ABC Vancouver

ABC Vancouver is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is led by incumbent mayor Ken Sim.

History

Formation

Three of five city councillors elected under the NPA banner in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election – Rebecca Bligh, Lisa Dominato, and Sarah Kirby-Yung – joined ABC Vancouver and ran with the party in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election. The NPA's 2018 mayoral candidate, Ken Sim, was acclaimed as ABC's 2022 mayoral candidate.

All ABC Vancouver candidates were elected in the 2022 municipal election. Sim was elected as Mayor with 50.96% of the popular vote, defeating his closest rival incumbent Mayor Kennedy Stewart by 36,139 votes or 21.48% of the popular vote.

On December 20, 2023, ABC submitted an amended 2022 General Election Disclosure Statement indicating that their $1.008 million 2022 election campaign had received over $116,000 in prohibited contributions.

In government

With the party forming a majority on council, ABC approved several of its key policy planks in the first few council meetings of the 2022–2026 term, including adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, green-lighting "urgent measures to uplift Vancouver’s Chinatown," and directing city staff to budget $16 million to hire 100 police officers and 100 mental health nurses.

In early 2023, the ABC park board majority voted to remove most of the temporary Stanley Park bike lane in favour of replacing the bike lane with new, permanent cycling infrastructure. The first budget approved by the ABC-led council included increases in funding to the City's road maintenance, horticulture, mental health crisis response, and snow removal budgets, as well as funding increases to the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services. The council majority also voted to abandon the city's living wage certification and transition the City's base wage rate on a five-year average rolling living wage.

In May 2023, the ABC council majority voted to make numerous changes to the City's 'Empty Homes Tax' including additional exemptions and a decision to maintain the tax's rate at 3%. Among the changes was a decision to retroactively exempt standing inventory from the tax, and return to developers $3.8 million that had been collected as empty homes tax for unsold condominium units.

Fulfilling an ABC election promise, the municipal government announced in June 2023 that the city's new Chinatown satellite office would open in July, bearing the name of Won Alexander Cumyow. The office, which will provide local services in Mandarin and Cantonese, will be located in the city-owned Chinatown Plaza mall on Keefer Street. The ABC-led Council also unanimously supported a motion to support improved municipal services in South Vancouver and Marpole.

On December 6, 2023, three of six ABC Park Commissioners left the party to sit as independents following Sim's announcement of his motion to amend the Vancouver Charter in order to abolish the elected Park Board.

Electoral results

References

1. ABC
2. 2022 Vancouver municipal election
3. Vancouver School Board
4. Vancouver City Council
5. Vancouver
6. Ken Sim
7. List of political parties in Canada
8. OneCity Vancouver
9. Non-Partisan Association
10. Government and politics of Vancouver
11. Christine Boyle
12. List of mayors of Vancouver
13. Vancouver Grizzlies
14. Pete Fry
15. Municipal political parties in Vancouver
16. Mike Klassen
17. ABC with Kenny G
18. List of Braceface episodes
19. Rebecca Bligh
20. Peter Meiszner