all offices. These included Olympic bronze medal winning swimmer Brent Hayden as a park board commissioner candidate, and two incumbent school board trustees Ken Denike, and Sophia Woo, who had been expelled from the NPA in June. However, no candidates from Vancouver 1st were elected.
Nominations for the 2014 vote opened on September 30, 2014, and closed on October 10, 2014.City of Vancouver, "Run for office in Vancouver," vancouver.ca, Modified July 18, 2014. Vancouver uses an at-large election system for all elected positions; the ten candidates with most citywide votes are elected as councillors.BC Local Government Act
Just before 8:00 P.M. on election day, voting hours were extended by 45 minutes at four locations because of ballot shortages earlier in the day due to high voter turnout.
Political parties This is a list of political parties who ran candidates in the 2014 election: Party Leader Political position Notes Vision Vancouver Gregor Robertson Centre-left Vision Vancouver's leadership review on May 4, 2014, resulted in the nomination of incumbent candidates who ran for re-election for the offices they had held, including Mayor Gregor Robertson who had a 99% approval rating from members.
On June 22, 2014, Vision Vancouver held a nomination meeting for candidates to fill one school trustee and four park commissioner seats. Two park board candidates dropped out of the race, but a full slate of candidates was announced on September 10, 2014. Non-Partisan Association Kirk LaPointe Centre-right NPA announced on July 14, 2014, that the party's mayoral candidate would be journalist Kirk LaPointe. Green Party of Vancouver Adriane Carr (de facto) Centre-left, green politics On March 31, 2014, the Green Party of Vancouver announced its candidates for City Council, school board and park board. Coalition of Progressive Electors Meena Wong Left COPE announced its candidates following an open Nominations Conference on September 7, 2014. One council candidate and an additional park board candidate were ratified by the party's Indigenous Equity Caucus at a later date."COPE slate for Vancouver election includes Meena Wong, eight council candidates." Georgia Straight, September 7, 2014. Cedar Party Glen Chernen The Vancouver Cedar Party, launched in November 2012, believed in strong community roots. Hotel Workers United – Local 40 Ferdinad Ramos Independent Democratic Electors Alliance Jamie Lee Hamilton OneCity Vancouver RJ Aquino Centre-Left, urbanism OneCity was a new Vancouver political party launched in May 2014 with the intention of fielding candidates for the November 2014 Municipal Election. Public Education Project Jane Bouey The Public Education Project believed public education is a cornerstone of a democratic society. They wanted education, and the well-being of children and youth, to be given priority attention in the election. Stop Party Meynard Aubichon Vancouver 1st Jesse Johl Conservative libertarianism Vancouver 1st was committed to bringing accountable, democratic and transparent government. Vancouver 1st was relying on grassroots support.
Candidates and results The nomination period officially opened on September 30, 2014, and closed on October 10, 2014.
(I) denotes incumbents.
Mayor Ten candidates sought election to the position of mayor; four were affiliated with a political party and six were independents. Incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver was re-elected for a third straight term.
City councillors Ten councillors were elected from forty-nine candidates. Of the candidates, thirty-nine were affiliated with a political party; ten were independent. All ten incumbent councillors sought re-election: seven from Vision Vancouver, two from the NPA, and one from the Green Party. NPA candidate Melissa De Genova and Vision candidate Niki Sharma were both sitting Park Board commissioners from their respective parties. Of the ten elected councillors, six were from Vision, three were from the NPA, and one was from the Green Party.
Candidate Name PartyVotes% of votesElected (I) Adriane CarrGreen Party of Vancouver 74,077 40.77% X (I) George AffleckNon-Partisan Association 68,419 37.65% X (I) Elizabeth BallNon-Partisan Association 67,195 36.98% X Melissa De GenovaNon-Partisan Association 63,134 34.74% X (I) Heather DealVision Vancouver 62,698 34.51% X (I) Kerry JangVision Vancouver 62,595 34.45% X (I) Andrea ReimerVision Vancouver 62,316 34.29% X (I) Raymond LouieVision Vancouver 61,903 34.07% X (I) Tim StevensonVision Vancouver 57,640 31.72% X (I) Geoff MeggsVision Vancouver 56,831 31.28% X Ian RobertsonNon-Partisan Association 56,319 30.99% Gregory BakerNon-Partisan Association 55,721 30.67% Suzanne ScottNon-Partisan Association 55,486 30.54% Ken LowNon-Partisan Association 54,971 30.25% Rob McDowellNon-Partisan Association 53,596 29.50% (I) Tony TangVision Vancouver 49,414 27.19% Niki SharmaVision Vancouver 48,987 26.96% Cleta BrownGreen Party of Vancouver 47,564 26.18% Pete FryGreen Party of Vancouver 46,522 25.60% Lisa BarrettCoalition of Progressive Electors 35,234 19.39% Tim LouisCoalition of Progressive Electors 31,650 17.42% RJ AquinoOneCity Vancouver 30,050 16.54% Gayle GavinCoalition of Progressive Electors 25,547 14.06% Jennifer O'KeefeeCoalition of Progressive Electors 23,121 12.72% Sid Chow TanCoalition of Progressive Electors 20,948 11.53% Audrey "sχɬemtəna:t" SieglCoalition of Progressive Electors 19,258 10.60% Keith HigginsCoalition of Progressive Electors 18,219 10.02% Mercedes WongVancouver 1st 17,493 9.62% Wilson MunozCoalition of Progressive Electors 13,756 7.57% Glen ChernenCedar Party 9,577 5.27% Federico FuocoVancouver 1st 9,041 4.98% Nicholas ChernenCedar Party 8,724 4.80% Lena LingIndependent 8,197 4.51% Ferdinad RamosHotel Workers United – Local 40 7,986 4.39% Jesse JohlVancouver 1st 7,953 4.38% Charlene GunnCedar Party 6,512 3.58% Elena MurgociVancouver 1st 6,140 3.38% David AngusIndependent 5,895 3.24% Jeremy GustafsonCedar Party 5,098 2.81% Grant FraserIndependent 5,096 2.80% Milan KljajicVancouver 1st 4,881 2.69% Anthony GuitarIndependent 4,375 2.41% Kelly AlmIndependent 4,038 2.22% Rick OrserIndependent Democratic Electors Alliance 3,548 1.95% Marc BoyerIndependent 3,329 1.83% Rajiv PandeyIndependent 3,229 1.78% Cord Ted CopelandIndependent 3,202 1.76% Abraham DeoceraIndependent 3,160 1.74% Ludvik SkalickyIndependent 1,797 0.99%
Park board commissioners Seven commissioners were elected from thirty-one candidates. Of the candidates, twenty-five were affiliated with a political party; six were independent. Two incumbent commissioners sought re-election: one from Vision Vancouver and one from the NPA. Of the elected commissioners, four were from the NPA, two were from the Green Party, and one was from Vision Vancouver.
Candidate name PartyVotes% of votesElected Catherine EvansVision Vancouver64,70735.61% X (I) John CouparNon-Partisan Association62,97034.65% X Casey CrawfordNon-Partisan Association59,88232.96% X Sarah Kirby-YungNon-Partisan Association56,82831.27% X Erin ShumNon-Partisan Association56,76231.24% X Stuart MackinnonGreen Party of Vancouver56,40631.04% X Michael WiebeGreen Party of Vancouver55,60730.60% X Brent GranbyVision Vancouver54,21529.84% (I) Trevor LokeVision Vancouver54,19929.83% Naveen GirnVision Vancouver51,65928.43% Jay JagpalNon-Partisan Association48,90926.92% Coree TullVision Vancouver46,67225.69% Stéphane MouttetNon-Partisan Association46,33725.50% Sammie Jo RumbauaVision Vancouver42,86323.59% Anita RomaniukCoalition of Progressive Electors33,69018.54% Ezra BloomCoalition of Progressive Electors28,21715.53% Cease WyssCoalition of Progressive Electors21,24911.69% Urooba JamalCoalition of Progressive Electors18,72210.30% Richard WongVancouver 1st18,65510.27% Imtiaz PopatCoalition of Progressive Electors17,0239.37% Brent HaydenVancouver 1st15,5998.86% Jamie Lee HamiltonIndependent Democratic Electors Alliance14,4717.96% Jenny De CastrisIndependent10,6725.87% Massimo RossettiVancouver 1st9,7295.35% Yogi JohlVancouver 1st9,1005.01% Eleanor HadleyIndependent8,0724.44% Roland ClarkeIndependent7,5454.15% Earl SunshineIndependent6,3083.47% Doug StarinkVancouver 1st6,2753.45% James BuckshonIndependent 5,5913.08% Matt KadiogluIndependent2,7191.50%
School board trustees Nine school board trustees were elected out of twenty-eight candidates. Of the candidates, twenty-three were affiliated with a political party, and five were independent. All nine incumbent trustees sought re-election: six from Vision Vancouver (including Allan Wong, who was elected in 2011 as part of COPE, but crossed the floor to Vision Vancouver in 2013), one from the NPA, and two ex-NPA trustees: Ken Denike, and Sophia Woo, who were running for new party Vancouver 1st after being expelled by the NPA in June 2014. Vision and the NPA each had four candidates elected, while the Green Party had one.