It's official: William Azaroff selected as OneCity Vancouver's mayoral candidate
Burrows, the executive director of the First United Church Community Ministry Society, was the only other candidate in the race.
The result caps a closely watched internal race for the party as it looks to position itself ahead of the next municipal election.
Over the last few weeks leading up to the party nomination, Azaroff announced a range of early campaign promises, such as building 4,000 affordable homes on land owned by the City of Vancouver, making it easier to build childcare facilities, synchronizing Vancouver’s traffic lights under a new technological network to reduce congestion and speed up TransLink buses through traffic-signal priority, and expediting the renewal of Britannia’s aging civic hub of community and recreational facilities.
William Azaroff. (William Azaroff)
Based on announcements to date, Azaroff will compete for the mayoral seat against incumbent Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver, sitting city councillor Pete Fry of the Green Party of Vancouver, Kareem Allam of the newly formed Vancouver Liberals, and sitting city councillor Rebecca Bligh of the new Vote Vancouver party.
Late last year, former mayor Kennedy Stewart told Daily Hive Urbanized he is seriously considering throwing his hat into the race. It should also be noted that his party, Forward Together, which was created ahead of the 2022 civic election, was dissolved in 2025.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver party — led by former city councillor Colleen Hardwick — and the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) are also expected to confirm mayoral candidates of their own.
The civic election is scheduled for Oct. 17, 2026.
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