The Problem with Pete Fry’s Mayoral Campaign

With the highest favourability rating among Vancouver’s mayoral candidates and his left-leaning rivals clearing the field for him as the consensus progressive candidate , Pete Fry should be poised to become the city’s next mayor. But Fry must still define what exactly he represents, solidify his own electoral coalition and demonstrate that the Green Party of Vancouver has the organizational capacity to convert his personal popularity into enough votes to win.

Incumbent Mayor Ken Sim of the ABC Vancouver party has a durable bloc of voters that has sustained him as a front-runner in the mayoral race, despite a decline in broader popularity.

With the Coalition of Progressive Electors, or COPE, and OneCity withdrawing their mayoral candidates, Fry is well positioned to leverage his political advantages, consolidate the progressive electorate behind him and seriously challenge Sim.

In August, a Research Co. survey put Fry’s favourability at 45 per cent, with a net favourability at plus 12, the strongest among Vancouver’s mayoral candidates. A Justason Market Intelligence poll released Sept. 16 found Fry overtaking Sim among decided voters.

Fry also benefits from considerable name recognition. First elected to city council in 2018 with the second-highest vote total of any council candidate, he survived the 2022 municipal election as just one of three non-ABC councillors elected amid an ABC Vancouver landslide.

Since then, Fry has emerged as one of the most prominent opposition voices to Mayor Ken Sim. Fry can campaign on his eight years of city council experience without carrying the burden of the administration’s record.

By comparison, Vote Vancouver mayoral candidate Rebecca Bligh also has eight years of city council experience but spent more than two years as an ABC Vancouver city councillor before being expelled from the party. Vancouver Liberals mayoral candidate Kareem Allam has never served on council and was Mayor Sim’s first chief of staff before being terminated within four months.

But while Fry is well known, well liked and well positioned, he has yet to clearly define what exactly he represents as a mayoral candidate.

After nearly eight years on Vancouver city council, Fry points to his record of establishing Vancouver’s first renters’ office, introducing North America’s first ethical procurement policy to include animal welfare, and advancing reduced speed limits on residential streets. At least, those are the signature accomplishments highlighted on Fry’s campaign website.

But that record is not exactly an elevator pitch for a Pete Fry mayoralty.

To his credit, Fry has made some policy announcements. Last week, he released the Vancouver Greens’ housing plan .

But even then, Fry’s emerging agenda on housing is not a dramatic departure from ABC Vancouver: faster approvals, more housing supply and fewer regulatory barriers. This should not be surprising, given how Fry has voted with the ABC position on eight of nine significant housing votes (89 per cent), the highest rate among non-ABC councillors.

Of course, there are differences between the Vancouver Greens and ABC Vancouver.