Kennedy Stewart has been elected the next mayor of Vancouver.
The former NDP MP narrowly defeated Non-Partisan Association (NPA) mayoral candidate Ken Sim by 984 votes, in a competition that ended up much closer than many analysts had expected.
Independent candidate Shauna Sylvester finished in third place.
The result came after an eventful mayoral campaign that saw prominent politicians and want-to-be politicians clamouring for a shot at the job.
Political newcomer Sim was the NPA’s nominee for the mayor’s job after beating John Coupar and Glen Chernen in a bizarre nomination battle. NPA city councillor Hector Bremner was told by the party’s executive that he could not run.
Vancouver has been at the epicentre of some of the province’s biggest issues. Housing affordability, the opioid epidemic, marijuana legalization and transit will all be huge issues during the election campaign.
Stewart is the first independent candidate to be elected mayor of Vancouver since Mike Harcourt left office in 1986.
WATCH: All you need to know about the 2018 Vancouver election
Candidates
Mayor
Hector Bremner (YES Vancouver)
Ken Sim (NPA)
Wai Young (Coalition Vancouver)
David Chen (ProVancouver)
Kennedy Stewart (Independent)
Shauna Sylvester (Independent)
Maynard Aubichon
G�l�k Z Buday
Sean Cassidy
Ping Chan
Connie Fogal
Mike Hansen
Fred Harding
Sophia C Kaiser
Jason Lamarche
Katy Le Rougetel
Tim Ly
Lawrence Massey
Rollergirl (Angela Dawson)
Satwant K Shottha
John Yano
Wai Young
Councillors
Brinder Bains (YES Vancouver)
Kelly Alm
Nycki K Basra (Vancouver 1st)
Taqdir (Taq) Kaur Bhanda (Independent)
Rebecca Bligh (Vision)
Sarah Blyth (Independent)
Christine Boyle (One City)
Barbara Buchanan
Diego Cardona (Vision Vancouver)
Adriane Carr (Vancouver Greens)
Glynnis Chan (YES Vancouver)
Ken Charko (Coalition Vancouver)
Glen Chernen (Coalition Vancouver)
Graham Cook (Independent)
Cord “Ted” Copeland
Breton Crellin (ProVancouver)
Adrian Crook (Independent)
Melissa De Genova (NPA)
Heather Deal (Vision)
Melissa De Genova (NPA)
Lisa Dominato (NPA)
Hamdy El-Rayes
Catherine Evans (Vision)
Larry J Falls
Marlo Franson
Pete Fry (Vancouver Greens)
Hsin-Chen Fu
Justin P. Goodrich (NPA)
Wade Grant
David Grewal (NPA)
Colleen Hardwick (NPA)
Ashley Hughes
Jesse Johl (Vancouver 1st)
Gordon T Kennedy
Abubakar Khan
Sarah Kirby-Yung (NPA)
Anastasia Koutalianos
Lisa Kristiansen
Morning Li (Coalition Vancouver)
James Lin (Coalition Vancouver)
Ken Low (Vancouver 1st)
John Malusa (Vancouver 1st)
Robert McDowell (Independent)
Herschel Miedzygorski
Raza Mirza (Pro Vancouver)
Michelle C Mollineaux (Vancouver 1st)
Penny Mussio (Coalition Vancouver)
Penny Noble
Derrick O’Keefe (COPE)
Stephanie Ostler (YES Vancouver)
Tanya Paz (Vision)
Elishia Perosa (Vancouver 1st)
Franco Peta (Coalition Vancouver)
Spike Peachy (Independent)
Elke Porter (Independent)
Francisco (Jojo) Quimpo (NPA)
Katherine Ramdeen
Francoise Raunet (Independent)
Rohana Rezel (ProVancouver)
Anne Roberts (COPE)
Erin Shum (Independent)
John Spark
Jean Swanson (COPE)
Phyllis Tang (YES Vancouver)
Elizabeth Taylor (Vancouver 1st)
Jaspreet Virdi (YES Vancouver)
Michael Wiebe (Vancouver Greens)
David Wong (Vancouver Greens)
Jason Xie (Coalition Vancouver)
Brandon Yan (One City)
Wei Qiao Zhang (Formerly Vision Vancouver, independent as of Oct. 19)
Boundary
B.C.’s biggest city is in Metro Vancouver and bordered by Burnaby, the Fraser River, English Bay and the Burrard Inlet.
Population (2016)
631,486
History
Home to Indigenous Peoples for generations, Vancouver had an industry boom in the 1800s. Logging, gold and fur trading made the area an economic centre.
In 1867, “Gassy Jack” Deighton opened a saloon for forestry workers on the shore of Burrard Inlet. The drinking hole was so popular the community around it was called Gastown.
In 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway moved its terminal from the head of Burrard Inlet to the area now known as Coal Harbour. A few years later, in 1886, the city was incorporated as the City of Vancouver, as it had a population of about 1,000 people. The first mayor was M.A. McLean. That summer a brush fire burned the city to the ground in less than 30 minutes.
One of the city’s favourite tourist destinations, English Bay beach, was sandless until 1898. Visitors had to walk through bushes to reach the water and a large rock on the beach separated men and women bathers.
In 1915, the Vancouver Millionaires hoisted the Stanley Cup. It was the same year that the University of British Columbia opened its doors.
In 1954, Vancouver hosted the 5th British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Thirty-two years later, the city hosted the World’s Fair. Twenty-four after that, in 2010, the city played host to the Winter Olympics.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)
$111,636/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016/B.C.
114.47 (+5.19)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016/B.C.
98.26 (-7)/74.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Hedy Fry (Liberal) – Vancouver Centre
Don Davies (NDP) – Vancouver Kingsway
Jenny Kwan (NDP) – Vancouver East
Joyce Murray (Liberal) – Vancouver Quadra
Harjit Sajjan (Liberal) – Vancouver South
Jody Wilson-Raybould (Liberal) – Vancouver Granville
Provincial
Spencer Chandra-Herbert (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-West End
George Chow (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Fraserview
Adrian Dix (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Kingsway
David Eby (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Point Grey
Mable Elmore (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Kensington
George Heyman (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Fairview
Michael Lee (B.C. Liberal) – Vancouver-Langara
Melanie Mark (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Mount Pleasant
Shane Simpson (B.C. NDP) – Vancouver-Hastings
Sam Sullivan (B.C. Liberal) – Vancouver-False Creek
Andrew Wilkinson (B.C. Liberal) – Vancouver-Quilchena