Mastodawn

OneCity 2026 Nomination Race

If you’re one of the more than 4000 members of OneCity, you have some hard decisions to make over the next week. Your vote will pick:

4 city council candidates (who will join Lucy Maloney on the ballot)
5 school board candidates
3 park board candidates

Actually, one of these decisions is easy. There are only 3 park board candidates and 3 spots. But for school board there is 6 school board nominees. And the really, really hard choice is narrowing the field of 11 highly qualified council nominees down to 4.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55210933711/

Council

The 11 OneCity council nominees are all excellent and it’s a real shame the unity agreement limits them to running 5 (including Lucy). I might be a bit biased, but it is arguably a much stronger field than COPE and the Greens are choosing from. Here is the full list of nominees from all parties for reference.

Regardless, the task to members is to rank everyone. The good news is, whomever places in the top 4, they will have an excellent chance of beating ABC in October and making positive change in Vancouver over the next 4 years. Here is how I plan on ranking my ballot.

Iona Bonamis – Great advocate for better transportation in the city – especially walking, cycling, and public transit. I’ve personally seen how hard she works to make Vancouver a better place to live. She came so close last time and I’m sure she’ll be a great city councillor when she wins this time.

Peter Waldkirch – He’s really impressed me more than anyone over the campaign. I learned a lot from the walking tour he gave through Fairview and Mount Pleasant. This guy understands zoning and housing like no one else. He also had one of the best answers at the debate as he talked about how dense, walkable neighbourhoods as a carbon reduction and climate adaptation strategy. Also a wicked accordion player.

The top 2 for me are clear winners. Iona and Peter are both highly qualified, highly electable, and would bring real change to City Hall. I’ve gone back and forth on who should be number one, but I really hope both make it. Ranking the rest is a little harder.

Caitlin Stockwell – Ran for Park board in 2022 and almost won a spot. Committed environmentalist who wants to see more cycling. She was the only candidate that talked about reconciliation during the debate and did a great job.

Frances Bula – Her blog and newspaper articles are how I learned about Vancouver politics. I don’t think there is anyone with a deeper understanding of how this city works. Her politics are a bit unclear, but she seems committed to OneCity’s policies.

Russil Wvong – I voted for Russil last election. He’s similar to Peter in that he understands zoning and housing deeply. He’s also a software engineer and I have a personal affinity toward nerds.

Mike Tan – Small business and Chinatown advocate. Part of the Builder slate with Iona, Frances, and Jarrett.

Armor Valor – Love his enthusiasm and his focus on workers rights. During the debate he talked about increasing density around hospitals and care homes.

Jarrett Hagglund – Another housing advocate, but with a huge emphasis on co-ops.

I could see arranging my 3-8 votes in a different order. There are upsides to all of them. My bottom 3 are:

Ashley Fehr – I was impressed with her energy when I met her in person, but she really struggled in the debate.

Azeem Ali – I love that he represents the neighbourhoods in South Vancouver, but I’m not crazy about his Vancouver Investment Guarantee to ensure each neighbourhood gets the same spending from city programs.

Aaron Chapman – Someone has to be last. As a historian, he brings an interesting lens, but I don’t think he has what it takes to be a politician.

I know the Abundant Housing folks are ranking Peter and Russil 1-2. And the alliance that has formed between Iona, Frances, Mike, and Jarrett – the OneCity Builders – will be a strong force if they can convince their voters to back the slate. I took that into consideration with my list, but ended up choosing the candidates I personally thought were the best.

Two notes about my list:

Even if my top 4 candidates win, a lot of great candidates will lose. This is going to hurt.
It’s really hard to pick a representative slate with only 4 ranked choices.

If you missed it, here’s the full council debate – it’s great for hearing the candidates talk policy and get a sense of how they would perform on council.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knuq9tK9fgo

School Board

There’s not a lot separating the 6 school board candidates who are running for 5 spots. They’re all excellent and will do a great job replacing incumbent Jennifer Ready. 5 of the candidates have cross-endorsed each other, leaving Christopher Lee out but I really like him (and not just because of his name). My ranking is.

Sherry Breshears – DPAC and Dyslexia BC

Krista Sigurdson – Barely missed a spot in 2022. I’m glad she’s back. Another DPAC member.

Steve Cardwell – Former Superintendent who really understands the school board.

Christopher Lee – School boards should have a stronger youth voice

Kareem Hassib – Involved in student politics at UBC. Smart guy.

Rory Brown – former President of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers Association. Feels weird ranking him last when he also ran in 2022 and came close to winning, but all 6 nominees are excellent and someone needs to be last.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdZbqAbr80&t=1620s

Park Board

No need to rank the park candidates, as the only choose will be to acclaim or not. But if I did have to rank them, the order would be.

John Irwin

Dominic Denofrio

Tyler Petersen

Summary

Voting runs May 3-10. See the OneCity How to Vote page for more details.

If you have a pitch for why a candidate should be ranked higher, leave a comment. It might change someone’s mind.

#CaitlinStockwell #FrancesBula #IonaBonamis #MikeTan #nominees #onecity #PeterWaldkirch #primary #RussilWvong #vanpoli

🍃Carkner🥺Apr 21

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@thetyee/116442809725584619

good luck to them / to us lol. we need to be rid of Ken Sim

#Vanpoli #COPE #OneCity #GreenParty

Show thread

🍃Carkner🥺Apr 16

I liked this guy Mike Tan too. I wasn't familiar with him but my lefty Chinese friends definitely knew him, and all spoke highly of him. (One also said he's his kung fu teacher lol.) He just seemed to really care about people being able to live with dignity in the city and not priced out
https://www.sauder.ubc.ca/news/school-news/driven-preserve-vancouvers-chinatown

#OneCity #vanpoli

Show thread

🍃Carkner🥺Apr 16

this guy Armor Valor who wants to run for council is a total character. I would be happy if he won the nomination. he was very much about working class pride and understanding where the poorest among us are at and figuring out how to support them. he said "yes Armor Valor is my real name, my dad was a soldier in the Phillipines and gave me this name. I will fight for you"
https://langara.ca/contact/directory/armor-valor-corrales

#vanpoli #OneCity

Armor Valor Corrales | Langara

Armor Valor Corrales has served as a student-elected Board Member for multiple terms since 2021. Armor Valor is also the chef and owner of KaonTa Chicken, a small business he founded in the heart of South Vancouver, where he was born and raised. Armor Valor is also a member of the Hospital Employees Union, working as a cook at Children’s and Women’s Hospital. Using his business as a platform, Armor Valor has sponsored several cultural events throughout the Lower Mainland.

🍃Carkner🥺Apr 16

I'm a #OneCity member so I went to the "meet the candidates" meeting for the upcoming municipal election last night. Never been to one like that before. All the prospective city council, school board and parks board candidates had ~90 seconds to introduce themselves and make their pitch before members vote on which will run next month. An interesting experience. Some colourful characters, brilliant activists and others who probably aren't ready to run for office.

#Vanpoli #Vancouver

🍃Carkner🥺Mar 9

now this one kind of surprises and impresses me ... I never knew her as a left winger but she is an incredibly sharp and knowledgeable writer. quite a get, as they say.
https://www.straight.com/city-culture/5-thoughts-on-veteran-vancouver-journalist-frances-bula-running-for-council-with

#VanPoli #OneCity

5 thoughts on veteran Vancouver journalist Frances Bula running for council with OneCity

The longtime civic affairs writer is throwing her hat in the ring with OneCity.

The Georgia Straight

Follow GOLF Feb 11

https://www.fogolf.com/1162756/the-citys-brownsville-golf-center-is-undergoing-upgrades-the-course-at-the-golf-center-is-seeing-enhancements-that-will-improve-playability-safety-and-overall-experience-the-brownsville-g/ The City’s Brownsville Golf Center is undergoing upgrades! The course at the Golf Center is seeing enhancements that will improve playability, safety, and overall experience. The Brownsville Golf Center remains open to the public during construction. Work is being completed in segments to minimize disruptions. Brownsville TV News Reporter Jennifer Galvan has more. #OneCity #ParksAndRecreation #Golf Brownsville Golf Center | City of Brownsville, TX #GolfClubs

Canadian Veggie Apr 1, 2025

Vancouver 2025 By-Election

There’s a Vancouver by-election happening right now. If you didn’t notice, I don’t blame you. Between Trump’s war on sanity and the recently called federal election, there isn’t much space left for a local election that realistically won’t change the balance of power in Vancouver and doesn’t help protect our sovereignty.

That said, I hope you will go out and vote. Especially for the OneCity candidate Lucy Maloney. She’s smart, compassionate, and has a great track record fighting for safe streets and tenant protection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGcIppbQ6Ss

Voting day is April 5 and you can vote at any local community centre. You can also vote today (April 1) at City Hall.

But there is actually 2 council vacancies, so you have 2 votes. And that is where things get a lot harder to figure out. The first vote is easy – Lucy Maloney. For the second vote, I’ve heard smart people that I respect advocate for 3 possible options:

Annette Reilly (Green)

It’s replacing Adriane Carr’s seat, so makes sense to vote a Green back in
Greens have a good record on environment and bike lanes (better than COPE)
Reilly is well spoken

Sean Orr (COPE)

Orr is a firebrand and will hold ABC’s feet to the fire
COPE has a strong by-election team working to get the vote out, possibly stronger than Greens even though Orr and COPE got their butts kicked last election

No one – Just Lucy Maloney

You don’t have to pick a second candidate (vote plumping)
If you think Maloney and OneCity is far superior to everyone else, using your second vote risks that person winning over your top choice

In an ideal world, this wouldn’t be so complicated. There would be one obvious choice. If OneCity had run 2 candidates it would be easy. If COPE had sat this out, it would be easy. But the left-wing parties, as hard as they tried, couldn’t come up with a good solution. So we ended up with this ugly compromise where each party ran a single candidate.

I haven’t voted yet, but right now my plan is to vote for Lucy Maloney + No One. It’s not an easy choice for me. In past elections I have used very single vote. But I’m thinking ahead to the next 2026 general election. If we want to replace Ken Sim and ABC, we need a single united alternative. I believe OneCity is best party to be that alternative, and the best way to make that clear to everyone is a decisive by-election result on April 5. Otherwise, 2026 will be another case of a united ABC fending off a fractured opposition.

More Resources

If you’re looking to find out more about the candidates, here are some resources I recommend: