B.C. journalist Frances Bula to run for Vancouver City Council | Daily Hive

B.C. journalist Frances Bula to run for Vancouver City Council under the OneCity party

Frances Bula. (Vincent L. Chan/UBC)

Longtime British Columbia urban affairs reporter Frances Bula says she is stepping into politics after more than three decades covering Vancouver’s municipal government.

Bula announced today that she will seek a nomination to run for Vancouver City Council with the OneCity Vancouver party in the October 2026 civic election.

“Journalism was my service to the public for decades, now I want to do public service more directly,” said Bula in a statement announcing her campaign.

“I’d like to get in there and do some fighting for things I think could improve this city that I love.”

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Bula is widely known for her reporting on housing, urban planning, and City Hall politics. Over the course of her career, she has covered six Vancouver mayors and more than a dozen civic parties, developing a reputation as one of the city’s most closely followed observers of municipal government.

In announcing her candidacy, Bula said the current state of civic politics pushed her to consider entering the race.

“If people like me aren’t willing to put their names forward for public service at a time when our local democracy is in crisis — then we can expect more of the same chaos,” she said.

Her campaign will focus on a range of issues she argues are central to Vancouver’s future, including housing supply, support for small businesses and cultural organizations, active transportation infrastructure for safer walking and cycling, and improving public safety and “social trust” in neighbourhoods across the city.

Housing policy is expected to feature prominently in her platform. Bula has long reported on Vancouver’s housing challenges and said she supports expanding the variety of housing options available, including community land trusts, tiny-home villages, laneway homes, and mid-rise buildings with neighbourhood retail.

OneCity mayoral candidate William Azaroff welcomed Bula’s entry into the party’s nomination race, highlighting her long familiarity with the workings of municipal government.

“Frances is a powerhouse who knows City Hall backwards and forwards. It’s thrilling to have candidates of her calibre step forward to earn OneCity nominations,” he said.

“Good luck to ABC if she wins. There’s not a skeleton in Ken Sim’s closet she doesn’t know about.”

Bula also teaches journalism at the University of British Columbia and Langara College.

In 2023, she reached a new peak in her journalism career when she won B.C.’s top award for journalism — the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jack Webster Foundation.

OneCity’s membership selected Azaroff as their mayoral candidate last month. The party is scheduled to select their candidates for Vancouver City Council, Vancouver Park Board, and Vancouver School Board in May 2026.

So far, OneCity already has 12 city councillor candidates for nomination, including local historian and nightlife worker Aaron Chapman, hospital worker Armor Valor, activist Ashley Fehr, political staffer Azeem Ali, Indigenous governments lawyer Caitlin Stockwell, government worker Fabian Contreras, air ambulance pilot Haakon Koyote, TransLink planner Iona Bonamis, Co-operative Housing of Federation of B.C. managing director Jarrett Hagglund, anti-development Chinatown activist Mike Tan, lawyer and housing advocate Peter Waldkirch, and software developer and housing advocate Russil Wvong. There are 10 city councillor seats in the chamber at Vancouver City Hall.

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