Pete Fry, leader of the Green Party of Vancouver, has been elected the city’s new mayor, dethroning ABC Vancouver’s Ken Sim.
As the results started to roll in, Fry jumped to an early lead that never let up. As of the time of publication at 10:42 p.m., the Green leader is ahead with 57,194 votes, followed by Sim with 41,040 votes and TEAM For A Livable Vancouver’s Colleen Hardwick with 10,492 votes. Sim has also delivered his concession speech to Fry.
Just over a month ago, OneCity mayoral candidate William Azaroff announced that he was stepping away from the race, following COPE Vancouver mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen doing the same, to declare Fry the unified progressive leader.
Some of Pete Fry’s promises
Fry said he sees an opportunity for wood-frame construction, which would support B.C. communities that depend on the forestry industry and are shaken by Trump’s tariffs on Canadian forestry products.
He said he would scale four-to-six-storey wood-frame buildings all over the city with the single-egress staircase, which allows for more usable floor space in a building. Fry said that wood frame is not only cheaper and faster to build, but also creates more “liveable” spaces that have bigger units and are ground-oriented.
He also said that he would bring back the Renters’ Office.
In a recent interview with Daily Hive Urbanized, Fry called himself the antidote to Sim if he were elected.
“If you’re dissatisfied with the last four years and where things are going with Ken Sim, then I’m the antidote to that.”
Fry said one of his biggest concerns about the current state of Vancouver is its governance, and he believes that many of the city’s issues stem from poor governance and a lack of transparency and accountability.
“Under the Vancouver Charter and Local Government Act, we‘re supposed to conduct ourselves in a certain way, and I don’t see that happening.”
Fry said that they’ve seen many rezoning proposals and have “moved lots of paper” but aren’t seeing new homes getting built “in a meaningful way.”
He acknowledged that the construction industry has been hampered by a slow economy, U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, federal government policies to reduce immigration, and the foreign buyer ban. This has resulted in a slowdown in presales and has meant that developers aren’t able to finance their projects, as most banks require about 60 per cent of their units presold before they will finance a project.
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