Candidate for Mayor of Vancouver.
Ken Sim’s Vancouver mayoral record: 2026 promises, programs, public events, interviews, controversies, news and source documents.
Researched by voche.me · Not a campaign-authored page
Archive photo 2024Ken Sim at Collision in Toronto.
A researched record of campaign promises, City programs, public appearances and accountability issues. Each entry identifies its evidence and what remains unverified. Research checked September 22, 2026; this is not a complete assessment of every vote or claim.
No public appearance by Ken Sim was confirmed for September 22 or 23 in the sources checked. Upcoming community forums are listed below, but an event being scheduled does not mean he will attend. The latest monthly calendar linked on his City page was July 2026; it is a past record, not a forward campaign itinerary.
Checked September 22, 2026 · All event times are Vancouver local time. Recheck the organizer before travelling.
Archive photo 2023Ken Sim during a public Q&A at Collision in Toronto.
Attendance is identified for each event. Unconfirmed listings are not confirmed candidate appearances.
St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, 1022 Nelson St.
Sim is not on the organizer’s published confirmed-candidate list.
A public discussion of housing and climate commitments. Check the organizer’s page for registration and any attendance changes.
Mount Pleasant Community Centre gymnasium, 1 Kingsway
Sim’s participation has not been verified.
The community-event listing says admission is free without registration. This listing is not a confirmation from his campaign.
Killarney Community Centre
Sim’s participation has not been verified.
The listing describes a free event with advance registration. Confirm details with the organizer.
Venue not announced in the source
ABC announced the date; Sim’s attendance and public access are not confirmed.
ABC says it will publish further details of its Raising Vancouver proposals. Its September 21 release says a later advisory will provide the time and location.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 1440 West 12th Ave.
The organizer’s poster says ABC did not respond. This does not establish a refusal or future absence.
Registration is required. The poster’s other candidate affiliations may predate withdrawals; check the organizer for an updated participant list.
John Oliver Secondary auditorium
Sim is not individually confirmed on the organizer page checked.
A free community symposium and discussion of priorities gathered by neighbourhood houses. Registration is required.
York Theatre, 639 Commercial Dr.
All mayoral and council candidates are invited; Sim’s acceptance is not confirmed.
The venue lists $25 tickets and a limited pay-what-you-can option. An invitation is not a commitment to attend.
Milton and Fei Wong Theatre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
ABC is not among the parties listed as confirmed by the organizer.
Moderated by Mo Amir and Jen St. Denis. The organizer lists $5 general admission and a free livestream option.
Online
Sim’s participation has not been verified.
Listed by Women Transforming Cities as a Vancouver Food Justice Coalition event. Registration is required; consult the listing for the organizer link.
8 am to 8 pm at official Vancouver voting places. These dates apply to every voter and are not candidate appearances. Find your voting place
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.
Ken Sim was elected mayor of Vancouver in 2022. The City’s 2026 candidate list identifies him as “SIM, Ken”, affiliated with ABC Vancouver, with ballot number 54. He announced his re-election run in November 2023.
He was born in Vancouver on October 18, 1970, to parents who had immigrated from Hong Kong. He has said his family rented and was evicted five times while he was growing up. He attended Magee and Sir Winston Churchill secondary schools and graduated from UBC’s Sauder School of Business with a commerce degree in finance in 1993. He holds the FCPA and FCA accounting designations.
In 2001 he co-founded Nurse Next Door, a home health care company, and later co-founded the bagel chain Rosemary Rocksalt, according to his City biography. His campaign material describes further business investments.
He first ran for mayor in 2018 with the Non-Partisan Association and lost to Kennedy Stewart by 957 votes. He then founded ABC Vancouver. On October 15, 2022, he won the mayoralty with 85,732 votes, 50.96% of the total, and ABC won a majority on Council. He was the first challenger to defeat a sitting Vancouver mayor since 1980 and the first person of colour to hold the office.
As mayor he sits on the Vancouver Police Board. His term included the plan to dissolve the Park Board, property tax increases of 10.7% in 2023 and 7.5% in 2024 followed by a freeze for 2026, and an integrity commissioner investigation in 2025 and 2026. The accountability section below records those matters with their sources.
Archive photo 2024Backstage at Collision in Toronto.
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.
Archive photo 2024Ken Sim speaking at Collision in Toronto.
18 commitments shown · Checked Sep 22
Hold the City property-tax increase at 0%.
End residential permit fees and paid parking at beaches and community centres.
Strengthen restrictions on open-air hard drug use.
Seek at least 100 involuntary-care beds in Vancouver.
Renew Dunbar, Kerrisdale, Hastings, Roundhouse and Kensington centres.
Deliver the River District Community Centre.
Invest $104 million in roads and sidewalks.
Rebuild the Aquatic Centre with a 50-metre pool.
Double the campaign’s stated 2,000 new childcare spaces.
Bring swimming lessons into the school day.
Expand Vancouver’s technology sector and employment.
Hold weekly VANSTAT department-head check-ins.
Approve a 0% increase in the City property-tax levy for 2026.
Fund 100 additional police officers and 100 mental-health nurses.
Complete a citywide community plan during the first term.
Reduce permit delays for homes and businesses.
Abolish the elected Park Board, a policy pursued after the 2022 election.
Plant 100,000 trees in the first four years.
These decisions involve Council, City staff and other public bodies. Listing them during a candidate’s term does not mean that person created or delivered them alone.
Archive photo 2024Ken Sim, Brenda Bailey and Casey Lau on stage at Collision in Toronto.
The 2027 to 2030 Capital Plan contains $3.5 billion in investment plus $0.1 billion in developer-provided amenities, including $400 million for community recreation facilities.
The election includes three questions seeking authority to borrow $790 million for parts of the plan. Distinguish an approved plan, borrowing authority, individual project budgets and completed facilities.
The City’s budget announcement identifies $120 million in savings and revenue measures. It also says community-centre recreation charges would remain unchanged in 2026.
The freeze applies to the City levy. Other taxing authorities and utility charges are separate. A service-by-service assessment is still needed before claiming the budget preserved or reduced every service.
The City reports laneway permit processing falling from 200 days in 2022 to 100 in 2025, and multi-family/mid-rise development permits from 18.1 months in 2023 to 9.8 in 2025.
These are the City’s published comparisons, not an independent audit or a guarantee for a new applicant. Different permit categories and reporting periods should not be combined.
A citywide land-use framework sets the direction for housing, employment, infrastructure and amenities over the next 30 years and beyond.
The City says the plan will be implemented through subsequent area planning, rezonings and investment. Its underlying Vancouver Plan was approved in 2022 before Sim took office.
Council’s February 2025 motion shifted City support toward renewing existing supportive housing and seeking a greater regional contribution. The implementation note sets out how applications are treated from August 26.
The policy includes exceptions and transition arrangements; it is not a ban on every kind of social housing. Sim defended continuing it in his September interview. Housing delivery and outcomes need separate evaluation.
VPD reported 745 weapons seized and 414 warrant arrests between February 13 and May 13, 2025. A November 27 police release said Task Force Barrage had ended.
Those are police-reported activity measures for a stated period. They do not by themselves establish how much a mayoral policy caused a change in crime. Do not describe the temporary task force as a confirmed current deployment.
The City published a final implementation report addressing 17 recommendations. It reported $40 million more budgeted non-property-tax revenue in 2026 than in 2023 and capital-budget spending rising from 70% in 2022 to 97% in 2025.
These are institutional reports of implementation. They should be read with the final report’s definitions; spending a larger share of a budget is not itself evidence of better outcomes.
Voters will be asked about stronger public-drug-use restrictions and a provincial secure medical facility with voluntary care and at least 100 involuntary-care beds.
A yes vote is not the same as an enacted bylaw, provincial approval or operating treatment beds. The City identifies these as non-binding plebiscite questions. Read the official wording before voting.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Archive photo 2024Ken Sim at a Collision press conference in Toronto.
ABC announced its council, parks and schools platform. Its media advisory scheduled a 9:30 am event and a later media question period; location was provided by RSVP. The launch release is available, but this page has not reviewed a complete recording.
CityNews reported Sim’s absence. ABC said it was waiting for the full candidate list while deciding which debates to attend. The linked video is coverage of the debate, not a Ken Sim speech.
Nate Lewis interviewed Sim for Vancity Lookout. Topics include housing, policing, the tax freeze and the Park Board. Sim said he would retain the elected board for a further term while still believing it would function better without that structure. This is the article’s publication date.
Sim argued for ending pool reservations and announced ABC would seek election to the Park Board. CityNews includes video reporting and the board’s explanation that drop-in access already existed.
The mayor’s office documented proposals for $400 million in community-centre renewal and a 2027 tax freeze, followed by increases at inflation. The linked release summarizes the speech; it is not a full transcript.
Sim said he had referred to a photograph without verifying it and apologized to Orr, residents, colleagues and City staff. The official PDF includes English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese versions.
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.
The Canadian Press reports Orr sued Sim over false remarks made to Chinese-language media in February 2026. It reports a trial date of January 31, 2028.
Sim apologized and acknowledged the remarks were untrue. His legal response disputes that they damaged Orr’s reputation and describes the briefing as a closed event.
Pending civil case in the reporting reviewed, not a judgment of liability. This is separate from the integrity investigation into 2025 comments.
The May 11 independent report found Sim misused the influence of his office and harassed Orr through an April 2025 press conference and October 2025 social-media post.
The report records Sim’s position that he was responding to community concerns and had not conducted a political campaign. It did not substantiate every allegation; it made no defamation finding.
Council voted on June 2 to impose no sanctions. Sim was absent for the vote because of a conflict of interest. The decision not to sanction did not reverse the report’s findings.
The integrity commissioner found Code of Conduct breaches involving discussions of the Climate Justice Charter report and Moberly Park funding. Sim was among the officials named.
The respondents argued that party caucus discussions were permissible and were not a substitute for Council meetings. The report rejected that defence where a quorum advanced City business in private.
The commissioner found breaches in two of seven examined instances, not every allegation. The report said the number of implicated members prevented Council from reaching quorum to consider sanctions.
ABC ended its attempt to eliminate the independently elected board and announced it would run board candidates.
Sim said the new approach would focus on facilities and service delivery. In September he committed to no structural change during another term, while maintaining his criticism of the governance model.
A documented policy reversal. Disagreement over that choice is different from a misconduct finding.
The Tyee examined ABC ads criticizing Pete Fry and attributing declining crime to ABC policies. It distinguished the task-force launch from a later funding vote.
ABC’s Peter Meiszner defended the ads as an account of Fry’s voting record. Fry called their portrayal misleading.
Read the underlying votes, dates and crime measures before drawing a conclusion about cause. The article reports competing positions; this page does not treat a campaign accusation as an official finding.
Sim’s pause changes City contributions to new supportive housing while prioritizing existing buildings. It has become a substantive issue in the mayoral election.
In his Vancity Lookout interview, Sim argued other municipalities and the Province should contribute more. At the UBC debate, several challengers supported reversing the pause; Hardwick expressed concerns about concentrating services.
An ongoing policy dispute. The implementation note, housing outcomes and alternatives matter more than treating all supportive or social housing as one category.
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.
Archive photo 2023Ken Sim answering questions at Collision in Toronto.
Examines public-safety claims, funding votes and the limits of attributing crime trends to one administration.
A comparison of selected promises and available results. The full article is linked; this page is not a reproduction of its scorecard.
Court-reporting update on Orr’s civil claim and Sim’s defence. No trial verdict is reported.
Reports the September 8 UBC debate, Sim’s absence and ABC’s explanation.
An extended interview covering taxes, housing, policing, facilities and the future of the Park Board.
Includes Sim’s press conference and responses from Park Board commissioners about the reservation system.
Explains the decision following the independent report about Sim’s treatment of Orr in 2025.
Historical coverage of the initial funding decision, useful when comparing the original commitment with later staffing changes.
Sources checked September 22, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
City of Vancouver
City of Vancouver
City of Vancouver
City of Vancouver
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City of Vancouver · November 25, 2025
City of Vancouver
City of Vancouver · June 9, 2026
City of Vancouver
City of Vancouver · March 12, 2026
City of Vancouver · March 13, 2025
Office of the Mayor · February 26, 2025
City of Vancouver · July 21, 2026
Vancouver Police Department · May 22, 2025
Vancouver Police Department · November 27, 2025
Office of the Mayor · April 8, 2026
Independent investigator / City of Vancouver · May 11, 2026
City of Vancouver · June 2, 2026
Integrity Commissioner / City of Vancouver · August 22, 2025
Office of the Mayor · March 3, 2026
City of Vancouver
ABC Vancouver
ABC Vancouver · September 21, 2026
ABC Vancouver · September 17, 2026
ABC Vancouver
ABC Vancouver · July 13, 2026
CityNews / Cecilia Hua · July 14, 2026
CityNews / Cecilia Hua · September 9, 2026
CityNews / Emma Crawford · June 2, 2026
The Canadian Press / CKPG Today · September 14, 2026
The Tyee / Katie Hyslop · September 18, 2026
Daily Hive / Hanna Hett · September 16, 2026
CityNews · November 22, 2022
Wikipedia
Daily Hive · October 15, 2022
Wikipedia
Vancity Lookout / Nate Lewis · September 4, 2026
Daily Hive / Kenneth Chan
Metro Vancouver Alliance
Fairview/South Granville Action Committee
Association of Neighbourhood Houses of BC
The Cultch / Vancouver Public Space Network
The Tyee / SFU Public Square
University of British Columbia · September 2, 2026
Women Transforming Cities
Research gaps: complete campaign itinerary, independently reconciled staffing and housing totals, full project costing, every Council vote, and visual verification of the nomination papers. No campaign response to this page’s interview questions has been obtained.
Read the original 2026 financial disclosure and the latest monthly mayoral calendar located during this review. The July calendar records past meetings; it does not say where Sim will be today or tomorrow. Financial disclosure is not, by itself, evidence of a conflict of interest.
The nomination papers are the form Ken Sim filed with the City to get on the ballot. Nominators are the electors who signed it. A signature says the signer supported putting this person on the ballot; it does not establish a current endorsement, a donation or agreement with any policy.
Open the official PDF Find it on the City’s candidate listThe City’s PDF link has been located and checked on September 22, 2026. Nobody has read the page images yet, so no nominator name, signing date or signatory role has been transcribed. An empty list here means the document has not been reviewed. It does not mean the form has no nominators.
Co-founded Nurse Next Door in 2001 and later helped launch Rosemary Rocksalt.
City biographyCompleted a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, according to his City biography.
City biographyProposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
No response has been submitted.
No response has been submitted.
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No response has been submitted.
Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.
Each photograph includes its original event date, caption, credit and source. Historical photographs do not establish attendance at current campaign events.
Archive photo 2024From left: Ken Sim, Brenda Bailey, Paddy Cosgrave, Harjit Sajjan and Royce Chwin at Collision in Toronto.
Missing information does not imply a candidate’s position. Read our editorial standards.
Find the candidate’s website, social accounts and contact information.
