2017 Vancouver municipal by-election
# 2017 Vancouver municipal by-election

A municipal by-election was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on October 14, 2017. One empty seat on city council and all the seats on the Vancouver school board were filled.

These elections were held outside the normal four-year schedule. Unlike in full elections, voters were only asked to elect one councillor and nine school board trustees rather than the full complement of elected municipal positions. The by-election was necessary for two reasons: the resignation of Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs from City Council to become BC Premier John Horgan's chief of staff and the desire of the new provincial NDP government to reconstitute the Vancouver School Board, whose elected members had all been fired by the previous BC Liberal government.

The school board election marked the first time a OneCity candidate was elected to any position in Vancouver's elected government.

## Background

The by-election was called to replace the single vacant council seat, due to Geoff Meggs' departure to take on the role of Premier John Horgan's chief of staff. The by-election was also meant to elect a new board of school trustees, who had been dismissed by provincial education minister Mike Bernier after failing to pass a balanced budget and allegations of workplace harassment arose.

## Nomination process

### Non-Partisan Association

On September 6, 2017, the Non-Partisan Association held a nomination meeting to decide their representative for the lone Council position. Hector Bremner, the successful nominee, beat out former school trustee Penny Noble and former leader of the Cedar Party Glen Chernen. Candidates for the five school trustee positions were announced at the same time.

### Green Party

Pete Fry, who had unsuccessfully ran for Council in 2014, was the first confirmed nominee for council by any major political party in Vancouver. The Greens also nominated former incumbent Janet Fraser to run for re-election alongside Judy Zaichkowsky and Estrellita Gonzalez.

## Results

### Councillor

| Candidate Name | Party affiliation | Votes | % of votes | Elected |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Hector Bremner | Non-Partisan Association | 13,372 | 27.83% | X |
| Jean Swanson | Independent | 10,263 | 21.36% | |
| Pete Fry | Green Party of Vancouver | 9,759 | 20.31% | |
| Judy Graves | OneCity Vancouver | 6,327 | 13.17% | |
| Diego Cardona | Vision Vancouver | 5,411 | 11.26% | |
| Mary Jean Dunsdon | Sensible Vancouver | 1,737 | 3.62% | |
| Gary Lee | Independent | 886 | 1.84% | |
| Damian J. Murphy | Independent | 157 | 0.33% | |
| Joshua Wasilenkoff | Independent | 131 | 0.27% | |

### School Board trustees

Each voter could cast up to nine votes.

(I) denotes incumbents prior to the dismissal of all nine School Board trustees by Education Minister Mike Bernier in October 2016.

| Candidate Name | Party affiliation | Votes | % of votes | Elected |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| (I) Janet Fraser | Green Party of Vancouver | 27,360 | 56.24% | X |
| Judy Zaichkowsky | Green Party of Vancouver | 23,383 | 48.06% | X |
| Estrellita Gonzalez | Green Party of Vancouver | 20,307 | 41.75% | X |
| (I) Joy Alexander | Vision Vancouver | 19,709 | 40.52% | X |
| (I) Allan Wong | Vision Vancouver | 18,678 | 38.40% | X |
| Lisa Dominato | Non-Partisan Association | 18,258 | 37.53% | X |
| (I) Fraser Ballantyne | Non-Partisan Association | 18,048 | 37.10% | X |
| Carrie Bercic | OneCity Vancouver | 17,822 | 36.64% | X |
| Ken Clement | Vision Vancouver | 17,583 | 36.15% | X |
| Theodora Lamb | Vision Vancouver | 17,204 | 35.37% | |
| Robert McDowell | Non-Partisan Association | 17,140 | 35.23% | |
| Erica Jaff | OneCity Vancouver | 17,117 | 35.19% | |
| (I) Mike Lombardi | Vision Vancouver | 17,094 | 35.14% | |
| (I) Christopher Richardson | Non-Partisan Association | 16,839 | 34.62% | |
| Diana Day | Coalition of Progressive Electors | 16,683 | 34.30% | |
| Julian Prieto | Non-Partisan Association | 16,299 | 33.51% | |
| Adi Pick | Independent | 10,263 | 21.10% | |
| Christine Arnold | Independent | 9,209 | 18.93% | |
| Jamie Lee Hamilton | IDEA Vancouver | 8,590 | 17.66% | |
