Mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen said she was ‘strongly encouraging the other mayoral candidates in the race to also do the right thing, show integrity, and narrow the mayoral field to the progressive candidate best positioned to evict Ken Sim’
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On Monday, the mayoral candidates for Vancouver’s three leading left-of-centre parties — Stephanie Allen, Pete Fry, and William Azaroff — met at Allen’s home for a conversation over focaccia and chai on the patio.
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The trio, who have known each other for many years, had an “enjoyable conversation” about the mayoral race, said Fry, a second-term Green councillor and his party’s candidate for next month’s election. But, he said, they were “unable to reach a conclusion at that moment” about the prospect of two candidates withdrawing from the race to galvanize the progressive vote behind the third.
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It was the first time the three candidates had met privately without any political operatives or handlers, since their respective parties publicly committed in April to continuing talks about uniting behind whichever mayoral candidate was best-positioned to defeat the incumbent Mayor Ken Sim. Sim is seeking a second term with the right-leaning ABC Vancouver party.
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Less than 48 hours after the candidates’ Monday patio meeting, the race had changed: Allen, COPE’s mayoral nominee, announced Wednesday morning she was stepping down and urged the other two parties to rally behind a single mayoral candidate.
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“We will not put our egos ahead of doing the right thing for Vancouver,” Allen said at a news conference outside city hall, flanked by COPE candidates. Allen said it’s “mission-critical” to have one mayoral candidate on the progressive side, and “it must be the person in the best position at this critical hour to win the election.”
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Allen urged the remaining left-leaning mayoral candidates — the Greens’ Fry and OneCity’s Azaroff — to “do the right thing” and make way for the candidate “best equipped and positioned to evict Ken Sim.” She declined, however, to say which of the two she believed that would be, saying “any thoughts of endorsements have to be for another day.”
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“They’re going to have to live with the consequences if they don’t step forward and make the right call,” Allen said.
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Allen, who previously worked in housing development in the non-profit, public and private sectors and was co-founder of Hogan’s Alley Society, said that running for a council seat is “not on the table right now” for her.
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Later that day, both Azaroff and Fry commended Allen for her integrity and courage — and both said they are still in it to win it.
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At a quickly-scheduled press conference Wednesday afternoon at OneCity’s campaign office, Azaroff ran through a series of campaign promises in front of a crowd of reporters and cameras, and made the case for why his party — which has more money, volunteers and resources than the Greens, he says — is the best bet to unseat Sim in October.
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“People are worried that too many people are running for mayor, and it’s going to lead to the worst possible outcome,” said Azaroff, CEO of Brightside Community Homes, a non-profit housing developer in Vancouver. “People are worried that the people running to lead the city can’t demonstrate, in our own campaigns, the kind of co-operation that we’re promising to bring to city hall. I hear that, and I take that seriously.”
