Which By-Election Candidates Committed to Equity?
- Admin
- Mar 19
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 20
All but one party pledged to take action on WTC’s Hot Pink Paper Campaign if elected to Vancouver City Council.
Vancouver residents will elect two new city councillors on April 5th. WTC asked candidates in the upcoming by-election if they’d commit to implementing the eight policy asks for a more inclusive city from our Hot Pink Paper Campaign.
If you're wondering what a by-election is and why we're having one, check out our by-election FAQ blog.
Here are the by-election candidates who committed to action on equity.
We developed the Hot Pink Paper Campaign (HPPC) policy asks for the 2022-2026 council term ahead of the Vancouver general election based on engagement with equity-deserving residents and front-line organizations. You can see the full policy commitments and learn more about our Hot Pink Paper Campaign here.
All party-affiliated candidates except for ABC Vancouver’s Jaime Stein and Ralph Kaisers committed to action on these priorities, despite several invitations to complete the pledge survey.
We Need Equity Champions at City Hall
From banning supportive housing, to attempting to silence the Integrity Commissioner, to reintroducing harmful pollutants in buildings, it’s clear that when leaders don’t prioritize underrepresented people, they cause harm to everyone.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
It’s possible to send courageous leaders to City Hall who will listen to community needs and get to work for us. That starts with the April 5th by-election, which will shape the civic landscape for the upcoming general election in 2026 and influence many important issues coming before council in the remainder of their term.
Your Next Steps
Step 1: Decide who to support
Sifting through various candidates and parties can feel daunting. Here are some tips on what to look at to decide who deserves your support:
Public commitments. In addition to seeing which candidates have committed to our HPPC equity asks, organizations like CAPE BC and Vancouver Public Space Network often circulate their own candidate surveys.
Party platforms and candidate statements. Most major parties will publish a platform that outlines their key priorities and policy proposals. You can also scroll through candidates’ social media to see whether they’ve made public statements or used their platform to advocate for issues you care about, such as the recent council motion to ban supportive housing.
Their past record. Actions speak louder than words. For candidates and parties who have run for public office before, looking at how they’ve voted or campaigned in the past can help you sort fact from fiction. For example, check out our HPPC accountability reports and candidate commitments from the 2022 election.
Their community experience and connections. Looking into a candidate’s background (i.e. organizations they’ve worked or volunteered for, what movements they’ve been part of, neighbourhoods they draw their support from) can tell you about the values they’ll represent once elected.
There are 7 party-affiliated candidates and 6 independents running and you can vote for two of them! Remember that you don’t need to be a policy expert to decide who you think is the best fit to represent your concerns.
Step 2: Make a plan to vote
Research shows that people who make and share a plan to vote–including the day, time, and location–are much more likely to actually cast a ballot. Figure out which voting method works best for you and write it in your calendar.
Who can vote? You can vote if you live in Vancouver, are a Canadian citizen aged 18+ and have lived anywhere in BC for six months. You do not need to be registered in advance to vote. A wide variety of identification is accepted in order to prove your residency.
There are three ways to vote:
By mail. Request a mail-in ballot online, by going to City Hall, or by calling 311. Request your ballot before March 24th.
On advanced voting days. On March 26th or April 1st, you can vote at City Hall from 8 am to 8 pm.
On election day. On April 5th, you can vote at any city community centre from 8 am to 8 pm.
For more information on where, how, and when to vote, visit vancouver.ca/vote.
Step 3: Amplify your vote
Now that you have a plan to vote, share it with a few friends, neighbours, or coworkers. Not only will this help you stick with your plan, it will prompt others to join you.
It’s easy to feel like your vote doesn’t matter, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Consider that:
By-elections have notoriously low turnout. In Vancouver’s 2017 by-election about 1 in 10 out of the 440,000+ who were eligible showed up to vote.
Only 3,109 votes separated the winner from the second place candidate in 2017.
The demographics who tend to vote in higher numbers are older, whiter, and live in wealthier neighbourhoods.
Low voter turnout means those who do show up have a disproportionate impact in shaping the future of the city.
If we all invite at least three others who share your values to make a plan to vote, we can triple our movement’s impact in this election and make sure our voices are heard!
If you’re not eligible to vote you can make a big difference by sharing this information with people who are.
Voting Resources
WTC’s “What Is a By-election?” Flyer
We published a blog to help folks understand what’s happening, why it matters, and how to get involved. Several community partners wanted to share this information asa flyer.
We invite you to print and distribute these as flyers or posters in your workplace, neighbourhood haunt, or community centre.
The City’s Voter Information Pamphlets
The City of Vancouver also has voter information pamphlets, available in multiple languages, which break down frequently asked questions like voter eligibility, voting locations, identification requirements, and accessibility supports. You can share these digitally or request free copies be mailed to your organization by reaching out to election@vancouver.ca.
Elections aren’t the only way we can participate in democracy, but they are an important one. While this by-election is only for two council seats, it will have far-reaching impacts for equity-deserving residents, both in Vancouver and beyond.
The world feels a bit scary right now, but taking local action can help us stay rooted, engage where we’re most likely to make a difference, and fend off the hopelessness and apathy that authoritarian regimes are banking on.
WTC’s work to advocate for equity-driven policies doesn’t stop after the election, and neither should yours. We’ll continue to hold our elected leaders accountable and remind them that cities that work for the most marginalized residents work better for everyone. We invite you to join us in that work by participating in Watch Council.