Coalition of Progressive Electors

In Canada, the left continued its winning streak in local elections with the victory of the Vancouver Green Party mayoral candidate Pete Fry over the incumbent mayor Ken Simm, who was affiliated with the centre-right ABC Vancouver Coalition.

The TAI reports the left also experienced a romp in the city council elections, sending four green candidates to the council, along with four candidates affiliated with the Coalition of Progressive Electors, or COPE.

The ABC, which currently holds six out of 11 seats on the council, in addition to the mayoralty, has now been reduced to a single seat.

Fry will be the city's first Green mayor, which he called a heavy role to play.

Vancouverites have voted for change.

Over the weekend, they removed incumbent Mayor Ken Sim and all but one of his business-friendly ABC Vancouver councillors, and they replaced Mr. Sim with the city's first Green Party mayor, Pete Fry, who will preside over a council dominated by backers from the municipal Greens and a party called the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

We reached Mayor-elect Pete Fry in Vancouver.

Mayor-elect, have you had a chance to sleep yet?

Yeah.

The parties that said, "Yes, I'm, I'm for this across the board," uh, were COPE, Coalition of Progressive Electors, the Green Party of Vancouver, OneCity Vancouver, the Vancouver Liberals, and Vote Vancouver all had yeses across the board.

I guess that's a pretty good, uh, show up for that.

Yeah, we were really pleased that, uh, these candidates said that they're committed to taking action because, you know, uh, we've heard in our engagement that progress on these issues will make a really meaningful difference in people's lives.

And boy, can you tell.

Um, like biking to work today, it was funny seeing all the lawn signs for like COPE and ABC next to like giant skeletons and fake cobwebs and inflatable ghosts.

It was interesting, and frankly, uh, an inauspicious juxtaposition.

Is that, uh, uh... 'Cause you know, like the man in the hockey mask.

Well, one thing I'm acutely aware of in Vancouver politics is the progressive side's tendency to split the vote multiple ways.

Yes.

So the progressive parties, which we will, you know, let's stake our claim and [laughs] and say that they are COPE, the Greens, and OneCity.

They heard those cries about splitting of the vote, and they h- since last fall, I believe, had been locked in negotiations with each other about how many candidates they were gonna run for city council, park board, and school board.

I really appreciate it.

I also spoke with Solomon Yee Kieran, a candidate for Vancouver City Council running with the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

We talk about why Gaza is an issue for municipal candidates running in the BC municipal elections, and how he would be effective on that issue if elected.

Here is that conversation.

Uh, I'm a student organizer, a transit activist, and kind of a leading voice in the fight against AI data centers.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, and I'm a city council candidate with the Coalition of Progressive Electors, or COPE, uh, in Vancouver, uh, for city council.

And I understand you're also active on the issue of Gaza and Palestine, right?