Pete Fry defeats Ken Sim to become Vancouver's first Green mayor

VANCOUVER — Pete Fry has been elected mayor of Vancouver, decisively defeating incumbent Ken Sim.

The two-term city councillor and Green Party leader is the first Green candidate to be elected mayor of a major Canadian city.

"The biggest thank you is to the people of Vancouver, thank you for ... putting your trust in me and my team here, we are not going to let you down, we love this city a lot and we are here to work for this city and to fight for this city," Fry told supporters on Saturday.

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With 80 per cent of polls reporting, Fry led Sim by about 23,000 votes, according to CityNews.

In a concession speech, Sim acknowledged the result.

"Tonight the people of Vancouver, they have made their decision and while it isn't the decision we wanted, its one we really have to respect and that's democracy," Sim said.

"Make no mistake about it, Pete has my unwavering support, I will help him any way I can so he can succeed, so Vancouver can succeed."

Fry said Sim was gracious in offering assistance with the transition.

The election marks a sharp reversal from the 2022 municipal election, when Sim's ABC Vancouver party swept to power, electing every single council candidate it ran.

Early results from Saturday suggest ABC Vancouver could be reduced to two councillors with potentially no representation on the city's park or school boards.

The Greens were on track to elect at least two city councillors and all three of their park board commissioner candidates.

Colleen Hardwick of CORE was projected to finish third in the mayoral race, with Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals in fourth.

Pre-election polls had suggested the race was neck and neck between Sim and Fry, after OneCity candidate William Azaroff and COPE candidate Stephanie Allen withdrew in a bid to avoid splitting the left-leaning vote.

Fry emerged as a unified voice for progressive candidates.

Sim ran a campaign that tied Fry to COPE Councillor Sean Orr, highlighting incendiary social media posts Orr had made in the past.

As mayor, Sim faced criticism that he was too political, launching code of conduct complaints against opposition councillors.

Sim had sought to cast the election as a referendum on public safety, adding two plebiscite questions asking voters if they supported new bylaws to ban public drug use and if they supported adding an involuntary treatment facility at the soon to be vacant St. Paul's Hospital campus.

Results from the plebiscite are not yet available.

Fry has said the question on banning open-air hard drug use was a "very bad idea."

The Greens promised to create an Office of Community Safety, lift a moratorium on new supportive housing projects introduced by Sim, and audit the Vancouver Police Department.

Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said ABC tried to frame the election around crime and public safety, while other parties focused on housing and social supports.

He said this election was about a mix of cost-of-living and housing concerns, alongside a broader debate about whether Vancouver can maintain its services and quality of life.

"It's a shift from really the role of growth to now the question of maintenance in Vancouver, how do you maintain the city," Yan said.

Fry was first elected to city council in 2018 and was narrowly re-elected in 2022.

Prior to serving on council, he worked as a graphic designer and communications consultant.

His mother is long-time Vancouver Liberal MP Hedy Fry.

With files from Global News, CBC News and The Globe and Mail