Vancouver councillors announce re-election bid under banner of new ABC party

Vancouver City Hall, in Vancouver, B.C., is seen here in an undated file photo.

Three city councillors who have been sitting as independents have announced they will be running for re-election with the recently-launched A Better City (ABC) Vancouver party.

Sarah Kirby-Yung, Lisa Dominato, and Rebecca Bligh were elected in 2018 as members of the NPA, and will be joining the new municipal party led by Ken Sim – the NPA’s mayoral candidate in that election. Sim was narrowly defeated for the city’s top job, losing to Kennedy Stewart by fewer than 1,000 votes.

Making the announcement Monday, Sim touted the work the councillors have done since being elected.

“Whether it is more housing, better public spaces, safer communities, support for small business, or fiscal responsibility, they have been working hard for Vancouver residents," he wrote in a statement.

Bligh was the first of the three to leave the NPA, resigning in 2019 after the election of a new board of directors she said represented a “far-right” turn. The new members included a former Rebel Media personality, and several people vocally opposed to SOGI 123, a B.C. public school policy to create a learning environment that is inclusive of LGBTQ+ students.

Kirby-Yung and Dominato left in 2021, saying in an open letter they had lost confidence in the party, and were ”blindsided” by the board’s decision to run park board commissioner John Coupar for mayor in 2022. Coun. Colleen Hardwick also left over that move. However, she is pursuing her own mayoral bid with another newly-launched party.

Sim announced the creation of ABC Vancouver last April, when he announced he would again be running for mayor. The party describes itself as a “modern, inclusive party with supporters from across the political spectrum, working to make Vancouver a safer, more affordable, and liveable city.”