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Maybe I’m just naturally optimistic about democracy, despite little to no positivity on that front of late. 

But I had been wondering for awhile about whether members of the current majority party on Vancouver city council—ABC Vancouver—would attend all-candidate debates in the run-up to October’s municipal election. 

During the 2022 election cycle, Ken Sim did attend a few mayoral debates. I was at one of them. I felt that he got the best of incumbent Kennedy Stewart at the time and was fairly poised on the stage. He came across as likeable and fun-loving but also serious about some of the issues the city was facing. 

Whether Sim remained those things as mayor over the following four years is something that’s up for debate.

In the 2025 byelection to elect two council members after Christine Boyle and Adriane Carr departed the City, Sim’s party was largely rejected by voters. ABC’s two candidates, Jaime Stein and Ralph Kaisers, got under 10,000 votes in the byelection. They came fifth and sixth, behind candidates from TEAM, the Green Party, and the eventual winners, Sean Orr (COPE) and Lucy Maloney (OneCity). The latter two had more than times the votes that ABC candidates garnered.

During that byelection campaign, ABC made the choice to not attend all candidates debates. “I don’t think a charged debate stage is where you’re going to understand the concerns of the people,” Stein told the Straight at the time. 

It made some sense then—ABC had the most to lose of any of the other parties by taking to a stage and being attacked, and the least to gain—even if it was soul-crushing for those that demand responsibility from their politicans. 

But now, it appears that ABC is going to use the same tactic in the run-up to this fall’s municipal election. Sim did not attend a mayoral debate at the Lakewood Terrace housing co-op, and ABC members aren’t scheduled to attend a council candidates debate held by Women Transforming Cities next month. A representative for the organization told the Straight that ABC members had been invited to attend.

The Straight emailed ABC’s executive director about this topic and did not receive a reply.

So, if you’re keeping track: after getting absolutely thrashed in a byelection in which their candidates didn’t attend all-candidates meetings and debates, ABC is doubling down and will now, after four years, refuse to answer tough questions in public forums. 

Some of those questions include (but are not limited to): the eviction of tenants at Myron Manor without adequate protections; whether it was OK for Sim to completely blow off the press after being caught saying that Orr distributed illegal drugs on Christmas Day; whether or not the party is going to prioritize bitcoin if it holds another majority; whether Sim and councillor Lenny Zhou have apologized to the Chinese community, where they initially made the Orr claims; why ABC park board members think it’s completely normal and chill to be running again for a body they voted to get rid of; using city events to make campaign statements; whether it was OK to have a councillor making decisions for a city he doesn’t live in; and whether a moratorium on new supportive housing was just. 

In our view, it really is a shame that ABC isn’t at the centre of debate stages justifying the moves it made and arguing for their success. This is a chance for the party to stick up for the decisions it made over four years, to go to voters, answer hard questions, tell them all the things it did in their interests, and recount all the times it fought for them tooth and nail. Nope. We don’t get any of that.

Instead, we have party members going out to the streets with tiny mics and having one-sided conversations with supporters on social media. They aren’t even the ones answering the questions in those “interviews”. Vancouverites deserve so much better. 

Hopefully, Sim will have the will to get back up on the stage at least once this time around and fight for another four years at the helm of the city. If he doesn’t, can people rationalize voting for a party that doesn’t show up to face them?