Road safety advocate, housing activist win

Preliminary results are in for Vancouver’s city council byelection, showing Lucy Maloney of the OneCity Vancouver Party and Sean Orr of the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) winning their spots on city council.

As of 12:50 a.m. Sunday, 27 out of 27 voting stations have reported, showing 34,448 votes for Orr and 33,732 for Maloney. Colleen Hardwick is in a distant third place, with 17,352 votes.

Maloney and Orr beat out 11 other candidates on the ballot, including two ABC hopefuls — Ralph Kaisers and Jamie Stein.

Maloney is part of the road safety advocacy group Vision Zero. Orr is a housing activist who describes himself as a “working-class dishwasher.”

The byelection saw hours-long lines at polls. As well, it had a historic turnout in advance voting, with over 7,600 votes cast.

The election was called after two spots were left vacant by councillors Adriane Carr and Christine Boyle.

Carr stepped away late in 2024 after saying she was frustrated by the current ABC majority on council. She was Vancouver’s longest-serving city councillor.

Boyle’s seat opened up after she was elected to the BC NDP in October.

A byelection is held when vacancies open up in city council, the park board, or the school board, and the spots get filled between general elections. According to the city’s website, only 17 byelections have been held throughout the city’s 138-year history, with the most recent in 2017.

These results are considered preliminary. The City of Vancouver says official results will be declared April 9 before 4 p.m.

— With files from David Nadalini and Angelyna Mintz.