# 2014 Vancouver municipal election

The 2014 Vancouver municipal election took place on November 15, 2014, the same day as other municipalities and regional districts in British Columbia selected their new municipal governments. As with previous elections, voters elected one mayor, 10 councillors, nine school board trustees, and seven park board commissioners through plurality-at-large voting. Voters also voted on whether to approve a capital budget.

## Outcome

Incumbent Mayor Gregor Robertson sought re-election with the Vision Vancouver Party, which swept the 2011 election when it elected him and all of the party's city council, park board and school board candidates. In this election, Robertson was re-elected as mayor; however, Vision representation decreased with only six councillors, four school trustees, and one park board commissioner elected. In total, ten Vision candidates were not elected, including five incumbent candidates: one councillor, three school trustees, and one park board commissioner.
The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) came into the election as the second largest party in Vancouver, with two city councillors, two park board commissioners, and one school trustee. Their mayoral candidate was journalist Kirk LaPointe who lost to Robertson in the mayoral race by 10,086 votes. The NPA team gained ground electing three councillors, four park board commissioners, and four school trustees.
The Vancouver Green Party sought to improve on its 2011 results which saw the first-ever Green Party city councillor, Adriane Carr, elected. Carr was re-elected as councillor and was actually the councillor elected with the most votes at 74,077. Additionally, two park board commissioners and one school board trustee were elected, giving the Green Party of Vancouver its best result in the history of Vancouver municipal elections.
The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), which officially cut ties with former ally Vision Vancouver in 2012, lost its only elected official when school trustee Allan Wong switched from COPE to Vision Vancouver on December 8, 2013, ending decades of COPE representation in the city. COPE contested this election with its first mayoral candidate since 2002, community organizer and former NDP candidate Meena Wong. The party also had candidates for every council seat. Wong placed third in the mayoral race, and no COPE candidates were elected.
New Party Vancouver 1st ran a slate of candidates for all offices. These included Olympic bronze medal winning swimmer Brent Hayden as a park board commissioner candidate, and two incumbent school board trustees Ken Denike, and Sophia Woo, who had been expelled from the NPA in June. However, no candidates from Vancouver 1st were elected.
Nominations for the 2014 vote opened on September 30, 2014, and closed on October 10, 2014. Vancouver uses an at-large election system for all elected positions; the ten candidates with most citywide votes are elected as councillors.
Just before 8:00 P.M. on election day, voting hours were extended by 45 minutes at four locations because of ballot shortages earlier in the day due to high voter turnout.

## Political parties

This is a list of political parties who ran candidates in the 2014 election:
| Party | Leader | Political position | Notes |
| Vision Vancouver | Gregor Robertson | Centre-left | Vision Vancouver's leadership review on May 4, 2014, resulted in the nomination of incumbent candidates who ran for re-election for the offices they had held, including Mayor Gregor Robertson who had a 99% approval rating from members. On June 22, 2014, Vision Vancouver held a nomination meeting for candidates to fill one school trustee and four park commissioner seats. Two park board candidates dropped out of the race, but a full slate of candidates was announced on September 10, 2014. |
| Non-Partisan Association | Kirk LaPointe | Centre-right | NPA announced on July 14, 2014, that the party's mayoral candidate would be journalist Kirk LaPointe. |
| Green Party of Vancouver | Adriane Carr (de facto) | Centre-left, green politics | On March 31, 2014, the Green Party of Vancouver announced its candidates for City Council, school board and park board. |
| Coalition of Progressive Electors | Meena Wong | Left | COPE announced its candidates following an open Nominations Conference on September 7, 2014. One council candidate and an additional park board candidate were ratified by the party's Indigenous Equity Caucus at a later date. |
| Cedar Party | Glen Chernen | | The Vancouver Cedar Party, launched in November 2012, believed in strong community roots. |
| Hotel Workers United – Local 40 | Ferdinad Ramos | | |
| Independent Democratic Electors Alliance | Jamie Lee Hamilton | | |
| OneCity Vancouver | RJ Aquino | Centre-Left, urbanism | OneCity was a new Vancouver political party launched in May 2014 with the intention of fielding candidates for the November 2014 Municipal Election. |
| Public Education Project | Jane Bouey | | The Public Education Project believed public education is a cornerstone of a democratic society. They wanted education, and the well-being of children and youth, to be given priority attention in the election. |
| Stop Party | Meynard Aubichon | | |
| Vancouver 1st | Jesse Johl | Conservative libertarianism | Vancouver 1st was committed to bringing accountable, democratic and transparent government. Vancouver 1st was relying on grassroots support. |

## Candidates and results

The nomination period officially opened on September 30, 2014, and closed on October 10, 2014.
(I) denotes incumbents.

### Mayor

Ten candidates sought election to the position of mayor; four were affiliated with a political party and six were independents. Incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver was re-elected for a third straight term.
vte2014 Vancouver municipal election: Mayor :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Elected |
| | Vision | Gregor Robertson (incumbent) | 83,529 | 45.97 | Y |
| | NPA | Kirk LaPointe | 73,443 | 40.42 |
| | COPE | Meena Wong | 16,791 | 9.24 |
| | Independent | Bob Kasting | 1,682 | 0.93 |
| | Independent | Mike Hansen | 714 | 0.39 |
| | Independent | Jeff Hill | 611 | 0.34 |
| | Independent | Tim Ly | 556 | 0.31 |
| | Stop Party | Meynard Aubichon | 508 | 0.28 |
| | Independent | Cherryse Kaur Kaiser | 492 | 0.27 |
| | Independent | Colin Shandler | 459 | 0.25 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 178, 786 | 100.00 |
| | Vision hold | Vision hold | Swing | Swing | –7.20 |

### City councillors

Ten councillors were elected from forty-nine candidates. Of the candidates, thirty-nine were affiliated with a political party; ten were independent. All ten incumbent councillors sought re-election: seven from Vision Vancouver, two from the NPA, and one from the Green Party. NPA candidate Melissa De Genova and Vision candidate Niki Sharma were both sitting Park Board commissioners from their respective parties. Of the ten elected councillors, six were from Vision, three were from the NPA, and one was from the Green Party.
| Candidate Name | Party | Votes | % of votes | Elected |
| (I) Adriane Carr | Green Party of Vancouver | 74,077 | 40.77% | X |
| (I) George Affleck | Non-Partisan Association | 68,419 | 37.65% | X |
| (I) Elizabeth Ball | Non-Partisan Association | 67,195 | 36.98% | X |
| Melissa De Genova | Non-Partisan Association | 63,134 | 34.74% | X |
| (I) Heather Deal | Vision Vancouver | 62,698 | 34.51% | X |
| (I) Kerry Jang | Vision Vancouver | 62,595 | 34.45% | X |
| (I) Andrea Reimer | Vision Vancouver | 62,316 | 34.29% | X |
| (I) Raymond Louie | Vision Vancouver | 61,903 | 34.07% | X |
| (I) Tim Stevenson | Vision Vancouver | 57,640 | 31.72% | X |
| (I) Geoff Meggs | Vision Vancouver | 56,831 | 31.28% | X |
| Ian Robertson | Non-Partisan Association | 56,319 | 30.99% | |
| Gregory Baker | Non-Partisan Association | 55,721 | 30.67% | |
| Suzanne Scott | Non-Partisan Association | 55,486 | 30.54% | |
| Ken Low | Non-Partisan Association | 54,971 | 30.25% | |
| Rob McDowell | Non-Partisan Association | 53,596 | 29.50% | |
| (I) Tony Tang | Vision Vancouver | 49,414 | 27.19% | |
| Niki Sharma | Vision Vancouver | 48,987 | 26.96% | |
| Cleta Brown | Green Party of Vancouver | 47,564 | 26.18% | |
| Pete Fry | Green Party of Vancouver | 46,522 | 25.60% | |
| Lisa Barrett | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 35,234 | 19.39% | |
| Tim Louis | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 31,650 | 17.42% | |
| RJ Aquino | OneCity Vancouver | 30,050 | 16.54% | |
| Gayle Gavin | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 25,547 | 14.06% | |
| Jennifer O'Keefee | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 23,121 | 12.72% | |
| Sid Chow Tan | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 20,948 | 11.53% | |
| Audrey "sχɬemtəna:t" Siegl | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 19,258 | 10.60% | |
| Keith Higgins | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 18,219 | 10.02% | |
| Mercedes Wong | Vancouver 1st | 17,493 | 9.62% | |
| Wilson Munoz | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 13,756 | 7.57% | |
| Glen Chernen | Cedar Party | 9,577 | 5.27% | |
| Federico Fuoco | Vancouver 1st | 9,041 | 4.98% | |
| Nicholas Chernen | Cedar Party | 8,724 | 4.80% | |
| Lena Ling | Independent | 8,197 | 4.51% | |
| Ferdinad Ramos | Hotel Workers United – Local 40 | 7,986 | 4.39% | |
| Jesse Johl | Vancouver 1st | 7,953 | 4.38% | |
| Charlene Gunn | Cedar Party | 6,512 | 3.58% | |
| Elena Murgoci | Vancouver 1st | 6,140 | 3.38% | |
| David Angus | Independent | 5,895 | 3.24% | |
| Jeremy Gustafson | Cedar Party | 5,098 | 2.81% | |
| Grant Fraser | Independent | 5,096 | 2.80% | |
| Milan Kljajic | Vancouver 1st | 4,881 | 2.69% | |
| Anthony Guitar | Independent | 4,375 | 2.41% | |
| Kelly Alm | Independent | 4,038 | 2.22% | |
| Rick Orser | Independent Democratic Electors Alliance | 3,548 | 1.95% | |
| Marc Boyer | Independent | 3,329 | 1.83% | |
| Rajiv Pandey | Independent | 3,229 | 1.78% | |
| Cord Ted Copeland | Independent | 3,202 | 1.76% | |
| Abraham Deocera | Independent | 3,160 | 1.74% | |
| Ludvik Skalicky | Independent | 1,797 | 0.99% | |

### Park board commissioners

Seven commissioners were elected from thirty-one candidates. Of the candidates, twenty-five were affiliated with a political party; six were independent. Two incumbent commissioners sought re-election: one from Vision Vancouver and one from the NPA. Of the elected commissioners, four were from the NPA, two were from the Green Party, and one was from Vision Vancouver.
| Candidate name | Party | Votes | % of votes | Elected |
| Catherine Evans | Vision Vancouver | 64,707 | 35.61% | X |
| (I) John Coupar | Non-Partisan Association | 62,970 | 34.65% | X |
| Casey Crawford | Non-Partisan Association | 59,882 | 32.96% | X |
| Sarah Kirby-Yung | Non-Partisan Association | 56,828 | 31.27% | X |
| Erin Shum | Non-Partisan Association | 56,762 | 31.24% | X |
| Stuart Mackinnon | Green Party of Vancouver | 56,406 | 31.04% | X |
| Michael Wiebe | Green Party of Vancouver | 55,607 | 30.60% | X |
| Brent Granby | Vision Vancouver | 54,215 | 29.84% | |
| (I) Trevor Loke | Vision Vancouver | 54,199 | 29.83% | |
| Naveen Girn | Vision Vancouver | 51,659 | 28.43% | |
| Jay Jagpal | Non-Partisan Association | 48,909 | 26.92% | |
| Coree Tull | Vision Vancouver | 46,672 | 25.69% | |
| Stéphane Mouttet | Non-Partisan Association | 46,337 | 25.50% | |
| Sammie Jo Rumbaua | Vision Vancouver | 42,863 | 23.59% | |
| Anita Romaniuk | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 33,690 | 18.54% | |
| Ezra Bloom | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 28,217 | 15.53% | |
| Cease Wyss | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 21,249 | 11.69% | |
| Urooba Jamal | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 18,722 | 10.30% | |
| Richard Wong | Vancouver 1st | 18,655 | 10.27% | |
| Imtiaz Popat | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 17,023 | 9.37% | |
| Brent Hayden | Vancouver 1st | 15,599 | 8.86% | |
| Jamie Lee Hamilton | Independent Democratic Electors Alliance | 14,471 | 7.96% | |
| Jenny De Castris | Independent | 10,672 | 5.87% | |
| Massimo Rossetti | Vancouver 1st | 9,729 | 5.35% | |
| Yogi Johl | Vancouver 1st | 9,100 | 5.01% | |
| Eleanor Hadley | Independent | 8,072 | 4.44% | |
| Roland Clarke | Independent | 7,545 | 4.15% | |
| Earl Sunshine | Independent | 6,308 | 3.47% | |
| Doug Starink | Vancouver 1st | 6,275 | 3.45% | |
| James Buckshon | Independent | 5,591 | 3.08% | |
| Matt Kadioglu | Independent | 2,719 | 1.50% | |

### School board trustees

Nine school board trustees were elected out of twenty-eight candidates. Of the candidates, twenty-three were affiliated with a political party, and five were independent. All nine incumbent trustees sought re-election: six from Vision Vancouver (including Allan Wong, who was elected in 2011 as part of COPE, but crossed the floor to Vision Vancouver in 2013), one from the NPA, and two ex-NPA trustees: Ken Denike, and Sophia Woo, who were running for new party Vancouver 1st after being expelled by the NPA in June 2014. Vision and the NPA each had four candidates elected, while the Green Party had one.
| Candidate name | Party | Votes | % of votes | Elected |
| (I) Patti Bacchus | Vision Vancouver | 73,551 | 40.48% | X |
| Joy Alexander | Vision Vancouver | 68,264 | 37.57% | X |
| (I) Fraser Ballantyne | Non-Partisan Association | 65,659 | 36.13% | X |
| (I) Allan Wong | Vision Vancouver | 65,342 | 35.97% | X |
| (I) Mike Lombardi | Vision Vancouver | 61,523 | 33.86% | X |
| Penny Noble | Non-Partisan Association | 60,964 | 33.55% | X |
| Janet Fraser | Green Party of Vancouver | 59,218 | 32.59% | X |
| Stacy Robertson | Non-Partisan Association | 58,314 | 32.09% | X |
| Christopher Richardson | Non-Partisan Association | 58,081 | 31.96% | X |
| (I) Ken Clement | Vision Vancouver | 57,826 | 31.82% | |
| (I) Cherie Payne | Vision Vancouver | 55,652 | 30.63% | |
| Sandy Sharma | Non-Partisan Association | 54,063 | 29.75% | |
| (I) Rob Wynen | Vision Vancouver | 52,288 | 28.78% | |
| Mischa Oak | Green Party of Vancouver | 48,539 | 26.71% | |
| Jane Bouey | Public Education Project | 41,757 | 22.99% | |
| Diana Day | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 39,068 | 21.50% | |
| Gwen Giesbrecht | Public Education Project | 35,064 | 19.30% | |
| (I) Sophia Woo | Vancouver 1st | 35,011 | 19.27% | |
| (I) Ken Denike | Vancouver 1st | 31,545 | 17.36% | |
| Ilana Shecter | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 25,538 | 14.05% | |
| Ralph Fraatz | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 23,077 | 12.70% | |
| Heidi Nagtegaal | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 22,126 | 12.18% | |
| Nanjalah Kombii | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 20,703 | 11.39% | |
| Susan Bhatha | Vancouver 1st | 16,345 | 9.00% | |
| T "Mrs. Doubtfire" Dodds | Independent | 9,067 | 4.99% | |
| Bang Nguyen | Independent | 9,025 | 4.97% | |
| Larry Falls | Independent | 8,890 | 4.89% | |
| Raj Gupta | Independent | 8,281 | 4.56% | |
| Amin Jivraj | Independent | 4,555 | 2.51% | |

### Capital plan questions

The proposed budget for 2015–2018 was $1.085 billion, of which $235 million would be borrowed, requiring electoral approval.
Voters were asked the following three questions:
1. Are you in favour of Council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass bylaws between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018, to borrow an aggregate $58,200,000 for the following purposes?
* Parks at $17,950,000
* Recreational and exhibition facilities at $40,250,000
| Option | Votes | Percentage |
| Yes | 108,382 | 66.88% |
| No | 53,692 | 33.12% |
| Total votes | 162,074 | 100% |
2. Are you in favour of Council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass bylaws between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018, to borrow an aggregate $95,700,000 for the following purposes?
* Public safety facilities at $22,250,000
* Street and bridge infrastructure at $56,450,000
* Street lighting, traffic signals, and communications systems at $17,000,000
| Option | Votes | Percentage |
| Yes | 128,287 | 74.42% |
| No | 44,088 | 25.58% |
| Total votes | 172,375 | 100% |
3. Are you in favour of Council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass bylaws between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018, to borrow an aggregate $81,100,000 for the following purposes?
* Community facilities at $59,750,000
* Civic facilities and infrastructure at $21,350,000
| Option | Votes | Percentage |
| Yes | 110,378 | 68.13% |
| No | 51,628 | 31.87% |
| Total votes | 162,006 | 100% |

## Voter and party statistics
### Voter turnout

Of the 411,741 registered voters, there were 181,707 recorded ballots, putting the voter turnout at 44.13%. This was an increase from the 34.57% turnout during the previous municipal election in 2011.

### Elected percentage by party

| Party | Mayor | Mayor | Councillors | Councillors | Park board commissioners | Park board commissioners | School board trustees | School board trustees | Total candidates | Total candidates |
| Party | # elected | % elected | # elected | % elected | # elected | % elected | # elected | % elected | # elected | % elected |
| Green Party of Vancouver | NIL | N/A | 1/3 | 33.3% | 2/2 | 100.0% | 1/2 | 50.0% | 4/7 | 57.1% |
| Non-Partisan Association | 0/1 | 0.0% | 3/8 | 37.5% | 4/6 | 66.7% | 4/5 | 80.0% | 11/20 | 55.0% |
| Vision Vancouver | 1/1 | 100.0% | 6/8 | 75.0% | 1/6 | 16.7% | 4/7 | 57.1% | 12/22 | 54.5% |
| Coalition of Progressive Electors | 0/1 | 0.0% | 0/8 | 0.0% | 0/5 | 0.0% | 0/5 | 0.0% | 0/19 | 0.0% |
| Vancouver 1st | NIL | N/A | 0/5 | 0.0% | 0/5 | 0.0% | 0/3 | 0.0% | 0/13 | 0.0% |
| Cedar Party | NIL | N/A | 0/4 | 0.0% | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | 0/4 | 0.0% |
| Independent Democratic Electoral Alliance | NIL | N/A | 0/1 | 0.0% | 0/1 | 0.0% | NIL | N/A | 0/2 | 0.0% |
| Public Education Project | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | 0/2 | 0.0% | 0/2 | 0.0% |
| Stop Party | 0/1 | 0.0% | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | 0/1 | 0.0% |
| OneCity Vancouver | NIL | N/A | 0/1 | 0.0% | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | 0/1 | 0.0% |
| Hotel Workers United – Local 40 | NIL | N/A | 0/1 | 0.0% | NIL | N/A | NIL | N/A | 0/1 | 0.0% |
| Independent | 0/6 | 0.0% | 0/10 | 0.0% | 0/6 | 0.0% | 0/5 | 0.0% | 0/27 | 0.0% |

### Seat changes by party

| Party | Mayor & councillors | Mayor & councillors | Mayor & councillors | Mayor & councillors | Park board commissioners | Park board commissioners | Park board commissioners | Park board commissioners | School board trustees | School board trustees | School board trustees | School board trustees | Total elected | Total elected | Total elected | Total elected |
| Party | 2011 | 2014 | % change | % seats | 2011 | 2014 | % change | % seats | 2011 | 2014 | % change | % Seats | 2011 | 2014 | % change | % seats |
| Vision Vancouver | 8 | 7 | −12.50% | 63.64% | 5 | 1 | −80.00% | 14.29% | 5 | 4 | −20.00% | 44.44% | 18 | 12 | −33.33% | 44.44% |
| Non-Partisan Association | 2 | 3 | +50.00% | 27.27% | 2 | 4 | +100.00% | 57.14% | 3 | 4 | +33.33% | 44.44% | 7 | 11 | +57.14% | 40.74% |
| Green Party of Vancouver | 1 | 1 | ±0.00% | 9.09% | 0 | 2 | N/A | 28.57% | 0 | 1 | N/A | 11.11% | 1 | 4 | +300.00% | 14.81% |
| Coalition of Progressive Electors | 0 | 0 | ±0.00% | 0.00% | 0 | 0 | ±0.00% | 0.00% | 1 | 0 | −100.00% | 0.00% | 1 | 0 | −100.00% | 0.00% |

## Opinion polls

Mayoral candidates :
| Polling firm | Date of polling | Robertson | LaPointe | Wong | Others |
| Insights West | November 12, 2014 | 46% | 41% | 9% | 4% |
| Insights West | November 10, 2014 | 47% | 43% | 9% | – |
| Justason Market Intelligence | November 3, 2014 | 46% | 32% | 16% | – |