Stephanie Allen enters Vancouver mayoral race as COPE names its candidate

Vancouver’s mayoral race has grown more crowded after COPE announced Stephanie Allen as its candidate, adding another progressive voice to an election already shaping up to be highly competitive.

Allen, a co-founder of Hogan’s Alley Society and former vice-president at B.C. Housing, said she is entering the race at what she sees as a critical moment for the city. She has positioned her campaign around affordability, housing and stronger public accountability in local decision-making.

Allen pitches housing and affordability focus

Allen said her campaign would push back against what she described as a rigged system, while drawing on her background in housing and governance to expand non-market housing, co-operatives and community land trusts.

She said Vancouver needs stronger leadership over how city-owned land is used, arguing that public land should play a bigger role in making life more affordable for residents.

Allen also said her platform would include support for a lobbyist registry and greater use of citizens’ assemblies as a way to involve residents more directly in decision-making.

Progressive parties still split on mayoral race

Allen’s entry is notable because it comes only weeks after COPE, OneCity and the Vancouver Green Party reached an agreement to limit the number of candidates they run for city council, park board and school board in an effort to reduce vote splitting on the left.

That agreement, however, did not produce a single shared mayoral candidate.

As a result, the three progressive parties are still expected to compete against one another in the mayor’s race, even while trying to cooperate in other parts of the ballot.

The earlier deal committed the parties to a good-faith effort to determine which progressive mayoral candidate would be best positioned to challenge for the office, but it remains unclear what process or metrics will ultimately be used to measure that.

Crowded field continues to grow

With Allen now in the race, Vancouver voters are facing an increasingly busy mayoral contest.

The field already includes incumbent Ken Sim for ABC Vancouver, OneCity’s William Azaroff, the Greens’ Pete Fry, Rebecca Bligh for Vote Vancouver, Colleen Hardwick for TEAM and Kareem Allam for the Vancouver Liberals.

COPE says Allen is expected to be formally acclaimed at the party’s May 11 nomination conference.

Her candidacy adds another layer of uncertainty to a race where progressive parties are still trying to balance cooperation with direct competition — especially in the campaign for mayor.