The upcoming 2026 Vancouver municipal elections has recently become more unpredictable as what was perceived to be a two horse race between Mayor Ken Sim’s centrist ABC and the opposing progressive COPE has now been complicated with the introduction of two new political competitors. The two parties share the name of federal and provincial counterparts, but they have no official affiliations.
The Vancouver Liberal Electors Association was founded in July by Kareem Allam, former chief of staff to Sim. Allam claims to be espousing Liberal values but he has never previously worked with the center-left or publicly showed support for the federal Liberals, instead he was employed as a campaign manager for former federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole and provincial Liberal/BC United leader Kevin Falcon. Allam has proclaimed himself as the party’s mayoral candidate.
In August the Conservative Electors Association was founded by David Denhoff. Unlike its Liberal counterpart, the party is yet to announce a mayoral candidate as they are planning on holding a nominee selection process over the next couple of weeks. However, the party is planning on running candidates throughout the province, as is allowed by provincial legislation regarding municipal parties, which can be useful for funding but difficult when adapting to the political needs of different cities. The Conservatives have also released survey data projecting them to win the next municipal election by a plurality.
Dynamics regarding name recognition gives a big advantage to the new parties in terms of fundraising as well as attracting the average voter who often rely on drawing parallels to federal counterparts. The era of independent candidates and grassroots movements in local Canadian politics may be coming to an end.