This record covers John Coupar, a council candidate for the Vancouver Liberals in the October 17, 2026 election. Coupar has a long record in Vancouver civic and provincial politics, including three park board terms, an NPA mayoral nomination that ended in resignation, and a 2024 run for the B.C. legislature.
No public appearance by this candidate was confirmed in the sources checked on September 22, 2026. The voting dates below apply to every voter. An empty day is a gap in the research, not proof that nothing is happening.
Checked September 22, 2026 · All event times are Vancouver local time. Recheck the organizer before travelling.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About John Coupar
John Coupar appears on the City of Vancouver's final 2026 candidate list for City Council, with ballot number 134. The City records the affiliation as Vancouver Liberals.
The party page says Coupar served on the Vancouver Park Board, including two years as its chair. The campaign says Coupar helped start the Friends of the Bloedel Association to defend the Bloedel Conservatory. The page says Coupar's private sector work includes serving as president of a carbon-neutral transportation company.
The Vancouver Liberals announced Coupar as a council candidate on August 6, 2026. The Georgia Straight reported the same day that Coupar is a former park board commissioner and a former Conservative Party of British Columbia candidate.
Coupar served three terms as a Vancouver park board commissioner. In the 2018 election Coupar was re-elected for the NPA with 49,768 votes, or 28.21 per cent.
In 2018 Coupar sought the NPA mayoral nomination and lost the party vote to Ken Sim.
In April 2021 the NPA board appointed Coupar as its mayoral candidate for the 2022 election. Councillors Lisa Dominato, Colleen Hardwick and Sarah Kirby-Yung then left the party, saying they had been shut out of the decision.
Coupar resigned as the NPA mayoral candidate on August 5, 2022, about two months before the vote. The party said its board had met to discuss campaign progress and accepted the resignation. NPA spokesperson Elizabeth Ball said polls had placed Coupar behind several of the other mayoral candidates.
Coupar ran for the Conservative Party of British Columbia in Vancouver-Little Mountain in the 2024 provincial election, placing second with 7,704 votes, or 30.60 per cent, behind New Democrat Christine Boyle.
In the August 2026 interview Coupar said the party membership has since been given up, and said the reason was unhappiness with the direction the party had taken.
The campaign page says Coupar co-founded the Friends of the Bloedel Association in 2009 when the conservatory was marked for closure, received the City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour in 2013, served two years as park board chair, and most recently worked as president of a carbon-neutral transportation company. No independent source for these claims was found.
Coupar appears at position 134 on the council ballot for October 17, 2026.
voche.me assembled this profile from the official candidate list and the campaign material linked under Sources. The campaign has not been contacted, and no candidate-supplied content appears on this page.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
7 commitments shown · Checked Sep 22
2026 · HousingCampaign pledge
Amenities alongside new housing
Coupar told the Georgia Straight that the Broadway Plan and the villages plan both lacked amenities and offered nothing for ordinary families, and said the city needs to work on community centres and pools.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Coupar named two projects that did not get built, an outdoor pool at Oak Park and a replacement pool at Mount Pleasant Park. The interview does not say how new amenities would be paid for.
What still needs checking
Which pools and community centres would be funded first and from which budget.
Coupar told the Georgia Straight that politics has become too polarised and that council should look at other views before deciding, naming work with Overdose Prevention Society co-founder Sarah Blyth as an example.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The interview records the position. No procedural change at city hall is proposed.
What still needs checking
What would change at the council table to produce this.
The Vancouver Liberals page says Coupar would bring environmental advocacy to city hall and describes a record of defending public assets on the park board.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The page states the aim. The Bloedel Conservatory campaign it cites is described only on the party page.
What still needs checking
Which park or green space decisions Coupar would change.
As the Conservative Party of British Columbia candidate in 2024, Coupar proposed a 15 per cent tax reduction for businesses on Broadway between Commercial Drive and Arbutus Street, running until the Broadway subway extension opens.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This was a provincial party promise made during the 2024 provincial campaign. Coupar did not win the seat and has since left that party, so the measure was never enacted.
What still needs checking
Whether Coupar proposes any city-level relief for businesses affected by construction.
Each entry below names its source. Campaign material is the candidate's own account. Nothing here is presented as a verified outcome unless the entry says so.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
Recent appearances / Read and watch
Talks, interviews & statements
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Statement
Resignation statement as NPA mayoral candidate
In a statement posted on Twitter and reported by the Canadian Press, Coupar confirmed the resignation, thanked the NPA and its candidates, said the previous 11 years of service to Vancouver residents had been enjoyable, and said the aim had always been to act with integrity.
Provincial campaign announcement on Broadway businesses
Coupar said businesses along Broadway had dealt with four years of construction affecting their sales and that the provincial government had left the issue alone for too long, and set out a 15 per cent tax reduction proposal.
Georgia Straight interview on joining the Vancouver Liberals
Coupar told reporter Nathan Caddell about being unhappy with the direction of the city, particularly on public amenities, about leaving the Conservative Party of British Columbia, and about an assessment of Vancouver Liberals leader Kareem Allam as energetic and full of ideas.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
Campaign dispute
Three NPA councillors left the party over the mayoral nomination
After the NPA board appointed Coupar as its 2022 mayoral candidate, sitting councillors Lisa Dominato, Colleen Hardwick and Sarah Kirby-Yung left the party to sit as independents. Hardwick said the board had acted without a clear democratic process and that the actions of the board and of Coupar did not meet the standards members expect. The dispute was about how the party board chose a candidate, and no allegation of wrongdoing in public office was made.
Candidate or party response
The CBC report carries no reply from Coupar. No published response was found.
Verified status and limits
Coupar remained the NPA nominee until resigning on August 5, 2022. Kirby-Yung and Dominato later joined ABC Vancouver and Hardwick later led TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.
The NPA board met to discuss the progress of the campaign and accepted Coupar's resignation about two months before voting day. Party spokesperson Elizabeth Ball agreed that recent polls had placed Coupar behind several of the four other mayoral candidates, and said the decision was based on the information Coupar had.
Candidate or party response
Coupar issued a statement thanking the party, saying the 11 years serving Vancouver residents had been enjoyable, and saying the aim had always been to act with integrity.
Verified status and limits
The NPA named Fred Harding as its replacement mayoral candidate later that month.
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
CBC News
3 Vancouver NPA councillors quit party to sit as independents
Meera Bains reports that Lisa Dominato, Colleen Hardwick and Sarah Kirby-Yung left the NPA after the board appointed Coupar as its mayoral candidate, describing the process as a closed decision.
Sources checked September 22, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
The two years as park board chair, the 2013 City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour, the Friends of the Bloedel Association role and the named park board projects appear only on the Vancouver Liberals page and could not be checked against a city or award record. Wikipedia's park board lists show Coupar for the 2014 to 2018 and 2018 to 2022 terms but do not name a chair for those years. The carbon-neutral transportation company is not named anywhere, so the role could not be verified. No forum or debate listing between September 22 and October 17, 2026 names Coupar as attending; Women Transforming Cities named Moira Stilwell and Jessica Walton as the Vancouver Liberals panellists at its council debate.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on September 22, 2026: Current campaign material; biographical claims require corroboration.
Campaign page read on September 22, 2026. 2 stated positions and 3 background facts recorded here, each checked against a quotation from that page.
Checks still to do: Verify previous terms and specific decisions; clearly identify the move from Park Board to council.
The ballot name, office, ballot number and party label come from the City's final candidate list. Everything described as campaign material is the campaign's own account and has not been confirmed by an independent source.
03 / Background
Experience & community
2011 to 2022
Vancouver park board commissioner
Elected three times with the NPA. The campaign page says the period included two years as chair and work on Bloedel Conservatory restoration funding, marine upgrades at Vanier Park, the Killarney Seniors Centre and the False Creek dragon boat facility.
