COPE welcomes Pete Fry into the People’s Primary

Jan 30th, 2026

Vancouver, BC - The Coalition of Progressive Electors welcomes a healthy competition for Mayor, and is pleased to see Pete Fry is stepping forward to challenge incumbent Ken Sim.

COPE has dubbed the early phase of the mayoral race “The People’s Primary,” a chance for the opposition parties on Council to present and debate their ideas in the public sphere, and allow voters to choose the direction they want in a “unity mayor.”

“COPE has held off on making any Mayoral announcements while attempts at progressive unity are underway, and has proposed a number of possible pathways to a unity mayor to other parties,” said co-chair Shawn Vulliez today, “One of these proposals was to hold a public contest that starts by engaging the public with multiple mayoral campaigns. While there is not yet any agreement between parties, it appears we are in that scenario.”

He added, "We don't want to get stuck behind a stinker in the Mayor's office, or a losing campaign for Mayor. So COPE will always consider running the right mayor at the right time for the right reasons."

In 2022, despite only having one incumbent ‘progressive’ candidate for Mayor, Ken Sim emerged victorious because of low voter turnout and lack of enthusiasm among progressive parties.

A survey conducted in October by Mainstream Research showed COPE among the progressive favorites for Mayor, with COPE polling highest among opposition parties as voter’s first choice of party, and Mayoral candidates from COPE, Greens, and OneCity having a combined 42% support among voters.

“Pete and I have co-sponsored motions on council, and he’s been a great help to me and Lucy in being effective City Councillors since the by-election,” said COPE’s Sean Orr. “I’m focused on the day-to-day work on Council. I’m not involved in the talks with other parties, but I know COPE is committed to evicting Ken Sim and ABC,” added Orr.

Fellow opposition party and COPE collaborator OneCity has also announced a mayoral race with two contenders, Amanda Burrows and WIlliam Azaroff.

“Any one of these candidates, or a future candidate with COPE, could end up being the standard-bearer for the progressive challenge to Sim in the Mayor’s office this fall,” said Shawn Vulliez, “Let’s all be good neighbours during a period of healthy competition, and commit in good faith to finding ways to narrow the field as the race continues.”

COPE is currently accepting candidate nomination applications, and is in conversation with multiple potential candidates for Mayor. COPE finished in first place in last year’s by-election, getting more than three times the votes of Ken Sim’s ABC candidates.

Councillor Orr is bringing a motion to City Council next week that calls for a Ranked Choice Ballot for future Mayoral elections as one measure to encourage greater participation in local democracy. COPE is urging all progressive parties to agree to support a ranked ballot in future elections as part of a unity agreement to defeat Ken Sim and ABC this year. 

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Shawn Vulliez, COPE Co-chair
COPE@copevancouver.ca