Why COPE’s Mayoral Candidate Suspended Her Campaign

COPE mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen suspended her campaign Wednesday, saying there is no path to victory over incumbent Mayor Ken Sim if multiple progressive candidates split the left-wing vote.

Allen called on the Vancouver Greens and centre-left party OneCity to follow her lead and choose just one candidate to go up against Sim, a one-term mayor who froze the construction of new supportive housing in the city and has focused on policing as the solution to public safety concerns.

Sim and his ABC party won a decisive majority on city council, the school board and the park board in 2022, although several park board commissioners, one school trustee and one city councillor have since left the party.

“While I’m announcing the end of my campaign for mayor, I’m also here to recommit to our common fight for mayor,” Allen told reporters on Wednesday. “Ken Sim and ABC must be evicted on Oct. 17.”

Allen said she made her decision shortly after a Monday meeting with Pete Fry, a city councillor who is running as the Greens’ mayoral candidate, and William Azaroff, the mayoral candidate for OneCity.

Neither Fry nor Azaroff intend to close up shop just yet.

But Fry said he expects the conversation between him and Azaroff will now “accelerate.”

“Frankly, I think on the doorstep, in the polling, on all the metrics that apply, I think that I’m clearly in the front-running for the three progressive [parties], and I think that’s momentum I’ll continue to build on,” Fry told reporters following Allen’s press conference outside city hall.

“I think the only possible [factor] that could prompt me to pull out of the race would be some sort of complete collapse of the support we’ve been hearing on the doorstep and seeing in the polls. I’m in it to win it.”

Giving his own press conference a few hours after Allen and Fry spoke, Azaroff bridled at Fry’s confidence.

“The reality is Pete and Stephanie and I talked on Monday. Pete and I are planning to go for a walk tomorrow. There are conversations still to take place, and for Pete to circumvent all that and make that statement, I find that disappointing,” Azaroff said.

Azaroff questioned whether Fry will be able to maintain the momentum shown by a Research Co. poll earlier in the summer. The poll showed Sim leading with 30 per cent support, Fry and former ABC campaign manager Kareem Allam both at 19 per cent and Azaroff at just five per cent, while Allen received four per cent support.

“I don’t think there’s another party with the kind of infrastructure we built around money raised, doors knocked, volunteers gotten and the endorsement of the Vancouver and District Labour Council,” Azaroff said.

Azaroff said a decision on whether he or Fry will stay in the race will likely come by the candidate nomination deadline of Sept. 11. Civic election day in British Columbia is Oct. 17.

This year’s mayoral race is a crowded field, with candidates on both the right and the left jockeying for position. Council currently includes six ABC councillors, one OneCity councillor, one COPE councillor, one Green and one independent.

ABC is focusing on public safety and has introduced two controversial ballot questions on involuntary care for mentally ill people and public drug use.

The party is being challenged by Rebecca Bligh, a city councillor who was re-elected in 2022 with ABC but left the party after she opposed ABC councillors’ decision to freeze new supportive housing in the city. Bligh is currently running for mayor with a new party called Vote Vancouver.

Kareem Allam, who ran Sim’s 2022 campaign, was fired from ABC and has since publicly criticized Sim’s political tactics. He has created a party called the Vancouver Liberals, which he has attempted to position firmly in the political centre, with input from former BC Liberal and BC NDP politicians. Allam is also running for mayor.

Former city councillor Colleen Hardwick is also returning as a mayoral candidate with TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, a party that generally opposes the pace of real estate development in the city.

Despite Allam’s public support of the BC NDP in the last provincial election, Azaroff and Allen said they don’t consider Allam to be a progressive candidate because of his track record with ABC. Azaroff also said he doesn’t currently consider Bligh to be a progressive because of her past associations with ABC.

Both Fry and Azaroff had high praise and warm words for Allen.

“Speaking directly to Stephanie: you didn’t just end a campaign,” Azaroff said. “You put the people of the city ahead of your own name on a ballot.”

Fry said he has “so much respect” for Allen.

“I have a great deal of respect for her integrity and her commitment to, ultimately, what matters for the city of Vancouver — and that’s unelecting Ken Sim and restoring some humanity to the city.”